Boston Aquarium Society Message Board

I'm asking this about planted tanks, but it also applies to reefs. I've been reading good things about the new high-intensity LED lighting systems. (I'm talking about systems like Solaris, not the moonlight units with just a few LEDs.) Have any members here had personal experience using them? How well (or not) did they work for you?

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BAS member

No idea about the LED lighting fixtures, but if need be (I don't have saltwater... yet) stringing a couple white LEDs together would work for reef lighting as the bright white LEDs have a bluish tinge to them and are very bright. You can run them off a 9 volt battery if you want because LEDs do not draw much voltage. (You'll still need to install resistors though since LEDs generally run at 1-4 volts.) LEDs do not produce much, if any, heat. I suggested a battery because it's easier to drop ~7 volts of direct curent with a resistor, than to rig something up for 120V AC from a wall receptacle.

A lantern battery would work too, but the resistors would get hot.

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Eric - Secretary/Bowl Show Chairman

If you check some of the reef forums like reefcentral and nano-reef, you'll find tons of threads on people's experiences using the new LED fixtures and DIY LED fixtures. There's big potential and I bet in 5-10 years down the road these will be a very competitive choice for both reef and planted. They can definitely put out light intensity comparable to good MH and T5 fixtures, but currently at about double the price. DIY brings the price down, but still not below a new MH or T5 fixture.

I second Biotoper,I remember there being some DIY LED kit geared more towards computer people on eBay that everyone loves.

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Trying to concentrate on dart frogs, African cichlids and Aphyosemion killifish (oh, and mysnake pair and reef too). I've always got something for sale, PM.

check theses retro-fits out.
http://www.marktechledlighting.com/t5-l ... e-120.aspx

Actually, if I can get lights that no longer work (I only need the housing for the light fixture itself) I can rig up some DIY LED lights for people that are interested

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Eric - Secretary/Bowl Show Chairman

Thanks all. The suggestions about batteries and DIY are new to me and very good. I've read a lot of things consistent with this online, and it does seem like it's a good idea to wait for the next generation of products to bring the price down. For now, I don't really have any old fixtures to retrofit, but I'd be very interested to hear about anyone else's experiences with DIY.

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BAS member

This intrigues me (but not enough to spend the $ right now
http://cgi.ebay.com/2-AQUARIUM-LED-LIGH ... 7C294%3A50

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Rich
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Its new, its improved (its still a work-in-progress)
its http://redpaulhus.com !

Wow, that's a good price. I could rig something up like that, but the LEDs themselves aren't cheap.

Most LEDs are blindingly bright so I can't imagine what that thing can do

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Eric - Secretary/Bowl Show Chairman

I am looking at some 12v LED lights, that use 5amps, i want to use them in my camper van which has a 12v 110amp leisure battery. Can these lights be connected directly to the leisure battery without burning them out? Do the LED lights only draw however many amps they need?

I just purchased 3WX24 LED lamp from ebay for 149+free s/h -- didn't check if it is the same seller as the previous posts. These seem well made, fits well on my 36" long tank, and are indeed blindingly bright. Highest lumen per $ I have found so far.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dl ... OC:US:3160

I dunno, 3200 lumens for $150. I don't think it is there yet. A shop light with 2 40w florescents will do 4500 lumens for probably $30. Now, of course, your electric bill will notice the shop light. (And yes, 4 foot tanks are much easier to light than 3 foot tanks...)

I think that they just aren't there yet, soon, soon I hope...

Then again, if somebody does the math to convince me, I have 6000 lumens on my 55 gallon tank I'd switch. I'd love to both not have the 120w of power (and heat) and really would like to not have the 60Hz hum...