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surfer85

LED lighting

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surfer85
, 04-11-2010 at 04:55 PM (1297 Views)
I just wrote out this long blog about all the reading I've done on LEDs and my computer crapped out so here it goes again. I read the article on this site about the DIY LEDs. It sparked my interest and I've been reading for the last 8 hours!! I'm stuck at work all day so I've got some time on my hands. Anyways, I priced out building a 12 bulb set and it would run about $130. I'm looking to replace a 175w MH (eventually wanna replace all my halides, 2-175x, and 1-250w). It would take three 12 bulb strips to replace my 175w MH, if I calculated it out right. I went to MAX yesterday and stopped by Ecoxotic's booth and checked out their lighting. They have a 12 bulb strips for $100, comes with everything you need. Total cost to replace my MH would put me at $300 plus shipping and tax. The monthly savings would pay that off rather quickly. Hopefully I did my math right, but right now it's costing me $25 a month to run a single 175w MH. It would only cost me $5 a month to run the 3 led strips that are replacing the 175. A total year of running the 175w MH costs me $300, but to run the led strips it would only cost me $60!! It would also greatly cut down on the amount my chiller would have to run. I'm going to do some more reading and comparing but will more than likely buy 3 strips and see how they do. If I notice good growth/coloration I see no reason not to covert my whole system. All that extra money will help support my ADDICTION!!
Please leave a comment if there's something I'm missing, calculations are wrong (I'm not great at math) or my thinking is flawed.

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Comments

  1. chucelli's Avatar
    The Ecoxotics do not use the same output LEDs (Cree XR-E, XP-E, XP-G) most are using for DIY builds.
    They are 1w emitters I believe (unknown origin. No published specs). Besides wattage ratings (which only gives a very rough idea of relative output), other important factors to consider when shopping for LEDs are lumen maintenance, drive current, and efficiency. The above mentioned Cree emitters rate amongst the highest currently in the industry in terms of superior lumen maintenance and efficiency (more lumen per watt). If you were to compare the 12 emitter Ecoxotics with a 12 emitter Cree XR-E based rig for example, the Cree based rig's output would be significantly more than the Ecoxotics. If you are interested in prebuilt commercial LED solutions, I recommend checking out the AquaIllumination units, as they use Cree emitters which are properly cooled to ensure Cree's spec'd maximum useful life (11 years running 12 hours a day). Even after 11 years, you are still left with 70% of original output.
    -Robert
  2. BigAl07's Avatar
    That $$ for a 12 LED fixture is way low. Unless you take lots of short-cuts (low watt LED), iffy drivers etc you should expect to spend more around $300 - $400 for a 12 LED High Output system. I've got one on my 12g Nano-Cube and LOVE it.IT's actually a 14 LED system but 2 of them are UV and the jury is still out on UV LEDs. I'm running 6x3w Royal Blue Cree and 6x3w White Cree.

    My tank is thriving under LED and I've got softies, LPS and one SPS (actually the SPS bleached immediately so...??).