Cheap LEDs

[davelin315]

Hey Guys, what's the latest and greatest cheap LED reef lighting available?  I'm working with a high school student on a research project on ocean acidification and we're looking for lighting.  I've got some T5 lights that we might use but thought I'd look around and see what else is out there.  In the alternative, anyone have a set of 2 that they'd be willing to loan out for the next 3-6 months?  We're setting up 2 side by side systems in order to keep everything as close to the same as possible.

[epleeds]

I have a cheap current LED light that you can borrow if you can't find anything closer

[sen5241b]

I am amazed at how many cheap LEDS are available on Amazon, some for under $100. The amazon reviews are decent.

[davelin315]

Just not sure which ones actually work well.  We are currently going to use the T5s as long as they still work - I think I have some new bulbs that we can add to it and it can give consistent lighting across two 20 gallon tanks so that we remove some of the inconsistencies but might be easier in the end to use 2 ready made LEDs versus retrofitting these.  Eric, any chance you have 2 of the same fixtures to avoid any inconsistencies between the two tanks?

[epleeds]

Nope. Just the one.

[madweazl]

I'll donate a pair of new bulbs for the T5 fixture if you let me know what you want. 

[davelin315]

I actually have a bunch of bulbs for these I think, just looking for something that they don't need to put together themselves at the school.  She said she's got some friends who are into woodworking and they have a shop there but it's not open until school is open.

[ReefAddict]

I have 2 Mars Aqua 300w fixtures I could loan for a few months.

[davelin315]

ReefAddict, can you send me an email with details on your lights?  I put out some feelers on donations from some of the bigger companies but that typically ends up with just that, feelers.  

 

If you are willing to loan out your lights that would be fantastic!

davelin@childsci.org or info@novaquarium.org would be the best emails to send info to.

[Bhintz1288]

 

Here is a cheap DIY that I put together for my 4 breeder. It can run 8 e27 style LED bulbs but I also added 2 t5 bulbs and a blue LED strip for night light. I am currently using Kingbo brand (available on eBay or Amazon) e27 bulbs in the the center sockets and have smaller bulbs in the remaining 4 outside sockets. Overall seem to do the job however I would LOVE if they were dimmable, I also have yet to dial it in with a PAR meter. Acclimating corals to the giant Kingbo lights seems to take a good while. 

 

When I first put this thing together I only have eight of the small LED bulbs and no t5 or moonlights. At that time (prior to my first big 'whoopsie' involving alkalinity dropping too low) I have a mixed tank and had notable growth on a small monti frag, acro frag, duncan (which actually grew 4 new heads) and galaxia. However these smaller bulbs seemed to lead to patches of hair algae here and there. Kingbo lights seem to do fine in NOT growing excessive nuisance algae.

 

[davelin315]

Thanks everyone, ReefAddict (who I found out I played against in hockey about 12 hours before I picked up the light and who scored the winning goal against my team!) lent me his lights.

[dbartco]

3 cheers to reefaddict!!! Great job.  Way to beat up on Dave!!!!

 

 

and I guess some appreciation for the lights too....