LEDs for lighting.

Wow guys. Some of you really did yourn homework here. THANKS :thumbup:. I got a price on a Solaris for a 3 foot tank (+/- 90cm) unit. Direct currency calculation would cost R14000 (without shipping.) The whole idea of "dimming in and out" for sunrise and sunset is cool, but as mentioned previously in this thread, it really only benefits us and fish... So let's look at this quickly, all that we want to prevent is that fish are kept in total darkness, and then 400W MH switches on!!! :arghhhh: So the fish have a fright. So what if you have a reef tank? Trust me when I say that the Zooxanthellae algae does not ge a fright... Yes, at lets say R20 000.00 it would be the same as showing off your Ferrari 599GTB to your friends at a fraction of the cost, but that's the only advantage to us - it's a gadget!!!

What is very interesting though, and what I am planning for my next tank, is that what has been mentioned about the geisemann tubes - THEY ARE DIMMABLE!!! So maybe we should look into rather getting dimmable ballast (no problem there) and then get someone to build the controll unit to make the sunrise and sunset effect. Even if this cant be done, I am fitting 6x T5's in my tank, on 3 timers. Thus I'd have one Actnic and semi blue kick in early morning, then, the next set of these, then at around 12h00 I'd have my two bright sunlights kick in, and then switch off at about 17h00 after which one set of blue / whites goes off an hour afterwards, and finally at night the last two switches off, when my deep blue LED moonlight will kick in. And all of this just to keep the five fish I plan to have happy!!!

Remember that most of our tanks does get the "sunrise" effect in any case, as the room they are in most likely have windows... So its not pitch dark and then booooom!!!

LED technology will become the way in the future, but it is too expensive at the moment. Yes, it saves the world and it saves us money in the long run, but it really does not seem worth it at the moment.

This is my take on the subject though. If we can get this done cheaper, I am in, untill then, give me my T5's !!! ;)

Just a question on the topic regarding Lumens and PAR; what is LUX then?
 
Photosynthetically Active Radiation, often abbreviated PAR, designates the spectral range of solar light from 400 to 700 nanometers that photosynthetic organisms are able to use in the process of photosynthesis. measured in photons/square meter/second.

and LUX is simply lumen's per square meter. and for a matter of interest, 1 lux is amount of light at full moon.:)
 
lIghty said:
so, PAR is usefull light for Photosynthsis AND Flux the brightness?
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This is something to consider then when setting up lighting: Is it not necessary to rather have the correct frequency of light, with a better par value (for the coral), and good water flow, than lots of bright light that burns the substrate?
 
And where does UV come into this equation? Most light fittings have UV filters. Corals use zooxanthellae to protect themselves from UV. Is there an equation to measure the UV from PAR & LUX ?
 
Nemos Janitor said:
And where does UV come into this equation? Most light fittings have UV filters. Corals use zooxanthellae to protect themselves from UV. Is there an equation to measure the UV from PAR & LUX ?
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Uv doesnt come from par and lux. It is a spectrum of light from the light bulb. The uv from a light without a filter is to much for coral to handle. Thats why they burn. A uv filter doesnt block all uv anyway.
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Is there any indication as to what the "perfect" PAR measurement is for coral growth? Then this makes me wonder, most of us go for 6700K lights for growth, but if it is not at the correct par, then it is basically worthless right? If a 14000K / 18000K tube have the "right" par, it would be much better.

Another little issue is manufacturer. Realtek , Geisemann, Hagen Glo etc etc etc are all manufactured differently. I'd recon one needs to find out which manufacturer has the correct par.

But again my question: "what is the perfect par reading for coral?"
 
sorry if this has been posted already,but i found this interesting.....approximately 82lumens per watt.....
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nad somethings else ive read which should favour LED's due to the fact that no uv is produced(even uv shields on MH still let in about 20% of the uv)

Research has shown that the presence of natural solar UV can decrease skeletal growth rate by 50 percent in Pocillopora damicornis (Dubinsky 1990).

this means that sps should have better growth rates under LED's with same PAR.
 
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One thing that also needs to be looked at with LED is the Lumens per watt per colour. My 3W LEDs have approximately 40 lumens/watt for white and 10 lumens/watt for blue.
 
I must just point out that when measuring lumens, the commercially available light meters use a standard curve which focusses on the usable visible light range, peaking at roughly 6000k and dropping off on either side of this. Don't be fooled by led lightings low lumens per watt, it's not that they are poor light sources, it's that their light output spectrum is concentrated at the low points of the measured curve and thus get low readings.

When talking about PAR, this is referenced to land based plants and not to organisms which have evolved to live under a filter which allows mostly the blue's through.

LED's certainly are a future possibility, and with their usage in vehicle lighting increasing it can only mean higher powers and lower prices so I'm holding thumbs.
 
Stressed Eric said:
I must just point out that when measuring lumens, the commercially available light meters use a standard curve which focusses on the usable visible light range, peaking at roughly 6000k and dropping off on either side of this. Don't be fooled by led lightings low lumens per watt, it's not that they are poor light sources, it's that their light output spectrum is concentrated at the low points of the measured curve and thus get low readings.

When talking about PAR, this is referenced to land based plants and not to organisms which have evolved to live under a filter which allows mostly the blue's through.

LED's certainly are a future possibility, and with their usage in vehicle lighting increasing it can only mean higher powers and lower prices so I'm holding thumbs.
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Fortunately for reefers usable PAR and visible light coincide quite nicely so using a visible light meter to measure PAR of say LED's relative to MH is more than accurate enough.Lumens per watt is important when comparing as we dont need non visible light to make corals grow really.

Secondly the most shallow reefs where most sps thrive have very very lightly filtered light hitting them so much so that it can be regarded as direct sunlight with no filter.
Have you ever seen corals growing literally out of the water?if not i suggest you visit mozambique or view pictures from phillipines.

yes its true that they can survive and indeed grow well in deeper more filtered(blue) water but in generall the corals closest to the surface grow the quickest....and also the algae in corals operate just as plants do.

yes with cars taking on LED's the tech will definitely progress nicely for reef tanks :thumbup:!
 
Alright, I went to LED Lighting SA for a visit and to see what they had. What they did have was very impressive, with a wide range of applications. They only use Seoul Semiconductors PTY LTD LED chips. I'm going to put a request through and I'll hopefully get a quote on Wednesday or Thursday. The led array I chose, which I thought would apply closely to what we want as marine aquarists, was a 6mm board with an LED every 13mm. They guy claimed that each chip produced a 100 lumens, even if he got it wrong and it was say, 80 lumens per LED, it was pretty damn bright. The package I requested was clear acrylic tubing which are sealed with resin. I want to request 4 white tubes x 1.5m, 2 blue tubes x1.5m, and 1 red tube x 1.5m. I've also asked for the control unit to make them dimable (although I realise this is not necessary). http://www.ledlighting.co.za/uploads/12S-5.5x400SS-13.3VC Spec Sht.pdf

Check it out so long and I'll get some prices. The guy said with the LED strip, tubing, and the manufacture it'll be about R500 a tube depending on the colour.
 
I have an LED thread running in the DIY but was wondering if u guys can help...

I sent my mate

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...0#post14502630

Now he is based in cape town and makes his living out of LED's

He replied with:

Nice system!

Going with high power LEDs in this situation in not necessarily the cheapest.

If, all you want, is to illuminate your fish tank with blue and white LED light at this intensity. And also have a nice aluminium frame which fits around the top of your fish tank. I would suggest going with Linear Light Lines (similar to what i suggested last time), built into an aluminium frame.

In this case, you/we could build an aluminium frame, with 3 lines of blue, and 3 lines of white alternating & parallel to each other. You would also need to go with the outdoor resin coated product.
The costs will be as follows :

3 x 0.9m Blue LED Lines (waterproof and fitted in aluminium channel) @ R400 = R1200

3 x 0.9m White LED Lines (waterproof and fitted in aluminium channel) @ R400 = R1200

1 x Aluminium Frame @ R250

1 x 100W Power Supply @ R380

Total = R3030 (ex VAT)

Lumen output : 2160lm

If you wanted to use high power LEDs (similar to the link) :

For a 0.9m tank, which is 75% the size.

18 Blue Platinum Dragons @ R45 R810

18 White Platinum Dragons @ R55 R990

36 Star Boards @ R7.50 R270

6 x 1000mA Current Drivers @ R145 R870

150W Power Supply @ R450 R450

1 Aluminium Heatsink Frame @ R800 R800

2 Fans @ R120 R240

Assembly (8 hours) @ R125 R1000 (optional)

Total R5430

Lumen output : 2340lm

Hope you are well!!..This fish tank idea is grabbing me too!


Any of you guys think the first option will work?? Or do the LEDs have to be high power cause the lumen output is close but I know with lighting that other factors come into play.

Either way though , with the cost of bulbs.... and possibly the elimination of having to buy a chiller this looks like it could be very worth it!

Plus with Eskom looking to radically hike the cost of electricity it seems viable
 
Mickey69

I've had a look at your thread and i like it very much. I also thought that the higher powered LEDs would be needed but when you think about what you need is the PAR for the corals and then the light intensity. Why pay so much a few high powered LEDS, which give off more heat, when you can have many more lower powered LEDs, which not only produce less heat but cover a greater area in light. I saw many types of LEDs on display at LED Lighting SA an of those the 3W ones with lenses produced a less intense light than the strip of lower powered ones, by the simple fact there more of them and very close together. The larger wattage requires better heat dissipation and and larger power supply. However after saying this either lower of higher wattage LED arrays will produce less heat, last longer, and use less electricity than any other available product on the market. If you're willing to use that DIY setup I'd be very interested to see how it compares to a lower wattage setup, cause wattage should be directly correlated with light intensity.
 
Thats what I am thinking.... But its a lot of cash to spend to get a dud :(

Can Jaco or somebody with lighting & marine expertise chime in . Cause if that setup for 3k is sufficient it looks like a bloody good deal to me!
 
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