LED Maintenance

[KenB]

I mentioned in my recent post I need a new lighting system and was considering switching from MH to LED. I know with my MH I replace the bulbs every year ($150) and I know the LED lights last longer but do they need to be replaced at some point and how much hassle and cost is it replacing/upgrading/changing them??  Still on the fence MH or LED.

 

[KenB]

http://www.championlighting.com/product.php?productid=80503&cat=1253&page=1

http://premiumaquatics.com/products/reef-brite-hybrid-halide-36-150w-hqi-de-pendant-wxho-led-strips.html

 

Anyone seen one of these in action or think is't a good solution.  i'm running 250W MH fo 21" depth now.  Maybe the 150 are a little cooler and with the T-5 and LED would be enough

Edited January 5, 2015 by KenB

[Ryan S]

I used to get MH bulbs for $13 each.  Even if you replaced them every 6 months, you'd spend less than $150/year.

 

LEDs do eventually lose their strength, but it depends how long you run them.  You're most likely looking at many years before you might want to replace them.  I think I found a website where the average loss in intensity was something like 1% a year?

 

With that said, WAMAS has LED-fanbois and MH/T5-fanbois.  I had Ecotech Radions, and a 400w MH, over SPS. I ran both for 1 year.  The MH, hands down, outperformed the LEDs.  The colors were much better and the growth rate just exploded.  That isn't to say, my SPS weren't ALIVE under the LEDs, or that they didn't grow (albeit slowly), b/c they did.  Though some lost colors and browned.  Plus the sides/undersides weren't as nice as under the MH.  I would consider LEDs for any reef tank except an SPS tank.  The very best SPS tanks in the world run T5s or MHs.  There are very few SPS tanks under LEDs.  Ridetheducati just went from MH to LED back to MH.  He has one of my favorite tanks on WAMAS, and it's SPS.

 

From what I've seen on WAMAS, and other reef websites, the majority of the time that someone had an SPS tank under T5 or MH, and tried out LEDs, they went back to T5 or MH within a year.  The cheap chinese LED units that are popular here on WAMAS, are just that, cheap. So grab 1 and try it over a section of your tank for 6 months.  And buy a $13 MH bulb to go over your tank next to it.  And I'll guarantee your MH side rocks the LED side.  Vivid Aquariums tried that very experiment and it ended silently... Because the MH's destroyed the LEDs... And Ecotech probably paid them to keep hush about it.  (Their 800g tank is under 100% MH today).

 

There are advantages to LEDs though.  If you're not just looking at it for a pure SPS coloration/growth perspective.  If you don't mind the colors being a little different, the growth being a little slower, etc, then LEDs might be just fine for you.  LEDs use less electricity, and don't need replacement bulbs, nor a chiller (if you even need one now w/ your 250w MHs).  Hope that helps.

[KenB]

Thanks Ryan.  I'm leaning towards one of the 72" MH fixtures with strip T5 or strip LED to suspend over the tank with no canopy so I want something that looks nice also.  It's a big investment so I want to make sure I get as much info as possible before i pull the trigger.

 

ken

[Brian Ward]

20,000 hours is the number I usually see for longevity of LEDs. If I look at the Cree XP-G information (http://www.cree.com/~/media/Files/Cree/LED%20Components%20and%20Modules/XLamp/XLamp%20Application%20Notes/LM80_Results.pdf), they have done tests and project that the LEDs at 1500mA will be over 72,000 hours. That's 16 years at 12 hrs/day. If you read the protocol for projecting this, they do some sampling up to about 6,000-8,000 hours to see what the dropoff is and then do a extrapolation to see where the 80% and 70% dropoff will be. So this isn't based on actual observations.

[Ryan S]

http://www.championlighting.com/product.php?productid=80503&cat=1253&page=1

http://premiumaquatics.com/products/reef-brite-hybrid-halide-36-150w-hqi-de-pendant-wxho-led-strips.html

 

Anyone seen one of these in action or think is't a good solution.  i'm running 250W MH fo 21" depth now.  Maybe the 150 are a little cooler and with the T-5 and LED would be enough

 

Some of the 72" fixtures look really awesome, but they do get pricey.  What size is your tank?  Would 150w be enough?  150w is usually for shallow or nano tanks.  250w is generally used on tanks around 18-27" deep I'd say. 28"+ I'd probably go with 400w.

[KenB]

Ryan,

 

It's a 125 gal 72" x 21" deep.  I have 250W MH now and will probably stick with 250 if i go MH.  In the summer my tank usally runs from 79 degrees at night up to 81 during the day.  not ideal but haven't seen too much problem and don't want to fool with a chiller.  Right now my heater switches on at 76 and off at 78.

[zygote2k]

MH/T5 combo fixtures last 3-5 years before ballasts and drivers burn out. fans go every few years. bulbs need to be replaced yearly. Not very energy efficient and produces lots of heat.

 

stand alone bulb systems- VHO/T5/MH all have yearly bulb replacement, ballsts/drivers last 3-5 years, fans every few years. Not very energy efficient and produces an abundance of heat.

 

LED systems have emitters that last 3-5 years, drivers seem to burn out every 2-3, and fans every few years. Very energy efficient and produces lower heat.

 

Light grows coral period. All of these systems have bulbs/emitters that can satisfy most every taste and most every application.