Who's happy with their LED fixtures? I'm not.

[Tom Toro]

Two out of three of the cheap chinese LED fixtures I bought not long ago have burned out (go figure).

The blues still work, but the whites are gone. I sent one back within the warranty time, but that one went out again and I'm assuming the warranty is over by now. I paid $145 each on a group buy. I think they were the 120 watt models.

Who's had their LED fixture for a year or so and are happy with them? What are they, How much did you pay and where did you get it?

I'd like to keep it in the $250 each range or a little more if it's quality. I need two of them, 120w or around there.

OR...Does anybody know which driver ( or how to figure that out) to buy to fix this thing? I can remove screws and solder pretty well, lol.
Thanks,
Tom

[binford4000]

Two out of three of the cheap chinese LED fixtures I bought not long ago have burned out (go figure).

The blues still work, but the whites are gone. I sent one back within the warranty time, but that one went out again and I'm assuming the warranty is over by now. I paid $145 each on a group buy. I think they were the 120 watt models.

Who's had their LED fixture for a year or so and are happy with them? What are they, How much did you pay and where did you get it?

I'd like to keep it in the $250 each range or a little more if it's quality. I need two of them, 120w or around there.

OR...Does anybody know which driver ( or how to figure that out) to buy to fix this thing? I can remove screws and solder pretty well, lol.
Thanks,
Tom

Tom,
We have been running AI SOL blues for three years now. Never had a single issue yet. They sell refurbished ones on there site from time to time in the price range your looking for. Or you could go for broke and get the Orphek's. Both fixtures create good par numbers! Here is some links:

Orphek ATLANTIK LED Light ? ATLANTIK Product Page ? Orphek (http://orphek.com/atlantik/)

http://shop.aquaillumination.com/

[dputt88]

I'm happy with my reef breeders

[Dmmz]

I hate my led bought it before I knew anything I listened to one of the lfs workers. I should of did some research it is a ecoxotic panorama marine led

[Tom@HaslettMI]

I like mine we'll enough. I ought to since they're DIY. Currently they are just neutral whites and royal blues, but I just bought new drivers and some "exotic" spectra LEDs as an upgrade.

I buy all of my stuff from LEDGroupBuy.com. You should check out their Lumia full spectrum LEDs. You might even be able to reuse the heatsinks and housings if you went DIY.

Tom

[Hopkins]

I bought two of the cheap chinese LED lights. They seem to be working for me. Stuff is growing, but I am not a huge fan of the coloring.

[ReefTech]

When I was building fixtures about a year ago,I did some experimenting with some fixtures from China.I ran into the same problems, either the growth was super slow and you couldn't really customize the color at all or they broke and it was a pain to get them fixed.I thought the fixture that I built was working out well until I bought two Kessil 350w tuna blues and all my sps took off. Great coloration and good coverage, haven't looked back since.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I527 using Tapatalk 4

[CalmSeasQuest]

Tom,
We have been running AI SOL blues for three years now. Never had a single issue yet.

+1 - AI's have been rock solid for me. I've tentatively decided to go with Kessil's A360We for my 8X30.

[jimsflies]

I've got a DIY Led fixture. Nearly all my blues burned out within few month of each other, but was able to replace them for about $30 (still not bad considering I got 3 years out of them). I'm sure the failure was because of heat. When I replaced them, I also added a fan...the heat sink is now cool to the touch.

I would be skeptical of any manufactured fixture that felt hot to the touch as that IMO is going to result in a shorter LED lifespan. If you get a fixture like this, adding a fan would most likely extend the life.

[Tom Toro]

Some good reputable folks on another site recommended Evergrow LED's on ebay. They look a lot like the ajm's that failed on me, but they must have better guts.

Anybody on CR have any experience with them? I think I'm pulling the trigger on two tonight, but thought I'd check.

[ghrorick]

I have had my 6 evergrows (or reefbeeders, they are the same) since july 2012 and have had good luck. I bought mine right from evergrow back when you could order direct from them. They have actually contacted me a couple of times since to see if I still liked them and asked for suggestions. There are several that look like evergrows (the cases are pretty much copied all over) but I have read that the drivers/leds are different. When I ordered the first 2 they only had blue, white, uv and violet. When I ordered my next 4 they had 2 different blues, red and green. The last 2 I ordered this year they now have 2 or three different colors of daylight as well.

[binford4000]

Some good reputable folks on another site recommended Evergrow LED's on ebay. They look a lot like the ajm's that failed on me, but they must have better guts.

Anybody on CR have any experience with them? I think I'm pulling the trigger on two tonight, but thought I'd check.

I believe Tom aka TDB320 uses these fixtures. if pictures are worth a thousand words his tank is saying millions of them!! lol they looked like nice units and he seamed very happy with them. With the results he"s getting I wouldn't be afraid to try em.Good Luck :oldman:

[Hopkins]

I have the evergrow fixtures from eBay. They seem to do a fine job.


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[Tom Toro]

Hey Chuck,
That's the guy that I talked with on the other forum. His tank is Awesome for sure and I think he's using the full spectrum. I'll get that type too.
Thanks,
Tom



I believe Tom aka TDB320 uses these fixtures. if pictures are worth a thousand words his tank is saying millions of them!! lol they looked like nice units and he seamed very happy with them. With the results he"s getting I wouldn't be afraid to try em.Good Luck :oldman:

[larryandlaura]

I've been running a evolution 120 watt fixture for years and love it. Its a gen 1.

[ShockSniper]

I've got two reef breeders over my 210 and everything is doing/growing very well!

[binford4000]

Hey Chuck,
That's the guy that I talked with on the other forum. His tank is Awesome for sure and I think he's using the full spectrum. I'll get that type too.
Thanks,
Tom

Toms a great guy! When we finally met up at his hose we gabbed reefing for over an hour! His tank is jaw dropping . Good person to listen too! :oldman: the new tank is looking sweet by the way it really came together nicely for ya

[Tom Toro]

Thanks for the good words Young Man. Can't call you the other name cause I got you by a couple years at least.

I ordered three of the evergrows yesterday so I'll let you guys know how I like 'em. Sure hope they don't take too long. I've got one third full spectrum and two thirds all blue right now. Looks bad. Clam is in the full spectrum area.

Thanks for the help, Everybody!



Toms a great guy! When we finally met up at his hose we gabbed reefing for over an hour! His tank is jaw dropping . Good person to listen too! :oldman: the new tank is looking sweet by the way it really came together nicely for ya

[AZDesertRat]

I have no complaints with my AI Sol Blues. The price was a hard pill to swallow but the quality is top notch and I figure they have more than paid for themselves already between power savings over the old MH/VHO combination (lights,chiller and house AC electrical costs) bulb replacement savings, greatly reduced RO/DI topoffs so filter and resin savings and what I was able to sell the old fixtures for.

[Tom Toro]

Received all three yesterday and hooked two of them up where I had the broken ajm's (about 8" from the water).

I Turned them on full blast, but immediately raised them all the way up on the top link of my chains and turned the whites down to around 30%. You guys weren't kidding about the power.

I left the one ajm that still worked next to the other two evergrows. It was not even close to the intensity of the new lights. Even at 30% they were brighter than the ajm at full blast.


I put up the remaining evergrow and it looks like a different tank. I have egg crate and window screening over the tank(lots of Wrasse escapees) and thought that's why the ajm's were so dark.

Pics (especially mine) won't do it justice. Fish colors are really popping and so are the lps.

For $132 each, I'm very happy with them so far and hope they last.

Thanks for the help, Folks![COLOR="Silver"]

[jimsflies]

Watch out with having them too bright. The blue light packs more punch (PAR) than the white.

Also if you want to get rid of that shading effect from the eggcrate (after your corals get acclimated to the new lights), you should check out the mesh tops I make.

[Tom Toro]

Hey Jim,
I didn't know the blues are stronger! I have them at full power. I'll lower them to around 70% now. Thanks for the tip!

I am sick of the egg crate plus the tight window screening I have on the top, but when I just had the egg crate, I lost a lot of my wrasses and that type body style.

Is the mesh top you sell have a tighter weave than the eggcrate? I'd like to ditch the plastic screen, but really like my wrasses, lol. They can fit through some pretty tight spots.



Watch out with having them too bright. The blue light packs more punch (PAR) than the white.

Also if you want to get rid of that shading effect from the eggcrate (after your corals get acclimated to the new lights), you should check out the mesh tops I make.

[jimsflies]

The mesh has 1/4-inch openings. There are a few threads here on CR with pics. But here is a link to one and also the PAR comparison:

http://www.captivereefs.com/forum/hardware/29-biocube-mesh-top-project-7937/

http://www.captivereefs.com/forum/diy-projects-plans/photosynthetic-active-radiation-results-jimsflies-mesh-8349/

[Tom Toro]

Now that looks like it could work. Do you house any wrasses or other jumpers that your screen has kept safe? Also, do you sell this per foot or is this a diy situation?

[Jim Z.]

Heat is an LED's worst enemy. Many of these fixtures overdrive the LED's which shorten their life-span. I built 2 of the 1/4 inch mesh screen tops for my 50--works like a charm. I am doing a diy LED right now. I thought about Reef Breeders and the Evergrow fixtures, but prefer at least 6 channels for spectrum control vs 2. However, there's pretty good evidence that those 2 brands of fixtures can grow corals. The PAR for Royal Blues are much higher than whites and these portions of the total spectrum are what drives most of the photosynthesis in corals..................Jim

[jimsflies]

Now that looks like it could work. Do you house any wrasses or other jumpers that your screen has kept safe? Also, do you sell this per foot or is this a diy situation?

I have had wrasses and it does keep them in. You have to be sure to use the covers all the time and not have any openings though...it doesn't work when its not covering the tank. ;)

I usually sell the mesh and send it as a DIY project. But if it can be picked up locally, I have also made the tops per order. (Shipping a large top gets expensive and cost prohibitive.)

[lemonjello]

so if I have read this correctly you guys are saying that one maufactuer has a more bright 120w led than another 120w or are we comparing 120w to 165w . I only ask because I have 9 of these Chinese leds and one of the 9 is one labeled as TAOTRONIC and the others have no name . the taotronic looks exactly the same as all the others but is much more bright and was bought as a 120w. so now I am considering these reefbreeders leds and other similar models but have found most of them to 165w ?

[Tom Toro]

I can only speak about the ajm led's and the evergrows.

ajm 120w 55 x 3w bridgelux at 100% intensity, 6" from the top of my tank. Growing things nicely and wouldn't have changed them out, but two of three died on the white side.

evergrows 120w 55 x 3w bridgelux at 20%white and 60% blue at the top of my ceiling around 20" from the top of my tank showing even brighter than the ajm. Still growing things nicely. lps, digi and some softies.

[Sir Patrick]

What are the dimensions on these Evergrow 120w fixtures?

They have me interested....

[schminksbro]

so if I have read this correctly you guys are saying that one maufactuer has a more bright 120w led than another 120w or are we comparing 120w to 165w . I only ask because I have 9 of these Chinese leds and one of the 9 is one labeled as TAOTRONIC and the others have no name . the taotronic looks exactly the same as all the others but is much more bright and was bought as a 120w. so now I am considering these reefbreeders leds and other similar models but have found most of them to 165w ?
Yes there is a huge difference between fixtures. The actual chips, the drivers, and the optics are all factors. The wattage rating of a fixture is a poor way to determine how much par it will put out. Brightness to the eye is an even worse indicator of what the light is putting out.

[im14abeer]

I think it's probably worth the few extra bucks to buy the reefbreeders during a group buy if you like the evergrows. Same fixture, 2 year usa warranty.

Though I just looked at ebay, and it'd be tough to pass on the two for $246.18 shipped. I doubt reefbreeders can touch that, plus you'd have to wait for delivery with the group buy. My guess is you'd have to pay about $50 more for the value reefbreeders adds to the deal.

It's nice to have options.

Edit: oops, only read the first page before replying. Left post for future reference.

[robandrosco]

I use the aquaUFO's from ledlightingforless.com. they work perfectly. although they dont have the fancy dimming and built in timers they work perfectly for me. I keep lps ,softies and zoa's without a promlem and they are thriving.

[ajdiver]

I use steves LEDS but had a lot of issues with my order and they only contact by email. No phone number to call. All in all after many issues such as bad boards, a bad controller and shorting me leds they came out nice in the end.