LED talk - general advice

leslie hempel

leslie hempel

Professional Aquarist
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Hi Guys here's a thread on LED talk, general advice on what's happening regarding various brands in the industry and how it effects us here in SA.

For LED. Repairs the fo to guy I recomend at present and trust is @Tristan Hughes, he is a fantastic guy and doesn't charge an arm and a leg, if you want his details im happy to share them.

Without further a do please feel free to ask questions ill try my best to offer the most informed and up to date replies with factual evidence wherever possibe, the main reason for this thread is to stop aquarists from being bullshitted about brands or specific product in the range and their effectiveness.

Eg: lancia is a cheap and affordable light but not a very good one, great for beginner status or supplementary but really not good where deeper systems are concerned and deffinatley not alight you'd be looking to keep SPS under if they are to be the sole lighting source.

So lets dive in and discuss!
 
Please note for LED repairs of Orphek LED OR lightbars feel free to contact me for new LED PCB replacement parts.

We can arrange the parts imported at tbe best possible prices to your door, with easy installation instructions.
 
Hi,

This is awesome! I'm new in the Saltwater side.

I have an odd size tank, 80cm long, 46cm deep and 41cm wide and I'm panicking. I have no idea what light to get and sheesh they are SOOOOO expensive vs the freshwater side that I'm used to.

I want to start off slowly with softies, but get into LPS and SPS later.

I see the Thor X might work... But I'm scared of shadowing.

If you could please maybe give me an idea of what I could look at getting without selling one of my kids and eating bread for the next year lol!
 
The idea behind LED is to be a longer more sustainable PAR sorce unlike hailide or T5 (florescent in general), hence the hefty price tag and the hesetance to purchase a quality light. That said there are some intermediate lights which offer good lighting to pricing ratio.

The biggest thing an aquarist can do to really avoid a deep system or to plan accordingly, deeper systems need more focused lenses and thus MORE units for coverage.

Please dont think tou need to illuminate the entire system intensely but it is ofcourse habbit to do so.

There are many different LED lights all offering variations in quality and value for money, more expensive LED generally iffer more light/PAR output than cheaper units, whereas cheaper units can just be electricity guzzlers for very little PAR offerred and, transfer most of the energy into heat not usable PAR.

Maybe list your system size and we can look and suggest a number of lighting units that may work for you and your intended inhabitants.

As a lighting specialist my resposorbility is to your corals not your budget, but we can try find a compromise by building a lighting plan with you.
 
I want to most certainly grow stunning healthy coral for sure!!

My tank is 80cm long, 40 wide and around 46cm deep.

I really appreciate the advice and help!
 
Hi, I'm an old newbie, picked up a Thor X second hand recently for about 1.2k and it's more than bright enough on a 45cm cube.

I think it might have enough spread for your tank as well if put up higher as you can always up the power (I'm only running it at 30% so far and it's bright enough).

Maybe keep looking out for second hand deals as ja the cost of new is really high barrier to entry.
 
Megalodon said:
Hi, I'm an old newbie, picked up a Thor X second hand recently for about 1.2k and it's more than bright enough on a 45cm cube.

I think it might have enough spread for your tank as well if put up higher as you can always up the power (I'm only running it at 30% so far and it's bright enough).

Maybe keep looking out for second hand deals as ja the cost of new is really high barrier to entry.
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Thanks appreciate it!

I've been trying to find a good secondhand one or 2, but they're slim pickings lol!

I'll looking, I appreciate it!
 
No worries, just keep looking here and on the MASA Facebook page as well I see sometimes advertise things there that they don't do here.

I used an old freshwater bulb that I had lying around while I waited to find a deal on lights. It had a red, green, white, and blue LEDs and I just ran it with the blue and white setting on (was those cheap sealed tube ones).


Would be more than enough to grow coraline and probably some softies while you wait to find some deals on good lights.
 
No worries if you have freshwater before you might even have one lying around, will grow coraline etc and many softies while your tank matures as long as you use the blue and white rather than the red, green, blue setting.

There are normally a few available at local Chinese shops for like 200 bucks that might do the trick if you are creative with mounting them (wouldn't run them underwater even though they say there are waterproof just in case).

Otherwise can cycle the tank and liverock without external light while you wait for a deal.

I see that PopBloom lights are apparently very good bang for buck and you can buy new online but still quite a bit pricer than second hand so might be worthwhile being patient (which is really hard lol).
 
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