4Hummer
Member
- Joined
- Jan 13, 2014
- Location
- Kitchener, Ontario
Hello Reefers, Thought I should post a review on some AMAZING and CHEAP LED's
First a little Background, My tank was originally going to be a FOWLR tank only, With that in mind I bought a Cheap Odyssea 72" Quad T5HO Light fixture, with Timer and Moon Lights. I had read all the reviews on this light so I knew what I was getting into. (Plus I ordered spare parts for it) And me being me I intended to mod this fixture. I have already replaced the ballasts with much better ones, put ATI Bulbs into the fixture, and upgraded the cooling fans, Along with re-doing some wiring while I had the fixture apart. All in all it's not a terrible light. The single biggest disadvantage to it, is the Single reflector. But no Matter this is a FOWLR Tank,
Along comes our good friend EricTMah. (Yes Eric I'm blaming you) He needs to borrow the SID for my ReefKeeper, and in return (to my surprise) he gave me a small frag of GSP, and a mushroom frag.
Oh My! the colour, Oh My! the movement it adds to the tank, Oh My I WANTS MORE.
Move forward a couple weeks, and many hours spent researching Corals, Zoas, etc, and this GSP and Mushroom are really spreading nicely (GSP almost doubled in 2 weeks)
Off I go and buy some Zoa Frags from Spy'd. Now I'm hooked, because within 2 weeks the Zoa's are growing and spreading.
Next thing I find myself looking at is lighting, GASP!, Ouch, The Prices.... My current Bulb layout is 2 ATI Blue Plus bulbs, One ATI Coral Plus, and one ATI Blue Special, I have the moon light come on first for 30Min, than the 2 Blues 30min later, followed by the last two day time bulbs, End of day is reverse of this, Best I can do for sunrise sunset. And you know what, The PAR is pretty darn good, So What do I really need?
It's that POP you get with LEDs and M/H's, the Shimmer I'm missing, that Amazing
fluorescent Glow, And just a Touch more Blue would be nice, (The ATI Blue special is Really white)
So now I'm looking at DIY'ing some LED's, And Geez that is not cheap either.... ReefBrights? Over 1K for 2 72"...... (May was all buy whole new fixture) Ahhhh whats this I find www.21LEDUSA.com ???
Spent a couple days chatting with Billy at 21ledusa.com and shooting emails back and forth. This guy is SUPER helpful, at this point I'm convinced, I'll get the POP I want, fluorescent Glow like crazy, and the ability to ramp up and down the lights!
I order up Four 48" Reefbars in Actinic Blue, The Power Supply, extra Cables, and the SunSetter Controller (Guys this is EXACTLY the same controller as the Current USA Orbit Marine Ramp Timer Pro.... Only $100.00 Cheaper) With shipping I'm under $250.00 NOT BAD
and this is what was delivered to me: MINUS Two ReefBars, as I was building brackets for them in the garage:
The Controller Remote.
First Thing I noticed was the build quality. AMAZING. solid aluminum, LEDS are incased in some sort of silicone, Wire connectors screw together water tight. Heavy duty power supply. and packaged VERY well.
Oh and the SIZE...... They are TINY!!!! This is a Dime for reference
First a little Background, My tank was originally going to be a FOWLR tank only, With that in mind I bought a Cheap Odyssea 72" Quad T5HO Light fixture, with Timer and Moon Lights. I had read all the reviews on this light so I knew what I was getting into. (Plus I ordered spare parts for it) And me being me I intended to mod this fixture. I have already replaced the ballasts with much better ones, put ATI Bulbs into the fixture, and upgraded the cooling fans, Along with re-doing some wiring while I had the fixture apart. All in all it's not a terrible light. The single biggest disadvantage to it, is the Single reflector. But no Matter this is a FOWLR Tank,
Along comes our good friend EricTMah. (Yes Eric I'm blaming you) He needs to borrow the SID for my ReefKeeper, and in return (to my surprise) he gave me a small frag of GSP, and a mushroom frag.
Oh My! the colour, Oh My! the movement it adds to the tank, Oh My I WANTS MORE.
Move forward a couple weeks, and many hours spent researching Corals, Zoas, etc, and this GSP and Mushroom are really spreading nicely (GSP almost doubled in 2 weeks)
Off I go and buy some Zoa Frags from Spy'd. Now I'm hooked, because within 2 weeks the Zoa's are growing and spreading.
Next thing I find myself looking at is lighting, GASP!, Ouch, The Prices.... My current Bulb layout is 2 ATI Blue Plus bulbs, One ATI Coral Plus, and one ATI Blue Special, I have the moon light come on first for 30Min, than the 2 Blues 30min later, followed by the last two day time bulbs, End of day is reverse of this, Best I can do for sunrise sunset. And you know what, The PAR is pretty darn good, So What do I really need?
It's that POP you get with LEDs and M/H's, the Shimmer I'm missing, that Amazing
fluorescent Glow, And just a Touch more Blue would be nice, (The ATI Blue special is Really white)
So now I'm looking at DIY'ing some LED's, And Geez that is not cheap either.... ReefBrights? Over 1K for 2 72"...... (May was all buy whole new fixture) Ahhhh whats this I find www.21LEDUSA.com ???
Spent a couple days chatting with Billy at 21ledusa.com and shooting emails back and forth. This guy is SUPER helpful, at this point I'm convinced, I'll get the POP I want, fluorescent Glow like crazy, and the ability to ramp up and down the lights!
I order up Four 48" Reefbars in Actinic Blue, The Power Supply, extra Cables, and the SunSetter Controller (Guys this is EXACTLY the same controller as the Current USA Orbit Marine Ramp Timer Pro.... Only $100.00 Cheaper) With shipping I'm under $250.00 NOT BAD
and this is what was delivered to me: MINUS Two ReefBars, as I was building brackets for them in the garage:
The Controller Remote.
First Thing I noticed was the build quality. AMAZING. solid aluminum, LEDS are incased in some sort of silicone, Wire connectors screw together water tight. Heavy duty power supply. and packaged VERY well.
Oh and the SIZE...... They are TINY!!!! This is a Dime for reference
