moovinfast Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 So I decided to try LED lighting as my only lighting again. This time over my main tank. I saw THIS thread on Nano-Reef and people were getting good results from pre-made GU10 3x1w Led bulbs. Its going to be much easier to do than my last 3w cree build for my 20" cube. All I will have to do is wire all the sockets together in parallel and plug it into the wall. Just ordered 60 bulbs. Half cool white and half blue. All 4x1w GU10 bulbs. Was going to try 3 rows of 20 over my 240 cube. Should make for a good power savings. I read somewhere that the bulbs I'm going to try draw about 3.5w each. I did the numbers and figured out my running costs here in Longview Current Light set up: 4x250w DE MH 4x110 VHO $16.50 a month $198 a year Led lighting: 30x 4x1w Cool white 30x 4x1w Blues $2.47 a month $29.64 a year This should pay for its self in a little over a year and a half. Bulbs should last for about 50k plus hours at about 7-8 hours a day. Should only have to replace bulbs every 6ish years. Cost wise a set up will run about $5-7 a bulb for the 4x1w right now or $3.5-6 for the 3x1w. Might find cheaper if you look around. So you have a rough idea what they look like. This is the 3x1w that previous people have used Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwheeler Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 Nice I will be watching this one to see how it goes sounds kinda easy to set up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 Cool following along. I'm going to do a small LED light over a planted FW tank soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefnjunkie Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 Subsrcibed I have spent countless hours the last 2 weeks reading, researching etc.. I am also going LED, I plan to build a small 6x18 or24 fixture ( I think) and try it out on my frag tank then move it to my main-the DIY thread made my head hurt when they started discussing electronic volts, current etc-I know I was reading english, I just had no idea what they were saying-LOL Heatsinkusa for the siink and found some nice 3 watt bulbs with 40 degree optics (again I think)-Crees are 10.00 + so I found some knock off that I am sure I will get what I pay for but they are 2.20 each-I'm not using glue so I can swap them out-its the whole solder part I want to get more familiar with-Dont want to cook/fry the LED Your thread says trying LED again, what was the 1st attempt? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 He did a LED over his 25gal acrylic cube. Its in the DIY section Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moovinfast Posted April 22, 2011 Author Share Posted April 22, 2011 He did a LED over his 25gal acrylic cube. Its in the DIY section Correct. Last LED build Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefnjunkie Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 Correct. Last LED build Well DANG-Whay you did nearly a year and a half ago I am looking to do know-What was the outcome, why the new build, how are the old ones, did you like the results, do you have SPS, would you do it again, would you recommend them for a SPS tank Shall I continue-LOL Seriously though those are the heat sinks I am going with maybe a little longer but the same 8.5, maybe the 5.75, the 10+ got spending on shippping I am thinking of doing a 2 to 1 ratio blue to white, but they also have violet, green and red so I'm still reasearching them (those colors). dang I searched and never even saw that thread- I'll post all the Q's to that that thread to not clutter this more than I have already Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oxx155 Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 I have 16 AI SOL Blue LED lights over my reef tank and love the colors it has produced and everything seems very happy. I have some Acro pieces showing great growth. I was skeptical at first but became a believer after lots of research myself and finally seeing them in person. The temperature in my lighting area dropped by 15-20 degrees! I figured they will pay for themselves after about 3-1/2 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moovinfast Posted April 22, 2011 Author Share Posted April 22, 2011 I had a little bit of everything in the tank to try it out. SPS, LPS, Softies, RBTA, etc. Everything did ok, but I was getting better growth and color in my 72 gallon bowfront with just 2x250 DE MH 20k fixures. Both tanks were on the same sump. Ended up selling my fixture and replacing it with a 250w MH. But now with the larger tank I think its worth trying again. I liked the color using 1 to 1 white to blue. Plus this new lighting I'm going to try is going to cost about the same as my previous build for the 20" cube tank, but this will cover a 4' cube tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moovinfast Posted April 27, 2011 Author Share Posted April 27, 2011 LEDs just showed up today. Now I'm just waiting for the sockets to get here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaticEngineer Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 LEDs just showed up today. Now I'm just waiting for the sockets to get here. Sweet My 50w spotlight will be finished up later tonight. Gonna par test it tomorrow and do some side by sides with some halides for color comparisons. We should get all of LED setups together and get numbers put up for all of them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 Sweet My 50w spotlight will be finished up later tonight. Gonna par test it tomorrow and do some side by sides with some halides for color comparisons. We should get all of LED setups together and get numbers put up for all of them That would be really cool!!!! Love your avatar BTW (laugh) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefnjunkie Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 Sweet My 50w spotlight will be finished up later tonight. Gonna par test it tomorrow and do some side by sides with some halides for color comparisons. We should get all of LED setups together and get numbers put up for all of them I agree on posting the readings, very interested on how you like them and interested as well in pics! I just ordered a DIY Kit myself-should be here early next week Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moovinfast Posted June 7, 2011 Author Share Posted June 7, 2011 so it turns out they shipped my sockets to someone else. Ordered new ones that should be here anytime now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moovinfast Posted June 12, 2011 Author Share Posted June 12, 2011 Sockets finally showed up so I hung up the lights. Pics were taken with crappy camera phone. Doesn't like the blue LEDS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cellowithgills Posted June 12, 2011 Share Posted June 12, 2011 It there any difference between the E27 bulbs and the GU10 bulbs other than the socket they use? I just bought an E27 bulb for kicks, I might put it on my freshwater tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moovinfast Posted June 12, 2011 Author Share Posted June 12, 2011 If you got the 4x1w or 3x1w, they should be the same. I think the only difference is the plug connection. They both plug straight into 110v. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cellowithgills Posted June 12, 2011 Share Posted June 12, 2011 So how do you know how many bulbs to buy for your tank? Is the an MH to LED watt comparison? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moovinfast Posted June 12, 2011 Author Share Posted June 12, 2011 I'm not sure about a MH to LED conversion but I'm on the Par meter list to check the numbers. I put up 4 rows of 15 over my tank. I would say one row of 15-20 would be enough for a standard 55 gallon tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabe Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 Any updates? Thinking about adding some for supplemental light. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindo Posted September 27, 2011 Share Posted September 27, 2011 Im starting to setup my 125 tank and was wondering about lighting..... updates? maybe picture of how you set the lights up..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burningbaal Posted September 27, 2011 Share Posted September 27, 2011 also curious about this...I've been thinking to do an LED system to replace my T8s on the 55. I'm thinking 20 total (of the 4x3w, 30 if 3x3w), 1:1 W:B. what brand did you get? i looked on a site or two and only see the three varieties of white and multicolor...none with 3 blues Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moovinfast Posted September 29, 2011 Author Share Posted September 29, 2011 Sorry, haven't been on the site in a while. The lighting is still doing great. My anemones and my softies are loving the light. My SPS was fine under it too while I had them. But I got something in my tank and lost all of my SPS. Dont know what it was but it acted like the same thing that killed Roys stuff. White spot in the middle and then dead in the next day or two. I can try to take some update pics once I feel up to. I got my LEDs from LED-HK on ebay. They sell the 4x1 cool whites and the 4x1 Blues also. Thats what I'm running. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabe Posted October 1, 2011 Share Posted October 1, 2011 Thanks, looking to add some more blue to my existing system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackhand Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Hi I dont really know much at all about making this kind of led system but would love to someday buy one how much did this system cost you if you dont mind me askin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.