Future tank LED lighting choice

[super stooge]

hello everyone. about 8 months ago i made tank plans for for a new house we are building. originally i had planned to use a mixture of mh's and t5's. Ive just started looking into equipment again and some of the LED lighting fixtures ive seen look VERY appealing thanks to their low power costs, low heat output and vibrant colour. The only problem is i know pretty much nothing about LED lighting :spin3:.

if anyone could answer a few questions for me, i think it would really help to point me in the right direction on whether LED's are right for me.

the planned tank will be a 180gal 6x2x2 and i would like to be able to keep a variety of corals in the tank further down the line

1. is it viable to run a tank this size solely on LED lights (no t5/mh/etc supplementation)

2. i am not particularly handy :headwalls:, so are there any quality commercial LED light fixtures available that can compete with diy builds? and if not, how difficult an undertaking is a diy build?

3. have i missed any kind of fatal downside to LED setups (besides the high initial cost)?

Thanks for taking the time to help a confused fool :spin2:

[jimmy_beaner]

1) Sure you can run it only on LEDs
2) the DIY are appealing because they save so much. The commercial fixtures will be nice, but you'll pay for it. If you can glue and solder, the DIY isn't anything to worry about.
3) I can't think of a "fatal" downside.

[super stooge]

thanks jimmy beaner. so commercially made fixtures can run a tank just as well as a diy build?

so far, the two LED options i have been looking at are:

a set of 4 of the 36'' marineland reef capable lighting systems aranged in two rows
http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3733+10704+22443&pcatid=22443

OR

a set of 3 23.5'' ecoxotic panorama LED fixtures
http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3733+10704+22443&pcatid=22443

are there any better options in commercially made fixtures? and also could anybody please recommend a DIY build for me to have a look at?

[super stooge]

bump

[OregonReefer]

Neither of those will be adequate for more than a Fish only tank with perhaps a few low light coral in the upper reaches of rock.

For a 6x2x2 tank you're probably looking for more like 4 of these
http://reefledlights.com/shop/ai-sol/

That's why so many people do the DIY

[super stooge]

thank you oregon, that is extremely helpful

[plaidnstripes]

Not meaning to Hijack--but where is a good place to get a DIY supplies and lights?

[jong11]

Rapid led has some great products, I use one of their par38 bulbs

[dlp211]

Rapidled, reefledlights, and cutter.

I am getting my RB's from cutter, my optics from RLL and my CWs from Rapid.

I also am getting HLGs instead of ELNs for led drivers, but I am also doing 108 LEDs total, 60RB and 48CW.

I'll get the rest of the electrical stuff from Radio shack or digikey and all my aluminum from HD. No heatsinks, just using c channel and aluminum tube for the frame, then I'll get some clear plexi and call it good.

[pkirby]

When you say a variety of corals, are you talking a mixture of soft corals? Or are you thinking sps? If Sps I'd definitely look at the AI sol referenced above. You pay a lot, but they are great fixtures that can easily handle the 2ft depth you are talking about... Plus when you factor the power savings, bulb replacement savings, etc... The recommendation is one pendant for every 12"... But you can certainly do fine with 4 on a 6ft tank... Also, you can add to the setup as you go, so if u decide down the road to add more, it's not a big deal

[super stooge]

thank you pkirby. At this stage it looks like i will be going for the AI sol modules. they look very impressive, especially when paired with a controller such as a profilux (looking into picking up one of those aswell :D ). just having trouble deciding whether i want to use the white or blue modules, decisions decisions....

[PMUnprotected]

thank you pkirby. At this stage it looks like i will be going for the AI sol modules. they look very impressive, especially when paired with a controller such as a profilux (looking into picking up one of those aswell :D ). just having trouble deciding whether i want to use the white or blue modules, decisions decisions....

Go blue!!! I love my AI Sol blue and so does my corals. Blue is super cool, white could be a little too much yellow.

Good luck with your purchase ;-)

[super stooge]

im a fan of the crisp white blue colour somewhere in the 12k range. from what i understand about the AI modules though, ill be able to dial up or down the white or blue output to achieve pretty much any mix id like right?

my concern is that most people that ive seen using sol white seem to run them with whites at something like 50% while blues are at 100% for example. seeing as the blues would be running as both nightlights and day lights while the whites would only be active during the day, it kind of seems like the blue LED's are doing more work than the whites. so a module with more LED's dedicated to blues than whites (like in the sol blue) would seem to make more sense to me.

am i overthinking this? :headwalls:

[plaidnstripes]

Rapidled, reefledlights, and cutter.

I am getting my RB's from cutter, my optics from RLL and my CWs from Rapid.

I also am getting HLGs instead of ELNs for led drivers, but I am also doing 108 LEDs total, 60RB and 48CW.

I'll get the rest of the electrical stuff from Radio shack or digikey and all my aluminum from HD. No heatsinks, just using c channel and aluminum tube for the frame, then I'll get some clear plexi and call it good.

Wow totally went over my head. I need to find a DIY led lights for dummies book