Chinese 165w led's
- Thread starter chezgarcia
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ReefLEDLights
Valuable Member
I've tested a few in my day...
Do not use watts as a indication of PAR as it varies greatly with Chinese Imports.
Chinese 165 watts is very generic as well as the 120 optics. A PAR meter is the only way you can be sure.
With SPS you want a max intensity above photohinibition or 500 PAR
Your lights should be roughly between a 250-400 watt MH so I would start with 1/2 and work up from there.
Just remember not all LEDs provide the same spectrum and Inexpensive Imports leave a lot to chance.
Bill
Do not use watts as a indication of PAR as it varies greatly with Chinese Imports.
Chinese 165 watts is very generic as well as the 120 optics. A PAR meter is the only way you can be sure.
With SPS you want a max intensity above photohinibition or 500 PAR
Your lights should be roughly between a 250-400 watt MH so I would start with 1/2 and work up from there.
Just remember not all LEDs provide the same spectrum and Inexpensive Imports leave a lot to chance.
Bill
dantimdad68
New Member
I realize par is important but actual results speak volumes. We built very inexpensive fixtures for a few tanks using cheap Chinese 10 watt leds on aluminum heatsinks we had a buddy bend up into a U shape an put fans on either end then mounted into our canopies. Using surprisingly few of these over the past year, the the growth has been incredible!
Price has nothing to do with it. As long as you get a pleasing color AND growth, I say use them!
That being said, I have see several of the ebay special LED fixtures lose bulbs after a few months. Didn't seem to effect their performance from what I could tell but they weren't on my tanks.
Steven
Price has nothing to do with it. As long as you get a pleasing color AND growth, I say use them!
That being said, I have see several of the ebay special LED fixtures lose bulbs after a few months. Didn't seem to effect their performance from what I could tell but they weren't on my tanks.
Steven
Ellery
Active Member
I've been using 3 sets of the Evergrow D120s (same as the Reefbreeders) and they have been fine growing out LPS and SPS. The reason I got these were because of a study someone did that showed them quite similar tot he Radion Pros for Full Spectrum color but without all the bells and whistles.
ReefLEDLights
Valuable Member
Could you toss us a link to this study.
Also I find the term Full Spectrum in Reef Lighting ambiguous as it's primarily a marketing term
Full-spectrum light - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For those familiar with this chart a blackbody does absorb/reflect light different than our corals but its important to consider how may different variables must be evaluated in providing a natural light for our corals.
Having a decent controller with decent LEDs is a start.
Bill
jkef2010
Active Member
I have one on my 40b tank. I took off the optics around the sides and left them in in the middle, the lights along the side grow softies and less light dependent corals great, I can't speak on terms of lps because I have none but Im running a SPS trial frag now to see how well it does with the light and so far so good I got the frag at about a 1/2" May e a tad bigger hers about 2" now and it's been about 4-5 months maybe a tad less then 2" the colors are beginning to change as well. So I say it's a very good light weather is $90.00 or $500.00
ReefLEDLights
Valuable Member
Been to a few Rodeos and even a donkey show over the decades Reef Keeping and my experience with Cheap 10 watt multichips is they are simply awesome compared to CF for the garage or workbench but not for my reef.
Bill
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Ellery
Active Member
The thread was in the Manhattanreefs forum. I'm sure it wasn't as scientific measuring all the wavelengths and all but based on the led color mixes Included from what I recall.
But ultimately these units have been providing good growth on 2 out of 3 of my tanks for almost 2 years now. The other units I have are the Maxspect Razor 160w 16000kelvin models. Those have grown my sps fairly well too.
The only thing I wish I has was a handheld spectrometer so I can try to set the lighting to match what my old XM 15000K emitted.
But ultimately these units have been providing good growth on 2 out of 3 of my tanks for almost 2 years now. The other units I have are the Maxspect Razor 160w 16000kelvin models. Those have grown my sps fairly well too.
The only thing I wish I has was a handheld spectrometer so I can try to set the lighting to match what my old XM 15000K emitted.
dantimdad68
New Member
To each his own. I won't get in a ******* contest over it. I am just going off of the experience of a group of us who use them. BTW, I've been reef keeping for over 25 years and used/built just about every kind of lighting available both commercially and just for experimenting.
Oh and I lived on a Brahma bull ranch for about 4 years too!
Just had to throw that in.
Steve
ReefLEDLights
Valuable Member
To each his own. I won't get in a ******* contest over it. I am just going off of the experience of a group of us who use them. BTW, I've been reef keeping for over 25 years and used/built just about every kind of lighting available both commercially and just for experimenting.
Oh and I lived on a Brahma bull ranch for about 4 years too!
Just had to throw that in.
Steve
Toss us some pics of growth and looks.
I honestly can say I have not seen an established SPS Reef with 5 years of growth using Inexpensive LEDs.
The Majority are still using MH or Higher End LED Fixtures.
Bill
jkef2010
Active Member
Thing is though you can have a realistic beautiful reef without having to spend thousands of dollars on lights I've seen it. I mean the lights are good for those who can't fork out $200.00-&800.00 per light. They do grow well maybe not as fast as some of the more name brand items. I feel like your trying to say the people who use these lights, the coral are not thriving but just living because these are not expensive lighting systems.
I apologize if I took it the wrong way. Just seems to be coming off that way to me.
I apologize if I took it the wrong way. Just seems to be coming off that way to me.
jkef2010
Active Member
Thing is though you can have a realistic beautiful reef without having to spend thousands of dollars on lights I've seen it. I mean the lights are good for those who can't fork out $200.00-&800.00 per light. They do grow well maybe not as fast as some of the more name brand items. I feel like your trying to say the people who use these lights, the coral are not thriving but just living because these are not expensive lighting systems.
I apologize if I took it the wrong way. Just seems to be coming off that way to me.
I apologize if I took it the wrong way. Just seems to be coming off that way to me.
dantimdad68
New Member
jkef2010 - I completely agree.
sean5215
New Member
I first purchased a unit from Cidly and though I was happy at first with the light, after about 2 or 3 months I lost about half of the lights. The case was nice but after pulling it apart, the craftsmanship was just okay. I bought my second light from reef breeders and have been running now for 2 years over my mixed reef and have been very happy. I only have one acro in the tank, and the growth has been just okay, though it looks great and is very healthy. I did have a monti cap and a rainbow monti that both grew very well under the light, but I lost those for other reasons. With every other coral in the tank though I have had significant growth on top of excellent color. From what I have witnessed, if you are doing an sps dominated reef then stick with MH or high end LED. For anything else though, the reef breeders solution is awesome and affordable.
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sean5215
New Member
In the second full tank pic you can see the acro next to the monti's then in the next picture with the pagoda cup. That is the growth I have had in almost 2 years with the reef breeders light and also a tank move in there.
LarrySmith75
New Member
I've been using the original Chinese 120w blue and white for three years over a mixed reef. I mostly run them on actinic and I have acros and montis growing to the surface of the water. I am slowly upgrading (haha) to the $100 dimmable 165w "full spectrum" Chinese and putting the blue/whites over my frag tanks. They most certainly will grow coral.
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