Started messing around with some supplies from these guys

[ZeroHour]

I have lights from this company on my boat. The offer single and strip led's that are "similar" to moonlight like setups.

I had a few strands left over and decided to add them to my current hood. 2 12 bulb blue strips mounted on the hood about 6" over tank and at least 30 inches over base have yielded some great improvements in actinic coloration.

I am debating doing a trial set up on my 14 JBJ. I was thinking 8 strips blue 4 strips white 2 strips red. With some dimmers for color control....

I know these arent CREE with reflectors but is there any major flaw I am missing with this? What I have seen so far looks good and I cannot see how this set up would vary at all from say one of the UFO panels I have seen on some reef sites.

If this becomes a viable solution I could see myself building small hoods for 150 or so??

Retro kits for 80$?

What great flaw do I have here. And no I am no where near an expert just have experience with the output and durability of these lights.

bluewaterled.com
Mike Daleo is the owner and if your inquring or purchasing tell him Chris Dombkowski or Zerohour sent you.

MODS: If the source and this information is not okay please just edit my post. I just had this as a source and am not gaining kick back but you may get a better discount because of me.

[ramsey]

I think they'd be great for supplementation but I'd be very surprised if you'd be able to use them as the only light source. It would be really cool if it worked though. I'd be able to upgrade my 12G NC for very little scratch. Good luck and I can't wait to see where it goes!

[StevenSeas]

I highly doubt that these will feasibly work for growing corals that require photosynthesis to survive. that being said it could be done just most likely not worth the effort. but they could light up a fish only tank well. I looked at the various kits that they have and from best I could tell is they are using LEDs that are more on par with 5mm LEDs than the high powered ones you see on the market that people use in their tanks. The reason isnt because they arent Cree and dont have optics. People only want Cree because they are the most effecient (although all the other front runners are right there as well, and on my current build i am using $2 3watt chinese LEDs) Most people use 3 watt emitters that put out 200-300 lm and space these about 2 inches out. However some DIYers and companies (cant name who as I am unsure that the products still have yet to be released) are using 1 watt emitters and just packing them in tighter. These setups still work but just have a lot more emitters. This is without even gettin into a spectral analysis which is importat as well.

The problem with these lies in the fact that the overall wattage of the average STRIP not even 1 LED is .47 watts. So while you cant determine the light output by watts and shouldnt use watts per gallon as a rule of thumb, but at the same time I would venture to guess that these wouldnt come close to being enough light per square inch to fit over a tank and get enough lighting. And if you could for the price you might as well go with the 1 watt or 3 watt LEDs.

[ZeroHour]

FYI Just found out these are .47 PER Emitter/Light not the strip. This is what I thought but his site was a bit unclear. I guess because its unimportant in reality for their normal use. I have a otn of these im gonna give it a shot for giggles see what it does.

[ZeroHour]

Im thinking if I were to do 12-15 strips of 12 over a 14gallon then maybe supplement with a t5 for growth. I just kinda wanna see what itll do to be honest. lol If things dont look well il get them back on my frag rack. Ill keep updated once im done making this hood deal. If nothing it can become a fowlr hood and itll look cool lol.