LED Lighting?

[tcook1034]

Has anyone seen these things in action. Know the light is effective on coral?

Solaris LED Hood PFO lighting Inc > Home ( DNN 4.0.3 )

[CSeaSee]

I saw them at IMAC last year- the demonstraton was pretty cool. They are dimmable, creating a great imitation of dawn/dusk. I haven't heard of anyone keeping them over coral, but if I had the money, I'd be willing to try- it was quite bright, and I wouldn't be surprised if they were the next wave of lighting. Then again, they might be crap.
HTH

[captain Jim]

They look really cool and could be the answer to the heat problem that alot of reef keepers run into...But there are some questions that should be addressed, such as how close is it to duplicating natural light? (that is what we all are trying to do duplicate nature ) Will my more sensitive creatures respond well to it? I think it would be a great test for reefland to setup.
I would like to see the results. I am all for new technology but I hesitate to look at anything at face value.

[wozza]

Oh man if that stuff realy works its gonna AWSOME!!!

[tcook1034]

A buddy of mine just replace all his interior 12v lighting on his boat to LED's. WHAT A DIFFERENCE!. Not only is it brighter, but the color of the LED's are white with a blue tint. We put a meter on them, they use about 1/10 of the power.

I am ordering lights for my boat this week. I am going to also order: (I think this should make a heck of a moon light)

and just for kicks, get one of these:

Looks a lot like the $65 PFO 1Watt Extreme LED Moon , but this one is only $25. Only problem is the site I am looking at, SUPER BRIGHT LEDS home, does not have them in the blue version.

One thing mentioned was that we are trying to duplicate the sun. Just some wierd info, a couple years ago one of my kids had a science project with solar panels. The T5's hardly powered the panel, whe a std house bulb worked great. Unfortunatly at that time I did not have halides.

I have no idea what creates power in solar panels, or if it was needed in a reef tank, but I just thought it was strange that the T5 could not create any power. I am guessing this may be true for any floresent bulb.

Anyways, I will keep you informed on what I find out on the cheap LED moons.

[wozza]

cool.

yeah it is strange about the T5's not powering the pannel, hopefully some one will chip in and tells us

[dibenni]

at a lfs, which is not the norm lfs - their main business is setting up tanks in offices, restuarants, etc. and they sell to little guys like me but their prices are rediculous so i really just go to check out their stuff and gain some info from the guys who work there who are more knowledgible than most, they really talk these led lights up. they have a display tank with led lighting, not sure if it is this brand, and it looks great. the problem is the price makes it unrealistic for most of us - but in a few years i think we will all be using them from what they say.

[wozza]

i hope they are good becasue it would get rid of a lot of the overheating problems of MH lighting i think, not to mention the energy bills.

[zhenya]

There is little doubt in my mind that the LED lighting, such as the Solaris, is the future of the lighting for this hobby. It's unfortunate that they are so expensive at this time otherwise I would be the first to use one over my reeftank.

Hopefully I'm still alive when it will be affordable so I can try it...

[Clay12340]

There was a fairly interesting discussion about this on another forum. It turns out that the lights the company uses to make their arrays arn't all that expensive. You could make your own array at a reasonable price, but unless you were willing to wire the circuits yourself you'd be losing all of the cool functionality, such as changing your color temp and dusk/dawn effects.

[wozza]

dusk dawn affects are easy to do all you need is a Resistor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[captain Jim]

Solar panels do not use the full spectrum of light.
my question is how would we know if our corals are going to get the amount required for them. I hope so!! Everything sounds good but I would like to see them compaired with VHO and MH lighting.
I would be the first to jump on the band wagon for them if they can show some results of study and not just the cool thing to do.

[Clay12340]

dusk dawn affects are easy to do all you need is a Resistor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

That is true Wozza, but there is a lot more to making a timed dusk/dawn cycle than plugging in a resistor. If you have some knowledge of electrical circuits and wanted to do the work, you could make your own at a fraction of the cost I'm sure.

Captain Jim,

Advanced Aquarist's Online Magazine - Product Review: A New Horizon in Lighting: PFO's Solaris LED System

There is a review from Advanced Aquarist's Online Magazine, I'm not sure how they rank on reliability and quality of information in general, but I'm sure some of the experienced members could tell you if they are trustworthy.

They gave the systems a fairly glowing review, but there is still a lot of long-term research to be done. While the lights should run for 10 years I don't believe there have been any studies on spectrum shift over time with the LED bulbs. If they start shifting after 6 months or a year then they arn't really a savings at all in the end. However, at least out of the box they look to be a rival or MH lighting and without the heat or danger of a bulb exploding.

[wozza]

That is true Wozza, but there is a lot more to making a timed dusk/dawn cycle than plugging in a resistor. If you have some knowledge of electrical circuits and wanted to do the work, you could make your own at a fraction of the cost I'm sure.

yeah of course.
i have limited experance with electrical circuits but i reckon i could bodger up some given some time and the correct parts!

[Clay12340]

yeah of course.
i have limited experance with electrical circuits but i reckon i could bodger up some given some time and the correct parts!

I agree. I'm battling the halide heat on my aquapod, and building one of these things is beginning to look like a better idea every time I look at my thermometer. I just wish the price would drop so I can save myself the trouble :P

[wozza]

yep my thorghts exactly!

[tcook1034]

Looks a lot like the $65 PFO 1Watt Extreme LED Moon , but this one is only $25. Only problem is the site I am looking at, SUPER BRIGHT LEDS home, does not have them in the blue version.

FYI:

I just installed one of these from SB LEDs, I can not belive how bright this LED light is. Only CON I have is more white then the blue I am used to (Aqualight 1 watt Luner Blue-Moon Glow LED Light ). I have never seen the PFO version of this, so I have no idea if it has more of a blue tint to it.

It did not come with transformer, but easily spliced in to old transformer I had on hand.

I can EASILY get away with only 2 of these in my 250G tank.

[weez1959]

So if I wanted to set up an LED fixture for a 10g nano what would I need here: White and colored LED strip lights

[tcook1034]

So if I wanted to set up an LED fixture for a 10g nano what would I need here: White and colored LED strip lights

I was just testing the UC-LX1 Under Cabinet LED Light (cool color)(Product Listing - UTIL) for a Moonlight. This unit physically looks like the PFO version.

This model has a 1 Watt Luxeon Emitter. I purchased some other blubs from them :

Neither of these multiple led fixtures look as bright as the single Luxeon bulb. (but then again, I have only had these two bulbs connected to a 9v battery).

Next week I will try to compare all 3 types with a 12v power source to compare individualy in tank.

Right now, I am assuming the light bar will not be bright enough (just a guess).

[weez1959]

keep us posted...