I have been looking to upgrade lights for a long time now. From all my research LEDs seem like the best way to go. I am sure there are mixed opinions but they seem to be doing better than HQIs and T5HOs in many applications. Can anyone comment of this first hand? Can someone who is running LEDs fill me in on how good they really are? I have been looking into the Evolution 100w 3G, does anyone have experience with these? I am looking to light my 90gal reef with two of them. Thoughts?

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It has become more than a hobby! My 29gal Dream Reef DIY Build

I've also been doing the research. I've found more info on another site about LED's, and think I'm doing the DIY version, since I'm not scared of electrical work. Just doing more and more research.

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10 gallon fresh setup with 1 giant danio, 3 placos, and 1 guppie.
30 gal bare bottom QT
55 gallon salt setup with a bunch of crabs and snails. false perc clown, diamond goby, lawnmower blenny, a green mandarin, and 1 cleaner shrimp. And a few corals
180 gallon acrylic not setup yet. (Need a few more things before it gets filled with water.)
Tanks not setup, 10, 30, 55 with stand. Either 30 or the 55 will be the sump for the 180

I think that if you have the money for a fixture, they are the best option, and compared to other things they pretty much pay for themselves. In the short run, its a ton of money. But if you think about a few years from now...I mean, think about bulb replacements, electric bill, sometimes even a chiller, etc. You don't have to worry about any of that with LEDs.

I added blue LEDs to my T-5 light fixture for moonlight on my 40Gallon fish only. Worked great, so now I am building a 64 LED lamp with 16 Blue LEDs for my 60 Gallon fish only tank. They are great for direct lighting, reduced heat, which also reduces water evaporation.I will try and post pics when I get it done.

One thing to note: Its easy to add too much light when you're using LEDs. I only have 24 3 watt (12 blue 12 white) on my 20 gallon and i have to run them at the power source's lowest setting (650mA). I'll probably build another one with 16 3 watt LEDs and run them at 1A and use this set up on a 75g i just got.

I would definately DIY. Its way cheaper in most cases (there is a really cheap but seemingly good LED company in China that i know of but havent purchased a system yet). DIY allows you to put a minimum amount of LEDs onto your fixture and add them IF needed. As i stated before, i put too many on mine.

Do at least a 50/50% white/royal blue mixture to get a good "effective" kelvin rating for corals.

For a comparison, running my current LED setup at the power i am is equivelent to about 48 watts. I have tried using 30 watts (when i've burned out a fuse on the LEDs) 50/50 CFL lamps and even though its only 18 watts more (the LEDs i mean) it looks about 150 watts brighter. I've researched what people have on their tanks and it looks like 50 watts of LED ligting is equivelent to 150-200 watts of MH lighting with similar if not better growth from the LEDs.

Info? PM is fine. I'm looking to do my lighting as cheaply as possible, while getting a good quality setup in place.

I saw on another forum someone got their package together pretty cheaply with a group buy. Been keeping my eye out for one of those.

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10 gallon fresh setup with 1 giant danio, 3 placos, and 1 guppie.
30 gal bare bottom QT
55 gallon salt setup with a bunch of crabs and snails. false perc clown, diamond goby, lawnmower blenny, a green mandarin, and 1 cleaner shrimp. And a few corals
180 gallon acrylic not setup yet. (Need a few more things before it gets filled with water.)
Tanks not setup, 10, 30, 55 with stand. Either 30 or the 55 will be the sump for the 180

I saw on another forum someone got their package together pretty cheaply with a group buy. Been keeping my eye out for one of those.[/quote]

do you have link about that .

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elva

do you have link about that .[/quote]

PM'd the link. Don't know how this site is with linking to other forums. Don't want to ruffle any feathers.

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10 gallon fresh setup with 1 giant danio, 3 placos, and 1 guppie.
30 gal bare bottom QT
55 gallon salt setup with a bunch of crabs and snails. false perc clown, diamond goby, lawnmower blenny, a green mandarin, and 1 cleaner shrimp. And a few corals
180 gallon acrylic not setup yet. (Need a few more things before it gets filled with water.)
Tanks not setup, 10, 30, 55 with stand. Either 30 or the 55 will be the sump for the 180

I just found a guy on another site who has designed his own LED fixture. I think I'm to try and grab two of them. They only draw 120w and have almost the same PAR output as a 250w HQI, did I mention a 3 year warranty, independent circuits so if one LED goes out the rest stay lit, 2 power cords so you can do dusk dawn lighting with the same fixture!

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It has become more than a hobby! My 29gal Dream Reef DIY Build

link?

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10 gallon fresh setup with 1 giant danio, 3 placos, and 1 guppie.
30 gal bare bottom QT
55 gallon salt setup with a bunch of crabs and snails. false perc clown, diamond goby, lawnmower blenny, a green mandarin, and 1 cleaner shrimp. And a few corals
180 gallon acrylic not setup yet. (Need a few more things before it gets filled with water.)
Tanks not setup, 10, 30, 55 with stand. Either 30 or the 55 will be the sump for the 180

I am thinking the fixture I found won't be too much once I acclimate everything. I should be able to grow some SPS on or near my sand bed though! That's one of the reasons I have wanted to stray away from a DIY setup: I think it would be too easy to over do and just torch the tank

Can you PM me more info on the fixture you found from the Chinese company?

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It has become more than a hobby! My 29gal Dream Reef DIY Build

PM sent

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It has become more than a hobby! My 29gal Dream Reef DIY Build

Bulb replacement and increased heat was a huge deciding factor for this upgrade! I was going to have to buy a chiller if I didn't go with LEDs and im not about to spend $900 on a fixture just so I can turn around and spend $1000 on a chiller. I already had problems last summer with the tank heating up.

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It has become more than a hobby! My 29gal Dream Reef DIY Build

$900 for how many led lights? 2 Led lights? it seem reason price in USA Market. It would be much cheap from Chinese company directly. Most of the led light are from china. Depends on your choice? i know more information about the led light supplier in china.

The $900 was referring to a metal halide with 2 250w bulbs plus two T5HOs on each side and moonlight LEDs. The fixtures I am looking to get now will output almost the same (minus the extra output of the T5s) for $650 for the pair.

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It has become more than a hobby! My 29gal Dream Reef DIY Build

You could consider to use led light like 120W, blue and whtie led controlled by each switches.

Yup, LEDs will solve the tank temps in the summer, as long as it isn't super hot where you live anyway...

yes ,i think so

yes you are right, I have also installed some Led lights in my aquarium.


led flood light

I have recently upgraded to LEDs from Metal Halides with Compact Fluorescents. My tank is 48 wide and 30 tall. I installed 3 AI SOL units. That have been up and running for about 6 weeks. The peak at 45% for 3 hours during midday. I only have good things to say about them. I live in Southern Ca. I am paying about $0.28/ KWH for electricity. These lights will pay for themselves in about one year because of light and chiller savings. I have added a lot of corals which are doing great. My anemones doubled in size too.

Yes, the upfront cost is high. All things considered, it has been a great move for me. You can grab a "kill a watt" and do the calculations for yourself.

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Jeff