Heres an article on led lighting

[defool89]

http://www.reefbrite.com/what-Is-an-led ... uce-light/

Enjoy, its a good lengthy article on LED lighting for your pleasure.

[Iliveinazoo]

Pretty good description really but I have some comments:

1. Power, i.e. Watts that are "seen" by an electricity company that supplies your electricity are the same whether they are produced by Halogens, flourescents or LEDS and all light emitting sources produce light with heat as a waste product. Again, all fittings should be looked at in "luminaire" lumens per circuit watt and then total lumen output to indicate how efficient they are and how they compare with similar products, this varies incredibly between luminaires whether they be LED or not. A "Watt" is V x A x power factor.

2. No real mention of drivers. Drivers produce losses which have an affect on the efficiency of the luminaire. They also affect the average lifespan of the fitting because while the LED's - provided they have satisfactory heat sinks - may last 50,000 hours, which could be 17 years, the life of the driver may be guaranteed for 10 years or less. Hence I mentioned earlier comparing "luminaire" lumens per circuit watt as opposed to "lamp" lumens per circuit watt.

3. My guess is that the white LED that you buy for a planted or reef tank would be the type that has a phosphor coating on top of a blue chip, meaning that the warmer the colour temperature the less efficient the luminaire, or at least that is how the commercial sector is doing it.

[defool89]

Yes it is the most descriptive led article ive found on the net. But this a companies site, and although its really descriptive I dont blame them lacking a couple technicalities on what they do, and what they have and how they apply it to their system. If they did DIY hobbyist would replicate it by gathering the materials at a local electronics store...bad for business.

Either way, LED systems are more then a fad or a get-a-dollar bandwagon, its evolved and its now available and effective for the planted tank an corals.

[Iliveinazoo]

Either way, LED systems are more then a fad or a get-a-dollar bandwagon, its evolved and its now available and effective for the planted tank an corals.

Agreed LED's are almost definitely the lighting of the future but there are still firms around that have jumped on the LED bandwagon and are producing lower quality products. When I warn about LED products I do so because it doesn't always pay. The technology is getting better and better but in my opinion they are still yet to usurp a good linear T5 luminaire in terms of efficacy and ultimate cost.

[defool89]

Thats what I keep hearing...thats why I decided to do take the experiment into my own hands. Im 249.99$ deep and am keeping track of how long ive had em. take into account now the cost of a power source, and two t5 bulbs you gotta change out once a year of 48" in length. So far if my leds last long enough and the initial 249.99$ cost may make up for it., but we will see. I have24 leds at 3w a light. Very powerful with a wide angle in coverage

I will never recommend marineland LEDs by the way. They dont know what they are doing.

[Iliveinazoo]

I hear people recommend that you change flourescents once a year or so - I only replace them when they blow, yes their output drops over time but unless you run a high tech tank and can obviously see defects then why change? LED's are generally rated to last 50,000 hours but the generally the quoted figure is 70% output at that lifespan.

I see the appeal of changing your lighting, I only recommend caution when doing so.

[Terrance]

I'm not into plants, but changing the fluorescent for a T5 is extremely important in the reefs.

When I did the comparison between getting a T5/MH/LED cost and efficiency, LED comes out the winner in reefs. T5/MH users are the ones that switch over to LED for this reason, and its never the other way around.

I'm going to procrastinate on the article.

[defool89]

Its a long article I dont blame you...

[sgtmyers88]

defool what was your experience with the marineland LED's?

[defool89]

I bought the marineland to compare it and rreturned it. It just didnt feel like it was great quality, didnt shimmer so well and didnt look too bright, not worth the money. sometimes cheap prices mean cheap products. Maybe I would put it for a non planted breeder tank but a good t5 would be a better choiice iif youre looking for a new dependable set up. I kepts the reebrite leds for my living room and company that has comes over asks why the tank looks so different and I say its just the light, and they never believe me.