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KingNeptunesBounty

Custom LED Lighting System Courtesy of Home Depot.

Rating: 10 votes, 4.70 average.
10 Comments
by
KingNeptunesBounty
, 10-05-2010 at 11:09 AM (6076 Views)
Tuesday, October 05, 2010.

So it has been sometime since I last updated my thread due to work and other non reef related things but the aquarium has been filled with saltwater for about 2 1/2 months with no lights at all. The cycling process has come and gone and I finally got tired of looking at this void tank of water in my living. However, due to cost I am not able to entirely setup my Custom LED Lighting System. So I am not worried about lighting that are able to sustain SPS Corals at this time. May primary concern was to be able to see into the aquarium. I am interested in utilizing Rapid LED Par 38 Bulbs on my aquarium (six or eight bulbs in total) but at the current time I just want to be able to see into the aquarium. So with a little trip to home depot I stumbled across EcoSmart LED Bulbs and Hamilton Bay Clip on Desk Lights. I had been interested in replacing my Compact Flourescent Bulbs in the House with LED Bulbs and figured when I order the Rapid LED Par 38 Bulbs that I could just swap out the Compact Flouresents in my home as to not waste money. I mounted the Hamilton Bay Clip On Desk Lights using Industrial Double Sided Tape and screwed the LED ECO Smart LED Bulbs in and presto we have Light! The bulbs in my opinion are absolutely great. They only utilize 8.5 watts of energy and they don't heat whatsoever. Also they produce the shimmer that we all love. Now I am no lighting expert and I do intend to swap these out for the Rapid LED Par 38 LED Bulbs but I was curious to know if these would sustain corals at the wavelength of light they produce which is 3200K. All in all it was an extremely inexpensive lighting solution for the time being.

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Comments

  1. RED's Avatar
    Traditionally, 10000K is the minimum and 12, 14 & 15 is being used depending on the depth of the tank... LED is still untested in allot of set-ups, so it may work on softies, but I don't see how it can sustain SPS... Barrow a PAR meter and test before you add any Corals... i am testing out a Marine Land double bright LED system on a 20gl nano lagoon and I am not seeing the reg cycle that normally occurs, so I am thinking the light is not able to support corals... Great idea for the sump if the micro will grow.
  2. Alaska_Phil's Avatar
    Nice, now you can see that great rockwork and fish.

    No idea if 3200K will grow corals, but I suspect the PAR measurement will be really low. Lux is measured at 5700K and I believe PAR is even higher. 3200K will grow nuisance algae nicely though. I use 4100K fluorescents in my turf scrubber and they work very well.
  3. KingNeptunesBounty's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by RED
    Traditionally, 10000K is the minimum and 12, 14 & 15 is being used depending on the depth of the tank... LED is still untested in allot of set-ups, so it may work on softies, but I don't see how it can sustain SPS... Barrow a PAR meter and test before you add any Corals... i am testing out a Marine Land double bright LED system on a 20gl nano lagoon and I am not seeing the reg cycle that normally occurs, so I am thinking the light is not able to support corals... Great idea for the sump if the micro will grow.
    Red, thank you for the information. It was more a curiousity question wit the lights. I don't know anyone with a PAR Meter and unfortunately they are a bit too expensive for me at the moment. The main purpose was just to light the aquarium so that I could see the fish and inverts. I actually have already monitored the cycle of the aquarium and my parameters are more than acceptable.
  4. KingNeptunesBounty's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Alaska_Phil
    Nice, now you can see that great rockwork and fish.

    No idea if 3200K will grow corals, but I suspect the PAR measurement will be really low. Lux is measured at 5700K and I believe PAR is even higher. 3200K will grow nuisance algae nicely though. I use 4100K fluorescents in my turf scrubber and they work very well.
    Alaska_Phil, thank you very much for the compliments. I actually have had these lights on the aquarium for the last two weeks and I haven't seen one bit of nuisance algae form. I honestly thought that would happen but nothing.
  5. melev's Avatar
    I think it looks good, and I like the movie clip you made. I'm sure when you get your real lights in, you'll prefer that look overall.
  6. Sam11909's Avatar
    I tested almost the exact same light (8w and 3500k) and it gave me a PAR of 300 at 3" and 250 at 8", but anything below 6500k is not going to give you good coral growth. My soft corals did not even react to this light. Plus, the color makes your coral look terrible. I would definitely get some of Evil's PAR38 LEDs or Rapid LED's PAR38.
  7. KingNeptunesBounty's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by melev
    I think it looks good, and I like the movie clip you made. I'm sure when you get your real lights in, you'll prefer that look overall.
    Melev, thank you for the compliments. I definitely would prefer the overall look when I purchase the Rapid LED Par 38 bulbs. This is just temporary, I didn't want my fish thinking that their was no such thing as light.
  8. KingNeptunesBounty's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Sam11909
    I tested almost the exact same light (8w and 3500k) and it gave me a PAR of 300 at 3" and 250 at 8", but anything below 6500k is not going to give you good coral growth. My soft corals did not even react to this light. Plus, the color makes your coral look terrible. I would definitely get some of Evil's PAR38 LEDs or Rapid LED's PAR38.
    Sam11909, I definitely will be purchasing the Rapid LED Par 38 Bulbs to replace these. The ECO Smart LED Bulbs have another purpose in my home already when I get the new bulbs. Anything to stay one step ahead of the utility company.
  9. Hat39406's Avatar
    Looking real good man!! Your fish seem to love their home too! Also, love the rock work. ;-)
  10. KingNeptunesBounty's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Hat39406
    Looking real good man!! Your fish seem to love their home too! Also, love the rock work. ;-)
    Hat39406, thank you very much for the compliments.