Lighting Website Updates

[GaZaLoC]

Can someone tell me what's the best led lighting for a 33 gallon long saltwater tank that will make the coral grow healthy

[shelley120861]

Depends on many thinks, what type of coral are you looking to keep, what are the dimensions of your tank, how much are you looking to spend?


I'm also needing lighting suggestions for a 140 gallon, 48" x 24" x 28.5 high". I'm looking to keep softies/sps/lps and really would like to keep total price for lighting nor more than $700. I really like my T5's but wondering about coral getting adequate lighting with a tank of this depth? I need a system that is going to fit in my canopy, not hang from the ceiling. I prefer the type on legs if possible. I'd like suggestions of brand, etc. if possible Thanks!

EDIT: Can someone also give me recommendations for same lighting for a 72" tank with canopy? Thanks!

[TropTrea]

Originally Posted by shelley120861

Depends on many thinks, what type of coral are you looking to keep, what are the dimensions of your tank, how much are you looking to spend?


I'm also needing lighting suggestions for a 140 gallon, 48" x 24" x 28.5 high". I'm looking to keep softies/sps/lps and really would like to keep total price for lighting nor more than $700. I really like my T5's but wondering about coral getting adequate lighting with a tank of this depth? I need a system that is going to fit in my canopy, not hang from the ceiling. I prefer the type on legs if possible. I'd like suggestions of brand, etc. if possible Thanks!

If you do it yourself with LED's you can realy get a fantastic lighing set up for well under that amount of money. With Do it Yourelf LED's you can get 84 LED's running at roughly 3 watts for a total of 250 Watts of LED lighting. This would put out more light than a pair of 400 watt MH bulbs with some atinic suplementation. and you realy do not need moch more than about 1/2 of that.

Now going to comercial set ups with LED's becareful as many are running 1/2 watts on there leeds and after dropping over 100 on a fixture you will find out you need 4 of those fixtures. Then they all do not have lenses so you can cover the entire height of tha tank. the better premade LED modules will cost you at least double your budget.

Look at some of the DIY threads on LED's. LED's can be fantastic lighting systems for the dollar when you build them yourself. I would recommend a 60 3 Watt LED system 180 watts total with 50 degree lenses on all your LED's. Should cost you under $500 to build and will be more effecient than a comercial one costing 3 to 4 times that.

Your other options would be going to quality 8 bulb T-5 HO lighting fixture that will cost you over $700. Besides that you will using more than twice the eletcricity plus be spending an additional $200 a year on bulb replacement.

Then there are the old MH/ T-5 combos. Which will again cost you close to your budget if not more. Will cost even more for electrical consumption than the T5's and will have you spending at least over $200 a year in bulb replacement.

[shelley120861]

Wow! I found some Tek T5's for around $399 for a 48" strip, 6 bulbs, but that's probably not enough I am female and dangerous plugging items into the wall, so I know I could NEVER figure out a DYI! LOL! I'm just so confused! LOL! Now my husband is saying he would prefer a 72" long tank, but I really think I'm going to stick with the 48". He's not paying for the lights! LOL!

[TropTrea]

Originally Posted by shelley120861

Wow! I found some Tek T5's for around $399 for a 48" strip, 6 bulbs, but that's probably not enough I am female and dangerous plugging items into the wall, so I know I could NEVER figure out a DYI! LOL! I'm just so confused! LOL! Now my husband is saying he would prefer a 72" long tank, but I really think I'm going to stick with the 48". He's not paying for the lights! LOL!

Well your husband could build the LED fixture. Is all he realy needs to know is how to read + and - and keep things in order.

I always say go as big as you can afford to go. Regardless how big you go some day you will be sorry you did not go bigger. But do not go so big that it going to strain your budget and you end up settleing for sub par parts to keep it in budget.

[Lubell118]

Anyone have info on Beamswork led lights? Saw a few good reviews but want to be sure before we buy. We need 2- 36 " reef capable led fixtures for a 120 gallon tank, found them on eBay 1/2 the price of others. Would appreciate any feedback

[TropTrea]

looked at Beamswork data sheet.

36" unit puts out 600 lumens out of 120 LEDs running at 12 Volts and 1,000MA. That breaks down to 600 Lumens at 12 Watts. The new Cree LED's are putting out 100 Lumens per Watt plus. For a 120 gallon tank you need a lot more of light than 1,200 lumins.

This sounds to me like techonlogy that is at least 5 years old. 100ma LED's which is what they are using realy are a think of the past. Yes it will light up a tank in a dark room. But do not expect to grow any corals or even green algea in that tank.

[Masonman64]

I have a question. Acan light or ai sol

[shelley120861]

Hi! Just wanted to update everyone! A lot of changes took place. I found a deal that was more "fitting" for us and bought the set up. It's a standard 150 gallon Starphire tank with lights and all equipment (Reef Octopus Skimmer) stand, canopy, etc. with 200# of live rock. It also came with (3) LED lights that I absolutely love. I don't think they're the expensive kind, they're EVOS but I must say so far I am impressed. I got a great deal on the set up and I've heard so many negative things about the "less expensive" LED's but I must say I am VERY pleased. The coral looks great and my fish are loving the tank! And I jumped off into a new adventure. I hope this post is not inappropriate, but I started an online coral business! Well, I'm in the process, but the website is up and although we're working on sales through the site, we're taking orders through email for now. We've got some really nice colonies for sale at great prices. I have applied with the board to be a sponser, so I hope I haven't overstepped any boundaries by posting this, but we're very excited! I'm going to wait until the board approves my app before placing the website info on here out of respect, but hope we can make this a huge success! We just got a HUGE Strawberry Shortcake Colony that we will be fragging If the board approves, we hope to be supplying you all with some awesome coral, AND most importantly, Grade A customer service!

[moondoggy4]

I just bought a used Geisemann Inifinty 150 watt 4 X 24 T-5 and one of the ballast isn't working it is a Advance ICN 2S24 Centium ballast. Has anybody changed out the ballast on one of these units I thought it was screwed in but it is not maybe glue. Any help will be appreciated.

[Jason1989]

Your post is in violation of the terms and conditions of use of this web site and has been edited. Further violations will result in revocation of your posting privileges....

[rick12]

I will be hanging my led sols .
Two lights over a 36"l x24"w tank.
Should they go parallel or at 90degrees??
R.

[morillo718]

radion leds for sale use for only 3 week $1,300 we premium hanging kit in nyc only


(morillo718@aim.com) send a mail

[captainsmitty]

I purchased 2 radons and am excited as this is a new tank build for a 75 gal tank. Going slow and will take my time to try and get it all right!

[rayviv]

So I was able to get a deal on two MH reflectors and ballast from a tank take down. Actually got three ballast, one still in shipping wrapping, two wired to the light fixture. Two are 175w electronic ballast. One is the new one and the other is wired to fixture. The other one wired to the fixture is different looking and has no info on the casing.

The bulbs are screw in type bulbs but they have no print of any sort on them.
So I do not know what kind of bulbs to get. Seller told me one bulb was blown out and the other would probably need replaced.

I have a 180g mixed reef with a 12 bulb (t5s) Nova Extreme Pro that just does not do a great job. I want my corals to grow and color to pop.

Can someone recommend the MH bulbs that will do that for me? PLEASE!

I Know not what I am doing.

Was told to go with 250w and they would overdrive them but would last longer with less power usage.

IF I POSTED THIS IN WRONG PLACE PLEASE CORRECT AND MOVE IT FOR ME.
THANK YOU,
Ray

[rayviv]

This msg was moved

[SGTG]

what websites are available to buy diy led lighting

[fortress]

sgtg google your inquiry and your head will be buzy for days...weeks! It was through that same method I found you here. Also check out the sponsors of this site I am presently working with Reef LEd on a build.

[TropTrea]

Originally Posted by SGTG

what websites are available to buy diy led lighting

Run on Google searvh on Cree XP LED's. you should get a good asortment of vendors. But do coparisons as the vendowr prices change fast and while John might be the best source last week Charie may have better prices and more of a selection today. The market for LED's is changing every day. Prices are falling and the LED's are getting more powerful.

A year ago the hotest LED's were 3 Watt now you can get 10 Watt LED's for only a few cents more than what the 3 Watters were a year ago.

[DougRoberts]

Where does one buy LED's and Drivers for making ones own light ?

[TropTrea]

Check the web for sources. You want star mounted LED's to make thing simple. I prefer the CREE LED's and the last build I did for someojne was with mainly 10 watt LED's. The best drivers or at least the simlist to use are meanwell or maxwells. Again check the web for priceing. Prices change daily as this is still new technology for many and the prices are falling fast.

I just completed a build for somene with a 90 gallon tank that costed $310.00 and a year ago I did a build on a 75 Gallon tank that costed over $400.00. But the big thing to remember with LED builds is that the cost of replacing bulbs and the electical bill is a fraction of what it is with other lighting systems.

[col123]

Originally Posted by jmchzn

I have been away for 4 months and can't believe anyone is discussing anything but Solaris LED. It's now a year old and I have not one issue. CLAMS,HARD,SOFT.SPS,LPS,LMNOP ROCKIN 150%
FORGET MH !

What is the price?

[TropTrea]

The Present Price for a Solaris 48" fixture is around $2,200 US. The fixtures consist of basicly a 2 to 1 ratio of Dailight 6,500K to Blue 460nm LED's.

The more avid do it yourselfers are using more 454 nm Royal Blue LED's and even suplementing with 430 nm Near UV LED's. But you don't need 400 WATTS of LED's on a 120 gallon tank. That is overkill in my mind.

While it might be one of the best of the comercial fixtures out there some of the home built ones would put it to shame at a fraction of the cost.

[zachts]

Originally Posted by col123

What is the price?

whatever you can find them for used..... the manufacuter got sued into oblivioun over the fixture design. R.I.P. they had thier share of issues, but can be refurbished easily into some pretty great fixtures using current available parts.

[zombiefish]

Anybody use the Kessil A150W special blend led light? I was told two of them would be perfect for a 50 gallon. Any input?