Daisy82 Posted September 11, 2012 Share Posted September 11, 2012 Hey all! Well, we finally finished building our house and got all moved in. I tore down my 85 gal and put the livestock in a friend's tank. Now we're getting ready to set up a 165! It sounds like LED's are the way to go, but with sooo many options out there I am completely lost. I have heard that you don't always get what you pay for in LED's, and someone at the LFS recommended Ecoxotic brand, but these would cost $1450.00 . Some details that may be helpful: tank dimensions are 72x20x27 tall there will be a canopy I will be keeping live rock, fish LPS and softies. No SPS. I'm hoping to get something that gives off a nice color I'm not looking for a very expensive, top of the line fixture. I would really appreciate some suggestions! Or if there is a thread that discussed this subject please point me in the right direction - I didn't see one. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted September 12, 2012 Share Posted September 12, 2012 Give us a budget Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wesreyn Posted September 12, 2012 Share Posted September 12, 2012 Give us a budget Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Why does she need to give you a budget? She is simply asking what are some good, relatively inexpensive LED lights that will work for her tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonDiver Posted September 12, 2012 Share Posted September 12, 2012 you could build one which is actually fairly cheap, but does require a bit of research. Juiceman uses these led's on his tank if I'm not mistaken. http://www.evolutionledlight.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted September 12, 2012 Share Posted September 12, 2012 Give us a budget Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Why does she need to give you a budget? She is simply asking what are some good, relatively inexpensive LED lights that will work for her tank. Because price was a decision point on the exoexotics ? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mFrame Posted September 12, 2012 Share Posted September 12, 2012 You should definitely plan to attend this before making any decisions.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daisy82 Posted September 12, 2012 Author Share Posted September 12, 2012 DragonDiver, thanks for the link! There were some pictures on the site that showed the color the lights give off once they're set up that were helpful. Has anyone on ARC used the Evolution brand? Already PM'd Juiceman. victoly, I don't feel like I have enough of a reference point to establish a budget for lighting yet. I've seen fixtures from 100-1500$ but I don't really know how to compare them since I have no idea how they perform, or what sort of LED light is necessary for the kind of setup we're doing. I'm not looking for top of the line - just a fixture that will do a good job for a reasonable price (whatever that may be). Sorry I can't be more specific on that point. Mike, we already have plans for that date! sounded mysteriously interesting though - maybe someone will post what they learned at the event! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daisy82 Posted September 15, 2012 Author Share Posted September 15, 2012 Well I did some looking on Ecoxotic's website and one of their people recommended two of the Panorama Marine 36" LED fixtures. This would be considerably cheaper than the other types LED's the LFS was offering. However, they look very light duty! Alot slimmer and narrower than the other fixtures I've seen. I'm wondering if they will be intense enough. Here's a link to the fixture. Any thoughts? http://www.ecoxotic.com/panorama-marine-led-system.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bimmerzs Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 Being thinner is not really a guage, you have to also consider the total heat budget of the brand led's that are used, against the thermal management techniques used. Cheers, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 There is a thread on Reef Central in the Lighting subforum, you can read it without being a member(assuming you're not already), about "Chinese LED fixtures". Some of these fixtures run around $180-200 and people seem to be having good luck with them. Regarding the Ecoxotic ones, I saw one over a FW tank and it looked nice but it probably wouldn't provide enough light for anything other than softies. Of course, if you get a few of them it might work but then you'd have a big mess of lights over your tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subsea Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 Daisey, You helped a lot when you described what types of livestock you will be keeping. If you focus on the needs of your live stock, it will drive all other decisions on lighting, circulation and filtration. John Tullock's book, Natural Reefkeeking, focused on biotheme or pivotal species to design tank around. Less technology more biology was an overall theam of him and I. From my viewpoint, lighting is not the most important aspect of successful reefkeeking. For that reason, I will not devote the lion's share of the budget to lighting. With respect to LED lighting, I have two large hanging fixtures over my 135G lagoon tank. One was purchased from Champion Lighting for $500. It has an equal number of white/blue led and is rated at 240W. I had a second fixture from Champion that was 120W at $360. I replaced the 120W fixture from Champion with 120W fixture from ReefKeepers. Total cost including shipping was $199. The ReefKeepers fixture has two blues, two whites, red, green, and ultraviolet. When my Flame Angel swims under the multi spectrum colored diodes all I can say is WOW. Patrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 If you could get actual PAR readings of the different fixtures you are evaluating that would help in the decision making process. Barring that I would suggest looking at the number of colors of the LEDs used, the actual wattage of each LED and the cost per wattage ratios. From the above links comparing the Ecoxotic Panorama Marine to the Evolution EVO 50: # of colors: Panarama Marine is using 2 colors - EVO 50 is using 3 LED wattage: Panarama Marine is 1 watt LEDs - EVO 50 is 2 watt LEDs (Individual LED wattage will give significanly different light penetration and distribution in a tank. The higher the wattage of a LED the higher the PAR readings at the bottom of the tank. If two different fixures have the same total wattage but one is using 1 watt LEDs and the second is using 2 watt LEDs there will be a significant difference in light readings throughout the tank.) Cost per Watt: Panamara Marine is about $7.40 per watt - EVO 50 is roughly $4.00 per watt {Panarama Marine is 35 watts - EVO 50 is about 60 watts (Actual wattage not given but the power supply will add 5% - 15% to the combined wattage of the LEDs)} (Another consideration is the amount of light output per mw however the Panorama Marine does not specifiy LED manufacturer, this is where comparing actual PAR distribution charts would be ideal.) I've heard a preview of the event Mike mentioned and it should be pretty interesting. If you can't make it and are not in a hurry I would encourge you to wait to hear the reviews. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daisy82 Posted September 15, 2012 Author Share Posted September 15, 2012 Thanks for all the feed back guys - I have alot to chew on and research! Timfish, thanks for that comparison - very helpful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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