Anyone in Cedar Rapids have a PAR Meter?

I Would like to see ur led set up

 

Marc,
I am in the process of building a fishroom and a 180 reef (in the wall between fishroom and LR in basement).  I am planning to build a "nuclearheli" style LED setup.  I may want your help and would like to see your setup sometime as I begin the project.
Thanks!
Matt

 

LED's IMO are junk, MH is the way to go.....

 

Mike, do you have anything which makes you think LEDs are junk? That's a pretty bold statement...

 

If by junk you mean equivalent PAR for less than half the watts and bulbs that can last a decade then yeah, they're junk.   Many folks on the web are finding LED's brighter than their MH. If I only had a 55 gallon tank, maybe I could afford a MH setup, but they waste a lot of energy in heat which is expensive and requires nuisance measures to mitigate.  I've been keeping salt tanks for nearly 20 years (off and on) and have seen some big changes. The LED (esp. DIY LED) may be the biggest of them all. With changes in sink and optic technology we are gonna see some crazy LED systems.
I believe that in 5 years you won't see flourescents on tanks and probably MH only on a few deep tanks. I'm pretty sure condensed diodes on curved  (liquid cooled?) heatsinks LED pendants may completely eliminate MH.  Now that's a bold statement!
Some of the retail versions probably were junk from what I can tell though (I've never seen em, but have heard lots of complaints).  The initial cost is high, but it's a great investment if you consider the cost in the long run (few newbies do--I know I wasted a lot of $$$ in the beginning).
Mike, you've been at this 5 months.  I'm glad you're getting started but you will learn there is a lot to learn and more than one way to skin a cat.  You must be regurgitating something you heard, because in 5 months you can't have that kind of 'knowledge' from experience. For some MH may be a great option, but for me and many others LED is much more appealing.
Matt