renman303 Posted April 15, 2011 Share Posted April 15, 2011 I have recently sold my 3 MH 400w fixtures, bulbs and one of the three 400W Ballasts. Two Ballasts are still available if anyone is interested? I have purchased 3 Marineland 18" LED Lights composed of 18-1w White (10k) Bulbs and 3-1w Blue (460nm) Bulbs. This gave me a total of 56 White and 9 Blue across the length of the tank. Now, I was going to build the LED setup but the cost to do this with power supplies, wire, LED's, heat sinks and my time would have been ~$700. So far these three units have set me back $458 total. The only bad part of the Marineland lights is there is only one power cord for both the Blue and White LED's with a rocker switch to go between or an Off position. Two cords would have allowed separate timers. Oh well....Might have to modify this later? But, these were literally 1/3 the cost of those with two cords and most of the costlier models used either 6500k white spectrum bulbs or 8k bulbs. Now, I think a bit more lighting may be needed as these put out about the same light as a 250k MH bulb. So, I do have a bit of a "softer" look, which I like. But, because of the width of the light only being 5", it does give some "shadow" to the back of the tank. Now, IMO...this can be a good thing allowing you to adjust corals to lighter or darker conditions as they need. The 400w MH's that I had were BLINDING! I'm not sure that's good either. To me, this new look incorporates more of what I remember while diving in Hawai'i. I figure I can always add more light if needed. Anyway, I'll add more shots in the coming days but here is my initial install. Granted, I hung them in a hurry as my tank has been running on Blue T5's for about a month without any bright lights. I'm going to modify the hood to make this more ascetically pleasing soon. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mcallahan Posted April 15, 2011 Share Posted April 15, 2011 wish I'd know you were considering the Marineland product. I'd of steered you another way for a similar price. What do you have in your tank livestock wise? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmluckenbach Posted April 15, 2011 Share Posted April 15, 2011 wish I'd know you were considering the Marineland product. I'd of steered you another way for a similar price. What do you have in your tank livestock wise? Where would you have steered him if you don't mind? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renman303 Posted April 15, 2011 Author Share Posted April 15, 2011 What system do you like? I certainly couldn't find anything comparable for the price? BTW, they work beautifully, and are very low profile and lightweight. I've had the tank up for 3 years now with LPS, softies, plate coral, Sailfin Tang, Blue line Wrasses, Pink Bar Goby and Tiger Pistol, Clownfish...about 14 fish in all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aqua-Dome Posted April 16, 2011 Share Posted April 16, 2011 UL rules have forced major lighting manufacturers to reduce fixtures to one cord. dont ask me why... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaJMasta Posted April 16, 2011 Share Posted April 16, 2011 The two problems I've thought the Marineland lights had were that there isn't nearly enough blue to use them without supplements, and that by only using 1W lights, they don't penetrate to the same depths, don't crank out the same PAR, and aren't quite as efficient as their higher power counterparts. For softies and LPS it's probably fine, but in terms of PAR (given that the supplemental lights haven't changed), the LEDs alone are probably putting out 1/5-1/6th of your 3x400W MH setup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renman303 Posted April 16, 2011 Author Share Posted April 16, 2011 @DaJMaasta: First, there is more than enough blue in the Marineland lights. These are for Reefs. I'll take a picture tonight with nothing but the 9-460nm Blue's on. I do have 2x 48" T5's running blue and 2x36" T5's running 50/50 and Actinic. There is less light in the three LED lights that I'm running compared to the 3-400w MH's that were running. I noted above that they appear to be more on the level of 250MH's in their current output. I actually prefer the lighting now over the 3x400W setup. I'm not sure about your claim of "1/5-1/6 of your 3x400W MH setup"...Where are you getting this information? There is a PAR listing on the Marineland site. I'm not sure where you would find a PAR listing for MH? In fact, it completely depends on the Ballasts and the exact bulbs that you use. Besides, PAR is not everything...no matter who tells you that "You need X amount of watts per gallon". The tank will become accustom to nearly any light conditions. You can easily move corals up the rocks closer to the lights or lower. My tank, being 31" deep has less light at the bottom but, I temporarily have the lights mounted to the top of my canopy which is also 11" off of the water. I will lower them later when I build a new "tilt" canopy. The PAR/LUX on my lamps is 130/12700 at 12" underwater and 64/5870 at 24" underwater. My sandbed from the surface is between 22.5" and 25" from the surface. I have been running the T5's by themselves for more than a month now until the LED's arrived and no ill effects. In fact, most places in the ocean do not have blinding light. I've actually done the antithesis to everything that has been told to me on my tank with no bad effects. If you want to see a working experiment in action, I invite you to come visit. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Alvarado Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 I've been eyeing the 48" Marineland lights for a few weeks now. They have been getting a pounding of a bad reviews, but unfortunately, the reviews I have read have not been from anyone who has one. I am also curious what other options are out there, I don't see anyone else with the same footprint at the same price. What has really stopped me was the single power cord. I would like the night LEDs to be on a schedule. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renman303 Posted April 17, 2011 Author Share Posted April 17, 2011 Eric, I agree...one cord is the only drawback but they are literally 1/2 the price of all of the other LED's on the market. I looked at the ones that are made of "strips" that you can DASE Chain together. They are also 1W but MORE than 3 times the price. Those have two cords. I figured that I can live with one for awhile or maybe just get some blue moonlights later. In these pics, the first is with the 9 Blue LED's and my T5 Actinics. The second is with the 9 Blue 460 nm LED's only! IMO, it's way too bright for moonlighting! The shimmer with just the Blues only is AWESOME! My apologies for the pics I took them with my Android Phone. Regards, Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
versace Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 Eric, I agree...one cord is the only drawback but they are literally 1/2 the price of all of the other LED's on the market. I looked at the ones that are made of "strips" that you can DASE Chain together. They are also 1W but MORE than 3 times the price. Those have two cords. I figured that I can live with one for awhile or maybe just get some blue moonlights later. In these pics, the first is with the 9 Blue LED's and my T5 Actinics. The second is with the 9 Blue 460 nm LED's only! IMO, it's way too bright for moonlighting! The shimmer with just the Blues only is AWESOME! My apologies for the pics I took them with my Android Phone. Regards, Dave looking good whit moon light!!!!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offroadodge Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 lookn good RENMAN, will be interested to know the outcome in a few months. Keep us posted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renman303 Posted April 17, 2011 Author Share Posted April 17, 2011 lookn good RENMAN, will be interested to know the outcome in a few months. Keep us posted Anytime you guys want to come up for a look, you're welcome. Maybe we can have another meeting at my place since the addition of the ATS and LED's? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renman303 Posted May 12, 2011 Author Share Posted May 12, 2011 UPDATE: It's been one month since 86'ing my Metal Halide lights. No ill effects whatsoever! Now for the good part....Where my chiller used to turn on all the time to keep the water temperature down...averaging 82t-84 during peak heat days (Chiller was set for 81) The current temperature has never varied more than 1 degree with NO CHILLER USE AT ALL! Current temperature readings are a consistant 79.5 - 80.5 degrees! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 Getting a double bonus on power savings! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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