New Lighting Technology?...

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Ron99

It's good to see somebody trying this technology out. I still think LEDs hold alot of promise but mainly for DIY right now. The commercial fixtures are way to expensive and not always built well. I saw some pictures of a PFO Solaris dismantled and it was not very impressive. The heatsinks were a joke. So I'm not surprised they were failing. Maybe the Aqua Illumination ones are better but still pricey.

I'm going to build my own LED fixture for my new 65 gallon tank. Total cost of parts will probably be around $1000. But the equivalent Solaris fixture was close to $4000 and the quality of components for the DIY will be much higher. The only think I will be missing is the controller for sunrise/sunset etc. but that can be added later.

I am starting to shy away from building an LED set up now, the more I read about LEDs the less I want them, so this plasma bulb is very interesting to me. this bulb is rated to retain over 80% of its output after 20000hours, which means if you run it for 8 hours a day every 6.8 years you need to change the bulb.

form what I have been reading about new High power LEDs is that they lose 60% of there output after aprox 2 years, and don't last 50K hours as the high power ones have a much shorter life span. I would say with a 60% average output loss in a couple years, you would be replacing LEDs every 2 years.. also the penatration is actualy quite pour compard to other point source lighting.

having said all this I am still concidering building a LED set up, but beforI do I have to do a lot more research and concider some pretty undesiriable trates.

Steve

[Ron99]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

I am starting to shy away from building an LED set up now, the more I read about LEDs the less I want them, so this plasma bulb is very interesting to me. this bulb is rated to retain over 80% of its output after 20000hours, which means if you run it for 8 hours a day every 6.8 years you need to change the bulb.

form what I have been reading about new High power LEDs is that they lose 60% of there output after aprox 2 years, and don't last 50K hours as the high power ones have a much shorter life span. I would say with a 60% average output loss in a couple years, you would be replacing LEDs every 2 years.. also the penatration is actualy quite pour compard to other point source lighting.

having said all this I am still concidering building a LED set up, but beforI do I have to do a lot more research and concider some pretty undesiriable trates.

Steve

High Power LEDs will last the 50,000 hours as long as you keep them cool enough. I think failures were due to poor thermal management. LEDs do not like excessive heat. The Solaris units had pitiful excuses for heat sinks so that was likely responsible for most of those failures. I am going a bit with overkill on mine. But as long as you have adequate heat sinks and run a fan or two to move air over the heatsink the LEDs will last the 50K hours.

Penetration is poor because the output is something like 120 or more degrees wide so it is quite spread out. Adding even 80 degree optics will bump up performance quite a bit. 60 degree optics should give performance equal to or better than 150 Watt MH. 40 degree optics will equal or exceed 250 watt MH and 20 degree optics should reach 400 watt MH PAR levels. For any tank deeper than say 10 inches you need some optics to get better penetration and PAR at depth.

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Ron99

High Power LEDs will last the 50,000 hours as long as you keep them cool enough. I think failures were due to poor thermal management. LEDs do not like excessive heat. The Solaris units had pitiful excuses for heat sinks so that was likely responsible for most of those failures. I am going a bit with overkill on mine. But as long as you have adequate heat sinks and run a fan or two to move air over the heatsink the LEDs will last the 50K hours.

Penetration is poor because the output is something like 120 or more degrees wide so it is quite spread out. Adding even 80 degree optics will bump up performance quite a bit. 60 degree optics should give performance equal to or better than 150 Watt MH. 40 degree optics will equal or exceed 250 watt MH and 20 degree optics should reach 400 watt MH PAR levels. For any tank deeper than say 10 inches you need some optics to get better penetration and PAR at depth.

I have seen the PAR numbers for the new LEDs at the bottom of a tank with water in it and to tell you the truth I wasn't impressed, it was no where near what I have measured on a 150 watt HQI MH, but I don't know if this was the way the guy measure it or what. it was weird as everyone tells me that with this set up you get the same output as (insert whatever) so I think what I am going to do is order a couple LEDs and do some direct comparasons from exact same distances as I am suspecting there is some distance fudging going on

Steve

[titus]

Hello,

It'd be interesting to see how the new plasma stuff pans out. It looks dangerous though.

Titus

[BlueAbyss]

Hmm, most of the data I've seen on LEDs was using 45 degree optics, which will make the penetration (and par numbers) much better. I think that LEDs are perfect for smaller tanks anyhow... why bother with a bunch of little lights over a big tank when a few large MHs would do the job better (and just as efficiently)?

I took note of this new plasma technology when it was first announced, and I think it shows some promise as a replacement (or alternative) to MH. I'll be watching this closely... thanks for posting!

[Ron99]

Originally Posted by BlueAbyss

Hmm, most of the data I've seen on LEDs was using 45 degree optics, which will make the penetration (and par numbers) much better. I think that LEDs are perfect for smaller tanks anyhow... why bother with a bunch of little lights over a big tank when a few large MHs would do the job better (and just as efficiently)?

Actually, the LEDs should be more efficient. They convert more energy into light than heat compared to MH. They will use less power than a comparable MH set up and transfer little to no heat to the tank so you're less likely to need a chiller. Also, as long as you manage the heat around the LEDs themselves, they will last for 50,000+ hours so that's a big cost savings in bulb changes too.

Also, you can control the blue and white LEDs separately to fine tune your colour temperature to exactly what you want.

[Ron99]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

I have seen the PAR numbers for the new LEDs at the bottom of a tank with water in it and to tell you the truth I wasn't impressed, it was no where near what I have measured on a 150 watt HQI MH, but I don't know if this was the way the guy measure it or what. it was weird as everyone tells me that with this set up you get the same output as (insert whatever) so I think what I am going to do is order a couple LEDs and do some direct comparasons from exact same distances as I am suspecting there is some distance fudging going on

Steve

Sounds like a good plan. I'll be curious to see what PAR numbers you get. Try to use some of the better LEDs like the Cree XR-E. Don't bother with the MC-E as it is not an optimal option for aquarium lighting. Also, try to run an array of something like 4 x 4 or 4 x5 LEDs with 50% cool white and 50% royal blue. You'll want more than 1 LED as in real world applications you will get overlapping output from the LEDs.

Or if you make it out to the Lower Mainland you could bring your PAR meter by once I've built my array and make some measurements.

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Ron99

Sounds like a good plan. I'll be curious to see what PAR numbers you get. Try to use some of the better LEDs like the Cree XR-E. Don't bother with the MC-E as it is not an optimal option for aquarium lighting. Also, try to run an array of something like 4 x 4 or 4 x5 LEDs with 50% cool white and 50% royal blue. You'll want more than 1 LED as in real world applications you will get overlapping output from the LEDs.

Or if you make it out to the Lower Mainland you could bring your PAR meter by once I've built my array and make some measurements.

come july, I will be going to Kamloops on weekends, so I could always stop by on a friday or sunday.

Steve