Questions about LED setups

[PAL]

I would, let me remind you that if you guys do find a working LED way, then I'm all for it.

 

[DoctaQ]

check out my thread, i just retrofitted yday

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=222648

 

[PsyKick]

Just a quick update, Marineland got back to me, those LED's are 5500K, so not really ideal for a planted tank. I am still looking into the idea of LED's, but so far I havn't found the ideal solution as of yet...

DQ, I actually have the same Coralife fixture that you have, my buddy had a bulb issue with it and ended up buying a brand new, and really expensive, lighting system, and gave me the defunct coralife. I was thinking of doing something similar to what you did but then i realized that my tank is almost twice the length of yours... I am still hanging onto it just in case though

 

[PsyKick]

Hmm, anyone looked at these? Looks like 2 of them might be good for a standard 4 foot 55?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220570911333&ru=http://shop.ebay.com:80/%3F_from%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dp4634.m38.l1313%26_nkw%3D220570911333%26_sacat%3DSee-All-Categories%26_fvi%3D1&_rdc=1#ht_2866wt_1166

 

[DoctaQ]

the same idea should apply to mine and yours, i used the spot where the power cord comes in to put a dimming knob, its pretty fun to play with.

as for the panel, theyre supposedly decent light, i think theres video on youtube

 

[Jannika]

Well, Marine Land makes bright fixtures as you can see in my avatar. Some might say a little TOO bright, although the fish seem to enjoy them. :22_yikes:

BUT.. I don't see any replacement bulbs. They say 17000 hours, which at best comes less than 4 years @ 12 hours per day. What do you do then, chuck it out and buy another new fixture?

I'm loving those eBay panels, btw.

 

[DoctaQ]

you could sell the shell to me jann =)

replacing the leds could be more than you are bargianing for

4 years is really a crappy rating for leds, somethings gotta be off about it, how warm does the bulb get?

 

[redfishblewfish]

Forgive my ignorance but what is Keno?

I just found this website: http://www.coolerguys.com/840556088707.html
They have some decent pricing for strips, which appear to be in the right kelvin range, but I don't know if the lumens are high enough... but with 30 LED's per meter, I figure 2 strips parallel to each other offset 8 inches lengthwise to compensate for not being 48" long...

These don't even come close. They appear to be bipin type leds...low output, poor quality. I'm not saying you can't do it with bipin....I have a tank with bipin's right now...but you might also want to look at cree type LEDS. Better qualtiy; high output. Each led puts out between 1 - 3 watts. At only 2.4 watts for that entire strip, I'd only consider the blue strip as a night light on the tank. Taking a guess for a 55 freshwater tank, you want to be considering something in the area of 25 - 30 watts, or more, of leds.


Also the ebay link appear to be bipin as well.

 

[DoctaQ]

i wouldnt think you could get by with any less than 50w worth of leds for good coverage