LEDs - what comes recommended?

tkh

tkh

New member
So, having completed my sump upgrade, rock upgrade, powerhead upgrade, and skimmer upgrade (makes me wonder why I bought a working tank... but oh well...), I am now onto a lighting upgrade!!

Currently I have 4 T5HOs bulbs over my 90g tank. Not terrible I suppose, although the bulbs are at the 6 month mark, and so I have begun looking into replacing them. I guess they have another 4ish months, although I have also been recently informed that perhaps my lighting would not be sufficient for stony corals? All in all, my thoughts for my tank have drifted in this direction, so time to figure out what to do with regards to lighting.

I am considering LEDs predominately due to cost over time, since bulbs seem a bit expensive. In looking into replacement T5HOs, I think it will run me ~$100 to replace the 4 bulbs? If that is the case, and that's a bi-annual cost, I figure LEDs make more sense. Well, provided they're not an outrageous price! Now.. given that I have conveniently missed the great Group Buy, what are my options? Any help at all is truly appreciated!

Thanks!!
 
Rapidled.com if you are a DIY guy is one place. You can customize the light to fit your needs and they have great customer service. I had a driver break and the replaced it free of charge. If did it over again I would have spent a little extra and bought the pre-drilled heat sinks. I love the ease of the solderless LEDs they sell too. If you have questions about it send me a pm.
 
Unles you do a custom build like rapidled, my recommendation would be to wait on LEDs for a while till the dust settles. T5 units give great color and growth. Personally, I like 6 or 8 bulb units since the color combos work out so much nicer. If you are set on LEDs, there are many deals on first generation LEDs. IMO, I would avoid them. They do not offer full spectrum, exclude warm white, UV or True Violet, and most are not wirelessly controlled. LED buyers are not saving any money by selling their 2 year old light for half price since it was lacking many colors/ features. Just my opinion.
 
Thanks for the input guys! What you say makes a lot of sense Ghostman, and the lights I have seem OK, but I just wanted to avoid paying a lot for new bulbs when a new fixture could be had for a little more than that. I was actually considering DIY, so thanks for the recommendation JM, I'll likely be PM-ing you about that sometime soon.

If anyone else has an idea on this, I'm definitely open to it!
 
I have the Par38 bulbs from Coral Compulsion; they're a sponsor here. They also sell a LED fixture if that's the way you want to go. Reef Breeders is another sponsor here with a couple of LED fixtures and bulbs you can choose from.
 
and I forgot to mention Prestige LED; they sell a LED/T5 combo that a members have and really like.
 
One thing I forgot to mention is whether you want them to be dimmable you have to buy a controller or again make one. I use the Apex controller to control my lights. I can change the temp of the lighting , sunset, and sunrise all wirelessly. I also agree with Joe that if you already have a good light fixture (I didn't, this is my first tank) that LEDs in the reefing world are making leaps and bounds and that you will probably see prices drop and fixtures get better. I would disagree that LEDs don't provide the full color spectrum to grow corals to their full potential (but that is a big debate in the community, but if you look at guys tanks that just use LEDs I would think that is enough proof that LEDs do a good job.). PM whenever with those questions.
 
Just be careful...y'all have to acclimate your existing coral to your new lights. I replaced my HPO t5's with the jbj unibody...and within a matter of days I had bleached out some of my coralline and fried a small colony of candy canes :(
 
DIY I think is the way to go. If you really take your time and do a lot of research you can build a very nice fixture just the way you want it.
 
Thanks for the input! I'm tempted to do DIY - i've done plenty of soldering, and dealt with heat sinks, etc... My only worry is that I need this done before.... Mid-next week (shoulder surgery would put all my DIY projects on a long delay..).

Lol, so a bit of a time constraint, unfortunately. I'm really kicking myself for missing the group buy! Oh well...

And, very true - if I had a good lighting setup, I would be content to stick with T5HOs, but... Its decent, just not big enough! :( It's only 4 bulbs on a 90g, without individual reflectors (just one big one across the back). I really wish I'd dug way deeper before buying a used setup, hahaha, but it is what it is, and I'm happily upgrading it - this is the last major step before its a tank I can be proud of!
 
DIY is fine, but I love the flexibility of Par38 bulbs. Get some cool flex arms, or just mount cheap sockets in a canopy and boom, done. When it's time to upgrade, you're not worried about a new DIY project, you just swap out bulbs for the new super LEDs of 2017. CoralCompulsion (a sponsor, and local) hooked me up. You can visit and see how nice his corals are if you want to see the color combos in person too.
 
The AI Vega is great, I absolutely love mine. Although they run 499 a pop I have 2 over my 57g oceanic and I think they are incredible. I have an AI nano over my 29g so I may be a little biased but I have never had anything but good luck with aqua illuminations.

- Dave
 
Heh, AIs are nice... But I'm looking to spend well under $1k to outfit myself with some nice lighting! I dont't doubt their quality at all, and would love to have them.... Just can't afford them, lol!
 
4 or 5 full spec PAR38 bulbs would be a great way to increase light and keep your coloration. They run about $80-$100 a piece, but are not internally controllable. But, as of now, neither are your T5s most likely.
 
Check out Coral Compulsion (coralcompulsion.com). Go see the bulbs and fixtures, good stuff and worth a look definitely.
 
OR just keep your eyes open for another Group Buy. They are already talking about setting another one up. They are killer deals I have seen the one 2040's in person (it's $136 in the GB) and it's very nice now that has manual dimmable lights the step above which I have also seen in person has the remote and timer built in so you can program every hour or every half hour and both of those are full spectrum. Actually the nice thing is is that you can totally customize them to exactly what you want and you get extra led's which you choose what colors you want it's 5 I do believe. I had T5/MH set up and when I seen the LED's in action I fell in love with them. The shimmer is crazy and both of my guys in our group have had good luck growing pretty much whatever they want. Just sayin Thanks for reading
 
forgot to mention they all have moonlights included what happens is once the unit goes down to 10% the moonlights automatically kick on'
 
Awesome, thanks for the info John! I wish I'd gotten in on the first group buy... heh.

I actually ended up just upping my budget and got 2 Vegas!! I just responded to someone's post in another thread with my 2 day impression of them... lol. Overall, I like them, mostly for the swappable pucks for further customization...

If I'd had time, DIY all the way though - best bang for your buck, plus with the right research you can make a set dedicated to proper photosynthesis and to your own viewing preferences. Vegas are at least in the same vein with the individually tunable channels, and so to come out custom pucks.

As for moonlights - I don't like them to be honest. First, moonlight isn't dark blue, second I want my fish to sleep and corals to go into night-mode, and finally, they probably get all the additional light they need since the tank is in my living room where I'm active until midnight most nights anyhow, hehe! Moonlights are over-rated in my opinion at least. They do look nice though, so to each their own! Not knocking anyone that enjoys 'em, they're just not for me is all.
 
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