chinese led lights

[Mrs Smith]

I am on the verge of switching to LEDs as well and eyeing the "black boxes." I'm admittedly leaning towards the AquariumLED website rather than ebay, if nothing but for the customer service.

One of my local shops sells some very popular custom ordered fixtures and priced me a 180W setup (3w bulbs) in a 14K spectrum for $299. I figure I'd need 3 of them as I'm lighting a 7' 230g softie reef.

Am I correct in understanding that this would merely be a few more bulbs in the assembly? (60 vs 40, right)

And is 120W enough? Is 180W too much? Here I finally thought I had "lighting" figured out, and I have a whole new system to learn...

I'm currently running 3 250W Phoenix 14K moguls on Lumenmax Elite reflectors, and the bulbs are, ahem, older than I'd care to admit, but I love the coloring. The thing I am most concerned about is getting the color right. I've run everything from 6500 Iwasakis to 20K Radiums (well, for a short while), +/- actinic VHOs, and I don't want to be unhappy with the color.

I plan to suspend them on chains in the canopy. I have 11" of space, and figure that a small fan in the canopy blowing across the vertically mounted fans in the fixtures should ventilate it enough.

Any input appreciated.
I have been waffling on the tank for quite a bit lately, and figured I needed a big change.

[rhkingsfan]

If you go back a couple of pages, you'll see my comments and pictures. I used to run 250 radiums under a lumenbrite reflector (coralvue ballast) and switched to the 120watt 20k aquarium leds. The led color is not an issue for me; its a little bit whiter than the radiums but i like how it looks. The leds don't appear to be as intense as the MH, but spread is actually better. My tank is 24" deep and the leds are fine for that depth so far (although its still early for me).

If you have MH now, then heat obviously won't be an issue. Not cool to the touch, but not hot either.

[LSBoogie]

I had five of these 120w 1w panel. Three over my 210g (30" depth), two over my 75g. I started them at 15" otw on the 210g and 24" otw on the 75g. I moved them down in 3" increments weekly over the 75g and from 15" to 7" otw on the 210g after apx 2 months.
8 hour cycles on both.

I may have had other tank issues going on as the 210g has only been set up for a total of about 4 months. The corals and fish were moved from one 125g (main), into a temporary holding 125g while the 210g was installed in place of the original 125g. This process took about 10 days.

The 75g has been set up for over 2 years and was using 4 t5ho bulbs in an aquamedic fixture.

Sorry for all the back story.

When the 210g was initially stocked and ready to run I had definately noticed some die off due to the move. I was quickly surprised when sps that I thought were totally dead seemed to come back to life. Zoas popped LPS seemed happy. This trend continued for about a month.

Growth stopped, zoas, even the ones at the top, started getting 2" long stalks and were really reaching for the light. Tips on the sps that had gotten color were now turning white. I thought the lights were too intense so I tried lowering corals. Death continued. Things that weren't dying, weren't growing either. Did some reading and found that the corals might not be bleaching but might actually be "browning out" due to lack of light. Tried moving several corals, up, down, probably too much. All my chalices are now gone. All but one acan is gone (it went from a bright red to now an orange-its only half alive). In 4 months I went from extremely happy with my leds to distraught. Maybe its not them? maybe its the "penetration". I ordered a new panel with 3w leds and 80 degree optics. While it was being made i decided to try metal halides. Three days in and I'm not happy with the color (possible bulb issue, possible burn in) but my corals are already getting puffier.

The 75g had a more drastic result. Lost two anemones almost right away. Got frustrated and left the leds where they were. Some green leather loves it and grew like mad same with kenya, xenya not so much. One rainbow nem doesn't seem to mind although he was moving around alot more then with the t5s indicating un happy. I'm currently breaking this tank down due to expected increase in operation costs of the 210g with halides.

I can't positively tell you that the LED panels caused everything to die that did. I can't tell you why some of my friends with these exact same panels are having great results. I can't tell you I won't get mad with my electric bill and go back to LED. The 210 is newer, maybe thats the reason? The 75g had been established for a long time, maybe too established? I have no clue.

I can tell you that the varied results from different keepers had/has me nervous enough to go back in time and try halides. I can also tell you that merely three days in and I am noticing an improvement in coral apperance (much like I had when I initially went to LED).

Could be that I am just looking for something to blame and the LED panels seemed like a good target. I honestly do not know, I just wanted to share my story as I see alot of people jumping on this train. Just be careful people. Sorry if you feel my post is out of line.

[biecacka]

Originally Posted by BigCountry74

Probably. You would need the driver. But that at point you might as well DIY the whole box? Since you would be losing money on the non-dimmable driver it comes with?

I'm thinking of DIY but was just curious as this could be cheaper depending on price of controller. I seen a sweet DIY Cree 3wt fixture today but it was at a coral farm here near me do he could afford it!
Lol.
Trying to figure out how many LEDs I need over my 220
Corey

[Plumbcrazy]

Originally Posted by BigAirHarper

Thanks for the reply. I'm curious tho, do we know 100% that the 3W aquariumleds fixture is being driven at 3W each? I've heard that most companies put out a light saying 3W but it's commonly driven at 2W. Any ideas if this is the case with them as well?

Oh and bigkenny you get a chance to snap some pics of your new lights?

These lights are driven at 3w. Feel free to contact them with your questions. I emailed back and forth with them for quite some time before buying mine.

[Soccernut5824]

Originally Posted by bigkenny76

Ok guys i ended up having to post the cell phone pics, looks like my digital camera is shot for now, im guessing the 6 and 7 year old boys took it for a spin since there was a peanut butter and jelly fingerprint still on the lcd screen, oh well, here we go, at least it gives you an idea, the color is alot crisper in person and has a blue tint.(sorry about the glare and the crappy pics)

also everything was starting to close up

This is how they are setup above the tank



And here is the right side (kinda)

http://i750.photobucket.com/albums/x...21-22_2261.jpg

Left side

http://i750.photobucket.com/albums/x...-14-26_958.jpg

Middle,

http://i750.photobucket.com/albums/x...-14-33_477.jpg

what leds where these could u post a link of where u got them.

[angelfish7]

Originally Posted by Soccernut5824

what leds where these could u post a link of where u got them.

I believe this is the link :


"I bought them from ebay, here is the link"

http://www.ebay.com/itm/140647717867...84.m1497.l2649

[Soccernut5824]

Originally Posted by angelfish7

I believe this is the link :


"I bought them from ebay, here is the link"

http://www.ebay.com/itm/140647717867...84.m1497.l2649

link doesnt work...

[bigkenny76]

Originally Posted by Soccernut5824

link doesnt work...

sorry guys just saw this, I guess they removed that link, here's the ones I got

http://www.ebay.com/itm/USA-NEW-120-...#ht_5974wt_904

[want2reef]

Just an update on these lights.

My RBTA, Blue Tenuis, Green Birdsnest and Hammer are all doing fine under my black box of LED's, so far.

[stiltman]

Originally Posted by allsps40

Ok I want to see some pics of these tanks running china leds. Some of you are saying great growth and color but I see no pics to show it.

PICS!!!!!!

LOL. I like pics, let's see some. I'd also be willing to borrow a chinese LED set up for someone. That way you all could have an unbiased tester report to you. PM for my address you can ship two of them to me right away ;-).

[bigkenny76]

Morning guys,
Figured id post a pic of my new addition, since it was waiting on me when the lights cut on this morning, it is 30" below the leds

[karsseboom]

Originally Posted by stiltman

PICS!!!!!!

LOL. I like pics, let's see some. I'd also be willing to borrow a chinese LED set up for someone. That way you all could have an unbiased tester report to you. PM for my address you can ship two of them to me right away ;-).

You guys can't just post pic of your tank with the lights on, you have to grow these sps under these lights from frags to really prove there working.

[stiltman]

Originally Posted by karsseboom

You guys can't just post pic of your tank with the lights on, you have to grow these sps under these lights from frags to really prove there working.

Ok, no problem. please also send me a few frags of SPS. thanks in advance.

[want2reef]

Originally Posted by karsseboom

You guys can't just post pic of your tank with the lights on, you have to grow these sps under these lights from frags to really prove there working.

Frags growing as we speak.

[submersible]

Originally Posted by karsseboom

You guys can't just post pic of your tank with the lights on, you have to grow these sps under these lights from frags to really prove there working.

I think most of the people here want to see how they look over the tank. We all know the questionable growth/color achieved with these lights.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2123253

80% of the corals in my tank were frags when i switched to these lights

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2048765

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...&postcount=112

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...php?p=19146499

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...71&postcount=3

[Silkyslim]

What do you guys think about these? Saw them on eBay. http://www.ebay.com/itm/170736938850...84.m1555.l2649

[submersible]

That is the eshines fixture, with a higher price.

[Silkyslim]

Originally Posted by submersible

That is the eshines fixture, with a higher price.

What's the reg price? I'm leaning toward these over the 120w black boxes.

[submersible]

Originally Posted by Silkyslim

What's the reg price? I'm leaning toward these over the 120w black boxes.

With bridgelux and controller 295
With Cree and controller 385
Bridgelux without controller 128
Cree without controller 219

[ReefingIt]

Does anyone have a tank picture of the 120w led with 30 blue and 25 whites? I would love to see these before I commit to a purchase. I have personally seen the 120w 1 watt led with 1:1 blue/white ratio and thought it was a little too blue for my taste. I've been eyeing these on Ebay but having a tough time deciding which manufacturer to choose from.

Thanks.

[metalmulisha]

Interesting thread. There is an individual on here that stated heat sink. He/She is on the money in regards to these units. HEAT is the number 1 enemy with LEDS. I have a buddy on the hydroponic side that actually have units similar to these units but are custom 135 watt unit and a 400 watt unit. He did the ratio of spectrums needed for growing and the wattage used on kill-a-watt showed only a 60 watt usage.

The thing that he ran into was the fans after R&D would start making a larger humming sound, like bad. I can't imagine these fixture being near humidity and saltwater especially enclosed. Second thing would be the heat exchange when cooling these over driven leds. This would significantly decrease the efficacy of the lights. I thought of getting fixtures made but the right way would be to have cree leds being used and LEGIT 2-3 watt LEDS with optics and dimmable. After seeing the price I shyed away since these units have to be bought in bulk.

[Tornader]

I use these over FW tank in my office.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/110773729818...ht_1642wt_1016



My SW tank at home gets only THE BEST though! Ecoxotic Panorama currently with whole bunch of stunners (otherwise nothing grows). Getting Radions next week though.
This is old picture...

[bigkenny76]

Originally Posted by ReefingIt

Does anyone have a tank picture of the 120w led with 30 blue and 25 whites? I would love to see these before I commit to a purchase. I have personally seen the 120w 1 watt led with 1:1 blue/white ratio and thought it was a little too blue for my taste. I've been eyeing these on Ebay but having a tough time deciding which manufacturer to choose from.

Thanks.

the pics I posted a few replies up are with the 20k Version 30 blue 25 white.

[BigCountry74]

Just ordered 3 of the 120 3w 14k off of aquariumleds.com

I have zero corals up and running, so I should be a good tester.

Looking to mount using adjustable shelving components, hopefully I can cram the power cable in the bracket then run back side down thru the wall for a clean build, if I can figure out how to slide the tank back a few foot so I can the drill into the wall....any suggestions on that??!? lol

Mock up I made (my crappy Photoshop but it is to scale! hehe):



Cut this into 3 12" sections:



Need 3 of these (the 14"). Makes it easier to raise light up and down etc.