LED Lighting

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DaneMac

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Hi Guys,

So i want to upgrade to LED but i am not sure what i am looking at. I get mixed signals from alot of people regarding this, but at the end of the day i want LED.

I have a Big tank as some of you know and im not sure what to look for when buying the light. I have a predator tank at the moment(Fish Only) but i still want lights that if i decide to go coral then i have the lights for that.

Any advice would be great. Also names and places i can get them from

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On that dimensions, if going Radion, you need at least 4 units. Any other LED unit with same physical dimensions as the Radion most likely would also be the same number of units.

Tank is rather deep and you need narrower lenses. That would force you to mount units closer to each other to prevent that headlights effect.

I use 6 on a 3.2m by 700 deep
 
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LED units comes with different lens options.
60, 90, 100, 120 degrees.

The narrower the lens, the more focused the beam, the deeper the reach. But you end up with spotlights.

Wide lens like 120 or even more, gives a wide spread. Perfect for shallower tanks. More light overlap and units can be mounted slightly further apart.
 
Wide lenses on a predator or fish only tank, would be OK, but your future change over to full reef will then be a problem as you would not have enough light penetration past 500mm. Maybe even as shallow as 400mm could then already be an issue. Depending on light units specifications.
 
Any shop that carries Aquarium Depot products would be able to help.

Chat to Perky Pets. Think they are the closest sponsor to you. I doubt that they will have 4 or 5 directly available on the shelf. They will order it.

Note, Radion is not cheap. Its like the Mercedes of LED. OK, some guys would disagree with me, but the new Radion Pro is impressive.
 
I see a potential issue with spread of the narrow lensed units on the 800 wide side. You will get darker areas at the front and back. 800 is a difficult width when it comes to LED as it is too wide for decent coverage most of the units unless they are 120 degree or unlensed. So 2 rows would be better with the radion if you dont want darker spots but that would push your unit count up to 8.
 
Dian6430 said:
Look at aqua illumination hydras as well.
Click to expand...

Yes they are good lights. I have tried all of the AI lights. The sols, vega, hydra and the hydra52. The hydra is not a very powerful light but the hydra52 is extreamly powerful. You can hang them quite high to give you spread and be able to work on the tank without having to move them.

There is a new AI led on the market. The AI Prime. Haven't tried it but it better than the Hydra52 I am told.

There are two controllers. The wifi and the director. If you go this rout I would recommend the Director.
 
mariusmeyer said:
I see a potential issue with spread of the narrow lensed units on the 800 wide side.
Click to expand...

My previous tank was 1.5m by 750 wide, and 750 deep. 50mm different from yours.

I had the Radions mounted sideways. Turned 90 degrees.




Later on I added another unit as my rock stack was fairly high and it showed the spotlight effect. Extra unit with the overlap removed that and I got a lot better growth


Tilted back to shine into the rocks, instead of directly from the top. Gives you more place to put corals, and if correctly hanged it results in a lot less growth on the front panel. Wider tanks that can help a lot.

 
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Nemos Janitor said:
Yes they are good lights. I have tried all of the AI lights. The sols, vega, hydra and the hydra52. The hydra is not a very powerful light but the hydra52 is extreamly powerful. You can hang them quite high to give you spread and be able to work on the tank without having to move them.

There is a new AI led on the market. The AI Prime. Haven't tried it but it better than the Hydra52 I am told.

There are two controllers. The wifi and the director. If you go this rout I would recommend the Director.
Click to expand...
I love my two hydra 52's. Running on a 150x55x50 tank on 55% around +- 15cms above water. Then i have a hydra 26 covering a 60x60x60 cube so i really believe in the power and build quality of these lights. Yes i will also advise to get the director.
I think the prime is in the place of the hydra26. I think its for nano aquariums but could be wrong
 
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