Reef Brite LED's available in Canada

[PFoster]

Well if "the proof is in the pudding" then here are some pics for you.

To try these lights out we took two well established Current USA Cardiff aquariums here in Ottawa. Up to this point both tanks had been running 1 x 150W Metal with Phoenix lamps. These tanks are in a sun room, on either side of a gas fireplace as you will shortly see in pictures that follow.

On one tank (that will appear on the left in the comparison picture) we left the tank as is, running the Current USA 150W metal halide on the Current USA ballast. We connected the halide to a Blue Planet EM100 energy meter and we found that the continual power consumption once the ballast had been running for 17 min was very steady at 164W.

On the second tank (that will appear on the right in the comparison picture) we took the Cardiff trim kit and mounted 2 x 15" 50/50 Reef Brite LED strips in the center and on either side we mounted 2 x 15" Actinic Reef Brite LED strips. Although it has no impact on this test, we mounted attached the LED strips together in pairs (one 50/50 and one actinic) and attached each pair to a set of hinges to make it easier to access the tank in the future. For the purpose of the test we did not take the stock 150W metal halide pendant down off the tank as this would require us to move it away from the wall and for the purpose of testing out the lights, this seemed like a bit much.

Here is a top view of the light mounted in the trip kit for the Cardiff:

Here is a side view of the light mounted in the trip kit for the Cardiff:

As you can see in the picture the LED's are running, not the halide.


To connect all 4 of the Reef Brite LED power supplies into the one energy meter we connected them all to a power bar with a built in time that would be used after this test to control the lighting.

Then we connected the power bar to a second Blue Planet EM100 energy meter and found that the power consumption was steady at 53 watts as soon as it was turned on. In all fairness we did forget to take a picture of the max power consumption but it was 54 watts.

So now after all of this reading I suppose you want a shot of the tanks
Well here they are.

We took this picture from a slightly elevated position so that you could see the Reef Brite LED strips on top of the right hand tank and so that you could see that the halide suspended there was not actually running.

In the pictures above the left hand tank is running a 150W metal halide with a Phoenix lamp while the right hand tank is running 4 x 15" Reef Brite LED's.

In our opinion it is clear that the right hand tank, running the LED's is significantly brights in intensity than the halide tank and most importantly the color is still very similar.

[PFoster]

Here is a pic of some of the tank contents looking pretty good under the Reef Brites.

The anemone is an incredible hulk flower anemone and the acans are of course some Aussie acans.

Also if you have a look at the gravel you can see the shimmer from the LED's across the bottom

[DiverDude]

LEDs are unquestionably the future of aquaria lighting. The question is how long will it take for the volumes to ramp up so the prices can come down.

Right now, the manufacturers are feeding mightily at the 'early adopter' trough; prices are probably double what they could be.

As this effect wears off expect prices to get more competitive. With even a modest allowance for future bulb changes, purchasing an LED fixture will soon make a lot sense vs conventional lights.

I'll go out on a limb and predict that within 2 years, you'll be able to buy a quality 48" LED fixture that will replace a MH/T5 setup for $1000 or less.

I can hardly wait.

In fact, I may not. If I upgrade tanks, I'll consider making my own LED fixture.

[Ron99]

Looks nice. Can you do some PAR measurements?

Also, just for the sake of clarity when comparing LED units, The Reef Brite strips power their LEDs at something like 1.5W or 2W each.

[PFoster]

Yeah LED's are rather pricey, but it is our opinion that the Reef Brite LED strips are VERY well priced especially for a product that is made in the US and NOT in china.

Here are some prices for you:
15" $150-170
24" $205-235
36" $235-270
48" $270-300

So at their current price you are coming in at just above $1000 for LED's today!

We have a couple of tank builders in the Toronto area that are already using the Reef Brite's and installing them as the sole source of lighting on tanks up to 30" deep. I dont have any pics of this yet though as the tanks are still a work in progress but I will see what I can do for you.

Please note that you can not purchase these from us, but we would be happy to ship them to your local retailer.

Also for a fixture type setup you can buy a bracket to attach you Reef Brite LED strips to. The bracket allows you to start with say 2-3 strips and add more in as your tank and budget allow. Additionally if you already have halides you could either suspend one reef brite LED strip on either side of the light for suplimentation or you could buy one of the brackets to attach both stips too. And if you are looking for a new halide reflector, Reef Brite has MH pendants already designed to have the LED strips mounted on them to ensure that the fixture looks very clean!

[PFoster]

Originally Posted by Ron99

Looks nice. Can you do some PAR measurements?

Also, just for the sake of clarity when comparing LED units, The Reef Brite strips power their LEDs at something like 1.5W or 2W each.

Sorry but we dont have a PAR meter right now. I do have a lumen meter that I use to compare the difference between reflectors when using the smae lamps and the same ballasts but that wont help us here really.

[PFoster]

The Reef Brite LED strips actually use 3 W LED's that are being under driven so as to decrease the heat the generate and therefor increasing their live expectancy and depenadbility.

[Ron99]

Originally Posted by PFoster

The Reef Brite LED strips actually use 3 W LED's that are being under driven so as to decrease the heat the generate and therefor increasing their live expectancy and depenadbility.

Yes, for marketing purposes they all say they use 3W LEDs. That means the LEDs are rated up to that power but are often actually driven at lower power to reduce heat and increase longevity as you state. But the actual output and therefore PAR will differ at different drive currents. Two different brands could use the exact same 3W LEDs but give different performance because they are driving at different currents Most manufacturers usually don't say exactly what current they are driving the LEDs at. FWIW, I believe that the Reef Brite uses Edison Opto emitters that are built using Cree chips so they are decent LEDs but the output is decreased from the max potential because of the lower drive current.

So as an example let's look at a Cree XR-E 3W cool white LED Q5 bin:

@350mA drive current the LED is using about 1W of power and generating about 107 lumens

@500mA drive current the LED is using about 1.6W of power and generating about 145 lumens or 1.35 times the output at 350mA

@700mA drive current the LED is using a bit over 2W of power and generating about 177 lumens or about 1.7 times the output at 350mA

@1000mA drive current the LED is using about 3W of power and generating about 235 lumens or about 2.2 times the output at 350mA.

PAR will probably correlate well with the lumen output so you have roughly twice as much PAR running at 1000mA vs. 350mA. Or to put it another way, you can probably light a tank twice as deep with LEDs running at 1000mA vs. LEDs running at 350mA.

[Ron99]

Just as a follow on, I'm not trying to poop on the product or anything of that nature. I just feel that with LED technology being fairly new to our hobby there is alot of misinformation, misunderstanding and marketing hype such that people don't really know exactly what they are getting and what the particular LED fixture they are buying is capable of doing. The manfacturers don't help in this as they don't release important specifications on their products and they don't publish PAR numbers (which they must have tested).

So what happens is a customer buys an LED unit to replace MH or T5HO or whatever and then it doesn't have the results or performance they believed it would so they conclude LEDs are no good and get on the interwebs and talk about how bad LEDs are and how their corals stopped growing or lost colour etc.

I believe LEDs are the future of reef aquarium lighting and can replace T5HO and MH in most applications if implemented appropriately. That means high quality LEDs driven at 3W with secondary optics if you need very high PAR or want to have penetration in deeper tanks. Bare LEDs without secondary optics for lower light requirements or shallower tanks etc.

I believe Reef Brite's literature says these can replace T5 and VHO lighting which probably means (if you read between the lines) that these will not perform as well as MH or T5HO. So they will be great for some applications but not for very high light requirements or penetration into deeper tanks.

[Jaws]

So what depth are you suggesting they would be good for?