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  1. #1
    Wrigglers
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
    Posts
    299

    Swap Metal Halide for LED (with photos)

    Hi all - so I've taken the plunge and splurged on LED lighting to replace some Metal Halides and hopefully reduce my electricity bill. After doing a bit of research, I’ve come to realize you can go cheap (even DYI) or spend thousands. There’s serious money in marine!! Thankfully I have a 6ft planted discus tank so I went for 6,500K LED tiles made by Tropical Marine Centre (their AquaRay range). One of the main benefits with these units is they don’t have cooling fans (that’ll probably fail before the LEDs/drivers do). The LEDS are mounted to a solid heatsink which is warm during normal operation.

    Relevant data and results below.

    - Tank: 6ft x 2ft x 2.5ft
    - Supplements: CO2, Seachem Excel and 50% water changes every weekend.
    - Metal Halides: 3 x 150W, 6,500K Sylvania globes running 3hrs/day in a composite fitting (a DYI project I completed 3.5yrs ago). T8 fluorescents (4 x 36W) on 9hrs per day.
    - New LED Lights: 3 x GroBeam 1000 ND suspended 100mm from water.

    First impressions – notable difference and surprisingly good LUX (PAR) at the substrate level. Mind you the MHs were well overdue for a replacement. At the moment I have the LED tiles suspended with string so I can play with the height before I lock in a suspension system. Camera shots below of the LED lighting show distinctive light columns from the tiles that are not so noticeable when you’re looking at the tank yourself. I suspect this is a function of the camera’s sensor which was an HD Sony Camcorder.

    Anyway, for those of you looking to do the same, hope this helps. I’ll post updates to give you an idea of how the plants react and the expression on my wife’s face when I tell her how a bunch of LEDs can cost.

    NOTE: This particular LED lighting system comes with controllers that simulate dawn and dusk as well as lighting strikes. I’ve opted to have the lights come on/off with a timer, just like aquarists have been doing for many years. I figured my fishes didn’t really give a rats about dawn and dusk.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails dsc01146_resized.jpg   dsc01176_resized.jpg   dsc01163_resized.jpg  

  2. #2
    Wrigglers
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Perth, Australia
    Posts
    239
    Hi,

    great stuff! I'll be watching with interest ,

    Cheers

  3. #3
    Moderator
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Penrith NSW
    Posts
    5,873
    how much PAr did you get? from memory these chips are driven at 300-450ma.

    I'd be very keen to run a par meter over them.

  4. #4
    Wrigglers
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
    Posts
    299
    Not sure of the PAR or lux levels as I don't have associated meters, however, base on PAR measurements taken at the aquarium shop (comparing various LED fittings before choosing the GrOBeam tiles), I would expect a PAR reading of between 70 and 90 at substrate level.

  5. #5
    Moderator
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Penrith NSW
    Posts
    5,873
    looking at your tank i'd expect it to be 100-140 lvl LOL maybe its just the photos. If you were closer to me I'd drop by and run my Seneye over the tank. I reckon you could raise them another 50-100mm and still have plenty of light for a plant tank.

  6. #6
    Wrigglers
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
    Posts
    299
    You're still welcome to pop up and run the SunEye over it. I'll see if I can borrow one and get something more accurate. I agree the tiles could probably go up a bit.

  7. #7
    Wrigglers
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
    Posts
    299
    Update on the tank with LED lighting lifted up 100mm or so and support arrangement updated to fix to existing composite fitting.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails dsc01221_resized.jpg   dsc01225_resized.jpg   dsc01224_resized.jpg  

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