LEDs. What happened?

[lewisweil]

First, you'll have to pardon my ignorance. I haven't been doing reefs the last couple years. I've been working in aquaculture and that took up all my aquatic energy. So a few years go by and I come back to the hobby and LEDs are everywhere. Was there some technological breakthrough that I missed? LED tech has been around for decades, but when I last was serious about reefs it wasn't a viable option. Now they've displaced MH. Was there some tech breakthrough that made it possible? Or was it a manufacturing issue that made them practical and affordable?

[+o0zarkawater]

Certainly not affordable to the everyday reefer. At least not the ones that seem to grow coral well.

I love my DIY LED actinics, but I pieced mine together with parts straight from Hong Kong, not the CREE panels everyone else loves. But I also spent significantly less.

I just paired my cheap but bright LED actinics with my MH (cheapo PlusRite bulbs there too), and I love the color I get.

You cant beat LED actinic pop, even my VHO can't touch the colors I get now. I'm not however replacing my MH anytime soon, even though I could DIY on the cheap.

[Robb in Austin]

My guess is the advent of the single emitter die based LED, vs the old school 'bulb' type LED we all grew up with, as well as advances in mfg that decreased the cost enough that it made it viable. They are still a bit high cost wise, IMO, for the name brand fixtures but rapidly dropping.

That coupled with 'proven results' over the last year or two=success.

Don't listen to Oooza; he's dumb and cheap.

[+o0zarkawater]

Don't listen to Oooza; he's dumb and cheap.

And cheap!

But the "good" LEDs are no way affordable to the everyday reefer, at least not enough to make a majority of people switch.

I would bet that the people who are 100% LED are still less than 15% of the total number of reefers.

[Robb in Austin]

I won't disagree with that statement. I'm still too cheap to spend $2500 on name brand LEDs, but if I was starting a new tank it would be LED all the way. It's the wave of the future.

Give it another 5 years and I bet that number is 85%.

I fixed your post for you, BTW.

[victoly]

[Robb in Austin]

Cmon! You can do better than that!

[victoly]

[Bannerfish]

DIY leds here, no mh or fluorescent bulbs for me. Mine are from Steve’s leds. My husband puts it all together and just mounts it in the canopy, or strips the bulbs and ballasts from a t5 fixture and installs them in there. They work great for me, been over a year since I got the first tank switched to leds. They're kinda pricey at first, but well worth it when it hardly uses any electricity, doesn't put off a bunch of heat, and I don't have to replace bulbs every year, or more

[jestep]

I think there's a few factors that contributed to it. First off Cree and XM and GE and others are making some very efficient LED's that are now easy to obtain. Even 2 years ago, this was hardly the case.

Secondly, with the massive surge in nano and pico tanks, specifically, very high end ones, LED's are a natural fit. There's a major gap in quality lighting below about 30 - 40 gallon rectangle tank sizes. The T5/T8 lighting doesn't fit very well, and MH on a small tank is a problem in itself. It also doesn't take an extreme amount of LED's to adequately light the tank so they were a really good diving board.

Last, they aren't necessarily more expensive than MH or T5 if you average it out 5 - 10 years. No bulb replacements at all, negligible additional heat.

For large tanks, it's still cost prohibitive for most people but as the efficiency continues to go up and the price continues to go down, it's just a matter of time before LED's are the majority of lights.

[lewisweil]

My guess is the advent of the single emitter die based LED, vs the old school 'bulb' type LED we all grew up with, as well as advances in mfg that decreased the cost enough that it made it viable. They are still a bit high cost wise, IMO, for the name brand fixtures but rapidly dropping.

That coupled with 'proven results' over the last year or two=success.

Don't listen to Oooza; he's dumb and cheap.

This and everyone else, great info. Thanks. It got me reading more now that I know what to google. Single-Die is brilliant. I had no idea. The wiki article on LEDs had a great graph showing the rate at which LED luminosity has developed. We just recently got to the point where it was practical and based on past trends there is a lot still to do. Very exciting for reef keeping!

Also now seeing the surface mounted single die lights I get it why DIY is so much more practical. There is no end to the tweaking and customization. I have a lot to learn. This is cool!

[Timfish]

I really like how customizable they are. Even though they are more expensive initially than MH or T5s if you look at the additional bulb cost those have over a 10 - 14 year period LEDs win.

[ckyuv]

the led cost more from the start but use a ton less power, dont get near as hot so ur not running a chiller all the time, never have to replace them, and dont evap as much. was there kessil when u left? Kessil is my favorite light ive ever owned

[lewisweil]

Those were what caught my eye. I knew LED was popular. But I saw some Kessil lights on some tanks at Fish Gallery in Dallas and was very surprised to see so much shimmer coming off an LED. That sorta sold me. I know its a silly thing but the shimmer effect gets me, it makes you forget it's artificial light.

[ckyuv]

yeah i loved the light that came off it. i saw it on someones tank in houston and had to buy one. ill never own a different light. (unless i get a big tank and cant afford 5 of them)

[RUSH]

I run 3 par38's on my 20 an burn 40 watts total with zero heat.

-Chris

[bige]

I have had LEDs since 2008. Heard about them in 2006 at fish ranch in Houston. I had to really defend them until recently. I dont think they are any more artificial then mh or t5. That being said mh fixtures will be phased out over the next couple years then t5. This info came from a major aquarium light manufacture. Soon, only LEDs will be available.

[lewisweil]

I remember there were a couple people doing LED a few years ago. I do mean just a couple. Lots of arguments against it. But it seems like the technology has more than caught up with the needs of reef keeping.

What are y'all hoping/expecting to see in the next few years.

I am very happy about LED developments. But like all new tech it scares me that it is creating more barriers to entry for new people. But I am probably worrying too much. A new person probably doesn't even know enough to know how little they don't know!

[subsea]

I have had LEDs since 2008. Heard about them in 2006 at fish ranch in Houston. I had to really defend them until recently. I dont think they are any more artificial then mh or t5. That being said mh fixtures will be phased out over the next couple years then t5. This info came from a major aquarium light manufacture. Soon, only LEDs will be available.

While I see the trend toward the use of LED, I see much continued application for all other lighting. In my case, with a greenhouse grow out system, I will supplement winter sunlight with 1000W MH. MH lamps will be on an overhead rail to run length of greenhouse, thereby minimizing number of lamps required. With large MH, lamps can be raised higher to cover a larger area. For the short time in winter that this supplemental lighting is required, I capture heat of lamp as free supplemental heating at a time when heating is required in greenhouse.

No one has convinced me that LED grow coral better than other lights. In the comparison of payback time, I think that payback is much quicker than 10 years. In the case of comparing my 1000W MH to 400 W of LED, it took one year. The 1000W MH fixture cost $400. The 400W of LED cost $600. In this comparison, payback of LED happened the first year at bulb changeout time.

Patrick