led panel lights

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
cali~budfish

cali~budfish

Candiru
MFK Member
Jul 10, 2008
689
3
48
Sacramento
was just wondering if anybody has seen the 110v 225 led panel from ledwholesalers.com? i am interested in putting three of these panels on my 210 freshwater fish only tank and was wondering if anybody has bought or knows someone that has them and if they're worth the $....thnx for the help!
 
You'll probably save a good amount of money on your power bill in the long run. I like LED a lot, I would run them on all my tanks, they're just too expensive right now for me to do that feasibly.
 
I have a friend who works for a company that makes LED reef lighting and they run tests on everything. He said these were poorly made and not as bright as you would think. I asked him about these to light an indoor pond and he said I would most likely be disappointed. Hopefully I can get a look for myself one of these days.
 
Yeah I read a couple of reviews and they said they thought they would be brighter...40 dollars a piece seemed pretty cheap I just want to see them on a tank so I could judge for myself. Thnx for the input.
 
I've been messing around with them. For your 210g, you'll want at least four of them. You'll be happier with eight panels. And you'll want the blue and white combination. The difference with the blue is amazing.

I think that same company also has the 50 Watt panels. Three of those will light up your tank nicely. Early next year, I'm going to make a wholesale purchase of some 120 Watt LED panels (coral quality). (I found the manufacturer that sells to the wholesalers. Btw, anyone speak Chinese. :naughty: )
 
I've also heard LED can look less "bright" but still be putting out a lot of light... let me see if I can dig it up.... found it. It's written for saltwater guys for use on coral but obviously still relevant:


Another complaint often heard from those making the switch is "my new LEDs aren't as 'bright' as my metal halides were!" ("bright", in this case, referring to the relative luminosity of the light, or how it looks to your eyes); even though the LEDs likely emit at least as much or more PUR as the prior MH source.


This has to do with the way the human eye sees: different spectrums appear "brighter" (more luminous) than do others. LEDs, especially ones used in aquarium fixtures, emit (or should emit) a great deal of PUR. However, most of the PUR for photosynthetic inverts like coral is not in the spectral range that the human eye views has highly luminous, meaning that the light appears dimmer to our eyes, even though it could be emitting more PUR for your coral than did the MH bulb.


You can see from the image above that the human eye is not very sensitive to light in the blue wavelength (only about 12% of our color receptors respond to blue wavelengths) and as high PUR LEDs emit a great deal of their light energy in the blue spectrum, they appear less "bright" than do other forms of light that emit more green or red. "Brightness" (luminosity) is relative, and means nothing to coral!

Want a brighter look? Use LEDs along with another form of lighting, or purchase wide angle LEDs with LED spotlights to produce dramatic effects with light and shaded areas. More 'shadowing' may occur with LED lighting than the aquarist is used to seeing, because each LED functions essentially as a miniature spotlight (not to be confused with LED spotlight fixtures), and LED light will not be as uniform in it's distribution as MH lighting is by nature of design. Although, have you been to a reef recently? Believe me, they're not uniformly illuminated. Once you become accustomed to the 'dynamic' way that LEDs illuminate an aquarium, you won't want to go back!

http://blog.captive-aquatics.com/ca.../comparing-leds-theyre-not-metal-halides.html
 
CHOMPERS;4693440; said:
I've been messing around with them. For your 210g, you'll want at least four of them. You'll be happier with eight panels. And you'll want the blue and white combination. The difference with the blue is amazing.

I think that same company also has the 50 Watt panels. Three of those will light up your tank nicely. Early next year, I'm going to make a wholesale purchase of some 120 Watt LED panels (coral quality). (I found the manufacturer that sells to the wholesalers. Btw, anyone speak Chinese. :naughty: )
Click to expand...

Thought you might enjoy that nerdy stuff I just posted too, Chompers.
 
If you really want to light your tanks with LED' skip the one-watt LED fixtures and go for the 3-watt LED fixtures.

The industry leader for LED lighting is easily Aqua Illumination. They are more aimed at saltwater/coral people but sounds like they will soon be getting into freshwater lighting. The good thing about their lights is the blue and white LED's can be controlled individually(not just on and off) but can be ramped up slowly to create a sun rise/fall affect. And recently the have put in some new programming on their controller to create a lighting storm. I got to see this first hand and it is pretty cool to see. The one downfall is initial pricing but in the end these are far more efficient to run and no bulb replacements.

End Speech.
 
yeah in saw the 50 watt panels but they are a bit too much for my price range..i actually went to a buddy's house who has three of the 13 watt 225 led panels but they are full spectrum and the red looks funky. also the blue led's are the brightest one's on the panel. I think on wholesale led's website the all blue panels are 6 sq. feet of coverage and the all white are only 2. i'm one of those guys that can pull the trigger that easily cause i don"t want to get burned. i think i'm going to buy four of the blue and white panels and if they are not bright enough i'll just throw on two 36" flourescents to help...i just kinded wanted to go all led but whatever works.

and what do you think about this fixture? http://cgi.ebay.com/72-Power-Compac...958?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43a3de55a6
 
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