very interesting?! - for led users

Very relevant to the chat conversation last night. I had the radions and the ATI T5 fixture and there is just no way I'd run LED over T5 in a tank large enough to use an ATI T5 fixture and bulbs. Halide is good too, but unless you have to have shimmer no reason to use that over T5 either. LED was a fun fad, but I think their spectrum and efficiency has evolved about as far as it will go. I use them right now over my two nano tanks and wish I could run T5 (other than the 11" Cadlights fixture) every day.

Thanks for posting that!
 
Damn you. Lol I just finished my led build. At least I built it myself for a fraction of the cost and was far more fun to build than just buy. But never the less a very interesting thread that I would love to see more research on.
 
I will say, I believe Radions overdrive the LEDs (running 3w LEDs at 5w) so that may have something to do with it.
 
On a positive note, my AI SOLs have lost very little if any. The par at the bottom of my tank 2+ years later is still the same. Running them at max 60% white intensity with a very long ramp up and down. They are not in a canopy, hung in the open air on the AI rails. I can’t speak for the spectrum change, no way to affordably measure it.
 
Anyway, it creates interesting debate about real led longevity and real savings over bulb changes cost. I would love to do some more research and testing over couple of years but I don't use led only fixture. I have PAR meter, if anybody in Chicago area is up for PAR test every 3 months it would be cool to do this and create thread where we can post results. PM me if interested.
 
MMreef said:
Anyway, it creates interesting debate about real led longevity and real savings over bulb changes cost. I would love to do some more research and testing over couple of years but I don't use led only fixture. I have PAR meter, if anybody in Chicago area is up for PAR test every 3 months it would be cool to do this and create thread where we can post results. PM me if interested.
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Id be interested to do a quarterly par report.
 
MMreef said:
Anyway, it creates interesting debate about real led longevity and real savings over bulb changes cost. I would love to do some more research and testing over couple of years but I don't use led only fixture. I have PAR meter, if anybody in Chicago area is up for PAR test every 3 months it would be cool to do this and create thread where we can post results. PM me if interested.
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Sounds like a fun experiment. What type of measurements? Individual colors each read seperatly at typical intensity as well as 100%, or just par at a given distance using all colors at typical usage?
 
im happy i made my own lights, only me to blame. i ran my crees at 5w 1500ma but my meanwells kept blowing up so im running them at 1300ma to keep my drivers happy. I think T5's are the best though.
 
It's tough. I do like to try new things and jump on board with the occasional trend. Hopefully no one will be selling the pet rock in the dry goods section. Unless we can consider live rock as a pet!
 
Steve1986 said:
Hmm very interesting. It just seems wrong , the way some companies mislead the consumer to sell something.
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So true, but it's unfortunately the way companies do business. I had a long philosophical reply about it but figured meh. Lol!

Each person has to decide what product is right for them. I tend to like LED's because the corals do grow, but may not be as colorful as they would be under T-5's.

The decision should be based on what light works best for the particular array of organisms you're keeping, and go with it. I personally feel we reef keepers, as a group, tend to over light our tanks.

If your corals grow and thrive, keep doing what you're doing. I know myself personally, and I have always tried to fix things that weren't broken to begin with. With that being said, this is a hobby so however people spend their money is up to them. Companies will continue to market things that don't work or have any real practical value to reef aquariums.
 
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