OMG!!! THE LED's!! wowwwwwwwwwwwww

[SolRo]

hey
can these be used as a lighting system for a nano??
:]
like no other lights?

I doubt it.

While some LEDs look bright just focused down in a tight beam (or blue/red lights especialy, our eyes are sensitive), they aren't intense enough for most coral without major amounts of them very close together covering the top of your tank.

you could grow mushrooms and some other ultra low light coral, maybe...but then again you could also probably do it with ambient light in a room.

[SolRo]

for those curious

white+actinic t5



actinic t5



LEDs



LEDs + white t5 +actinic t5

[Trickman2]

Nice, I am planning on setting up a new fuge soon, but want to do leds for sure

[j1gregor]

I've been wanting to use LED"s on my fuge as well. My par38 light doesn't use that much energy, but since it runs like 18hrs a day it would be nice to switch to something more efficient. It would be great to use one of these to grow chaeto.. let us know how it works.

[mj1333]

for those curious

white+actinic t5



actinic t5



LEDs



LEDs + white t5 +actinic t5

How many led's were you using and how big is the tank?

[tom619]

has anybody tried Cold Cathodes?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/4-BLU...2746QQtcZphoto




.

[SolRo]

How many led's were you using and how big is the tank?

24g, err. about 150

[Haeun]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8pnG...e=channel_page

[ChouDawg]

tom619: have you tried these as actinic supplement? Does it work well?

[tom619]

tom619: have you tried these as actinic supplement? Does it work well?

yup. big difference. that's my main use: too strong for moonlights in my 30g, but not enough par to be lit alone for coral growth, so theyre best as supplements. makes everything pop. spotlight effect, so you get to be selective on where to shine and give the tank a 3D look of depth.

when the last few people came for the fishfood groupbuy, i showed them the tank with the led's both on and off, while the mh stays on, and the typical reaction was "oh whoa..". you know who you are! if so, lets hear your feedback.


Thread update: this is by far, the strongest LED i've used from my experiments (link below). i would dare to say stronger then Current Powerbrite. it reaches the bottom of the tank easily.
i tried 1 and it blue me away. get it? hahaha, sorry lame joke. anyways, i asked the seller for a groupbuy and he knocked down the price to $11.50 each for 20+. someone should do a groupbuy, not me! i just accepted my first career job so now i can barely keep up the tank.

http://cgi.ebay.com/BLUE-Household-L...742.m153.l1262
if link doenst work, type in search: 350058396875


.

[Haeun]

I use the old bulb that Tom originally recommended.
I use the dimmer at Ikea ($8). During the day, I turn it up to the highest for actinic supplementation, and turn it down during the night for moonlights. And if I need to do something in the tank after lights out, I jut turn up the LEDs to the brightest.

Here's a write up of how I put mine together and used mine:
http://reefbydesign.blogspot.com/200...spotlight.html




Once my current bulbs from centralpointsecurity die though, I'll try the new ones Tom updated with. I was not impressed with the build quality of the old ones.

[tom619]

awesome! thanks Diana

some bulb specify that you can't use it with a dimmer or not suggested, so just be careful. i'm not sure the science behind it, but im just throwing out what was written on the box.

be careful with shipped-from-China cheap immitations. i've used both and noticed a big difference in quality and brightness... not to mention lead poisoning.
yeah, you cant go wrong with the new bulbs (made in USA) that i recommended today. it looks really solid and unbreakable. i also bought an exact imitation from china to check it out. the difference was night and day.


.

[Sam Maghsoodloo]

congrats on starting your career

[ChouDawg]

Tom619: So with the two pack running on your 30g it is a good actinic supplement? Do you have any pictures by any chance? How'd you wire them? Water proof? Thanks, I think I'm going to do this, much cheaper method for actinic supplement with my Sunpod

[tom619]

congrats on starting your career

lol THANKS Sam! you caught that. yeah i buried that in there on purpose; didnt want to make a scene out of it or anything cuz i know it's a really hard time for most of us and i want to show respect, but of course, i'm grateful and feel relieved, especially in this economy. btw, i still have your pc set up for my frag tank and love it! thanks!

Tom619: So with the two pack running on your 30g it is a good actinic supplement? Do you have any pictures by any chance? How'd you wire them? Water proof? Thanks, I think I'm going to do this, much cheaper method for actinic supplement with my Sunpod

hmm. pictures wouldn't do this justice cuz the difference is obvious to the eye, but still too subtle for the camera.
the set-up is exactly like how i describe on page1, first post. it's not waterproof and i care less cuz i have glass lid over my tank (like freshwater), so the canopy is dry to the bone. but again that's particular to my set-up so i didnt bother water-proofing it, feel free to play around with alternatives.

yes it's a good actinic suppliment in my opinion. thanks to several fellow reefers, i was able to borrow actinic pc's, vho's, and T'5s, but somehow they're not exactly what i had in mind. this is what i'm settling with. personal choice (not to mention cheaper cost, energy use, bulb life). especially when u put this over regular xenia's, they turn bright electric blue, which is really cool and you dont have to buy the rarer blue xenia type (which is kinda purplish anyways). =]



.