torn between LED and Plasma Arc Light

[thatguy559]

both sound really good. not sure which route i would like to go. i know everyone is taking the led plunge but there is more out there. what are your thoughts

Seashine light by stray light optical technology


here is a build thread with the lights in use
http://www.cvreefers.org/showthread....t-A-Pico-150-G

[corbett_n]

I think plasma or something similiar will take over the industry. I'm not sure how efficient they are though.

[moondoggy4]

Try asking Todd at Cherry Corals he has one over his frag tank.

[thatguy559]

i asked him about it he said he doesnt use it anymore

[BFG]

I believe the adjustable illumination from the plasma lighting do not benefit at all. I think maintaining a good level par whilst the light level increase or decrease in brightness has not been done yet. The plasma light may be good at full brightness but if you lower the brightness level, par level suffers so nothing can grow at that level. Just a thought.

[thatguy559]

http://http://www.cvreefers.org/show...co-150-G/page2

post 48 on page 2 has his par levels

[BFG]

.....link failed.....

[corbett_n]

couldn't you easily keep the light at full blast when you aren't home and then dial it back for more blue when you are home? Most of us work and aren't there to see the tank anyway.

[jestersix]

Since that is my tank I'll throw in my 2 cents worth...

I personally love the color rendition at 100%, some folks don't. MY lights ramp from 20% up to 100% in the AM then down in the PM. We added a 4 foot Reefbrite LEd all blue for those times when we want people to enjoy the "blacklight poster" effect the blues give. I don't have the PAR numbers up for that setting, but the PAR is very respectible when the lights are at 75% which gives a very nice 14K type color. The lights at 50% push enough PAR that I could easily grow alot of stuff at that level - maybe not my light hog Millis but plenty of others.

Growth is exceptional IMHO, and I think plasmas lighting will only get better. As far as my tank goes, I'm sold on plasmas.

[Zire]

What kind of par is achieved at 75%?

[Steve-H]

Also - how much heat does that thing put off ??

[3.99AfterTaxes]

So... Have plasma's gotten any better over the past four years? Or are they riding on the same technology?

The reason I ask is because LED's have become so much more powerful and efficient over the past while that it just seems like a waste of time and money to invest into a medium that will be superseded in short order.

My $0.2, or less, in cause my point is moot

[corbett_n]

How many watts do they push?

[evilc66]

Plasma has only made progress enough for our needs in the last year. Early generation plasma lighting was done using magnatrons (same thing that makes your microwave oven work), were huge, obcenely expensive, and prone to failure. Within the last year to 18 months, solid state sodium/sulfur plasma has made the technology more feasable for the likes of us. It will continue to improve, no question. Will it move at the same speed as LEDs? Probably not, but time will tell.

[Zire]

Originally Posted by BFG

.....link failed.....

Remove the beginning of the URL such that it begins with "www." and it will work.

[datagr1ff1n]

I use the AI Sol blue lights and i love them. The plasma was great sounding until I looked up how much UV they produce. Capable of causing cancer in mere min's according to the data sheet at http://www.luxim.com/ - not sure if the light that is out there uses a lense to filter that out. But I love the LED AI lights

[Zire]

Reef lighting... cancer... Damn, what a toss up .

[datagr1ff1n]

haha keep in mind that tanning beds give you 80% greater chance of cancer. So I would guess any high output light to do something fast. The plasma bulb is a really compact reaction; I have seen them in demo shows. The light starts off light blue and as you add more power it hits something around 6500 Kelvin. The reaction is the same as a HQI but produced with less electricity and small size. It uses an ionized gas to rapidly ignite the metal inside the bulb housing. HQI’s light up slowly with a lot more power; they still electrically charge metal for the light. Just no ionized gas so it takes more juice to get it to go, thus a warm up time on a halide. Halides also break down faster because they use more electricity to do the job. The LIFI bulb or plasma bulb last much longer because the metal takes less abuse. I wasn't saying that just because in its unfiltered from the light is unusable. Water for example will break light up altering kalvin and amount. Thus the light would have to have some kind of filter (guessing). Sunlight also produces harmful UV that ocean water breaks down for the reefs. So it might actually be better for the inverts. I just have a 4 year old and I worry WAY too much lol.

[manix man]

Seems to me plasma lights are dead before they even started. LED is the way to go but when is the best time to jump on is another question. It's horrible knowing that next year the LED technology will be better and cheaper.

The thing is LED lighting is being designed for everything and the investment is huge so steps forward in design are coming thick and fast. The plasma lighting at best is tiny industry in comparison.

[evilc66]

Why on earth would you think that plasma is dead before it started? The reason its even getting questioned is because of misinformation, which is pretty typical for any new technology that we see introduced to our hobby. Look at LEDs. Five years ago they were being damned for not being able to keep corals alive, but here you are saying you would take LED over plasma.

Plasma has a future. The technology is sound, and is actually more flexible than metal halide. The tungsten electrodes were the limiting factor in MH. With them being absent in plasma, new gas and halide salt mixtures can be used to produce the light necessary, but without UV or IR, if desired. As it stands right now, treat plasma like MH. Just make sure you have UV glass to block excessive amounts of UV. I've put one of the Seashine modules over my spectrometer, and they output a lot less UV than MH. Stop worrying.

[corbett_n]

people are just saying they are dead because they spent a small fortune on LEDs

[tkeracer619]

By the time I can afford my 10x10 tank and house for it to go into I am hoping plasma will allow me to run a single bulb

Only time will tell.

Plasma has a lot of money behind it as well. Every parking lot has a bunch of halides. They use a lot of energy. A lot of energy costs a lot of $. Eventually they will need a solution to replace 600-1000w halides with a more cost effective bulb.

[blasterman789]

There are three lighting technologies that will be ruling the street and competing for R&D the next five years:

- Induction (basically an improved type of fluorescent)

- Plasma

- LED (solid state)

In all honesty, I see LED eventually being surpassed by either one of the above, or both when it comes to big lights. The main reason is that high CRI, high out-put fixtures are best handled by the first two technologies while LED has proven cumbersome. Hell, the CRI specs I've seeing for plasma are well beyond LED at even projected efficiency levels. Metal prices are going to start going up, and neither plasma or induction requires pounds of aluminum to keep at a decent run temp. Plus, a lot of the LED industry is being driven by marketing and speculative investment.

LED is highly customizable though, and this is it's key advantage. Just like halides or fluorescent tubes, you can't put optics on an induction light or plasma light.

On the reef side, while there are some cool LED fixtures, I'd say 2/3 are either junk, look terrible, or just a product recycled from other applications to make some quick bucks because the entire product concept was based on build it in China for cheap first and results second. Both induction and plasma, while having limited introduction, have been far more serious and professional offerings from the start.

[chefzif]

Plasma put to much yellow off in the reef tank! I feel combination of M/H and LED are the way to go!

[silverwolf72]

Until someone figures out how to make a non-spotlight LED I see them as very limited. Their biggest advantage is also their biggest fault, they are really good if you want a 20deg spot suck if you need 180degs.
I think plasma is the way to go.