just wanted to let everyone know that i have been talking to a member at reefcentral about a led light that he has been working on. he built his own with the luxeon led's. from the sounds of it he just got his first large order from a customer that has been trying out one of the lights he built. i have pics of his tank with a 175 watt xm metal halide, two 98 watt 420nm actinic and one 03 actinic compact florescents on one side and the led's on the other and the led's are brighter. i know it's only a 175 mh but the amount of light is sufficient for the tank. i will ask him if he minds if i post the pics and maybe put them up later if it's ok. from talking with him i don't know if he has a full blown controller option for the lights. from what i understand so far he is selling the lights without a controller for a much cheaper price. And he has given me the option of having a light built by him that he will warranty or selling me a DIY kit for cheaper. I would assume that would be true for anyone. I will update the post as i learn more. im sure he doesn't mind if i post the pic but i will wait to get his permission.

SWEET! I would love to see a more affordable LED option that I could DIY retrofit into my hood.

Are there any more details on this available?

A while back when I took a look at the pricing on the LEDs and drivers it was close enough that you might as well buy a unit that had a controller and warranty with it.

i am being cautious because i've read that some folks have tried to DIY led's and had troubles. but on the same hand i did all the research i could on the solaris and luxeon led's when they first came out. i think the main obstacles are making sure that you have a good heatsink to dissipate the heat and the controller was a big hurdle. he is using a oversized heatsink. oversized enough that he is running the diodes at .88amps and keeping them plenty cool. which would make them run a little brighter. i have talked with this guy several times and read most of his posts at rc. he seems very knowledgeable on the subject and has done his homework. on several posts he has been discussing the lights with guys from aquaillumination and he knows his lights. anyway this was the last bit of info i got from him today.

yes, please do share my pictures, I thank you for the help, I am using the rebel star as made by led dynamics. I guess the new I4 uses the rebel but not in star form or at least that is what aquaillumination stated on their last post. as for light output it is more then what I4 says they produce and on par with aquaillumination. here is the link to the white and the blues that are still being made as a special order for me.
Luxeon LEDs - (http://www.luxeonstar.com/item.php?...o=7007-PWC-10-3) we run them right at .88 amps which gives 680lms.

Also i was told that he has a order for 36 of the lights so far, and is working on a 20 foot light for a lfs.

i will attach the two pics that are posted on rc. led's are on the right side of the tank and 175 watt mh on the left. i will keep you informed as i hear more.

The Luxeon LED link is dead (at least for me). Could you please post the part numbers, or other specifications for the LEDs you are using??
Thanks Ken

it works for me.

Hi KADOB and :welcome: to TR!

The link is not broken but I get a message that says "Oops! It seems that the part you were looking for has been removed from our catalogue or moved to a new page."

i get the same thing now. it worked perfectly less than 1 hour ago though. hmmmm

Luxeon LEDs - Luxeon Rebel Star (http://www.luxeonstar.com/sub_category.php?id=1430&link_str=1430)

this should be the page for the rebel stars. it worked for me just a minute ago. i apologize for not checking the link before i pasted his reply.

Was wondering if someone can bring all this LED stuff together. Huge amount of money to shell out. seen pros and cons to the solaris unit as well as AI. still confused on making the step to LED. Is the Idea still to new and should I give it more time for more test and opionions? From what i've seen AI has a better product then PFO. should I stay with the proven tech. until more time and data is out there. welcome the input for this last remaining purchase

Wu398,
the answer to your question is it is up to you, the technology is there. I have had great growth with my led, much better then my old system which was a 150 watt hqi 10k metal halide and two 96 watt power compacts (one in 420 nm and one in actinic 03) per side on my 150 gallon mixed reef.
when I say great growth I am talking SPS growing two to three inch branches in four weeks, leaf corals growing 4 inches and even clams adding layers. I have a open brain that dropped a polyp and that polyp has now grown into a 26 polyp colony, I am very happy with how my tank looks and how things are growing and that is with only 88 watts of power going to the light in comparison the side that still has the metal halide system has shown the usual half an inch of growth with frags taken from the mother colony at the same time.
now you say cost is an issue, well not really. for the 150 watt set up I spent $68 for the bulb, $134 for the ice cap ballast, $80 for the reflector, $35 for wire and socket, for the metal halide then I spent $90 for the pc bulbs, $125 for the ballast/wire/endcaps, and $30 for the reflector and clips.
$562 plus shipping.
I made my DYI LED light for $550 and I do not have to change lights for over 10 years, the Leds are very easy to change out if I want to change for what every reason, the electronics are all laid out on a pc board and have quick connectors, if one LED fails just that one LED needs to be replaced not the whole board. and the board allows for trimming as the LEDs burn in over time to keep the same light output. I am getting better growth and color with only 88 watts of power and there is very little heat added to my tank from the lights
I just made a generation 2 light that is 120 watts and it is working great. for the same $550 worth of parts
by the way yes I am the person that Chris was talking about above.
I do not have a fancy controller I can turn on the blues and the whites separate which is what we have all been doing for a long time and growing corals with little problems.
so it is up to you, LED have proven themselves to grow corals very fast, they have very long life expectancy so no yearly out lay of money to replace bulbs, and they are within the same price range as a good metal halide/PC/VHO/etc system

Mike

SWEET! I would love to see a more affordable LED option that I could DIY retrofit into my hood.

Are there any more details on this available?

A while back when I took a look at the pricing on the LEDs and drivers it was close enough that you might as well buy a unit that had a controller and warranty with it.

the light is 14 inches by 5 5/8 and only two inches tall you can retrofit your hood to fit the light very easily. the only thing you have to take into consideration is the fan for cooling. I retrofitted one of the local fish stores with one all we did was take a hole saw and cut a 5 inch hole in the hood centered on one side of the fish tank, then used the bolt holes in the fan to mount it to the top of the hood. air comes in though the back of the hood over the heat sink though the fan and out the top. because the heat sink works as a light dam no light goes out the top of the hood.
very easy and neat retrofit to an existing hood.

First, I want to say :welcome: to TR wu398 and Mike.

Second, I love my Solaris light. I got it from The Cultured Reef (http://www.theculturedreef.com/lighting.htm) (the best price around and great customer service) back in May and couldn't be happier. I can't compare it to the AI light because I have not seen one of those.

CarmieJon thank you for the nice welcome.

Thanks everyone for the welcome. Carmiejon, I quess my issue is the fact that I stumbled onto a web site with nothing but negative feedback about PFO, haven't seen anything negative about AI. smgsllc appreciate your input, i consider myself pretty smart, but when it comes to building my own light, probably out of range of my abilities. really want LED technology for this new tank of mine. Just trying to make this move once and to the right product, have no doubt in growth potential, just want product that is reliable.

You know unfortunately people are far more likely to complain than commend. I know a few people here at TR who have Solaris and are very satisfied with them. I don't know anyone else locally that has one. I suspect that you are not seeing as many complaints about AI because they have not shipped nearly as many units.