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View Full Version : LED Lighting for my 75 gallon


goby_girl
12/15/2011, 05:16 PM
I am looking to replace my current LED lighting. I have soft corals and a couple of LPS in a 75 gallon. I have 2 ReefFanatics pendents. One side just burned out and I would like to replace the whole unit rather than repair it. I am looking at a couple different ones:
AquaticLife
AI Sol
EcoTech Radion
Does anyone have any comments on these lights or is there a better option out there?

Although, I have had aquariums for years, I am totally new to LED technology and I apologize in advance, because I don't quite know the terminology.

Thanks in advance

Reverend Reefer
12/17/2011, 09:11 PM
i really like my reefbrite led strips, the xho ones are really nice. i've seen the vertex strips at an lfs display, absolutely beautiful. the ai sol ones are pretty cool too, the guy i bought the used reefbrites had upgraded to an sol system, pretty awesome although he had them mounted a little too close to the top of the water, this caused a weird steaking/spotlighting effect.

my reefbrite strips are about 8" off the water so i don't get that weird effect. if you have a hood, they're easy to just attach, just screw them in.

don't know much about the aquaticlife or the radions. i jumped the gun on leds a year ago, and bought these ecotech ones, 4 of them actually. anyways, i was a bit bummed cuz they don't give off as much light as i thought they would. now they've sort of rebranded the ones i have as freshwater lighting and then put out some new lights that are reef capable, although when i first bought them, supposedly these were reef capable. anyways, live and learn.

i guess now that i know more, in idiot terms (cuz i'm an idiot!), i would say the main things to look for with leds are, the wattage of the leds, reflectors, and the optics. seems like if the leds are 1 watt or less, not so good. 3 watt leds are good. seems like if there are reflectors, good. seems like if the degrees of optics is bigger (eg., 80 degrees?) then you get more spread (less spotlight) but then less focused light. still not so clear on the degree thing but i sorta get the idea. i know the reefgeeks will chime in with more appropriate and true answers but i think that's the gist of it.

C0rp
12/17/2011, 09:26 PM
The aquatic life LED unit is apparently not meant for coral applications. I called AL and spoke to a guy who said, their LED units would not even compare to the 6 lamp AL T5 unit. He said the LED modules they make are more geared toward fish only tanks. So, i guess that eliminates one option.