Are these LEDs any good?

E

Eckolancer

Membership Expired
http://www.ebay.com/itm/48-51-Aquarium-LED-Light-Lunar-Bright-Double-Reef-/380378551136?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5890541360#ht_977wt_954

I have been looking for a decent led light set up that will work for soft corals. Right now I run 2 50/50 power compact lights on my 75 gallon and they seem to be working fine. Keeping my corals alive and growning. I even have a RTA in there that has split a few times with these lights. Just wondering if these lights would work the same or better then the PCs. Kind of on a budget for LEDs. I can hold out for a while to get the leds but want to see what all the fuss is about.
 
You want to make sure and get 3 watt LEDs. Those 1 watt aren't going to give you enough penetration.

I would recommend these http://www.aquastyleonline.com/ for decent LEDs on a budget.
 
I am sure that you can run your tank with the aquastyle setup, but, just so you know, you get a lot less light per watt of electricity used from those LEDs than you would with the RapidLED setups. So, you will save on your electric bill, and can use fewer LEDs to accomplish the same thing with these better LEDs. And the DIY is the same for both. You will likely need twice as many of the Bridgelux LEDs compared to the Crees to get the same light.

If you are really into DIY, StevesLEDs has a nice product.

David
 
@DFW wrote:
I am sure that you can run your tank with the aquastyle setup said:
Has anyone done the math on this? I'm curious with such a price difference how long it would take for the electricity savings to out weigh the cost difference. I'm running a 20L so the Bridgelux work perfect. I could see where it could start to get more cost effective on larger setups.
Click to expand...
 
There's actually a pretty good bit of long term savings going with the Crees. The Bridgelux is 30% less efficient, which means you either could have used 1/3rd the LEDs and went with Crees. You'll also save 30% electricity cost for the same amount of light. It was going to cost $8 per month more to run aquastyle LEDs instead of Crees over my most recent setup. The total for Aquastyles was $650 (144 LEDs, Dimmable Drivers & 6 Heatsinks + shipping). The total I spend through RapidLED was $720 (108 LEDs, Dimmable Drivers & 6 Heatsinks + shipping). So it'll pay for itself before the end of the first year.
 
Great, info thanks. Definitely makes sense for the bigger kits.

My 14 LED kits was $100 shipped. Looks like it would be about $180 for similar from RapidLED.
 
Remember to calculate 30% less LEDs, because you'll get the same output from 1/3rd less Cree LEDs. So you could get a 12 LED kit (http://www.rapidled.com/servlet/the-60/12-Ultra-Premium-LED/Detail) and 4.25x8 Heatsink (http://www.rapidled.com/servlet/the-217/4.25%22-x-8%22-Aluminum/Detail) for $95+shipping. That's non-dimmable, for the dimmable driver add another $18 and a $3.50 Potentiometer.

The electric savings would be quite minimal, but you're actually putting more par into the tank and spending at least a little bit less in electricity. Although it would likely take a few years before the savings caught up to the initial cost.

The main reason I didn't go with the aquastyle was their running temp. I couldn't find anyone who told me their heatsink was cool to the touch which tells me you either need to also buy fans with their kits or deal with high temps and shorten the life of the LEDs.

FYI, I'm not against the aquastyle LEDs. I think those LEDs are better than running MH or T5s because you still save a little on electric costs AND (the biggest LED bonus) don't have to pay for bulb replacement. If I were buying lighting and my budget was too small to go with a Cree DIY build I would ABSOLUTELY go with the aquastyle LEDs.
 
I'm with, budget reefing is a task! I think this is a great thread and I hope it will help some people out. I went with aquastyle because of the bulb replacement and a low upfront cost to try out LEDs. I also figured in two years I will have moved on to something bigger and better!

Here is what I was putting in RapidLed as comparable.
12 LED Dimmable - http://www.rapidled.com/servlet/the-223/12-LED-Plug-dsh-n-dsh-Play-Retrofit/Detail
Additional Dimmable Driver - http://www.rapidled.com/servlet/the-232/Mean-Well-ELN-dsh-60-dsh-27P-dimmable/Detail
5.9" x 16" Aluminum Heat Sink - http://www.rapidled.com/servlet/the-168/5.9%22-x-16%22-Aluminum/Detail
 
Those plug and plays are more expensive for sure, but no soldering! And I also wasn't planning on dimming the whites and blues individually. That would be very nice also. You'd also likely need to add some of the plug and play extenders. Also the bigger the heatsink, the better!
 
Those solderless kits do look pretty cool. Although I actually like to solder!

It's nice having two drivers on my aquastyle but I leave them full blast all the time anyway. [smilie=rofl.gif]
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top