Any LED experts out there?

Hey guys! Chime in and give me opinions please
120 Watt Aquarium Coral Reef Tank LED Grow Light 120W | eBay

 

looks pretty good to me. Looks like the brand name knock off. Cant remember the name though. I give ya 2 thumbs up.

 

With no optics and only 1 watt LED,s there is no way that unit would replace a 250 watt MH. What size tank are you putting this over? You need to be weary of the chinese knock offs...there are a lot of substandard fixtures out there right now trying to capitalize on the populartiy of LEDS

 

to replace a 250watt halide, you need about 160 watts worth of LED's that are 3watt cree's. This should cover a 2ft area and no more than that .

 

I want to do my 180 gallon with three of them. Thats what I was thinking....

Or would I be better to go good old fashion MH t5 combo?

 

MH and T5 are better unless your willing to spend big bucks on LED's. I wouldnt be buying cheap LED units because they generally are not using good quality parts and are not well tested.

 

Looks like Evoulution LEDs.......they arent too bad but low end LEDs like Northstar said. 1w non Cree LEDs.....its only going to do so much....but to be honest if it is evoulution leds...reefkoi uses them and sells them...he seems to have somethin goin....jus sayin...

You get what u pay for....now a days...you wanna look for 3w Cree LEDs used in fixtures...180g yea.....Unless u got booku cash id go MH...LED will run you some $$$$$$

 

My 180g that im building im getting vertex LED lights and it is 3.7k for the fixture. Which is incredibly expensive. Go for Halides unless your willing to drop good money.

 

You can light a standard 180 with three of the second gen AI units. I paid $1500 for mine, which is only slightly more than the $1400 the 72" Marineland Pro fixure costs....

Granted you have to get a little creative in how you mount them over the tank, becasue you need to mount them perpendicular to how they were inteded to be mounted (one fixutre for every foot )

 

Stay away from those kind of fixtures. They only become a headache down the road as they are usually manufactured with components that are not designed to handle the moisture that comes from our tanks. Ballasts/drivers that are not waterproof absorb the moisture and we all know what the saltwater does to metal...

Invest in good lighting and you won't regret it.

I started this way, upgraded to Par 38 LEDs from Orphek and I just ordered and recieved their PR156. I like the look and am very impressed with the build quality.