| Hi. I'm thinking about making the transition to LED lighting and was wondering if people with experience in this area could advise me as to cost, ease of setup, and cost of use. I have a 210 gallon reef tank that I would love to house SPS, clams, and some of the harder species. Right now I'm running 3-250 watt MH but have the option of upgrading to 3-400 Watt MH with ease and little initial cost since I have them already. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. THanks. Jim |
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Lighting help - Possible LED upgrade??
- Thread starter jsweeney76@yahoo.com
- Start date
Plus of LEDS: No heat, no yearly bulb changes, better control of colors (white to blue and now red and green), matches up or excedes MH in par ratings and penetration.
Minuses of LEDS: Upfront cost and the fact they can bleach your corals due to the strength, that is really it.
LEDs are coming down in cost which is nice and the modular design of them means you don't have to do it all at once. Maybe instead of putting up three MH you just put up 2 and run the LEDs alongside the MH for awhile to get a feel for them. Then you can add units as you go along which would spread the cost out over time instead of all at once. I would recommend the AI sol blues.
Minuses of LEDS: Upfront cost and the fact they can bleach your corals due to the strength, that is really it.
LEDs are coming down in cost which is nice and the modular design of them means you don't have to do it all at once. Maybe instead of putting up three MH you just put up 2 and run the LEDs alongside the MH for awhile to get a feel for them. Then you can add units as you go along which would spread the cost out over time instead of all at once. I would recommend the AI sol blues.
add to what the pres said...to help with the bleaching factor, you could use dimmable drivers and start off with the leds on a lower setting. this helps a lot. you can also save a lot of money building the led array your self. which i beleive is better cause you can come up with the color pattern that you want, instead of a pre chosen one from the manufacturer. it is not a hard task to build them, just a little time consuming.
here is a great place to buy them: http://www.rapidled.com/servlet/StoreFront
here is a great place to buy them: http://www.rapidled.com/servlet/StoreFront