What LEDs is everyone running and what do you think?

[KrispyCritter]

What LEDs are everyone running. Just wondering.

[pjr]

I use the Sunbrite T10 tubes on my big tank --- been in place for almost two years -- and love them. Great color and I can keep SPS robustly.

On my nano in the office, I'm bringing it up with their Slimline fixture. Looks great, lots of PAR, cool features, and inexpensive too.

[KrispyCritter]

I use the Sunbrite T10 tubes on my big tank --- been in place for almost two years -- and love them. Great color and I can keep SPS robustly.

On my nano in the office, I'm bringing it up with their Slimline fixture. Looks great, lots of PAR, cool features, and inexpensive too.

I tried looking for info on them a while back and couldn't really find much. You are happy with them it sounds like.

I have a 120 with stand waiting to be set up and don't want to buy MH for it. I would rather go straight to LED.....so doing some research.....

[rosebud161616]

Cree XREs and XPEs DIY. Love them!

[EMUreef]

any of the crees are great if you ask me. i have Royal blues and neutral whites and cool whites over my nano and im getting growth in my sps and great growth in my zoa's.

[pjr]

I tried looking for info on them a while back and couldn't really find much. You are happy with them it sounds like.

I have a 120 with stand waiting to be set up and don't want to buy MH for it. I would rather go straight to LED.....so doing some research.....

Go to SUNBRITE LIGHTING SYSTEMS INC (http://www.sunbritelighting.com) and you'll find a lot of info. And the new Slimlines are actuall Cree LEDs. The T10 tubes have LEDs are Cree dies but manufactured by Luxeon I believe....

[spartanrob]

I am going to tag along on this post as I would like to find out more about LED's. I have PC's right now, but those were just to get me going. I am looking at 48" T-5's or LED's, just not sure about which ones I want yet.

[foxhole]

I have LEDS from Reeffiltration.com.Love them for 300.00 on my 60 cube.

[Heidi]

Have ordered the Aqua Illumination Sol Super Blue fixtures. I am getting 2 of them and the controller as well as hanging kit to light my 150 cube. I will let you know when I get them if they are as cool as everyone says ;)

[AZDesertRat]

Received my two AI Sol Super Blues today but the controller is backordered! What a bummer as I'm really excited about them.

[KrispyCritter]

I got to see some of the AI sol blues at PA and thought they were too blue. Turned the blues down and they were kind of yellow...Maybe I just didn't know what I was doing with them....

[AZDesertRat]

Nice thing about the Sol Blue is it has two separate blue LEDs (blue and royal blue) per puck so you can fine tune them individually to your tastes. The normal Sol White only has one blue so is more white.

[KrispyCritter]

Nice thing about the Sol Blue is it has two separate blue LEDs (blue and royal blue) per puck so you can fine tune them individually to your tastes. The normal Sol White only has one blue so is more white.

Def didn't like the Sol white...

[bobilo]

I believe you can easily change out the LED's in the Ai fixtures can't you? So you could always order the led's you want as long as they are at the required specs I would imagine.

Foxhole can you post some pics of that reefiltration fixture? What kind of options is available with it?

[AZDesertRat]

I think new AI pucks are $25 apiece and you can get different bulb combinations and different lens angles such as 40 degree or 70 degree.

[evilc66]

The T10 tubes have LEDs are Cree dies but manufactured by Luxeon I believe....

If they have Cree dies, then they are Edison Opto Edixeon LEDs. They are the only Asian manufacturer of LEDs other than Seoul Semi that use their dies. Unfortunately, the general packaging used is common among nearly all the Chinese manufacturers, so it's hard to tell them apart. Not knocking them, as I know you have had them for a long time, and work well. Just clearing up some of the confusion. So many people get into a frenzy when they hear Cree, no matter what context it's used in.

[pjr]

Yep, that's the one Clive. I think I actually like the color in those Edisons better than the Crees. But The new Sunbrite models use LEDs from cree.

[KrispyCritter]

The the pucks, each with 3 LEDs are interchangeable on the AI?

[AZDesertRat]

Yes according to their website
LED Puck Options : Support (http://support.aquaillumination.com/entries/416671-led-puck-options)
AI - Support Us (http://www.aquaillumination.com/support/replacement-parts.html)

[CalmSeasQuest]

The the pucks, each with 3 LEDs are interchangeable on the AI?

Yes and no. While the SOL White (W/W/B) and Sol Blue (W/B/RB) pucks are interchangeable, using both in a single unit will result in some cross-control and each channel will contain a mix of LEDs (i.e white LEDS would be lit on a blue channel.)

[KrispyCritter]

Yes and no. While the SOL White (W/W/B) and Sol Blue (W/B/RB) pucks are interchangeable, using both in a single unit will result in some cross-control and each channel will contain a mix of LEDs (i.e white LEDS would be lit on a blue channel.)

Someone needs to come up with a fixture that has LEDs that are interchangeable and ports for each LED that are individually addressable for programming.......Hmmmmmmm


Someone could do that I am sure of it.....

[Mr. Microscope]

DIY! Cree XR-E are fine. I think the norm now is XP-G or XP-E.
Royal Blue:Neutral White:Blue = 4:2:1
I say skip the Cool White. It overlaps the blue spectrum too much and washes out warmer colors.
Put each channel on separate drivers with potentiometers for dimming and your on your way!

I used to have a PAR38, but without dimming it's a challenge to use.

[KrispyCritter]

DIY! Cree XR-E are fine. I think the norm now is XP-G or XP-E.
Royal Blue:Neutral White:Blue = 4:2:1
I say skip the Cool White. It overlaps the blue spectrum too much and washes out warmer colors.
Put each channel on separate drivers with potentiometers for dimming and your on your way!

I used to have a PAR38, but without dimming it's a challenge to use.

I currently have 2 PAR38s on my corner tank. I like them. They are dimmable but I don't use the function...

[Heidi]

SO here is my question: with my AIs on order (I got the blues) I am wondering if when I get them if they are too white I can just switch out the cool whites for neutral whites, w/o messing with the blues and royal blues?

[Mr. Microscope]

I'm not sure how the A1's are built, but it could be possible. The problem with the A1s is that they use CW:RB:B in a 1:1:1 ratio. Blue is very different than Royal Blue and should be use sparingly IMO to avoid a listerine looking tank. Frankly, I'm surprised A1 chose this ratio. NW's are very yellow on their own which is why you need to use twice as many RB's to balance it out. I use cool blue as supplement to help the pop on warmer colors.
The color chanels on the A1 are dimmable though. So, you could choose the mix.

[CalmSeasQuest]

SO here is my question: with my AIs on order (I got the blues) I am wondering if when I get them if they are too white I can just switch out the cool whites for neutral whites, w/o messing with the blues and royal blues?

First - Relax.... :) You're going to LOVE the SOL Blues.

The pucks do not use stars - the LEDs are hard-wired on the pucks. As such, it would be very difficult to swap emitters.

http://i786.photobucket.com/albums/yy141/tconwell/DSC_0100.jpg
This is a SOL White puck left over from when I upgraded to the Blues.

AI doesn't (as of yet) have pucks using "warmer" whites. The use of WW emitters is a relatively new development. It will likely be a bit, with more results gathered before commercial manufacturers jump on the WW bandwagon.

[evilc66]

Yep, that's the one Clive. I think I actually like the color in those Edisons better than the Crees. But The new Sunbrite models use LEDs from cree.

I tend to agree, at least with cool white LEDs. Luxeon Rebels are even better, but pricey. The DIY community is moving more to neutral whites, and the Crees look really good. Edison had a series of LEDs under the Edixion line that had a fantastic spectral curve (even in cool white), but it seems that they no longer exist. I've been trying to get them for months.

[Tropical Tails]

At Tropical Tails we sell Ecoray. This is a link to their site for more info.

Home (http://www.ecorayled.com/Ecoray60/Home.html)

check em out and let me know if you want anything. We carry the little PAR 38 here in stock for $125.00 and have ordered the 60D's for people at $349.00 I can usually have them in the store within a few days.

[KrispyCritter]

I tend to agree, at least with cool white LEDs. Luxeon Rebels are even better, but pricey. The DIY community is moving more to neutral whites, and the Crees look really good. Edison had a series of LEDs under the Edixion line that had a fantastic spectral curve (even in cool white), but it seems that they no longer exist. I've been trying to get them for months.

Evil, you are everywhere....hahahaha Such knowledge....


At Tropical Tails we sell Ecoray. This is a link to their site for more info.

Home (http://www.ecorayled.com/Ecoray60/Home.html)

check em out and let me know if you want anything. We carry the little PAR 38 here in stock for $125.00 and have ordered the 60D's for people at $349.00 I can usually have them in the store within a few days.

Thanks for more lights to consider....hahaha

SO.....looking around what does everyone think of the Orphek LEDs?

I was looking and found their info and then started researching them...They have some good info and of course some real Eye candy photos. Their look is nice too...not too blue and their White LEDs are true 15k.

orphek (http://orphek.com/index-8.php)

[pjr]

I tend to agree, at least with cool white LEDs. Luxeon Rebels are even better, but pricey. The DIY community is moving more to neutral whites, and the Crees look really good. Edison had a series of LEDs under the Edixion line that had a fantastic spectral curve (even in cool white), but it seems that they no longer exist. I've been trying to get them for months.

The problem with Luxeon is everyone wants Cree. Cree, Cre, Cree, blah, blah, blah. It's kinda like marketing.... more megapixels, more PAR, more HP, more tailfins on your Caddy, More isn't always better.

But yeah, even Sunbrite went Cree on the new fixtures. Not that Creee is bad, just.... well, they wanted to market more effectively. Tim feels Luxeon is better, but got tired of fighting the Cree wanna be craze.

[evilc66]

It's true, and I'm probably partly responsible for that. They were easy to get, and cheap when compared to Luxeon back in the day when we were getting the DIY revolution started (my very first build actually used Rebels). There are some better options now as far as color rendering is concerned (Bridgelux arrays, not the Chinese "Bridgelux" LEDs, are great at this), but no one can hold a candle to Cree for output per watt.

[pjr]

Well good. Now I have someone to blame! :smash:

<jk> Your primer on LEDs from a few years ago was YEARS ahead of anyone.

[KrispyCritter]

So if "everyone" is using Cree then aren't we just getting the same thing over and over again from all these different manufacturers?

I mean, I realize that different combinations give us different parameters but over all isn't a blue in one companies fixture the same as a blue in another companies if they are both the Cree?

[evilc66]

Yes and no. There are differences in output, tint, and color temperature/wavelength depending on the bin ordered. Some bins are cheaper than others. Also, the rest of the support hardware (drivers, power supplies, optics, heatsink, etc...) can all vary greatly, and can affect the output and lifetime expectancy of the fixture. Sure, they may all be Cree based fixtures, but they aren't always created equal.

[KrispyCritter]

Yes and no. There are differences in output, tint, and color temperature/wavelength depending on the bin ordered. Some bins are cheaper than others. Also, the rest of the support hardware (drivers, power supplies, optics, heatsink, etc...) can all vary greatly, and can affect the output and lifetime expectancy of the fixture. Sure, they may all be Cree based fixtures, but they aren't always created equal.

I understand bin difference and that running diodes at different voltages also make a difference but it seems to me that all this is too much ado about very very minor difference....

Bin differences....big deal.....

heatsink, case, powersupply.....not a big deal to corals....longevity and such sure.....

[evilc66]

Ok, so the difference in LEDs is fairly minimal. After that, you are paying for features, configuration (LED spacing, colors etc...) stability, efficiency, and longevity.

Drive current (not voltage), lens quality (plays a much bigger role than you think), and LED temperature (related to heatsink quality) all have an effect on overall output, and as a result will have an effect on the corals.

Like I said, not all fixtures are created equal. Anyway, there are more fixtures out there using cheap Chinese LEDs than higher quality Cree LEDs.

[pjr]

Hey Evil, I just happened to run across a link on the RB site to a review by Jale Adams regarding the SB tubes and the LEDs they use.... a good augmentation to our discussion:

"These new tubes are using Cree-based, Edison and BridgeLux LEDs and the diodes are purchased without primary optics so SunBrite can apply their own, custom-designed primary optic with a native directivity of 60 degrees. Finally, all the diodes are hand-soldered to their PCB in SunBrite’s own factory where all the gen2 tubes are assembled in house. Perhaps the only downgrade from the original SunBrite LED tube is the lack of fine differences between color temperatures of the 5mm LEDs and the high powered one watters that are found in the Gen2. However, SunBrite makes up for it by offering a vast diversity of color combinations of lamps with white, blue, royal blue, red and UV LEDs. The even spread of a bank of these LED tubes rocking efficient primary optics makes for some respectably high PAR numbers..."

[Corvette Reefer]

Im building a led system i got a ratio of RB:CW:WW: 6:4:2 once i get it i can tell you if i like how it turns out.

[KrispyCritter]

Ok, so the difference in LEDs is fairly minimal. After that, you are paying for features, configuration (LED spacing, colors etc...) stability, efficiency, and longevity.

Drive current (not voltage), lens quality (plays a much bigger role than you think), and LED temperature (related to heatsink quality) all have an effect on overall output, and as a result will have an effect on the corals.

Like I said, not all fixtures are created equal. Anyway, there are more fixtures out there using cheap Chinese LEDs than higher quality Cree LEDs.

I agree that optics can play a huge role. They can make or break a fixture IMHO. You just cannot discount them. That is one reason that I am so amazed at all the non-optic fixtures out there...even with 3w LEDs.

Spacing is also a huge deal as well as alignment. That is where the banding comes in. If you run LEDs in stripes then you will get more noticeable banding. A little bit of randomness seems to work better but it is harder to wire....