Looking for non scientific answers to led questions

Boogie

Boogie

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#1
#1
So I have some of the 1 watt Chinese fixtures and they seem OK but I'm wondering about upgrading. These are advertised at 120w. They are two to one blue to white and I am happy with their color.

Looking at reefkoi's leds from the group buy and they are also 120w but use 2watt leds. AI sols advertised at 75w but with 3w leds.

Is the overall wattage more important or the individual bulb wattage? Why?

Some of my zoas are stretching so it makes me think there is a light deficiency. Would adding another reef brite strip add any benefit?
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Boogie

Boogie

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#2
#2
Just checked and my lights are 14" above the water. What do think about dropping them down 6"?

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B

bsharpe

Users with zero posts needing moderation to determine if they are spam bots
#3
#3
I wanted to drop the lights lower over my frag tank and I just did about 4 inches every 2 weeks so no one got shocked. Seemed to work well.
 
cadre

cadre

Copepod
#4
#4
I'm not too scientific but my understanding is that the wattage of each led is just as important as the total wattage. Think about it this way, would you use four 70w metal halide bulbs instead of one 250w? Maybe if you had a large, shallow tank but you can't get the concentrated light output from smaller bulbs. Also, you need to consider depth penetration of the leds, this is where high wattage leds with lenses really shine. I don't think you can get the same par from lower output leds.
 
dv3

dv3

Beluga
M.A.S.C Club Member
#5
#5
drop them to 6" .....you will be much happier

some say the 3 watt crees are a better light ...personally i would be surprised if 120w of 3w leds put out significantly more PAR than 120w of 1 watt lights
 
miwoodar

miwoodar

Tang
M.A.S.C Club Member
#6
#6
I've never taken that question to task but I would be very surprised if 120 watts of 3 watt CREEs would not offer significantly more par than 120 watts of 1 watt-ers. There is a very wide spread of lumens/watt in LED emitters.

Playing around just within the CREE XPG CW/NW/WW emitter here (http://pct.cree.com/) reveals a low bin of 74 lumens and a high bin of 148 lumens. The PAR implications....that's the specific part that I can't comment on though.

Of course, that's just the horsepower side of the discussion. Color is the entirely other side. What's power if it's not colorful enough to make the user happy? I chose CREE but am not experienced enough to add anything to this topic.
 
1

120greefman

Guest
#7
#7
I have the 120w 2watts from reefkoi. Some of my zoas are super elongated, others are not. My led is about 2' from the tank, I will be lowering it in the near future.
 
Cake_Boss

Cake_Boss

Blue Whale
M.A.S.C Club Member
#8
#8
My question is, what is the 120w? Is it 60 x 2w LEDs for a total of 120 possible watts? Is it 60 x 3w LEDs ran at 2w, so the 120w is the output?

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L

lpsouth1978@msn.com

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#9
#9
It is my understanding, and experience, that the 3 watt (cree especially) LED's are significantly more intense than the 1 or 2 watt LED's. I do not know what the difference in PAR is between them, but the 3 watt LED's will have better penetration. This is especially important on deeper tanks, say anything more than 24".

Also worth note is that I have also used cheap chinese 3 Watt LED's and there is no comparison between them and the crees. Of all the LED's I have used thus far the Cree are by far the most intense. My 24 Cree fixture puts out MUCH more light than my 72 chinese LED fixture, and both are using 3 watt LED's.
 
dv3

dv3

Beluga
M.A.S.C Club Member
#10
#10
well hell ...now i have been wrong twice ....damn you guys :)
 
1

120greefman

Guest
#11
#11
rockys_pride;128100 said:
My question is, what is the 120w? Is it 60 x 2w LEDs for a total of 120 possible watts? Is it 60 x 3w LEDs ran at 2w, so the 120w is the output?

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Click to expand...
Mine has 55 leds. 2:1 on the blues. Not sure how it equals 120w, just what I was told. I was robbed! lol. Regardless it made leds affordable for me and I am happy with em.
 
Cake_Boss

Cake_Boss

Blue Whale
M.A.S.C Club Member
#12
#12
lpsouth1978;128114 said:
Also worth note is that I have also used cheap chinese 3 Watt LED's and there is no comparison between them and the crees. Of all the LED's I have used thus far the Cree are by far the most intense. My 24 Cree fixture puts out MUCH more light than my 72 chinese LED fixture, and both are using 3 watt LED's.
Click to expand...
Is it the LEDs or drivers that are at fault?

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Boogie

Boogie

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#13
#13
I made brackets last night to lower my lights. Must have bumped my head when I measured cuz they ended up 7.5" above the water instead of the goal 8". Total drop was 6.5". Hopefully I still have a tank when I get home and not a desert. lol.

The way I imagined the answer to be (about multiple 1watt over less 3watt) is that if they are both in the same environment you would get better side to side coverage with more 1watt but better penetration with 3watt simply based on the fact that the beginning light is stronger.....Does that make any sense at all? sigh..I suck...
 
dv3

dv3

Beluga
M.A.S.C Club Member
#14
#14
Boogie;128127 said:
I made brackets last night to lower my lights. Must have bumped my head when I measured cuz they ended up 7.5" above the water instead of the goal 8". Total drop was 6.5". Hopefully I still have a tank when I get home and not a desert. lol.

The way I imagined the answer to be (about multiple 1watt over less 3watt) is that if they are both in the same environment you would get better side to side coverage with more 1watt but better penetration with 3watt simply based on the fact that the beginning light is stronger.....Does that make any sense at all? sigh..I suck...
Click to expand...
that fact that the 1 watts dont have a lens is what tends to make your assumption true ....disclaimer i have been wrong twice before

i dunno about lowering and going out of town though ....thats a little scary
 
Boogie

Boogie

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#15
#15
dv3;128128 said:
that fact that the 1 watts dont have a lens is what tends to make your assumption true ....disclaimer i have been wrong twice before

i dunno about lowering and going out of town though ....thats a little scary
Click to expand...
Meh...they got a week....at least its only my high dollar corals up high...gulp...damn...good point...sigh...what to do, what to do...
 
T

that0neguy1126

Registered Users
M.A.S.C Club Member
#16
#16
If you are using the Chinese fixtures. They have no optics on them, so I would run them as close to the tank as possible. Highly unlikely you would get spot lighting with no optics.

Basically the 3w LED's are much more efficient in terms of lumens/watt. Which means you get more light and less LEDs for the same power consumption.
 
Boogie

Boogie

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#17
#17
power consumption aside, do you get better penetration or does 120w w/ 1w give you the same at 120w w/ 2w?
 
Boogie

Boogie

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#18
#18
And how close is safe? I do have the chinese 1 watters. Just wondering how close you can actually run them. Damn, I need to get a par meter up north here
 
dv3

dv3

Beluga
M.A.S.C Club Member
#19
#19
i burned some stuff at 1" from the water with the chin ease lights but my tank is only 20" deep not that it really matters as it was the corals at the top that bleached .....about 8" seems to work for me ...your mileage may vary and if you going on vacation and increasing the intensity at the vary least i would shorten the time period your lights are on since you cant be there to observe
 
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