Just picked up the new Oceanic cherry/oak stand from J&L. Looks good. It'll be nice to have some room for a change & looks much better than that P.O.S. AGA stand. My new house has a fire-pit in the back yard, I'll use the old one for kindling.
This system is going to look nice if it kills me.

the problem is we will never know untill one can properly be independantly tested. as I posted about this befor it is so easy to fuge these tests in any direction you want. for example, just moving my PAR sensor 1cm would reduce my readings my 35%, and if instead of moving it you angle it say 5 degrees it will reduce the reading by over 60%. As well how far from the source was everything tested? You have to look at bulb and ballast, and reflector combanations as well. I know if you use an older electronic ballast on a bulb you can end up with 1/2 the out put of a HQI ballast and so on.. as far as distance from the bulb to the meter at 1cm a NO floressent tube puts out 85% of the PAR a MH does, so you can see also the distance they tank the readings at is a huge factor also because at 18" the NO is less than 10% of the MH.

Personaly I have tested normal LEDs and they don't even make the PAR meter move, I do believer higher wattage LEDs will have some PAR but I do not believe that at a distance of 18" they will even be 40% of the MH.

so what I had said in the last thread untill some one on the island buys one, Hurry up Jason :mrgreen: , and lets me bring my toys over and run the test we won't know for sure.

Steve

I understand Steve. But that's now what I got from your other post. You suggested that they weren't addressing how much PAR the two fixtures put out, only the useable amount. That statement didn't hold up once I read the link.

Won't your results potentially be subject to the same inaccuracies as the ones in the link? btw, wasn't Sanjay doing some tests on these lights? I don't recall reading his conclusions. He seems like an independent source of info and has all the tools.

Sanjay did but his tests were at 1" which as far as I am concerned is a waist of time..

If I do testing i will determin the max PAR at a distance.. not just one point.. this way I can also see the drop off from different location.. I test for US not for a company as I have had to buy evey bulb/ballast I have tested.. I only wish I could get "testers" I could have saved about $2000.00.

Steve

It's here!
 

Well, the fixture has finally arrived! So far, it looks very nice & the features are easy to utilize. I've just about finished the black-foam aquascape & it looks fantastic. I can't wait to get water in the tank! pic's to come on my days off.

reply
 

Can't wait to see pics.

Do you have another type of lighting system that you can compare it to? Maybe take some comparitive pictures?

I'm afraid not, I was just running a bank of 96w PC's prior, but I've sold them off. What I can tell you is the Led's certainly have the intensity & brightness that I've seen on many MH fixtures (visual impression at least), just NO heat! I'm looking forward to trying out different corals under them. My set-up will be primarily LPS, Softies (all types) & clams. I will try a Monti cap & some digitata once the tank has matured & I've upgraded the skimmer & the flow. Maybe a green slimer or something too, we'll have to see.

Where are the pictures:mrgreen:

Pic's!
 

well here's some eye candy, sorry for the poor shots, more to come....

some more...

Awesome! The background looks like guts, but I like it. :mrgreen:

The pic's don't do it justice. The display does not seem so insanely blue in person, I need to play with my camera I think. The foam came out a nice matte black & hides the overflow nicely. I'v added lots of ledges withe the hopes of mounting encrusting frags later. This seems to be something that you just gotta see in person. it looks absolutely sick!

My kids said it looked like rock poop when I was applying it

I posted this on Alberta Aquatica I am going to buy one of these when I do a larger tank.

I would say go with the new LED lights. I did the math one day and the cost of the new 250 w MH bulbs and 55w PC atinic bulbs, changing you MH every 6 months and you atinics every year would cost you the same to buy one of these LED lights.

LED lights

The math works out like this,

LED lights $3539.00

LED fixture Life 50,000 = 50,000 at 12 hours a day 365 days a year = 11.41 years

6' MH and PC light fixture

A six foot tank needs 3 250w 10,000k MH lights $1499.95.

Replacement bulbs for the MH are 94.95 each times 3 times 2 times 11.5 = 6551.55

96w attinic bulbs

Replacement bulbs for the PCs are 52.95, 4 times 11.5 = 608.93

total $8660.43

total savings of $5121.43

Brad

now how about electricity costs? excess temp? chiller? the ability to change K out-put with the touch of a button?

Nice, but it seems very blue. Is that just the camera?

If you read the previous message, the Blueis color is caused by the Camera and he still try to capture the proper color out of it using the Camera. .

I think it looks awsome. I will also be buying one of these fixtures, in the near future. Keep us updated with some pics when you have live stock in there.

I love the lighting there Snaggle I see that your in wainwright. So i take it your in the Military what trade are ya with the school?

I have taught in Wainwright many times on SQ's ,PLQ's, lots of leadership courses.

mike

Every picture I've ever seen posted of tanks with Solaris lights looks very blue and not as bright as a MH setup. I'd love to see these in person.

btw, as far as I'm concerned high tech stuff like this pays for itself on day one if it works the way you hoped it would, looks the way you wanted it to look & makes you happy.

I was thinking a road trip to Mission is needed at some point. :wink:

I only get 2300 for bulb replacment and that is if you go with 3 bulbs. 2 bulbs can light a 6 foot tank effectivly so that would only be 1600.00 ish.

if you changing MH more than once a year your throwing away good money.

Steve

from what I read there realy isn't much along the lines of energy costs, we will wait to see if you can still go with out a chiller but the ability to change the light color is cool as long as all bulbs are still on when you do it.

Next time I am in Vancouver, with out the wife maybe we can set it up and I can do some PAR measurments.. would be interesting to see the practical output of them.

what did you use for your "rock poop"?

Steve

I'll be waiting untill these units are mainstream before I'd even think of trying them.

I haven't seen a pic of the lighting yet that has given me the urge to get them.

I'm watching to see what results you have with corals. :)

I am a Res Sig Op working with CMTC at OPFOR, I will going reg force in the summer/fall I will be changing to bin rat though.

Brad

sorry when I copied the post the links did not copie.

I was using this light from J&L for the referance.

http://www.jlaquatics.com/phpstore/s..._ID=mh-calp722

I have always heard to change you MH every 6 months. I have used one for 18 months in the past though.

Brad

Welcome anytime.

Way to go. I am looking at starting a reef aquarium and I to am very interested in the LED's. When are they going to be coming out with the
400w? These Led's should last you 12years approx., and when you consider in the cost of replacements bulbs in a different fixture I don't feel there is much difference. You also mentioned the Giesmann fixture, but for the one with the micro processor, the LED is cheaper so there you go.
Please keep us posted.

any updates?

I second that. I am weighing my purchase partly on your experince.

Will

Hey everyone. The tank is doing well, I'm still very pleased with the LED's.I haven't had the spare $$$ to put into the tank (I'm setting up a home based daycare right now) so the few frags I've had have grown nicely, The torch seems very happy & I simply love the microprocessor running the whole show. I can understand why so many hobbiests love their controllers.
What can I say, I love the lights. I recommend them without hesitation. My tank has matured so I will be adding many more corals & inverts very soon so look for further updates in the not so distant future.
Next on my hardware list is an auto top-off to keep up with all the evaporation.

Updates on this? I am looking at getting a 72" Solaris.