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Help with my new led lighting

Re: Help with my new led lighting

Tbh I think that was max radius for those bulbs stuff was growing but only just in the very corners. I think 1 per square foot would be ideal.
 
Re: Help with my new led lighting

OllieNZ said:
Tbh I think that was max radius for those bulbs stuff was growing but only just in the very corners. I think 1 per square foot would be ideal.
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Ill stick with twenty to be safe then lol. Can always raise the unit higher if need be 🙂


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Any more news on these mate, I am 70/30 these over t5's. I have found a x4 24w t5 unit for a good price but still really fancy the idea of the LED's and the options of really making my own exact lighting colour plus the option of adding to the lighting so easily if and when wanted.

blahblahblahblah it I am going with these lol Time to make my shopping list lol Oh and I will be using 33 to begin with in three rows of 11, now I have the tank I think 4 rows may be needed for a god coverage so 44 bulbs but I will see. The tank is 610x510x450

I will be making the unit into a floating shelf style and will post up pics when I get started.

PS
It will be a marine tank hense so much lighting.
 
I was playing with bulb layouts for a few hours last night to try and get an idea of how to arrange them lol, I am just not sure about the coverage I will get using two rows of 11 or even three with 30 degree optics because of the tank being 510 wide......I was looking at some of the top end led units on the market and they seem to use 40-60 degree optics so I am considering that.

It would cost £112.08 for x20 3x1w blue x20 3x1w white and x40 holders from china with shipping so not bad.
 
Well you are talking about 3w bulbs not 9w bulbs & I can also tell you that there can be a huge variation in bulb quality & brightness!
I am using 3 x 9w Philips LEDs over a 95cm x 60cm tank, there seems to be enough coverage to me but I have tried several makes, some are pretty useless & some very short lived!!
First pic shows LEDs only, not really enough light but good coverage...

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I have been going over the thread on that forum again, think I have decided on 30 3x1w bulbs with 30degree optics in 5x6 rows which will give me a 300x250 of bulbs, make that 12" above the surface and it should be perfect coverage I think......

Do you know what optics are on the ones you use?
 
I did a little experiment today with a few bulbs, to be honest it is not really a true representation but, perhaps of some interest anyway!
It seems to me the claims that a 9w led will match a 50w halogen are way off the mark as in reality the halogen is way brighter.
The megaman bulbs give a much wider spreed of light, a much more subdued & diffused light but are still pretty bright in the 9w version.
The 9w LED in cool white is very nice & sharp but has a narrow beam.
The 50w halogen is by far the brightest & offers a bright spot but also throws out a broad beam that lights up a really big area.
I would say that 5 x 9w LEDs would easily outperform a 50 w halogen but comparing a single 9w led to a 50w halogen is crazy!

The light is actually shining onto a black piece of cloth.

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The only problem with the halogen is the heat, those things get burning hot!! actually burnt my fingers on them when changing bulbs in the house before I realised how hot they got and how fast.

The 7w led defo looks the best to me.
 
Danny said:
The only problem with the halogen is the heat, those things get burning hot!! actually burnt my fingers on them when changing bulbs in the house before I realised how hot they got and how fast.

The 7w led defo looks the best to me.
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Don't forget also that the megamans may be a lower kelvin rating usually 3000k so will give a yellow hue.
Thanks for the pics foxfish. Is that led 7w or 9w??
I don't need megamans as just got a job lot of 4000k 11ws for 30 on eBay but might add in two of the LEDs


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Oh yes my mistake...LED is a 9w cool white, megermans are 2700k.
I still like the megermans as a contrast especially for sunrise sunset effect.
I noted today that B&Q have a nice display unit showing all thier range of low energy bulbs while they are actually lit up, they are promoting a new 5w LED @ £8 per bulb & a new bright colour change bulb too.
 
Just to add onto this, is it advisable to not use the wood stain on my lighting rig to match the cabinet?? I'm thinking of any evaporation causing the varnish to drip into the tank or will leaving the mdf untreated be fine?? It will be a good 90 cm above the water surface anyway 🙂


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