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View Full Version : Are LEDs the wave of the future..??

muck
05-04-2006, 05:47 PM
This looks promising.

http://www.pfolighting.com/Aquarium-LED-Lighting.aspx


http://www.notlehs.com/travis/IMAC%202006/145_4525.JPG

http://www.notlehs.com/travis/IMAC%202006/145_4528.JPG

http://www.notlehs.com/travis/IMAC%202006/145_4527.JPG

These are the new PFO LED fixtures. They just released them to the public at IMAC and I think they are going retail in the next week. The color is really nice and you can independently control the white and blue LED's by dimming one or the other to control how the light looks. I saw a side by side comparison with a lux meter under this light and a 250w XM 15k (I know, I know, XM 15k is a sucky comparison as it is a very low PAR bulb) and the LED fixture put out twice as many lux. The lights will run for 10 years without needing to be replaced but they recommend a replacement interval of 5 years just to be conservative. And best of all... these lights are literally cool to the touch. I touched the glass lens and it was not warm, it was not room temp, it was even cooler than room temp. The first type of lighting I've ever seen that puts off absolutely no heat.
TheReefGeek
05-04-2006, 05:53 PM
Interesting! They say July they will have some more information.
Invigor
05-04-2006, 08:58 PM
about time...I've been waiting over a year for someone to come out with this.
Joe Reefer
05-04-2006, 09:01 PM
Sounds good, how do you think coral growth will be.
OCDP
05-04-2006, 09:17 PM
Sounds awesome, but how will LED's compare to a blazing HQI bulb? Interesting though...
albert_dao
05-04-2006, 09:18 PM
That's sexy.

If this is any indication, the capabilities of this unit should be very good:

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=57855
muck
05-05-2006, 12:37 AM
added some pics
StirCrazy
05-05-2006, 12:34 PM
the problem is they are comparing LUX which tells us diddly squat. now if you can find a report that shows some actual PAR numbers that would be interesting.

Steve
OCDP
05-05-2006, 02:12 PM
Very cool, thanks for the pictures.
TheReefGeek
05-05-2006, 03:01 PM
the problem is they are comparing LUX which tells us diddly squat.

Why is this?

Lux is lumens with area taken into account.
Skimmerking
05-05-2006, 09:37 PM
Steve I'm with you on this one. How can a small LED give off enough light to sustain the amount of intense lighting. I could may be see it working on a small tank. like 10" deep. But to see have a tank 24-30" to give off that much light. Sure the light is there but to allow SPS to grow or LPS you would need lots and lots of LEDs.
Snappy
05-06-2006, 07:33 AM
LED technology has come a long way. I sell LED flashlights and they are very very bright. Perhaps they are using the "luxeon" LED 's which are 10 X as bright as a regular LED. I use one for looking into my tank at night and believe me it is bright. If you had lots of them as I would suspect they would, it would light up a pretty large area.
rusty
05-06-2006, 03:47 PM
Hey Greg why seeing as you sell them why don't you duct tape a whole wack of them together, hang them over your tank and thell us how they work!:lol: :razz: Just kidding around. In all seriousness I hope it does work not only would it be a cool thing to control the white/blue ratio but also the moneythat could be saved on power and replacement of bulbs.
Snappy
05-06-2006, 04:10 PM
Hey Greg why seeing as you sell them why don't you duct tape a whole wack of them together, hang them over your tank and thell us how they work!:lol: :razz: Just kidding around. In all seriousness I hope it does work not only would it be a cool thing to control the white/blue ratio but also the moneythat could be saved on power and replacement of bulbs.
It would probably save on power and the hassle of bulb replacement. I doubt they would be cheap, especially to start off with. For example the luxeon LED flashlight I was reffering to, about the size of a mag light, retails for $70.
danny zubot
05-11-2006, 06:13 PM
In all seriousness I hope it does work not only would it be a cool thing to control the white/blue ratio but also the moneythat could be saved on power and replacement of bulbs.

It would take you a long time to justify purchasing an LED array. They are still quite expensive to the consumer. I don't think that the LED fixture shown in the pics above have nearly enough to compare to MH, maybe double or tripple that amount.
TheReefGeek
05-11-2006, 08:04 PM
I guess we'll see once there is more testing done on them. If PFO is releasing information on their progress already, it suggests to me it has commercial viability already.

And even if for now it is just for shallower tanks, that could make a big difference for fish stores and frag grow-out tanks to save on electricity and bulb replacement cost.

Obviously this is assuming that there is some economies of scale as the technology goes from only early adopters to maintstream folk.
Delphinus
05-11-2006, 10:36 PM
Just sorta in answer to the question about lux further back, the thing is lux is really just a measure of intensity but not a measure of PAR (photosynthetically active radiation). What would be really interesting to see would be the PAR outputs of that unit. e.g., a halogen bulb is really bright but wouldn't be very useful over a reef tank due to the spectrum. (You don't even see halogen's used as plant grow lights.) So I think the long-term viability of the unit will depend on what ppfd/PAR comes out of it. Anyhow that's what I think would be interesting to see.
StirCrazy
05-11-2006, 11:36 PM
Why is this?

Lux is lumens with area taken into account.

yes it is, but it tells us nothing of the quality of the light. there is only a specific band of light that is usable for photosynthis and that is what is important to us.

Snappy, we had a guy on here that was going to send me a luxton star and driver "on loan" for me to run PAR tests as he was claiming how good they were and that he was going to start producing a LED lighting system.. well in short I sent my address he said they were on the way.. 8 months laiter still nothing.

I do have a PAR sensor and have tested normal LED's very disapointing PAR output. less than 1/20th of a NO actinic bulb, so going by that if a luxton is 10X more powerfull we should still only see 1/2 of the output of a NO tube, but it would take about 5 luxtons to cover the same area.. and at 20.00 a pop it wouldn't be a cheaper method of lighting..

so if anyone has a luxton and driver they could spare for a week or two I will do tests and get some comparitive figures instead of speculation.

Steve
KrazyKuch
05-30-2006, 11:56 PM
Those bulbs would be insaine in price......Hey you calgary people.....you know those blue lights in marlborough mall in the roof.....Those are led lights......Guess how much for one bulb!!!

Answer $240 smackers!!!!!(and I know cause me and 7 others did the electrical reno at that mall.........9 months of night shift..I will never forget)