Bridgelux or Cree?

[mrhasan]

So there seems to be never-ending debate between Cree and Bridgelux in DIY leds in reefcentral and nano-reef. I was thinking what you people think and if you are doing or have DIY leds, which LED emitter do you use?

Keeping Cree at 50-70% while running Bridgelux at 100% (with fan) seems to be of the same thing. But people still say running cree at lower rating expands its life. But I am not pleased with the justification since I am pretty sure a DIY running for 5 years and another for 10years doesn't make a difference; since you will obviously change it at some point well before 10 years.

Opinions please

[msjboy]

Cree is owned by General Electric.... Toshiba just bought Bridgelux....and throw in Philips Rebels too. Cree is the more expensive ones with newer technology coming out every few months it seems ( see latest XM-L2) with a large capital to fund its R&D. Some people say the rebels ( see Stevesleds (on sale right now) , & nano-box-reef lights) are actually better in terms of the spectra though... I would go with a mix as some companies are doing it ( eg. Crees & Philips by http://www.marinedepot.com/Maxspect_...FILDTN-vi.html ). Nowadays on the DIY front, people are doing the full spectrum layouts as opposed to blue and white offerings though.

Also, Epistar, a taiwan based company, shares some of the same patents as Cree and is the cheapest of the 4.

regs
msjboy

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by msjboy

Cree is owned by General Electric.... Toshiba just bought Bridgelux....and throw in Philips Rebels too. Cree is the more expensive ones with newer technology coming out every few months it seems ( see latest XM-L2) with a large capital to fund its R&D. Some people say the rebels ( see Stevesleds (on sale right now) , & nano-box-reef lights) are actually better in terms of the spectra though... I would go with a mix as some companies are doing it ( eg. Crees & Philips by http://www.marinedepot.com/Maxspect_...FILDTN-vi.html ). Nowadays on the DIY front, people are doing the full spectrum layouts as opposed to blue and white offerings though.

Also, Epistar, a taiwan based company, shares some of the same patents as Cree and is the cheapest of the 4.

regs
msjboy

Never heard about nanobox but they are expensive :O Who would spend $400 for a fixture from there when they can easily get a AI SOL for that money. LED industry is so confusing!

[sphelps]

I've run both and I prefer the Crees, IME SPS respond better under them, no idea why but they just do. Lower output also means higher efficiency as in you're using less power. Not too many LED fixtures out there using bridgelux either, from a manufacturing point of view I would conclude the Crees are the favorite by far. Crees are also pretty cheap now, not much point using budget LEDs these days unless you have a fairly large build. I also like the Luxeon's in terms of spectrum for the cool blues and royal blues.

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by sphelps

I've run both and I prefer the Crees, IME SPS respond better under them, no idea why but they just do. Lower output also means higher efficiency as in you're using less power. Not too many LED fixtures out there using bridgelux either, from a manufacturing point of view I would conclude the Crees are the favorite by far. Crees are also pretty cheap now, not much point using budget LEDs these days unless you have a fairly large build. I also like the Luxeon's in terms of spectrum for the cool blues and royal blues.

That's where my catch lies. My tank will not be able to sustain fancy SPS and hence I was wondering whether the Cree will be worthwhile.

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by mrhasan

That's where my catch lies. My tank will not be able to sustain fancy SPS and hence I was wondering whether the Cree will be worthwhile.

I guess you have to consider worth while in terms of what exactly? A 20 gallon tank won't require very many LEDs and you can use less crees for the same amount of light given by more bridgelux. I don't think you'll have much potential for any money savings. So why limit yourself to bridgelux?

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by sphelps

I guess you have to consider worth while in terms of what exactly? A 20 gallon tank won't require very many LEDs and you can use less crees for the same amount of light given by more bridgelux. I don't think you'll have much potential for any money savings. So why limit yourself to bridgelux?

I can get 24bridgelux from aquastyle (along with heatsink, hanging kit, glue, etc.) for $75 (I already got 2 meanwell 48D drivers ) while for Cree, I will have to spend like $120 for 24 emitters. No heatsink included since I cannot find Cree kit (everyone sells bridgelux kits). That's where my thoughts are stuck

[sphelps]

Pretty hard to buy a kit without drivers but Cree LEDs can be purchased for around $3.50 which would be $84 for 24 plus if you only need 70% or less to achieve the same output you only need 16 LEDs which would be around $56. Rapid LED also sells pretty nice anodized heat sinks that accept splash cards and hanging kits for around $30. Realistically you're talking about $20 max in savings.

[ScubaSteve]

Originally Posted by mrhasan

That's where my catch lies. My tank will not be able to sustain fancy SPS and hence I was wondering whether the Cree will be worthwhile.

Why not? So long as you keep on top of water quality and have sufficient lighting, you can keep most SPS in damn near any tank.

I grew SPS very well (grew a cantaloupe sized birdsnest from a 1" frag in just under 8 months) in a 20 gallon tank for about two years... and I didn't even own a skimmer at the time! Just regulated my feeding and did weekly water changes.

I recommend Rebels over the Bridgelux, and put Crees and Rebels at the same quality level.

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by ScubaSteve

Why not? So long as you keep on top of water quality and have sufficient lighting, you can keep most SPS in damn near any tank.

I grew SPS very well (grew a cantaloupe sized birdsnest from a 1" frag in just under 8 months) in a 20 gallon tank for about two years... and I didn't even own a skimmer at the time! Just regulated my feeding and did weekly water changes.

I recommend Rebels over the Bridgelux, and put Crees and Rebels at the same quality level.

I don't have a sump and I heavily feed my tank (although the nitrate is undetectable). I have already killed 4 acros (bleached or dead; weird!) while three survivors are brown but encrusting. So I am kind of hopeless for SPS (had a big thread going few weeks back on this :P ). So maybe I can keep low end acros but high end are not the thing for my tank I guess.