Question about LED Lighting Fixture

[jwentzell]

Hey guys,

I'm looking into getting a 48" LED Lighting fixture for my standard 55 Gallon.
The fixture i'm looking at is 16 White \16 Blue LED's x3 watts.  

My Question is,  Would this be sufficient for hard corals?  Or could i only do soft corals? If only soft, how many would be sufficient for Hard Corals?

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks!

[jon1985]

I dont know for sure but I suspect that is not enough light for SPS.  I am currently building an LED fixture for my frag tank, 24"x24" by 18" deep and will be using 32 LEDs, 16 white, 16 blue. 

I may be way over kill but I suspect 32 over 4' and your depth wont be enough.

[jwentzell]

Thats what i'm figuring, but i don't know a thing about LED's, so i figured i'd ask.
Thanks for your reply!

Does anybody else have any additional input?

[JetJumper]

Jon, yours is 36 LEDs   18 white and 18 blue

48" tank you will want atleast 72 LED's at the bare minimum for SPS.  Optics play into effect as well and placement of the LED's / heatsinks.

Are you building or buying?

[NanoSF]

Like many questions the answer is it all depends.

First, what kind of LEDs. Not all are create equal, although people differ on this opinion. I did a DIY of non Cree LEDs and now that I have Cree it is 10 times better.

Second, if you have Crees and your hard coral are high in the tank, you might pull off some easier sps. This is definitely on the low side of output, even for LED though. An Aquaillumination light has 24 (basically 3 Watt) LEDs. You would have 32, and yours would be 50/50 white/blue. Meaning your output of par from the whites would be higher than the blue AI unit I have to compare. So my AI is on a 29 gallon. I top out at 75% on my white LEDs (I do have a few sps near the top). So I think I could go to 35 gallons, maybe 40 if I had the right shape of tank. You with 55 gallons but more LEDs, and higher percentage of white, should be able to pull off your 55 gallon. Like I said though it is close to being a bit on the low side.

The last thing is optics. In the AI it is a combination of 40 and 70 degree. 70 spread of course and the 40s penetrate. I think over a 55 you would want 40 degree but spread out more than the AI. If you haven't seen the AI the LEDs are all compact within a 1 foot wide 8 inch deep unit. Not much spread there. The problem with that is you get a bit of an uneven spotlight effect. I personally think people over react to the spotlight effect. If you have it up high enough from the water you can negate this.

So if all factors are perfect, I think it will work, but I'm guessing it might not be ideal in all ways. Then you have to decide if you are okay with SPS only in the bright spots.

[jwentzell]

Thanks! That's fair, so basically, it's hit or miss, and i may be allright with sps up high?

Here are some details that i've gathered about the fixture, maybe it'll answer some of the questions\details you asked about...


(32pcs*3W LED  -  16pcs Blue LED Limited voltage：85~264V        N.W.  4.325kg/pc
Input current：630mA             
16pcs White LED Output power：96w   
LED QTY :32pcs 3W Bridgelux LED     　
LED lens degree: 120°    Inner Ctn Dim (mm)   
Size：L120cm*W13.6cm*H3.6cm
Lifespan ：50，000hours  G.W 18kg/4pcs
  PF：>0.94
     
Blue LED Wave :450-465nm     Master Ctn Dim (mm) L125cm*W18cm*H12.5cm
B:W  1:1 White LED Color TMP:12000k-14000k   　
Lumen:5600 lm     

1.2m led aquarium light
Size:L120cm*W13.6cm*H3.6cm
Led Qty:32pcs(15pcs Blue led,16pcs White led),3w/pc,160-180lm/pc
Voltage:AC85-265V,60/50Hz

[Hookup]

As for LED's and SPS... the thing I cannot find is anyone with long term success.  It seems many can keep them happy, colored and growing (though seemling slower but still very good rates) for the first 6 to 8 months, but of the tanks I've seen/followed, the SPS start to color-down after 8-12months and growth falls off...

I've got some theories on why that is happening, but the point really is, I haven't seen any successful tanks at the 12+ month mark that use just LED's as lighting for SPS corals...

From the MACNA rumors, it seems that there are a whole wack-load of new LED fixtures dropping this year... so maybe some of them will be able to do it... of course, we won't know until after a year...


LED's, for me at least, are just accessory lights to make your colors go BOOO!