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Unread 05/07/2012, 09:18 PM   #1059
TropTrea
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Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: SE Suburbia Wisconsin
Posts: 2,910
Quote:
Originally Posted by Snausy View Post
Ok wow I just totally changed direction with that link. I want a few of those chips rather than 300+ 3w stars for sure! In fact why would anyone use all single 3 watters when you can use a couple/few multi-led chips instead?

Those chips look WAY brighter and really just the ticket I need for my big tank.

Thanks for the link katchupoy. Not that I know what I'm doing now but at least I have hope!
That thread to me is going to the extrem with some people using 50 Watt LED's. Keep in mind that what they are using are basicly multichip packages that actualy are using 3 to 5 watt LED's. I looked into it price wise and found you are paying a premium for the Cree M series (multi chips). Then look at a package of 9 3 Watt LED's jamed into a 27 Watt package or 12 5 Watt LED's into a 60 watt package. You do have to realy worry about the correct cooling. Next you do get more more Lumns out of a 50 watt package but it is not by any means proportionate to the Lumns per watt you get with the smaller packages.

With your tank 8' Long and 31" tall I would look around the area of 450 watts of LED's. They do make some nice M series with 4 LED's rated at 10 watts and 20 watts. I would rather go with the 10 Watt units where you have less of a heating issue. with the ten watters going with 12 neutral whites and 36 Blues, or 16 Cool Whites and 32 Blues.

But it would not surprise my if your total build cost would be higher than running 144 3 watt led's and you would get more light with the 3 watt led's spread out.


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Dennis B.

Current Tank Info: Main tank 120 Gallon, 432 Watts T-5's plus 30 Watts of LED's, Frag 40 Gallon tank 234 Watts T-5's, 3 Frag tanks all 40 Gallon with LED lighting between 60 and 84 Watts. All LEDs are DIY Oh and then there is fresh water tanks 270 gallons
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