Building My LED Light

I had not realized that MH were so expensive......

Heck, even if they do last about 25K hours, you still save money in the long run...... what with power costs with MH and the bulbs, plus the fixture. EEEESHHHH.

No wonder reefers are looking LEDs. Ohhhh boy.

As far as spotting the fact that they are 5mm, If they were high power LEDs just one tube and that many in there, your looking at an INSANE amount of light with just one, let alone 5 of those.
 
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thats what I've been saying. the total cost of ownership of a good sized MH fixture is way higher than even one of the solaris fixtures. Say you get a good prebuilt MH fixture with 2x250wMH and 2xT5HO actinics for...600 bucks new. MH bulbs are about 70 bucks apiece and T5HO bulbs are about 25 bucks. Say you stretch it and replace them all once a year...thats 190 bucks a year. Over the purported 10 year life of a solaris fixture - 1900 bucks. Now, I know a guy with a 4' solaris that he used to replace his 2x400w MH rig, to the tune of about 50 bucks a month savings. If you are replacing 2x250, lets be conservative and say its only a $20/month savings. Again, over the 10 year life of the solaris, thats $2400

So, solaris - $2700

MH - $600 + $1900 for bulbs + $2400 electricity increase = $4900
 
SO, why even spend the $2700.00 for the Solaris? I got the 5 tube LED lights for $275.00, installed. I don't need the MH ot the T5HOs.

But for anyone out there interested, I have the 250 watt duel ballast and 2 250 watt MH fixtures for sale, only $150.00 plus shipping.
 
I would have to see a lot more data before deciding those light bars are comparable to the Solaris. What kind of LEDs do they use, any idea? Are you using them over a reef tank? What kind of corals are you keeping?
 
Dang the tank isn't even set up yet but the Aquarium shop from where I purchased them have them over their coral display tanks as well as their tanks where they have the frags for sale. Go to their web site and investigate and ask your own questions of the people who sell them. http://www.exotic-aquarium.com/index2.html Go down and click on the 4th button down.

Better yet, go spend the $2700.00 and have about the same thing I have only spend $2000.00 more.
 
I'm with matt. I'd like to see proof that these have a 10 year useful life (30% degradation is the industry standard) plus how much light it puts out into the tank. How well do they grow corals and such.

::grumble:: stupid ISP. Greg, Its not that we doubt you, but we doubt the product. I've never heard of LEDs having a useful life of 100,000 hours, even the high power versions. The lumen maintenance of my Luxeon Rebels have on average, 70% light output after 50K hours. Not shabby.

Though I do find this interesting. http://www.voltimum.co.uk/news/10757/infopro.whatsnew.latest/led-lighting-technology.html

A fundamental point to understand is that there are two types of LED used in light fittings: 5mm LEDs and high-output chip-on-board LEDs. While the 5mm types were used by some manufacturers in early commercial fittings, these are now being replaced by high-output (HO) LEDs, for the simple reason that the HO LEDs offer far superior lumen maintenance. After 6000 hours, the output of a 5mm LED drops to 50% of its original value, whereas the HO LEDs drop by only 5%. In other words, the HO LEDs will last for 10 years or more, but the cheaper 5mm LEDs will grow dim after just 2 years
Click to expand...

Like I said, I doubt that those are really going to last you 13 years, 2, maybe, 10, no.

I am not defending nor promoting the solaris products, but matt has a point.

Oh, I did think 5mm were the way to go on my own LED project, but after looking at the facts, I chose HO LEDs over the 5mm. For the sole reason of lumen maintenance.

BTW, Mods, maybe it might be a good idea to split this into the marine equipment and DIY forum, this thread has been hijacked.
 
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If they only last 5 years it's a darn sight cheaper than MH that last maybe 8 months. The MH bulbs alone would cost you at least $600.00 over 5 years, not to mention the cost of electricity. that is using only ONE MH fixture. You can do the math. Using your 30% degradation, still gives me 7 years and the MH would need to be replace 10.2 times. Compare your cost for electricity for 250 watts as the LED cost at 97 watts.
 
HI Jacked? We're still talking about LEDs and rather to build or buy ready made, or any way that's what I was talking about. I was comparing the cost of parts and time as opposed to just buying something already fabricated and installed in my existing equipment.
 
5 years, no. More like 2. You might make it up in energy savings, but at $650 every two years. no thank you.

And I beg to differ, yes it has been hijacked, this thread was started out as a build log. It has become more a discussion of DIY vs Solaris vs FL tube replacement, 5mm vs HO.
 
Well it'll still be under warranty in 2 years so they can replace them for free. The company who makes the LEDs claim 100,000 hour life expectancy. These are not the LEDs of Radio Shack. Commercial grade used in LED bill board sign making.

You are bound and determined to prove your MH lights are better so we may as well drop this argument. I like what I got and that's all that matters to me.
 
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