Replacing MH with LED

I have read about 98% good things about them. Mostly from the standpoint that they hammer the competition in the not producing excess heat and cost of operating departments...

 

I think once the DIY type products start showing up, the LED market is going to explode. Right now the up-front costs are pretty prohibitive no matter what the energy savings are. The other problem is that they aren't super flexible - For example it would be really to use the currently available systems in a canopy.

The DIY market should solve both of those issues.

-JB

 

Actually one of the members of the club has the solaris lighting setup. We went and checked it out on the tank tour. They are pretty sweet setups, they dont create much heat at all and they have programmable kelvin settings for however blue you want it. Although I didnt think they were as bright as MH and they dont quite have that shimmer that MH has.

 

Ditto, its got nothing on my 3- 400 watt mh's.....it was cool though.

 

I think the LED units are really cool. I'd probably try one if I had a bigger budget. It'll be interesting to see how they compete with MH once the price comes down!

Anna /site/DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/_default/emoticons/smile.gif

 

I think in 5 years these will be a reasonable alternative to mh's. I've read about a few people doing small DIY ones for nano reef's but it seems that big ones are still expensive. The led market is moving fast right now though, and better and brighter led's are constantly coming out. The led's used in solaris hoods are even out dated compared to some of the new led's on the market. DIY with led's is still a pretty new thing also. There's a definite learning curve involved with figuring out how to put a solid one together. They are definitely the way of the future...

 

There is atleast one thread on RC  about building your own. It is very interesting but you have to have some electronics experience.
Also, I remember right, Tibbs gave a link last year to an LED aquarium light manufacturer that is cometing against Solaris and they are in Ames. I can't find the company right now though.

 

Actually, having built LED taillights and LED light boards for custom car apps, it's more patience than anything else.

And in a situation like a reef aquarium, the ammount of bulbs and time involved in getting the layout and circuits complete is...well...alot.

I may make up one for a 5 or 10 gallon nano just to see how well it works. Aside from Radio Shack, I will need to find a cheaper LED supplier.

 

Actually, just did a quick search on EBay and looks like you can get 50 white and 100 UV blues approc 400-410nm for around $40 shipped from Hong Kong.

I may just decide to do this and see what happens...maybe make the panel out of white abs....

 

Ryan #3, you should read some of the threads on RC (if you haven't already) they talk about building these, the correct type of LEDS and the pitfalls they have run into.

 

I have done quite a bit of research but on a smaller scale for moon lights when I didn't have any.

And part of the fun of coming up with something new is diving right in and doing it. I already have corrosion resistant solder...although i will need more. The tough part is going to be finding a way to corrosion proof the board...been thinking about some type of urethane over the connections on the board and any exposed tracers...

 

Posted By brettstout on 03/05/2008 6:47 PM
yeah, i was looking at the 48" selling as a hood system for $2780 running at about 45% of the watts, and running for 50,000 hours, the price still doesn't work out as far as I know to be less than going with MH. The system also doesn't have an ability to replicate seasons or lunar cycles from what I can see, which seems to be a simple software oversight on the part of the manufacture.
I have one of the H4 series LED systems.  I don't know where you got your information but the system does simulate seasons.  you set the shortest day of the year and the longest day of the year and it caculates the transitions for you.  It also simulates a luner cycle as well.  It follows a 28 day cycle getting brighter and dimmer as moon light would.  My only complaint with this setup is that it does not follow the actual cycle of the moon, but instead works on a 28 day cycle for power up of the system, so if you remove power in the middle of the cycle it starts over again.

 

You also my want to check out www.aquaillumination.com they are the newest LED reef lighting system developers.
they are adding some really nice touches to there system, such as computer interfaces.  Also there system is a modular design, you can add segments to it if you decide to get a larger tank.  They are also boasting brighter LED's, there is some debate from what I have read if this is true. 
You might get some good ideas from looking at their system.