thinking of doing leds instead of mh for my 125.

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mos90

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 20, 2009
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rome,ny
i will be starting up my 125 soon. i will have a few lps and soft corals to start. right now i have a 400w cf coralife fixture, which should be fine for the time being.

what i might do is after i start up my 125 and everything is stable, i might slowly move my sps corals from my 30g nano tank. to do this i will need mh or leds lights. the cf isnt going to cut it.

most mh fixtures for a 72" tank with either t5's or vho actinics are going to cost between $600-900 plus yearly bulb costs around $225.00. who know how much 3-250w mh will cost to run.

i love the aqua illumination led lights but the price is just out of control. almost $1700.00 for 3 fixtures that are about the same par as 3-250w mh lights.

i found this led fixture. i will need 2 of them. each fixture is 31" long and is about the same par as 4-150w mh bulbs.

this fixture is not the dimmable 1.
http://www.aquashoponline.com/49-ne...saltwater-built-in-timer-updated-version.html

this 1 has the dimmable feature and is 20 more watts
http://www.aquashoponline.com/48-ne...r-built-in-sun-moon-simulation-rgb-light.html

ive heard good reviews on both fixtures.

i would have to get the model 7836. 2 of them
 
mos90;5086530; said:
i will be starting up my 125 soon. i will have a few lps and soft corals to start. right now i have a 400w cf coralife fixture, which should be fine for the time being.

what i might do is after i start up my 125 and everything is stable, i might slowly move my sps corals from my 30g nano tank. to do this i will need mh or leds lights. the cf isnt going to cut it.

most mh fixtures for a 72" tank with either t5's or vho actinics are going to cost between $600-900 plus yearly bulb costs around $225.00. who know how much 3-250w mh will cost to run.

i love the aqua illumination led lights but the price is just out of control. almost $1700.00 for 3 fixtures that are about the same par as 3-250w mh lights.

i found this led fixture. i will need 2 of them. each fixture is 31" long and is about the same par as 4-150w mh bulbs.

this fixture is not the dimmable 1.
http://www.aquashoponline.com/49-ne...saltwater-built-in-timer-updated-version.html

this 1 has the dimmable feature and is 20 more watts
http://www.aquashoponline.com/48-ne...r-built-in-sun-moon-simulation-rgb-light.html

ive heard good reviews on both fixtures.

i would have to get the model 7836. 2 of them
Click to expand...

Not a bad idea to look into LED's just because of bulb and electricity costs. BTW in Milwaukee at least(will vary by your electricity costs per unit) it costs about 19 dollars a month to run 750 watts for 6 hours a day.

I would say to be careful when looking into LED's for large tanks because even if most of them provide a good par value it is not a very big coverage area compared to MH's. For example, 3 of those aqua illumination fixtures probably wouldnt cover your 125 properly. You might need up to 6 of them(not sure exactly what ones you are looking at).

I would be even more cautious of these bigger units. They do not strike me as something that will be strong enough to light your tank full of sps. It looks like they just made huge housings and spread out the bulbs which will cause problems with light intensity. They don't even tell you what bulbs it comes with that I saw. All it says is CREE, which is a brand, not bulb type. There are many many variations of CREE bulbs and most of them(if not all) in this setup would not be suitable for corals that need lots of light. The 60 degree reflectors are the optimal degree.

Not trying to hate on your choice or anything, but from my research it seems to me that LED's are still very much you get what you pay for. Don't want you to invest in fixtures that may not work is all.
 
How about DIY?
 
dgk9723;5086858; said:
Aquatraders.com
Click to expand...


if your talking about their 72" mh fixture its still an option. 1 thing i can tell u i dont like their bulbs at all. they say 15k but look like 7k. i would have to upgrade the bulbs. for 3- 250w 14k pheonix or hamilton bulbs about $180.00 upgrade,then every 8-10 months. plus replacing 4 80w actinics every 8 months.
 
I would stay away from maxspect. While they do actually honor their warranty, you will also end up using it, and they dont give replacements while your unit is being repaired.

They are expensive, but aqauillumination makes great led units.
 
aqua illumination i think would be my best bet if i decied to go leds. i think i would need 4 units for my tank. $2200.00 ouchy!!! but u could use my apex controller with them.

or i can go with an oydessa mh unit. lot cheaper up front. but definately more expensive in the long run. after 10 years..lol
 
Have you looked into Hello lights.com? They sell kits for about the same price as the odysea, but their ballast are UL listed and IMO alot better quality. I ended up installing two of their kits on my tank and can't be happier!!!
 
The first two you listed are using good leds, bridgelux and cree, but they dont list what bins.

They also dont go into excessive detail about what they use for cooling, or what their power supplies are. In the end, you can use a really good led, but not cool or drive it properly and the unit be junk.

PFOs first units were sort of like this. For a first gen led product, they had good PAR readings (again, im saying for its time), looked cool, had lots of promise and the price tag to match. In the end, it was their power supplies/drivers that were often the issue leading to a string of leds to fail. Most people didnt see these issues until AFTER PFO filled for bankruptcy, and they were left with 3000+ dollar paperweights.

IMO, there are only two ways to do it. Drop coin proven units, or diy after doing some reading and asking some good questions.

If you want leds on the cheap, with no adjustability but a good track record, reefkois evolution units have great reviews.
 
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