Replacing big T5 insatllation with LEDs?

[RussGB]

Haven't posetd in a loooong while, but now I really need help...

So I have a tall 150, with nice driftwood, all kinds of Anubias and some Crypts. I have shrimp, nerites, rabbits, trumpets and some fish. I have CO2, good filtration and lights....lots of lights. I have mounted into my 72" hood two banks of 6 T5 38w with polished refelectors. Its good light, about 3w/g, but I have to cool the hood with 4 fans, and even then everything is hot. I realize I am just burning $$$ heating my house. I have some LEDs running on other smaller tanks, and they are cold!

The tank is deep, so I need penetration. But with the plants I have I don't need to go crazy...

Just doing a comparison though... My current lighting is kicking out 30,000 lumens or more. A 1w LED kicks out .2 So I need 150,000 1w LED's? that can't be right!

Has anyone done this? Any crazy ideas? Fit recessed lightint fixture with LED spotlights?

Any good photo-physicists out there?

Russ

[Andrew_B]

Lumens are how humans see lights, they don't mean as much for plants/coral as PAR rating does.

http://www.lumigrow.com/demystifying-lumens-lux-par/

There are soooo many options for led.

For example (if you still want to look at lumens), a cree LED is right around 100-125 lumens per watt (they just came out with a LED that is 200 lumens per watt). Not sure where you got your .2 from. But just with optics of said LED, you can first of all have all the penetration you need, but also probably double your PAR rating of your t5.

If you like DIY. This kit + heatsinks would probably grow anything you want. So maybe 500 bucks for everything when its all said and done. http://www.aquastyleonline.com/produ...mable-Kit.html You can choose what color white leds you want. The guy can throw in some blues as well if you request it. Message him and he could probably tell you what exactly you should get for your needs. He uses bridgelux leds which are labeled as 3w each, but probably push just over 2w, still more than enough for most plants.

[RussGB]

Many thanks Andrew!! Researching now...

[AHP]

buildmyled have been very nice to me, take a look at them.

[Dctrojan]

I like rapidled.com for my reef tank. Im sure they have the leds for a freshwater

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