huskerduck Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 I was planning on purchasing one of the " premium" DIY kits today from one of the DIY vendors, anybody using one of these? The Premium kits use 4 types of Cree LEDs from selective bins, optics and completely programmable. With all of the talk about Failure of SPS growth/coloration from certain LED lighting systems, anyone bought one of these premium Kits and had good luck? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huskerduck Posted November 30, 2011 Author Share Posted November 30, 2011 I will add the people that sell these told me to expect an acclimation period that can last up to a month but after the first month the results are amazing in growth and color. I don't think they know wether this is "burn in" of the LEDs or coral adjustment but they state to ease into it gradually instead of laying them 2" above and giving it full throttle shake and bake Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
souperman Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 Mind if I ask who you're buying it from? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoobtoSalt Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 I would check with Eugenereef and Reefnjunkie. I'm sure there are others but they have both built their own LED's and could give you a good amount of knowledge on them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eugenereef Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 I would check with Eugenereef and Reefnjunkie. I'm sure there are others but they have both built their own LED's and could give you a good amount of knowledge on them. Thanks for the plug here The Premium kits use 4 types of Cree LEDs from selective bins, optics and completely programmable. With all of the talk about Failure of SPS growth/coloration from certain LED lighting systems, anyone bought one of these premium Kits and had good luck? I have bought all my LEDs from ReefLED.com and have had very good luck with the both of my DIY fixtures. The growth of my sps was fantasitc and most of the 1 or 2 inch frags became decent size colonies in a about 4 to 5 months! So I am a true beliver in LEDs . That said, there are folks here you have had very different experience than mine and have had changed back to T5HOs or MH. One thing I didn't understand from your post here: the LEDs are NOT programable, its the drivers that are controlled by devices that are programable. As far bins are concerned, I realize that it is important, but I found most of the Cree LEDs from ReefLED were from good bins if not the best. Good luck with your project if you decide to undertake it. And feel free to PM if you have any questions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huskerduck Posted December 1, 2011 Author Share Posted December 1, 2011 Mind if I ask who you're buying it from?Im not positive yet I finally got a contact # from Reefled.com but have spoken to the folks at Reefledlights.com several times for probably an hour. I want to do this right the first time and like the fact you can add or subtract and experiment with either Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huskerduck Posted December 1, 2011 Author Share Posted December 1, 2011 Thanks for the plug here I have bought all my LEDs from ReefLED.com and have had very good luck with the both of my DIY fixtures. The growth of my sps was fantasitc and most of the 1 or 2 inch frags became decent size colonies in a about 4 to 5 months! So I am a true beliver in LEDs . That said, there are folks here you have had very different experience than mine and have had changed back to T5HOs or MH. One thing I didn't understand from your post here: the LEDs are NOT programable, its the drivers that are controlled by devices that are programable. As far bins are concerned, I realize that it is important, but I found most of the Cree LEDs from ReefLED were from good bins if not the best. Good luck with your project if you decide to undertake it. And feel free to PM if you have any questions. Yeah I think the people having problems are the one buying the NON Cree Type NON DIY mass production chinese models. Of course the LEDs are not programmable but since the drivers are part of the DIY system, the DIY systems are completely programable via apex or a number of different controllers. I was really wanting to DIY the controls as well and that seems a lot tougher than the DIY lighting systems. Im pretty stoked to try this but own 1000 watts of metal Halides now. Problem is they really throw the heat downwards into the tank, from my understanding, LEDS have no heat 2' below the fixture like Halides, I need this with Nanos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eugenereef Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 Yeah I think the people having problems are the one buying the NON Cree Type NON DIY mass production chinese models. Of course the LEDs are not programmable but since the drivers are part of the DIY system' date=' the DIY systems are completely programable via apex or a number of different controllers. I was really wanting to DIY the controls as well and that seems a lot tougher than the DIY lighting systems. Im pretty stoked to try this but own 1000 watts of metal Halides now. Problem is they really throw the heat downwards into the tank, from my understanding, LEDS have no heat 2' below the fixture like Halides, I need this with Nanos[/quote'] I run 56 3W LEDs and absolutely no heat what so ever! plus they replaced 6 54Xt5HOs (I think these LEDs are brighter than the T5's) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kris Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 I also went with reefledlights for my frag tank. And should be getting one more of two that I will need for my main tank this Friday. For my main tank one that I just ordered is one of there Phoenix kits. I really like my led build that's over my frag tank but I think I will like it even more Friday when my VDM module shows up with my new build. Right now my led light is running 100% for whites and blues so I should have even better colors when it's all set up. I can't wait till all of my lights are switched over. Good luck with what ever you pick. Kris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huskerduck Posted December 1, 2011 Author Share Posted December 1, 2011 I run 56 3W LEDs and absolutely no heat what so ever! plus they replaced 6 54Xt5HOs (I think these LEDs are brighter than the T5's)56 LEDs Over what size tank? How far off the water and how deep to sand bed? Did you use 4,3, 2? different colored LEDs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huskerduck Posted December 1, 2011 Author Share Posted December 1, 2011 I also went with reefledlights for my frag tank. And should be getting one more of two that I will need for my main tank this Friday. For my main tank one that I just ordered is one of there Phoenix kits. I really like my led build that's over my frag tank but I think I will like it even more Friday when my VDM module shows up with my new build. Right now my led light is running 100% for whites and blues so I should have even better colors when it's all set up. I can't wait till all of my lights are switched over. Good luck with what ever you pick. Kris So you're the one who ran them out of inventory? JK........yeah I really enjoy talking to the owner of that place, its like talking to the echo tech people, they are really passionate about their product. How Many LEDs per gallon are you using and did you use the optics from the phoenix kits, did you try them with and without optics? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 I found this to be a good read it on the Ecotech Marine's Radion XR30 LED Light with the their RGB "feature.. http://blog.captive-aquatics.com/captive_aquatics/2011/09/ecotech-marines-radion-xr30-led-light-a-swing-and-a-miss.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huskerduck Posted December 1, 2011 Author Share Posted December 1, 2011 I also went with reefledlights for my frag tank. And should be getting one more of two that I will need for my main tank this Friday. For my main tank one that I just ordered is one of there Phoenix kits. I really like my led build that's over my frag tank but I think I will like it even more Friday when my VDM module shows up with my new build. Right now my led light is running 100% for whites and blues so I should have even better colors when it's all set up. I can't wait till all of my lights are switched over. Good luck with what ever you pick. Kris So you're the one who ran them out of inventory? JK........yeah I really enjoy talking to the owner of that place, its like talking to the echo tech people, they are really passionate about their product. How Many builds per gallon are you using and did you use the optics from the phoenix kits, did you try them with and without optics? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huskerduck Posted December 1, 2011 Author Share Posted December 1, 2011 I found this to be a good read it on the Ecotech Marine's Radion XR30 LED Light with the their RGB "feature.. http://blog.captive-aquatics.com/captive_aquatics/2011/09/ecotech-marines-radion-xr30-led-light-a-swing-and-a-miss.html Yeah this guy got slammed on Reef Central for being a shill for another line he was involved with and now isn't or something to that effect. I really like it when he dogged Ecotech for including Storms, even going as far to say it was damaging to the corals. I wonder if he ever bought a piece of non farmed coral that was busted off in the ocean, shoved in a cooler and flown in the belly of a plane half way around the world to sit in customs. How Dare echo tech blink some LEDs at such a fragile critter. I certainly read this last weekend along with the ole 5000 page novel/s on RC. The funny thing I find is how they're determining Kelvin and coming up with 10K, 15K and 20K by Mixing LEDs with no way to measure Kelvin that Im finding. Theres really no formula for perfection that Im finding. So far the guys at ReefLEDlight seem to have tried everything under the sun to perfect this with todays technology Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huskerduck Posted December 1, 2011 Author Share Posted December 1, 2011 Yeah I just re-read that guys blog and got a good chuckle when at the end he slams Cree based systems then opens with this wonderment An output of 390-660nm, and no giant spike in the green/yellow spectrum automatically makes the Kessil A150W's an improvement over anything Cree-based. While the A150W's output is missing a little red, and some UV:A would be nice, the overall curve of the "10k" version makes it one of the best on the market right now. Wait a second, you just slammed eco tech about their reds, but the best built on the planet is lacking? He throws Cree under the bus without ever mentioning the different Bin qualities. This is why I started this thread, to hear the results of local folks, if corals are happy and growing, they must not be to abused other than the fact they aren't in a 70 gillion gallon ocean, but a 2 gallon to 500 gallon tank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huskerduck Posted December 1, 2011 Author Share Posted December 1, 2011 Sorry double post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefnjunkie Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 FYI If you do go with the optics make sure you place them before you solder-There website does not mention that and I found out the hard way-They will not fit after the LEDs have been soldered- My first unit (60 bulb) I ran without optics (which was not by choice due to the soldering 1st issue) byt really liked how the colors mixed so I built my 2nd the same way-the 2nd is only a 24 bulb unit and its on a 40 breeder about 10" above the water but its also only running at 60%. My rd unit (another 60 bulb) I put the optics on this time to only be dissapointed on how it looked once I hung it/hooked it up. It looked like 60 small spot lights or beams shooting straight down, I know ( or assume) it is the style of optic since I have yet another unit (144 bulbs) that has optics but they are different than the ones I installed. with the different style optics the look is awesome and the corals are loving it too. The last unit I bought (the 144 bulb unit) was from another reefer who built it and was downsizing and I never asked the degree or style of those optics My tanks footprint is 72x48x27 and all units are about 16-18 inches above the top of the tank or roughly 20" above the water line. I have the royal blues running at 100% while the whites and high noons run at 75%. If you want I can post a pic of the 2 different optics. As I mentioned in the PM I bought from reefledlights because they had coplete DIY packages, if I am not mistaken Eugenreef did a DIY "heatsink" and as such the other sight I linked you worked for him-they are both pretty closely priced from what I recall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huskerduck Posted December 1, 2011 Author Share Posted December 1, 2011 If you do go with the optics make sure you place them before you solder-There website does not mention that and I found out the hard way-They will not fit after the LEDs have been soldered- My first unit (60 bulb) I ran without optics (which was not by choice due to the soldering 1st issue) byt really liked how the colors mixed so I built my 2nd the same way-the 2nd is only a 24 bulb unit and its on a 40 breeder about 10" above the water but its also only running at 60%. My rd unit (another 60 bulb) I put the optics on this time to only be dissapointed on how it looked once I hung it/hooked it up. It looked like 60 small spot lights or beams shooting straight down, I know ( or assume) it is the style of optic since I have yet another unit (144 bulbs) that has optics but they are different than the ones I installed. with the different style optics the look is awesome and the corals are loving it too. The last unit I bought (the 144 bulb unit) was from another reefer who built it and was downsizing and I never asked the degree or style of those optics My tanks footprint is 72x48x27 and all units are about 16-18 inches above the top of the tank or roughly 20" above the water line. I have the royal blues running at 100% while the whites and high noons run at 75%. If you want I can post a pic of the 2 different optics. As I mentioned in the PM I bought from reefledlights because they had coplete DIY packages, if I am not mistaken Eugenreef did a DIY "heatsink" and as such the other sight I linked you worked for him-they are both pretty closely priced from what I recall. So were the optics you were disappointed in the ones that come with the phoenix kits or not? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eugenereef Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 56 LEDs Over what size tank? How far off the water and how deep to sand bed? Did you use 4' date='3, 2? different colored LEDs.[/quote'] Mine is a 90g (48X18X24) tank. 2 color LEDs, Royal Blue and Cool Whites with ratio of 1:1, No optics, homemade heat sink and it sits about 5 inch from the water so total height from the sand bed is about 22 inch! here is a link to my thread: http://www.pnwmas.org/forums/showthread.php?26897-Some-pictures-of-my-DIY-LED-fixture-for-90G&highlight= Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smann Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 Mine is a 90g (48X18X24) tank. 2 color LEDs, Royal Blue and Cool Whites with ratio of 1:1, No optics, homemade heat sink and it sits about 5 inch from the water so total height from the sand bed is about 22 inch! Do you have a current tank picture, would like to see how the corals look Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefnjunkie Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 So were the optics you were disappointed in the ones that come with the phoenix kits or not? Not sure which ones ship with the Phoenix kits but my guess is no. They did not have any name like the Carlico or whatever the names are-they were merely 60 degree-cheap and a waste of 60.00 dollars. I looked at the Phoenix kits they sell and IMO Opinion, its more money for less. The XR-E packs are fine. I had Bill and Ryan (I think) send me links to their tanks so I could see how the LEDs did, but neither had a full blown SPS, mostly LPS and softies. I looked back and its been about 6 months I have been using one form or other LED. I was using a single fixture over half my tank and a MH on the other half, I wanted to be sure they would work before making the full transistion. Fast forward to today and the full transition has been made (clap) I plan to start a new tank thread with LED in the title so when people search the web they can find it and see what the DIY builds have done for my tanks corals. There were not many tank threads that were all SPS/LED when I searched 8 months ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 Here is a tank that is all SPS with LED's they are the 10 AI SOL BLUE this is a Fixtures which really show that LED's can grow and have great colors. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2029329 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eugenereef Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 Mine is a 90g (48X18X24) tank. 2 color LEDs, Royal Blue and Cool Whites with ratio of 1:1, No optics, homemade heat sink and it sits about 5 inch from the water so total height from the sand bed is about 22 inch! Do you have a current tank picture, would like to see how the corals look I had to completely gut my tank out due to severe hair algae about 6 weeks ago. I think my BRS rocks were leaching out phosphates (scratch). Anyhow, Its "take2" now. After cooking the rocks 6 weeks, I finally moved the rocks back into the tank. Several of my big colonies were broken during this whole process and One of these days, once I settle my tank down, I am going to have a fire sale for the frags! Anyhow, my tank went from this: to this...(sad) But i am hoping that in 3 or 4 weeks I'll be back to where I was! Look at all those frags on the sand bed!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smann Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 I had the opposite problem, I started my tank with 100% BRS and macro rock and couldnt grow algae if I tried. After a year and adding about two hundred lb's of live rock to the sump system things finally have come around, I'm sure thats not the only thing but I did find several threads on other forums with similar problems all with dry rock. I finally have apstasia again, Yay! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huskerduck Posted December 2, 2011 Author Share Posted December 2, 2011 Very Nice Tank Eugenereef! Well I took the plunge and may have some "left overs" if anyones been sitting on the fence about adding more. I ended up ordering the 55 phoenix kit only because no matter how I tried putting packages together, that kit always came up slightly more than the others and I ended up with the 10 High Noon lighting kit Trying 2 -24 phoenix was +$60 more? I really thought I only needed the 36 DIY upgraded to premiums but no matter how I tried to juggle this stuff to save some cash, and the weird part was, I would end up with 19 premium LEDs driven for $200 left over. THATS the Kit I wanted but there was no way to get that leftover kit via the shopping cart. It was weird, the wife and I tried scrambling stuff around for a good hour trying to save money and it always came back to the 55 LED set was expensive but much more cost effective. I may make a 3rd light and try and sell it or something. If you're a bulb or 10 short or want to try the HigH Noon LEDs PM me and we will see what we can do, everything is solder less with optics Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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