I've been thinking over LEDs for a while now and have come up with something that I'm gonna try for my first use of them on a display tank. For me, I try to do everything as inexpensive as possible. I've been doing saltwater for a long time and view it as a marathon rather than a sprint, as all $ adds up in the long haul. So I have a solution to experiment with on a 90 gallon standard that has LPS, anemones, softies and polyps.
Here's the main piece, a par20 15watt with 3 10k whites and 2 actinic blues, with a 60 degree angle. The LEDs are nominally 3 watts each, but are adjusted down to just over 2 watts each. The LEDs are bridgelux usually. This cost $8.50 shipped, direct from China. The ones I'm using are not dimmable, but they have ones that can be dimmed. So for the 90gallon I'm using 12 of these, so total cost is $102.
I'm also spacing out two of these red/blue par20s to get the red spectrum in there for the corraline. They cost about $5 each, so total cost is $10.
The par20 bulbs above screw into a lamp base like this below. They cost $1.50 each at home depot. So for 14 of them, total is $21.
So I have a grand total here of $133 to do a 90 gallon tank. There are a couple other odds and ends, like wire and plugs and wood screws, so round it up to $140.
The "con" of doing it this way is that it's not run by a circuit board and you can't use controller functions like dimming. The "pro" is that I can do a few separate wired circuits and have them turn on and off in succession, and if one bulb goes bad it's easy and cheap to replace.
Here's the spacing I'll be using in the hood of the 90g.
So here's an example of a less expensive way to go. I'll compare this to the other tanks with the MHs and see how it fares. Right now on the 90gallon we have one 400 14k MH, so this is cutting the wattage down to around 120 watts throughout the day, taking into account that we will have different circuits of bulbs on timers. So it's about 25% the energy usage, presuming it'll be enough light.
I got my feet wet in the par LEDs but getting a couple 27watt'ers for one of our fuges, and it's been doing better than it had been with the PCs. More macro growth and much greener.
Here's the main piece, a par20 15watt with 3 10k whites and 2 actinic blues, with a 60 degree angle. The LEDs are nominally 3 watts each, but are adjusted down to just over 2 watts each. The LEDs are bridgelux usually. This cost $8.50 shipped, direct from China. The ones I'm using are not dimmable, but they have ones that can be dimmed. So for the 90gallon I'm using 12 of these, so total cost is $102.
I'm also spacing out two of these red/blue par20s to get the red spectrum in there for the corraline. They cost about $5 each, so total cost is $10.
The par20 bulbs above screw into a lamp base like this below. They cost $1.50 each at home depot. So for 14 of them, total is $21.
So I have a grand total here of $133 to do a 90 gallon tank. There are a couple other odds and ends, like wire and plugs and wood screws, so round it up to $140.
The "con" of doing it this way is that it's not run by a circuit board and you can't use controller functions like dimming. The "pro" is that I can do a few separate wired circuits and have them turn on and off in succession, and if one bulb goes bad it's easy and cheap to replace.
Here's the spacing I'll be using in the hood of the 90g.
So here's an example of a less expensive way to go. I'll compare this to the other tanks with the MHs and see how it fares. Right now on the 90gallon we have one 400 14k MH, so this is cutting the wattage down to around 120 watts throughout the day, taking into account that we will have different circuits of bulbs on timers. So it's about 25% the energy usage, presuming it'll be enough light.
I got my feet wet in the par LEDs but getting a couple 27watt'ers for one of our fuges, and it's been doing better than it had been with the PCs. More macro growth and much greener.
