LED lighting

[cdrewferd]

I'm planning in running 2 of the 72w CREEs with 90 degree optics on my 4' 120.


Drew

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[Ghosty]

I emailed CFS to find out who the manufacturer is. No answer at their Greenville office.

 

[Ghosty]

Not TauTronic but supposedly "comparable". They wouldn't tell me who builds them. But here is the response, TIFWIW. I haven't found much info on the national forums or any reviews online. That's the only thing that sketches me. But at that price, might be worth the plunge for those people looking for a lower-cost LED, especially dimmable (my Orpheks aren't):

We have a private company who manufacturers these for us but we do handle all warranty issues. Thanks.

Craig Ferguson
Complete Filtration Services Inc.
425 Mill St.
Greenville, NC. 27858
252-752-3340 Office
sales@cfsco.net

 

[Bajamike]

I can tell you that not all Chinese lights are the same. I have about a $300 paper weight that only turns on the whites. Kinda sucks . Just know you run this risk.

 

[Ghosty]

I posted up in the RC huge (166pg) "Chinese LED" thread, about these. After numerous searches, haven't found squat. I'll report back. But I'm expecting the usual answers: "You get what you pay for", and "Everything cheap is probably crap, lol. I don't agree, but it might be like with the AquaTrader/Odyssea stuff.

 

[WatercolorsGuy]

I posted up in the RC huge (166pg) "Chinese LED" thread, about these. After numerous searches, haven't found squat. I'll report back. But I'm expecting the usual answers: "You get what you pay for", and "Everything cheap is probably crap, lol. I don't agree, but it might be like with the AquaTrader/Odyssea stuff.

Yeah I started reading that one day...got through maybe 40 pages....a lot of opinions and not much helpful info. Lol. Egos took over I think instead of just useful posted info. Maybe it got better. Looking forward to some hands on opinions though.

 

[Ghosty]

Yeah, I got about a 100 more important things to do than read through those 166 pages, ugh. TMI. Here's my first reply, from bhazard451:

They just resell them from the same Chinese manufacturers we are ordering from directly. They are good lights, but not great because of the colors of leds used (just blue and cool white sucks). They fade coral color over time.

The chinese factories now allow you to choose which leds you want in your fixture, and some even have built in sunrise/sunset controllers now.

There are several companies that make these types of light, and several that resell them.

 

[Luke.Fraizer]

The Crees are the good leds sold by the DIY kits right? That seems like a good deal for the money... I couldn't build it for that price!

 

[Ghosty]

I thought this uses Bridgelux, not Cree's? Or is the difference negligible? I know squat about DIY LED's.

 

[cdrewferd]

CREE's are supposed to be the best you can get. You can drive them at a higher mA and they are more efficient. Bridgelux are the wallet friendly LEDs.

 

[Luke.Fraizer]

http://www.aquastyleonline.com/products/48--LEDs--DIY-Dimmable-Kit.html

That also seems way cheap. Just have to get a good fixture. They are the bridgelux as well and at $100 you could do 2 of them for cheaper than the others. Just looking for options for ya.

 

[cdrewferd]

I've seen the AquaStyleOnline kits and agree they are the best bang for the buck. However, if I DIY my lights it's going to be full spectrum. This means a little of every light color is:

Royal Blue
Blue
Deep Blue (if I can find them)
Cool White
Neutral White
Warm White
Deep Red
Turquoise
Green
Cyan
Pink

Honestly, this is probably what I'll end up doing, just have to figure it out. I would want each color dim individually and that adds a lot of cost in drivers. I'll probably post my decision in a couple months.

 

[Ghosty]

That was my next question on those AquaStyle, would they maybe do a special custom order where you can toss in a few UV, and other spectrum LED's, while keeping mostly white and some blue?...

 

[cdrewferd]

I believe so. Everybody that has actually ordered had a good experience. I emailed them to try and customize a kit, that was about 10 months ago. Granted, I was just wanting pricing but I never got a reply to my email.

 

[Cake_Boss]

You can pick and choose your LEDs with AquaStyles. I wasn't aware they did fixtures though.

 

[Ghosty]

You can pick and choose your LEDs with AquaStyles. I wasn't aware they did fixtures though.

I don't think they do, or I can only see the DIY kits on their site, no enclosures. It would be cool if those CFS ones allowed custom LED spectrums. Maybe I'll email them...

 

[WatercolorsGuy]

Here is another site I found...
http://www.ajmreefled.com/#!home/mainPage
Customized led colors and lenses available along with DIY leds. Crees and bridgelux.

 

[cdrewferd]

Hmm. I'll have to check that site out some more from my computer.


Drew

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[LittleCrabby101]

I just upgraded to the AI Sol LED lights and so far it's incredible the difference it has made!

 

[reefmaster719]

Can't wait to get mine!! I'm throwing my t5 over the frag tank.