LED light users-HELP-need advise/opinions

[Reefnjunkie]

So I am going to be putting together a 400 gallon inwall soon (72x48x27 ) and had planned on running 3-400 MH in the rear side by side and 3-250 MH in the front side by side-I have all the equipment/hardware etc for the new build but am curious (again)about LED's

Presently everything is in my 150-gallon transition tank for the sps and the chalices are in a 40-gallon breeder

I looked into LED's a year ago and did not find enough peeps using them to convince me to get off the Metal Halide train-there may have been people using them but I did not find enough info or people that had used them long enough, and specificlly SPS dominated.

The future build having 1950 watts of lighting not to mention the 1hp chiller that sucks 1200 watts and a 1800GPH pump to run the chiller just wants me to see if there are better options without risking loosing my prized colorful sticks

As you can see its a SPS dominated tank so I am hesitant about switching to something that won’t sustain and grow what I have.


Any suggestions or input from those that have made the switch or are using LED's now is greatly appreciated

links to lighting and/or pics of your tanks are more than welcome as well

Thanks in advance

 

[thewackyreefer]

Are you looking to stay within a certain budget?

I did quite a bit of research and ended up with the AI SOL Blue fixtures over my tank. You would probably need 4-5 which would be a little pricey but unless you're going DIY these are the ultimate as far as control goes.

 

[Troylee]

I just made the switch and my tank is all sps so far so good but only been like 10days lol... I'm still doubting myself if I made the right move or not only time will tell..... I'm getting used them day by day but upon firing initially I wasn't happy with the switch....:(

 

[Reefnjunkie]

Are you looking to stay within a certain budget?

I did quite a bit of research and ended up with the AI SOL Blue fixtures over my tank. You would probably need 4-5 which would be a little pricey but unless you're going DIY these are the ultimate as far as control goes.

I saw the AI SOL and they were pricey-I also saw the evolution that looked like maybe 2 possibly units at around 500 per unit-

I am looking into a DIY build as I am not opposed to that and honestly enjoy the building side of anything

I just made the switch and my tank is all sps so far so good but only been like 10days lol... I'm still doubting myself if I made the right move or not only time will tell..... I'm getting used them day by day but upon firing initially I wasn't happy with the switch....:(

what was it that mad you unhappy initially, color?

I saw these on fleabay which is so low its scary I realize I would need 2
Auraled LED 72" Cust. Hood 126wt Reef Aquarium Lighting - eBay (item 250794057199 end time Apr-23-11 19:52:41 PDT)

I just remeber back in the time I was reasearching LED I recall there being a big deal about 1 watt vs 3 watts and that the 3 watt crees where the way to go or the recommended way

I found this site and again am more tha happy to build my own. I will have a fish room and since it will be an inwall, you wont see anything but a picture window 6 feet by 27 inches and looking 4 feet deep-LOL;
Dimmable LED Light Bulbs, PAR 20, PAR 30, PAR 38, MR16 - Ledliquidatorsinc.com

 

[spscrazy]

I am really happy with the fixture that I got thru Luke at reef filtration it has only been a couple of weeks but my sps frags are really starting to color up I am sooooo happy I made the switch had a 250 MH before getting the led's led's are much brighter on my 95g than the MH also the weather has started to warm up here & the a/c hasn't been cutting on so much since the switch & the tank is running cooler

 

[Troylee]

The color the shimmer the whole thing it's way different than mh..... It's gonna take some getting used to that's all....;) it's cool being able to control everything on my lighting including the color it's just different..... I have been running mh since the beginning so I'm not to hip on changes lol....

 

[Reefnjunkie]

I am really happy with the fixture that I got thru Luke at reef filtration it has only been a couple of weeks but my sps frags are really starting to color up I am sooooo happy I made the switch had a 250 MH before getting the led's led's are much brighter on my 95g than the MH also the weather has started to warm up here & the a/c hasn't been cutting on so much since the switch & the tank is running cooler

I was looking into the one's Luke had-but again still taking it all in

I have all brand new lumenmax elites, ballasts, bulbs everything for the new build than someone brought up LED's AGAIN-:cry:

The color the shimmer the whole thing it's way different than mh..... It's gonna take some getting used to that's all....;) it's cool being able to control everything on my lighting including the color it's just different..... I have been running mh since the beginning so I'm not to hip on changes lol....

did you do the DIY like I found over at RC that Soundwave posted the detailed DIY build on-

What did you end up going with?

 

[Reefnjunkie]

Woah, just found theholy grail of DIY LED from the "thefishman65" plus some nice pics with the SPS

I just have about 1800 posts to scan-:cry:

 

[Troylee]

Yeah I did the diy route I am running 100 royal blues and 50 cool whites...

 

[CJO]

Woah, just found theholy grail of DIY LED from the "thefishman65" plus some nice pics with the SPS

I just have about 1800 posts to scan-:cry:

There is a summary I helped write with him on page 200 of the thread.

CJ

 

[CJO]

The future build having 1950 watts of lighting not to mention the 1hp chiller that sucks 1200 watts and a 1800GPH pump to run the chiller just wants me to see if there are better options without risking loosing my prized colorful sticks

Besides the energy savings for LEDs, you might run cool enought that you don't need the chiller.

CJ

 

[Electrobes]

I thought the LED's put out a lot of heat, or is that the power source that does that? Do they run cool all the way through, or would it heat up a room some?