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Replacing MH with LED

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Guest, Mar 5, 2008.

  1. Guest

    Guest Guest

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    I was looking into the idea of the where aquarium, and all lighting for that matter, is headed and ran across this company. Anyone have any thoughts? I'd be interested to see what discussion there is to be had over it. http://www.solarisled.com/
     
  2. ZLTFUL

    ZLTFUL Well-Known ReefKeeper

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    I have read about 98% good things about them. Mostly from the standpoint that they hammer the competition in the not producing excess heat and cost of operating departments...
     
  3. Guest

    Guest Guest

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    Everything seems to fit well in theory, actually, I would think that it would make it possible to perfectly replicate a sunset/rise/season/lunar cycle.
     
  4. JB Veteran Reefkeeper

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    I think once the DIY type products start showing up, the LED market is going to explode. Right now the up-front costs are pretty prohibitive no matter what the energy savings are. The other problem is that they aren't super flexible - For example it would be really to use the currently available systems in a canopy.

    The DIY market should solve both of those issues.

    -JB
     
  5. reeffreak3652

    reeffreak3652 Inactive User

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    Actually one of the members of the club has the solaris lighting setup. We went and checked it out on the tank tour. They are pretty sweet setups, they dont create much heat at all and they have programmable kelvin settings for however blue you want it. Although I didnt think they were as bright as MH and they dont quite have that shimmer that MH has.
     
  6. Guest

    Guest Guest

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    yeah, i was looking at the 48" selling as a hood system for $2780 running at about 45% of the watts, and running for 50,000 hours, the price still doesn't work out as far as I know to be less than going with MH. The system also doesn't have an ability to replicate seasons or lunar cycles from what I can see, which seems to be a simple software oversight on the part of the manufacture.
     
  7. Guest

    Guest Guest

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    was it the new H4 series as they company is calling it?
     
  8. Waverz

    Waverz Expert Reefkeeper

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    Ditto, its got nothing on my 3- 400 watt mh's.....it was cool though.
     
  9. Anna

    Anna Inactive User

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    I think the LED units are really cool. I'd probably try one if I had a bigger budget. It'll be interesting to see how they compete with MH once the price comes down!

    Anna /site/DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/_default/emoticons/smile.gif
     
  10. kgehrke

    kgehrke Inactive User

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    I think in 5 years these will be a reasonable alternative to mh's. I've read about a few people doing small DIY ones for nano reef's but it seems that big ones are still expensive. The led market is moving fast right now though, and better and brighter led's are constantly coming out. The led's used in solaris hoods are even out dated compared to some of the new led's on the market. DIY with led's is still a pretty new thing also. There's a definite learning curve involved with figuring out how to put a solid one together. They are definitely the way of the future...
     
  11. Guest

    Guest Guest

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    I don't know, I'm thinking it might be sooner than 5, maybe in the reach of many more next year, one of the big problems for the time being is lack of market competition to bring down the price. Only one company seems to be doing it for now which, is bad for us /site/DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/_default/emoticons/sad.gif but if they were twice as much in 2006, I think we're not quite that far off, maybe we are though
     
  12. jtesdall

    jtesdall Expert Reefkeeper

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    There is atleast one thread on RC  about building your own. It is very interesting but you have to have some electronics experience.
    Also, I remember right, Tibbs gave a link last year to an LED aquarium light manufacturer that is cometing against Solaris and they are in Ames. I can't find the company right now though.
     
  13. ZLTFUL

    ZLTFUL Well-Known ReefKeeper

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    Actually, having built LED taillights and LED light boards for custom car apps, it's more patience than anything else.

    And in a situation like a reef aquarium, the ammount of bulbs and time involved in getting the layout and circuits complete is...well...alot.

    I may make up one for a 5 or 10 gallon nano just to see how well it works. Aside from Radio Shack, I will need to find a cheaper LED supplier.
     
  14. ZLTFUL

    ZLTFUL Well-Known ReefKeeper

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    Actually, just did a quick search on EBay and looks like you can get 50 white and 100 UV blues approc 400-410nm for around $40 shipped from Hong Kong.

    I may just decide to do this and see what happens...maybe make the panel out of white abs....
     
  15. jtesdall

    jtesdall Expert Reefkeeper

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    Ryan #3, you should read some of the threads on RC (if you haven't already) they talk about building these, the correct type of LEDS and the pitfalls they have run into.
     
  16. ZLTFUL

    ZLTFUL Well-Known ReefKeeper

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    I have done quite a bit of research but on a smaller scale for moon lights when I didn't have any.

    And part of the fun of coming up with something new is diving right in and doing it. I already have corrosion resistant solder...although i will need more. The tough part is going to be finding a way to corrosion proof the board...been thinking about some type of urethane over the connections on the board and any exposed tracers...
     
  17. CyberJester

    CyberJester Inactive User

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    Posted By brettstout on 03/05/2008 6:47 PM
    yeah, i was looking at the 48" selling as a hood system for $2780 running at about 45% of the watts, and running for 50,000 hours, the price still doesn't work out as far as I know to be less than going with MH. The system also doesn't have an ability to replicate seasons or lunar cycles from what I can see, which seems to be a simple software oversight on the part of the manufacture.
    I have one of the H4 series LED systems.  I don't know where you got your information but the system does simulate seasons.  you set the shortest day of the year and the longest day of the year and it caculates the transitions for you.  It also simulates a luner cycle as well.  It follows a 28 day cycle getting brighter and dimmer as moon light would.  My only complaint with this setup is that it does not follow the actual cycle of the moon, but instead works on a 28 day cycle for power up of the system, so if you remove power in the middle of the cycle it starts over again.
     
  18. Guest

    Guest Guest

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    That's all great info. I'm gonna get everyone some links to buy cheaper LEDs if you're interested in building. My friend Mike who is an engineer said that you could seal it from corrosion by doing a "powder coating" which, I don't really know what that means. He'll prob log in under my account soon with more info on a lot of stuff, maybe even this weekend.

    Thanks for the update on the system simulating seasons, bummer on the lunar cycle, seems like that would be an easy fix for them.

    I'd love to know what info is avail. on RC but, I can't log in there cause I don't have an account with them. If anyone who does wants to add to this post some of the FAQ and tips for constructing a reef LED array please do. Myself and Mike would both very much like to check it out.
     
  19. CyberJester

    CyberJester Inactive User

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    You also my want to check out www.aquaillumination.com they are the newest LED reef lighting system developers.
    they are adding some really nice touches to there system, such as computer interfaces.  Also there system is a modular design, you can add segments to it if you decide to get a larger tank.  They are also boasting brighter LED's, there is some debate from what I have read if this is true. 
    You might get some good ideas from looking at their system.
     

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