LED Lights

In your opinion is LED lights worth the money?

 

If you get a good quality setup it should pay for itself over time, lots of the stuff available is substandard chinese material that fails well within its expected lifespan. I bought some that lasted all of 10 days. My 2c worth....

 

Yeah JWH has a valid point -- it is a bit hit and miss.

What I have learned from LED DIY style - the LED chip makes a big difference. For strip LED's you rather run more strips that are under powered than the recommended rating of a strip.
LED even waterproof type actually hate water and heat.
Your power supply will probably be way less efficient than you thought.

New LEDs still drive the lm/watt value - you need to be able to find trusted information and cross check type of dies. So a 5630 vs 5730 etc

So your question is about money ... 5m of waterproof 5630 should be around 280 - 380 (depends on shop)

With that 5m you can DIY 4 1.2 strips that is ample for a low - medium even at 4 strips high light requirement tank - a stock 4ft and nothing more than say 45cm from LED to substrate.
The aluminium bar that acts as the heat sink and the mount +- R200 power supply Another R200. Superglue R25


So an entire 4ft system lets call it R800 - but I think it will in reality only live max for 2 years, I am now in my first 1 year on 36 Degrees and I can clearly see that the light intensity has dropped.

Later Ferdie

PS measured the power consumption at lights-on the other day .. tanks in total are drawing 350 watt max - but this is just filters and lights, no heating.

 

If you talking about the above tank .. You might be disappointed with LED unless you only need it for mood light.

Later Ferdie

 

Thanks everyone, by the sounds of it R4500 is a bit excessive - especially if it will be lasting about 2 years!

 

If you go led chips, like is used in marine it will work. We use 3 watt chips, strips are not strong enough.

If you do go the Diy route use 3 watt LEDs.

 

As far as I can see from the quote it's 4 x 18 Watt modules.

 

Components listing 200 x 60 x 60
10mm aquarium 2
Cabinet dark wood 16mm melamine
Black rubber feet
4 x 18 watt led modules
Stream pump
Sump tank 40cm cube
Filter sock with bracket
20kg substrate
Bio balls 1L
Wool
Heater 300watt
Uplift pump
Plumbing system
Multi adaptor
Light timer
Bacteria
Detox

 

1l bio balls wont be enough, 20kg substrate will be a mere dusting, I use 50kg pfs in a 1800 tank and you hardly get 2cm thick cover. You'll need at least 2, possibly 3 x300w heaters in winter. What is the capability of the return pump at the height it needs to pump, what is the output of the stream pump?
As a caution, based on my experiences, it is better to buy equipment rated at least 150% of what you need, manufacturers grossly overstate the output of pumps etc, and you don't want to replace a lot of equipment because it is underpowered for what you need.

 

@Jwh :

1) We use a small flow system , you looking at about 500 LPH using an 800lph pump . Stream would be 3000LPH ( this we feel suitable for plants and discus )

2) The LEDs are 6 x 3 chips circuit boards. So you will get four of these . We would mount it to an acrylic panel that in turn is mounted under the canopy .

 

@JaLu can you please post some pics

 

Hi @GoggaZa - unfortunately not at this stage. It's part of a quote for a possible new tank - so not in my possession unfortunately.

 

@JaLu no problem thanks anyway sure we will see a Thread soon

 

Does the pump specs seem good?