Getting tired.....

Mark...

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I have two, 32 inch Reefbreeders over my standard 180. My biggest issue is that the whites were too strong. I'm down to 1 per cent on my whites and things are much better.
 

aereaus

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Fwiw there is a huge learning curve when switching to LEDs but imo they are awesome. I switched from metal halide/t5 and ill never go back.
 

McMullen

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@jackson6745
The two on the end are ocean revive s026 ( you can see the blues are out on the unit on the right). The middle two are from eBay, think they were called "WellPar 160watt". The middle two crank out serious lumens. And the look of the light with just those on, amazing!!

With my middle units, white channel at about 35% and blue at around 55-60% my lux is like 83-84k. Distance from unit to water level about 14in.
 

KDockery0906

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I am thinking about getting 2 ocean revives and sell my one Kessil. Any comments from anyone using OR and getting results
 

aereaus

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I've heard good things about the group buy lights for the black boxes -- there are some groups on facebook. I specifically can't remember the brand but it is some guys out of the US who buy the black boxes and replace the diodes and add ramp timers etc. They sell for about 50-100 extra dollars though but if you're specifically worried about the spectrum they're supposed to be improved. I have talked to the guy who modifies them and he seems to understand the importance of certain colors to stimulate chlorophyll A/B.
 

Up2no6ood

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Agreed! My black box grows corals like mad.
915f589065d707878e11ae225d5846cb.jpg



Monti cap went from this
2adb71719570df2afb7f80109d1dc1df.jpg

To this
26422d76099e53f38201d6ba34f3169c.jpg
in 6 months

Zoas have eye popping color
52b6cf8d74bdaf3bc5462c8dc1160d2e.jpg


And acans hold their own without losing color
0d80dd66e7d27d6e700ceefd4e8908d1.jpg
 

McMullen

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:mad:@KDockery0906

I can't recommend OR, two of my three units lost the blue channels. OR did send replacement blue LEDs but my experience is not isolated. The blues failed about the 10-11mo mark.
 

FlyinBryan

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Yeah I also reluctantly made the switch to leds. But now I'm really glad I did! These rock and im getting awesome growth on my sps!
I think what screws people up with leds is when they screw around with all the settings.
Imo ecotech did a great job programming the the leds to reflect 20k, 14k etc. if you get off that things don't go well.
I just them to run from 20k to 10 and back through out the day and the growth and color is great!!
 

aereaus

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:mad:@KDockery0906

I can't recommend OR, two of my three units lost the blue channels. OR did send replacement blue LEDs but my experience is not isolated. The blues failed about the 10-11mo mark.

Yes one of the major downsides to the chinese blackboxes IMO are the lack of reliability and the misadvertised wattage. I have ran some tests and although they claim to pull 165w they only draw around 55w from the wall.

Back to my original statement though, if it works, it works. LEDs get a big thumbs up from me.
 

DMan

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I have to say all LEds are not created equal. And higher price in no way means better performance or results. One of the best producing lights Ive had was a cheap DIY ( And I mean DIY) LOL...I controlled it with a variable 12v wall wart adapter. HAha the memories. I've seen great results with cheapies and no so great results with the most expensive brands. One of which I have and I regret dropping the 1K on it. I will say the Radion XR15pro ( all I have from EM) is a great light. And the new templates they created are showing great results.
One other thing I notice is some of the best growing ( really big colonies) are with a LED/T5 combo.
Here's that DIY jobber I had. Thnk it cost about $20 from a fellow reefer. And here it is beside a Kessil 350. Note the DIY is only at about 30% as running it higher really got that heat sink hot. And the third pic is two Kessil 360. I think around this time I had an outbreak of brown star polyp that took over everything.

IMG_20121013_094901.jpg


IMG_20130528_123012.jpg


IMG_20140328_135247.jpg
 

DMan

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I have to say all LEds are not created equal. And higher price in no way means better performance or results. One of the best producing lights Ive had was a cheap DIY ( And I mean DIY) LOL...I controlled it with a variable 12v wall wart adapter. HAha the memories. I've seen great results with cheapies and no so great results with the most expensive brands. One of which I have and I regret dropping the 1K on it. I will say the Radion XR15pro ( all I have from EM) is a great light. And the new templates they created are showing great results.
One other thing I notice is some of the best growing ( really big colonies) are with a LED/T5 combo.
Here's that DIY jobber I had. Thnk it cost about $20 from a fellow reefer. And here it is beside a Kessil 350. Note the DIY is only at about 30% as running it higher really got that heat sink hot. And the third pic is two Kessil 360. I think around this time I had an outbreak of brown star polyp that took over everything.
 

aereaus

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I look at it this way -- maybe not everyone will like my comparison but here goes. A cheap 500 dollar car will get you from A to B and serve its purpose but in all likelihood it will not be fast, pretty or advanced and in cases they will break down more often and require more maintenance. Then there are the midrange cars, they cost more but you will get increased reliability, they'll run better and they'll have more advanced features. Then you have top tier cars, they aren't worth it to the average person because the cost doesn't bring as big of an advantage over the midrange vehicles. However, for that extra money you'll get a slew of interesting gadgetry and performance. In most cases they will be reliable (however, when they break they're gonna cost a lot more to fix unless you're a DIY guy.) Then of course you have the DIY cars, usually purpose built for drag racing or course racing. These are usually built on the chassis or concept of another car before it but they will always be cheaper than a manufactured car of the same speed and specifications. The trade off is the time and knowledge to actually successfully build something like that.

This is true of ALL lighting and equipment in the hobby. I hope I didn't bore anyone to death with my long winded analysis and to be certain this will not always be the case. Some cheaper fixtures will beat more expensive ones on many comparative tests but again it's all about preference and what we are willing to give up for those preferences.

Our choices do not make us better hobbyist, our habits do.
 

03864reefer

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Many manufacturers of reef type halides, are announcing end of production..
I built my own led fixtures.. 7 spectrums, all dimmable.. I have to say, that the "control" leds have over halides, the ability to ramp spectral outputs throughout the daily cycle, as well as intensity, to me is important..Another feature I built in to lights is each chip is cantered 10 degrees off horizontal.in different directions.... Some are 120 degree reflectors, some are 90 and some are 60.. This allows the beams to be strategically lit so shadows and "beams" go away.. The chips on front of light all canter backwards, again 10 degrees.. This keeps beams off glass, and shines on back wall more..

I switched from Halides 2 years ago, and well things are good.. Both have ups and downs, even as far as species.. Some things do better under one or the other..But I am finding the leds need to be tuned, to species more closely, whereas the halides are plug and play you get what you got.. But the the effects of "clouds" changing intensities and spectrums totally blows spectators away.. .. I also believe that the energy savings is substantial.. I dont have to AC fish room.. with Halides it was a necessity..
 

03864reefer

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I have to say all LEds are not created equal. And higher price in no way means better performance or results. One of the best producing lights Ive had was a cheap DIY ( And I mean DIY) LOL...I controlled it with a variable 12v wall wart adapter. HAha the memories. I've seen great results with cheapies and no so great results with the most expensive brands. One of which I have and I regret dropping the 1K on it. I will say the Radion XR15pro ( all I have from EM) is a great light. And the new templates they created are showing great results.
One other thing I notice is some of the best growing ( really big colonies) are with a LED/T5 combo.
Here's that DIY jobber I had. Thnk it cost about $20 from a fellow reefer. And here it is beside a Kessil 350. Note the DIY is only at about 30% as running it higher really got that heat sink hot. And the third pic is two Kessil 360. I think around this time I had an outbreak of brown star polyp that took over everything.

IMG_20121013_094901.jpg


IMG_20130528_123012.jpg


IMG_20140328_135247.jpg





FYI I notice the sagging pvc.. I built an incredible garage using pvc,, thing is, I used the spray foam insulation, in a can, drilled holes every yard or so, and filled with that.. Wait three days, and it makes pvc pipes super strong! .
 

Joseph Pagnotta

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I have no issue with my Marine Orbitz Led for my 55 gallon reef tank. Screw what you heard
image.jpeg
 

Neptune1707

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Yeah, this conversation between LED and other kind of lighting reminds of the days...."which is better, Mac or PC!" LOL Each have their pros and cons, but I recently bought a Red Sea Max 500 that had the T5 lighting. I really wanted to wait for the LED version of the tank to come out, but we had to move, and my old tank was not going to take another move it was so old. So I had to make the RS Max purchase ASAP. I currently run radions on my 24g office nano tank and my bosses 30g tank that I take care of....love the shimmer of the LED and how the fish and coral fluoresce under the LED's....it just hard to get that with the T5's. Soooo, if I can convince my wife in a couple years, I may upgrade the lighting on the Red Sea tank with LED. But for now, fish and coral are growing and very healthy under the T5's. LED's are on the list for xmas!!! LOL
 
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