AdInfinitum
Super Active Member
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2012
- Location
- Thorndale, Ontario
Since I am not going to have my new tank ready for corals in time for Fragfest, I decided that I needed to upgrade my temporary frag system. I will post some pics later...but I decided to get one of the popular full spectrum Chinese led's to see what they were like. $135 to my door in 7 days, shipped from Mississauga.
My first impression is that the current generation are brighter than the pizza box led's I have seen in the past. The Epileds blues are definitely not as deep blue or crisp looking as Luxeon Rebels or Crees that I have played with, but compare well to some older Bridgelux emitters I have.
After I hung the fixture up I took a quick reading with my Apogee Quantum PAR meter and was pleasantly surprised. The fixture is currently 24" above the egg crate on the bottom of the frag tank which has 9" of water over it.
PAR at the egg crate was 220 with just blues, 185 with just the whites plus and 405 with both on 100%. With the fixture that high the number was the same anywhere under the light and with very little fall off just outside. I didn't look at the extreme corners but will take a closer look at spread when I get a chance. 12" under the light (not under water) it read 485 blues, 384 whites plus and 865 for all. Those numbers include the 10% calibration correction for blue leds.
With the blues at full and the others at minimum you get a nice 15000k look and just over 300 PAR at the bottom of the frag tank. Any higher on the whites washes out the blues and starts to look too white/yellow to my eye.
My first impression is that the current generation are brighter than the pizza box led's I have seen in the past. The Epileds blues are definitely not as deep blue or crisp looking as Luxeon Rebels or Crees that I have played with, but compare well to some older Bridgelux emitters I have.
After I hung the fixture up I took a quick reading with my Apogee Quantum PAR meter and was pleasantly surprised. The fixture is currently 24" above the egg crate on the bottom of the frag tank which has 9" of water over it.
PAR at the egg crate was 220 with just blues, 185 with just the whites plus and 405 with both on 100%. With the fixture that high the number was the same anywhere under the light and with very little fall off just outside. I didn't look at the extreme corners but will take a closer look at spread when I get a chance. 12" under the light (not under water) it read 485 blues, 384 whites plus and 865 for all. Those numbers include the 10% calibration correction for blue leds.
With the blues at full and the others at minimum you get a nice 15000k look and just over 300 PAR at the bottom of the frag tank. Any higher on the whites washes out the blues and starts to look too white/yellow to my eye.
