Reef Discussion

[thepubenator]

I am yet to see any light unit that can tell you the lighting levels at certain depths of your tank, which really is the main reason for using one.

Also quite a number of LED units do deteriorate quite badly

I've seen this with ati, vertex, ghl Mithras and radion, also showing the spectrum from a Spectro meter which is a $10k+ piece of equipment.

I thought the main benefit of led was it didn't deteriorate and that's why all the led users have been preaching that it is econmomical with no cost of bulb exchange?

 

[leodb89]

i think most of the people viewing this thread are interested in the PAR meter to determine the different readings at different depths and areas of their tank to determine coral placement.

while most of you advanced hobbyist see this as a bit of a wanky thing lol cos you guys understand your tanks a whole lot better and what not it gives us noob and not so noobs a bit of comfort and i guess a learning curve...i personally would love to use one also to determine if the brightness i have my light set at to suit me would actually suit the corals or not

but again i guess a lot of the people in the game for a while and that know it all like the back of their hand might not find much use in using it but yeah

pubenator i was told that the LEDs still deteriorate after time or in LED terms lose brightness i think @aussieant32 mentioned there's a huge rate of this happening with Radion owners within the first 12 months :S

 

[aussieant32]

it all depends on the chips used. In a good unit they wont deteriorate. In a poorer one they use a lower grade chip and over clock it to get it brighter, this burns the chip out and the brightness deteriorates.

Very basic summary. If you buy a good unit you dont need to replace chips, get a poor one you will.

 

[Synodontis]

For us it is to find out what our lights are doing.
@thepubenator is right with the amount of information around about the main stream LED units, everyone has seen graphs & figures for these as they are all the same, Radion 1 should be the same as Radion 2.3.4.5 so on. Differences would be in tank size & height I would think.
Anyone who has a DIY LED unit has no idea what so ever about what sort of reading their units are putting out. For those that have had a few units, they might have an idea when looking at the tank, but for us, no bloody idea lol. We know what grows well where but then have no idea about the next spot, so this gives us an idea on were we are going to put stuff.
Since we have a reading of sorts now, we might check it again just to see if there is any change. This gives a reading for your own tank in your situation. Not a general reading that would change as soon as you get the unit home & hang it 3" higher or lower then the test unit from the factory. :)

 

[macca_75]

Don't forget the LED manufacturers are quoting figures usually based around driving the chips at around 350mA - something both commercial and DIY units rarely do so we need to expect the chips to deteriorate quicker.

Of course the above is based on research and reading - I have 0 first hand experience to date....