Reef Bright and Rapid LED discussions.

[rush]

I bought a 48 inch reef brite, are these rapid led's any good? are they as good or better?

what i like is that if one burns you can replace it, with reef brite you are screwed

[HomerJ]

I bought a 48 inch reef brite, are these rapid led's any good? are they as good or better?

what i like is that if one burns you can replace it, with reef brite you are screwed

Reefbrites are using 1W LEDs IIRC.  The Cree LEDs are 3W.  Now you too can feel like a deer in the headlights ;-b

As for myself, I am debating between 24 or 36 "Ultra Premium LED DIY Kit with Dimmable Drivers"

[rush]

Well I am running 6 bulb 48 inch T5 HO tek light plus reef brite LED blue 48 inch

I wonder if I ad the 48 inch heat shield with the 18 bulbs from rapid if it will be over kill

I would go all blue again

[leemay]

what size tank?
I did 24 over a 36x18x18 tank and ended up adding 12 more.

Also try mixing in more color rather than just CW & RB.

Reefbrites are using 1W LEDs IIRC.  The Cree LEDs are 3W.  Now you too can feel like a deer in the headlights ;-b

As for myself, I am debating between 24 or 36 "Ultra Premium LED DIY Kit with Dimmable Drivers"

[redbelly]

I bought a 48 inch reef brite, are these rapid led's any good? are they as good or better?

what i like is that if one burns you can replace it, with reef brite you are screwed

Reef Brite has an amazing bumper to bumper warranty and if one burns out under the warrant period just bring it back into your local retailer and it will be swapped out on the spot.

Also here is a quote from Reefbrite to do with their LED's as they are not a 1w LED, but rather a 3 w LED under driven to reduce heat and extend the service live;
Utilizing only 3 watt LED's for maximum performance and output, our LED strip lights produce the same amount of light as a T5 or VHO Fluorescent lamp.

[HomerJ]

Also here is a quote from Reefbrite to do with their LED's as they are not a 1w LED, but rather a 3 w LED under driven to reduce heat and extend the service live.

My bad, you are right, they are 3W.  Driven at around 1.6W from the power usage figures.

[HomerJ]

what size tank?
I did 24 over a 36x18x18 tank and ended up adding 12 more.

Also try mixing in more color rather than just CW & RB.

If you're asking me, I have a 36x18x18 IIRC.  I suspect 24 wouldn't be enough, but I currently have a 36" 50/50 ReefBrite that I would keep if I go with only 24.

[JetJumper]

Also try mixing in more color rather than just CW & RB.

I have thought long about this and if I were to do a complete LED unit for one of my tanks I would mix in a bank of RGB LED's on a controller that you can control the Red Green and Blue output of the bubs separate from the rest of the unit so that you can tune your colours to how you want it to look.

[leemay]

yeah order extra leds so you can swap em out to get the color you want.
i would recommend only 1/3 white.
i ended up doing 14royale blue, 10 blue, 10cool white and 2 warm white.
looks great.

[rush]

Ok So if I was to keep my T5 6 bulb Tek system and my reef brite LED would another 48 inch reef brite LED be over kill?

I am very happy with the reef brite strip, and not convinced by the rapid LEDs quite yet.

I have a 60 inch 120 gallon tank.

What is everyone opinion...

reef brite vs rapid LED's

both are 3w, one has individual bulbs, the other has a great warranty and would replace the whole fixture.

So far I am very happy with reef brite but if i were to add more, would it be overkill with the T5?

And if I were to replace the T5 all together how much LED would I need for a 60 inch 120 gallon tank?

[redbelly]

I dont think adding either another reefbrite or the Rapid LED to your existing setup would be overkill.

If you found it too blue for you liking you could just swap one of your T5's for another daylight.
Its certainly not too much light for the tank.

[rush]

Ok excellent. If I were to add another reef brite it would be another 48 inch strip blue. Never too blue

I have 4 white, one blue and one purple in my T5 Tek right now, because I knew I was gonna go blue with the LED's.

[laffy]

nice thing about the rapid led is you can mix blue's and royal blue's. hook them up to a dimmable drive with some optics and you will notice a huge difference over the reef brite.

[rush]

What kind of a difference? Why would you want to dim the LED's, just for the affects?

I am seriously debating between the two. I like the fact of being able to switch out bulbs any time. Can I also run white and blues on the same strip?

[laffy]

dimming gives you the ability to create a full 24 hour lunar cycle. you can also bring out colors in your corals with blue that you couldn't with just royal blues and vice versa. so this gives you the ability to control the amount pop your tank will generate. the big difference between the two systems is the optics on one and nothing on the other. they make a big difference. if your gonna go 100% and DIY, i would put the whites and blue on independent drivers (they are pretty cheap anyways). this way you'll be able to adjust them separately.

[rush]

Oh ok, I would not need the dimming. I have reef keeper moon light pods. I will stick the reef keeper for now. Maybe in the future if I decide to replace the T5's with LED's. I am still a fan of the T5/ LED combo

[JetJumper]

Oh ok, I would not need the dimming. I have reef keeper moon light pods. I will stick the reef keeper for now. Maybe in the future if I decide to replace the T5's with LED's. I am still a fan of the T5/ LED combo

You need the reefkeeper to dim the Meanwell 0-10V drivers anyways with the Reefkeeper ALC module

[rush]

You need the reefkeeper to dim the Meanwell 0-10V drivers anyways with the Reefkeeper ALC module

What?

[JetJumper]

What?

http://www.digitalaquatics.com/saltwater/ALC

[rush]

Yes it comes with the light pods I am buying. It comes as a package.

http://www.aquavalley.ca/eshop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1538