Selecting a LED Fixture - By Steven Pro

[dacianb]

Curious, Like what and why?

it is weekend already, next week I may go deeper into each aspect, but just to pinpoint few things...
- CRI - it is not dependant by color temperature, and is not necessary to have high amount of reds in it. Can have high CRI LEDs at 6500K and low CRI LED at 3000k. So, high CRI or low CRI doesn't change anything to PAR/PUR or whatever you consider. Speaking of blackbody temperatures, either 3000 or 10000 k pure blackbody have CRI around 98-99. CRI means having or not certain wavelengths in a source, but not the ratio between them.
As a replacement of CRI, more and more companies are using Color Quality Scale (CQS) - which is the possible CRI replacement in next years.

- The patented Osram Oslon NP Blue.... it is Signal PC Blue? (LCB CRBP) - no led chips were ever developed for reefing. Deep blue were produced years before people see them on market and thinks to use them in tanks. Those are the basic brick of any white led. They were released to public ONLY when remote phosphor technology became spread - never for reefs. This PC blue is a deep blue with a thin layer of phosphor on adding some extra wavelengths to original 450 nm. Applications, according to datasheet Signaling, Architectural Lighting indoor, Signal and Symbol Luminary. . More than a year ago I proposed to use them in a reef light and people on a forum jumped on my head that I am crazy. To continue the story of famous LEDs for reefing - Lime leds-were designed for street lights, violets for medical and forensic, etc

- most modern, good quality leds have a very stable color whatever dimming method is used. Consider same LED as above, there is only 0.002 CX/CY shifts due to current shift, so that argument is rather invalid. Agree, it is like this on very low quality leds.
- Lifetime of LEDs - 50k is a no no. For Cree LEDs you may expect 35k (depend by current / chip temperature), where for Luxeons and Osrams can go easily above 100k hours. Lifetime of LEDs have to be specified as T90, T70 or whatever, but LEDs will still burn. They just fade in time. This lifetime number without degrading rate is useless. When you say 50k means 90%, 75% or completely dead??
- I dont get the idea of Cree XBDs unlicensed can be drive at 350 mA and licensed versions at 700 mA, where on datasheet is written 1000mA. You continue this list with Cree XPE and others.... Me, a regular guy can buy ANY LED bin from Cree, Osram, Luxeon or whatever. And again NEVER a chip was designed or patented for aquarium. We are lucky enough that large consumer markets needs specific colors and they push led manufacturers to produce it, otherwise... .

It is Friday late evening, time to enjoy my tank and nice weekend.

 

[Tyler001]

When I posted a pic before of the reef breeders led on page two. These corals were in a 36" wide 65 gal now they are in 120 48" Same lighting and this is about 8 months later u can see the growth

 

[Tyler001]

Most of the corals tripled in size

 

[scardall]

it is weekend already, next week I may go deeper into each aspect, but just to pinpoint few things...
- CRI - it is not dependant by color temperature, and is not necessary to have high amount of reds in it. Can have high CRI LEDs at 6500K and low CRI LED at 3000k. So, high CRI or low CRI doesn't change anything to PAR/PUR or whatever you consider. Speaking of blackbody temperatures, either 3000 or 10000 k pure blackbody have CRI around 98-99. CRI means having or not certain wavelengths in a source, but not the ratio between them.
As a replacement of CRI, more and more companies are using Color Quality Scale (CQS) - which is the possible CRI replacement in next years.

- The patented Osram Oslon NP Blue.... it is Signal PC Blue? (LCB CRBP) - no led chips were ever developed for reefing. Deep blue were produced years before people see them on market and thinks to use them in tanks. Those are the basic brick of any white led. They were released to public ONLY when remote phosphor technology became spread - never for reefs. This PC blue is a deep blue with a thin layer of phosphor on adding some extra wavelengths to original 450 nm. Applications, according to datasheet Signaling, Architectural Lighting indoor, Signal and Symbol Luminary. . More than a year ago I proposed to use them in a reef light and people on a forum jumped on my head that I am crazy. To continue the story of famous LEDs for reefing - Lime leds-were designed for street lights, violets for medical and forensic, etc

- most modern, good quality leds have a very stable color whatever dimming method is used. Consider same LED as above, there is only 0.002 CX/CY shifts due to current shift, so that argument is rather invalid. Agree, it is like this on very low quality leds.
- Lifetime of LEDs - 50k is a no no. For Cree LEDs you may expect 35k (depend by current / chip temperature), where for Luxeons and Osrams can go easily above 100k hours. Lifetime of LEDs have to be specified as T90, T70 or whatever, but LEDs will still burn. They just fade in time. This lifetime number without degrading rate is useless. When you say 50k means 90%, 75% or completely dead??
- I dont get the idea of Cree XBDs unlicensed can be drive at 350 mA and licensed versions at 700 mA, where on datasheet is written 1000mA. You continue this list with Cree XPE and others.... Me, a regular guy can buy ANY LED bin from Cree, Osram, Luxeon or whatever. And again NEVER a chip was designed or patented for aquarium. We are lucky enough that large consumer markets needs specific colors and they push led manufacturers to produce it, otherwise... .

It is Friday late evening, time to enjoy my tank and nice weekend.

Interesting data. Thanks. To bad most spec's available from manufactures do not include this type of data on their lighting. It would be nice to use as to compare one to the other. As to the Cree XBD's types(just different grades) the same as Microprocessors ,grade A or B etc. IMO What is really important is the relationship of lighting used from said fixture as it relates to the corals health,growth and color. Most people buy what their buddies tell them is the best etc. To a degree I may be influenced by my friends and in mostly the data for me is important as well too. If your water parameters are correct for what you have and the lighting compliments this,all is good. I use science as my base, then truly knowledgeable hobbyist and the my budget. Remember this no 2 tanks are the same.

Being the weekend is upon us I'll move over to the beach night life.

 

[Angela2016]

Please help! I'm looking to buy my first LED unit. It is for my 40b and the budget is $350. How can I tell without seeing the light in action what the coverage will actually be? I live where the only LED's being used are MarineLand.

I would like to know that answer as well. Maybe someone here that has had experience with both could tell us.

 

[NanaReefer]

I would like to know that answer as well. Maybe someone here that has had experience with both could tell us.

This post is 2yrs old. At the time I went with the Reef Radiance Lumentek Pro 180. It was a great unit and grew all my corals well.
I've since upgraded from this light to a Radion Gen1. I'm loving it!

 

[Air_Cooled_Nut]

No affiliation, just great information:

 

[Benedetto84]

Selecting a LED Fixture

In a previous blog entry, I showed some limited testing I performed on some LED fixtures and one metal halide fixture of the same approximate size and wattage. Having demonstrated that LED’s can produce good intensity lighting, I now want to give a few tips on selecting a quality LED fixture.

My first piece of advice is, buy a brand that you have seen in operation in person. Reading about them online and seeing pictures and video clips is ok, but nothing beats seeing something work right in front of your eyes. Don’t be surprised if they don’t appear very bright, though. Many LED fixtures don’t look very bright, particularly in comparison to a MH, but your eyes lie to you. The same thing happened to me when I compared the LED’s to that MH in my last blog. To my eyes, the MH looked much brighter than either LED, but numbers don’t lie. The human eye is just not a good judge of brightness. I don’t know if that has something to do with the fact that most LED’s are blue heavy in color or some other factor. That is why having and checking the performance with a PAR meter would be a good idea.

The next factor, and one of the biggest in evaluating an LED fixture is heat management. Does the unit in question have a large heat sink? The heat sink is one of the easiest ways to check if a LED fixture is a good one. It is generally easy to locate and compare in size to other brands. It is also the fist thing an inexpensive brand is going to cutback on. If the heat sink is small or nonexistent, I would walk away and look at another option.

Is it relying on passive cooling or does it also incorporate fans? All things equal, I would like to see fans on a LED fixture I would buy. There are some that can manage heat solely through large heat sinks, but I feel more comfortable with fans aiding. Also, are those fans placed in such a way that they are easy to service? In my experience, dirt, dust, and in some cases salt spray will build up on and near fans used around aquarium. This requires regular maintenance. In general, if something cannot easily be serviced, it usually gets skipped. Making sure the fans are operating and free from obstruction is critically important in any light fixture, but even more so with LED.

The last bit of information to gather prior to buying is to examine the warranty policy. How long does it last? What does it cover? And worst case scenario if something happens, where does the service occur, whose responsibility is it to get the unit to the service center, and what is the typical turnaround time for repairs? I have heard of some brands requiring the broken units be sent back to China at the cost of the purchaser. I would avoid those brands if I were you.

I hope I have given you some useful pointers in evaluating a LED prior to purchase. LED seems to be clearly heading as the future lighting of our hobby, but there is a wide range in quality of the units I have seen so far. Early adopters to new technology take the greatest risk and must be extra careful in their acquisitions if they don’t wish to have to repurchase something later.

I was wondering if you could me so insight, so I'm putting together a new 29 gallon tank. 30w x 19H x 12 D. I'm really not wanting to spend over 250 so I was hoping you could give me some ideas on led lighting some decent ones for around that price? I was looking at this one because I keep seeing good reviews and some people are recommending it. I would either make a bracket for it for the canopy or use it with out just on the tank.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/121628257141

 

[Mick51]

New to this forum just joined and wanted to comment on this... I bought the maxspect razor 2 years ago for $900 and have since had to send it to coral vue twice now because of "bad chips" half the actinics gone,they replaced the boards and reflectors for $100 bit now again it's screwing up 24 blues out I tried contacting maxspect but their in China and don't respond, was wondering if this is just bad luck or a bad fixture

 

[ReefLEDLights]

Thermal Management is a key component to the longevity and reliability of a fixture. Some fixtures sacrifice Thermal Management for a sleek look. Sometimes they rely on fans performing at 100%. Either way if a fixture gets hot it will not last. I like to see ours running no more than 120 degrees and around 100 for an average. This well below the operating temperature of a lot of fixtures but goes a long way in ensuring long term trouble free operation.

Bill

 

[Betty1234]

I need a schedule upload for my hydro fifty-twos. Have a 75g mixed reef tank. Please someone let me know what is working for you. My email is [email protected].

 

[EYE-CANDY AQUATICS]

I absolutely love my ai primes, have them on all my tanks and all my coral is fantastic

 

[ReefLEDLights]

Gotta Say AI uses quality LEDs with decent Spectrum...

Binning and choosing the best mix adds to the look...

Bill

 

[MLSReefer]

This is excellent information. I received a Reef Breeders and wasn't sure about a few things but this thread helped me solve those questions. Thanks for the great write up!

 

[becon776]

getting on this thread. photon v2s should be here this week

 

[noopsyche]

You can try to learn more this luminaire

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/noopsyche-k7-pro-ii-95w.506365/

 

[FLSharkvictim]

I may go this route.

 

[FLSharkvictim]

I have changed my mine on running all Hydra HD'S on my new SCA 150. Anyone one on this forum ever see one @ Interzoo Or one in action by chance??? #Planet Pro @ELOSAmerica LED light fixture?
I am thinking about buying and a the matching brackets for my 5FTX24''X24'' size tank.

 

[FLSharkvictim]

Here is a shot of my previous 120 mixed reef that I just tore to down to make room for my upgrade. I was running Two Hydra HD LED'S lighting system.
For the new SCA 150 tank, I will be running two #Orphek Atlantik Compact V4 (Gen 2) LED fixtures including #Orphek Mounting legs.

 

[seamonster]

What is a good led lighting fixture that attaches to the side of an an ecisting 6 bulb , 4 foot t-5 fixture?