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Having second thoughts on moving to LED's (1 Viewer)

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irish02bk

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I have been contemplating switching from my 6 bulb TEK to AI Sol LEDs. My tek hasn't sold yet so i haven't switched.

After reading a lot on the net and about MACNA guy, it seems that he isn't sold on LED's yet. What are you guys thoughts, both that have LED's and don't. I'll either have to purchase new bulbs in about 6 months or switch to LED's...
 
Give it two more years. There will be alot of advancements made in full spectrum leds. newer versions of leds continue to drop in price with vastly improved features.
 
The majority of what I heard at MACNA is that LED's are getting better but are still about 2 years away from being powerful enough for all tanks.

Heard they are just fine for softy tanks but most feel they are still under powered for anything past that
 
I'm using the Sol AIs, and I have to keep them dialed back so I don't bleach my corals. I'm getting great growth, even at the bottom of my 210.

I'm a firm believer in QUALITY LED fixtures. Too many companies are just hacking together parts.

I agree that LEDs will be better in two years. I bet there will be better spectrum halide bulbs in two years too. That doesn't mean the technology isn't good right now.

AI just dropped the price on their SOL units, so the time is right to pick them up. The nice thing about everything AI has done since the beginning is make all the technology upgradable, so if there is a big breakthrough in the next 24 months, I bet the SOL can be upgraded by replacing the LED pucks.
 
I took a chance on some cheap chinese made LED and it is looking OK so far. I will definetly upgrade in two years. The light are very bright... Even when I put it against my 250W Halide... They are almost the same cost as replacing the new MH and PC bulbs on my fixture.

:beerchug:
 
Never really had MH on my tanks, but have used T5's and LED's; Just like with any light it all boils down to what is actually used. I believe I read the note somewhere that Sanjay mentioned that "commercially made fixtures" are not upto par yet. Also the reason for this is that these fixtures use Whites and blues exclusively. this has been known in the DIY forums for quite sometime. Same as T5's where almost everyone has more than one bulb type.. LEDs need to incorporate more than just the CW/RB combo. Read Nineballs monster build thread on RC, they have tried quite a few commercial fixtures and seem to liking the progress.

Personally I'm sticking to LED's they did give good growth and color in MOST corals, its the same as was under T5's where MOST corals grew well (this is what almost everyone will tell ..that with T5's MOST all corals can be kept).. there's a handful of Acans that changed color but grew MUCH better than under T5's. in V2 I will be adding regular blues/neutral whites and down the line when I have more time, low wattage true whites(RGB). I guess I'm not the pioneer here.. Ecotech's lights are along the same lines with good initial reviews.

For more, there's a pic thread on RC where hobbyiests have posted pics of their tanks under LEDs, some of them have been under LEDs for more than a year and they are LARGE tanks too....

finally, nothing much against T5's except it looks too pastelled to me
 
If you have been happy with your T5's, why switch? 6 bulbs at 20 or so a piece is $120 and 2 AI's are $800. ;)
 
I'm starting to get a little more comfortable about the idea of LEDs for more than just supplement/accents. Ecotech ( and hopefully others that follow ) looks very promising but I would never jump on anything new. Give any model at least 1 year ( okay well at least 6 months+ ) before I would purchase.

I learned by mistake years ago jumping on a new model too quickly. When all the new MH bulbs started coming out, the 400W Coralvue 20k looked awesome but the early version were giving out large amounts of UV ( Didn't matter how cautious you were with acclimating ) and severaly burnt or killed thousands of dollars worth of corals trying to save stinking $20 on a bulb.
 
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Rachelle V said:
I didn't have much luck with my AI fixtures (I think I posted it in my build thread), I ended up going back to T5 bulbs. Corals did not react well, alkalinity consumption dropped, and bulbs ended up burning out after only 1 1/2 years of use. Wasn't worth it to me. Had a similar experience to this thread:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2070551
Click to expand...

Spent quite sometime reading referenced thread, I guess its inconclusive one way or the other. Except for the OP and a few others (the others do not appear to have many years in the hobby) no one else seems to have an issue with Corals not doing well under LEDs.

Dont have youtube access at work, but I beleive reefkeeper2 is the tank which is in a huge sunroom with a lot of plants, viewable from four sides.. one of the better setups out there... not just the tank ;)
 
as an aside, I have a rainbow acan that was under MH before I got it, its been brown under T5's and LED's, much better growth under LEDs but color was lacking in both cases. To me it appears its the change in light that probably irks the corals, some are moodier than the rest ;)
 
I think the only way to go LED at the moment is to DIY so you can mod and upgrade stuff as needed. I am looking into building a XP-E/XP-G setup soon, but I am also considering adding more to the spectrum with other LEDs in the Red/Green spectrum as well. It is such a changing environment at the moment that it is hard to make a concrete decision.
 
Thing is to get the spread that the Ecotech is getting with the design is just not possible for the average DIYer. Work around is to just bombard with lots of LEDs across the whole tank not just a small area which will result in more LEDs used thus adding to DIY costs.

Plus it really seems the key to being successful with LED is the ability to fine tune via dimmers. If you DIY with say 5 dimmers like the Ecotech has when it's all said in done I suspect you really haven't saved much or still end up with an inferior fixture.

This all banks on that the performance of the Ecotech ends up getting good reviews after enough people have grown corals under it. So I'll sit on the sidelines a bit longer.
 
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This is where I am at personally for general rules of thumb (not necessarily for every person I meet).

New tank set up:

60 cube and under LED (unless sps only tank then t-5 or MH).
Over that T-5 with LED supplements (so instead of a 8 bulb t-5 retro 6 bulb retro with 2 LED blue strips). Or Controllable LED unit with T-5 Aqua Blues (White) Basically switching out LED where a MH used to be.
All LPS or softy tank - LED

The price of LED is still too high and changing alot to just dump a working fixture, just for something fun and new... its close though. Perhaps Christmas 2012 will be the time to hit up the spouse. ;)

I will make a lighting change soon too... but not till i get the value out of my new mh bulb.
 
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Depends on what you have in your tank. Softies LEDs fine, LPS maybe- more than a few hardy SPS, no way! T5's and halides proven to work with SPS, don't drop the cash on LED's for a couple more years if you are SPS dominant.
 
Here's maybe something to help open up your horizon's; this tank has been all LEDs from day uno. decide for yourself, there's always the option to remain a skeptic. Maybe he is doing something we (LED users) arent or the non LED proponents for a SPS tank arent willing to consider?

Not mine (wish it to be)-

PAR%252520Readings.jpg



full thread - http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2029329
 
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I currently run a ATI Powermodule 6x24w fixture. I only use four bulbs in it and have it raised 12" above my aquarium in order to not bleach my SPS. It lights up the entire room like a tanning bed. I was able to get up close and personal with a variety of LED manufactuers at MACNA. What I liked most about them was how you could have the fixture mounted higher above your aquarium and not have all of the light spilling out into the room. I was most impressed with AI SOL Blue and the Ecotech Radion.
 
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