LED lights causing Headaches...help

Hey All,

Im getting back into Marine Hobby and have spent alot of time in the past few weeks trying to sort out what is needed LED wise to properly light and promote coral growth.

Ok this is what I think ive learned so far correct me if im wrong;

1) All LEDs are not created equal and when it comes to selecting them for Aquarium and coral lighting applications that the PUR and PAR ratings are what matter the most, and what bin they come from

2) Seems to me that LEDs need to be bought from a reputable dealer or you risk not getting what you paid for

3) the front runners in LEDs when applied to our hobby seem to be Cree and Luxeon (philips) imho


4) To find out how much light is needed I read that you Multiply LxW of the tank and divide by 18 to get the # of 3w LEDs needed to do a reef tank that can support SPS (this only applies to top quality LEDs rated @ 3w)
Also read that .8 watts of LEDs per gallon for a reef tank

OK now when it tried to apply what ive leaned all i get is a HUGE Headache........... I cant afford a Name brand or prebuilt unit that uses the LEDs I want in it so now what are my choices?

I was thinking of building a DIY setup for my reef using either Luxeon ES LEDs or Cree XP-G/XT-E LEDs (leaning towards Luxeon like what ive read about them more than i do Cree imho)

I go surfing the web and found that Stevesleds and rapidled seem like the front runners for the best DIY kits. Steves has the Luxeon ES LEDs and rapid has the Cree XP-G LEDs

The more I search the more my head hurts .....i found LEDs come i all sorts of configurations like flood lights and ones like Par 38s etc..........

My budget is $300 for LED lights that are made by either Cree or Luxeon
that will allow me to have any coral my heart desires in my tank.

I would like a system that the light spectrum is controlable and dimable (and in the future able to use a programble controller)

Im open to any and all suggestions

BTW Tank is an Arcylic custom 65 gallon 48x14x24 and its built into a wall flush

 

You never said what tank you have.

Quick note though, Cree and Luxeon are great for royal blue with Cree better for white. Colors are a mix between Osram by Siemens, Luxeon by Philips, and Cree along with violets and UV From Semiled and LEDEngin. Bridgelux only makes white LEDs unfortunatly and focuses on arrays that don't fit well with the 20mm stars.

 

What size is your tank? I recently bought a 16 inch fixture from Reef Breeders LED Fixtures 120w full spectrum led I have a 60 gallon cube 24x24x24 and it is plenty powerful been running at 50% for two hours a day max. It is fully controllable and dimable it is a nice unit has good fans a heck of a heatsink I only gave 319 for is free shipping I know the 24 inch and 32 aren't much more.

 

HV from ledgroupbuy are better than other violets
Phillips hasn't released them but I think they have a lineup of RB's that is REALLY good, I think it's the Luxeon M. If you want a large 10 watt bridgelux with Luxeon or cree 3 watt RB, CB, TV/HV, cyan, and DR surrounding it that will work really good too, they are called Evil Clusters.

 

Correct. They have started selling the Luxeon M royal blue to resellers. I spoke with Future about it for a few days to get information as well as pricing information. Apparently they don't plan on selling mounted LEDs so most people won't be able to buy them until at least late February at best.

 

I edited my post and added tank size to the bottom

 

Look into buildmyled.com. Great customer service and they build custom spectrum leds so you can get the usual rb, b, white comboa or add in uv spectrum and deep reds for the same cost.

On a side note, white leds aren't white they are a blue led with a phosphorus treatment.

 

Stevesleds violet is far far superior to ledgroupbuy's violet. It's amazingly better actually. (I have used both and compared them side to side, there is no competition)