Acan lighting the real deal?

[albano]

thanks albano. tank looks great! i think im leaning towards pacific sun due to i feel that the spread would be better then the acan lighting, is this a correct statement?

Sorry, I have no experience with those units...I'm running multiple Solaris I5 fixtures...Pecan is the Man, in regard to LEDs...but you should be able to check out both units in LI...I would think that Felix (Aloha Tropics) and James (Acan Lighting) could show you the units, in use!

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[CrAzY cOrAlS]

i def will check with both ill have to speak to felix, the only thing that has me wondering is what type of leds are in acan lighting? so im not sure what im getting. where pacific sun gives you everything up front on what they use.

Sorry, I have no experience with those units...I'm running multiple Solaris I5 fixtures...Pecan is the Man, in regard to LEDs...but you should be able to check out both units in LI...I would think that Felix (Aloha Tropics) and James (Acan Lighting) could show you the units, in use!

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[CrAzY cOrAlS]

hey pecan im looking at these leds with t-5s you think the coverage will be good enough for a 36inch wide tank? Phobos/Deimos units that have T5 along LEDs.

 

[pecan2phat]

Those Phobos/Deimos units will definitely help with the coverage. I've seen them and they are pretty wide to house the T5 lamps.
Again, you should talk to some owners and pick their brain as to how they like their lights. Ask them if they think with certain re-positioning, if the lights would give adequate coverage for a 36" tank if their application is less. With your height, I would not worry about PAR & intensity with either of these 3 lamps:

Acan Lighting A103 - You can also consider using 24" fixtures mounted perpendicular x 4 or 5 fixtures - $5400 or $6750
Pacific Sun 3w Cree X-Plore - I would consider 1 master & 4 slave units @ $5494
Pacific Sun Phobos - You would need two 4' units at $6400
Aqua Illuminations SOL white or SOL blue - These are proven as well. They claim that you can cover 36" if coral placement is correct. To me this sounds like shadowing in the front and back and you better rock scape islands in the middle. But if it does cover, then you can get a 72" system, add 3 extra module and pay the small extra for the lengthened rail supports. $3299+$1587=$4886

Now for the fun part:
Aqua Illuminations are always back ordered
Acan A103 might not be out for retail sales yet
Phobos might need to be shipped from Poland

Head spinning right?

 

[CrAzY cOrAlS]

head is going nut pecan this is my dream tank so want to make sure this comes out right. not sure what to do at this point

 

[cali_reef]

Do you get a free car with these "high end" lighting prices?

 

[LongIslandAndy]

I'll take the car..JK

 

[CrAzY cOrAlS]

it seems at this point so far my worries is the fact that these units can give me the range needed. as far as the 36 inch wide i really like the pacific sun with the t5 fixtures at this point just worried its not enough maybe felix can chime in on this i dont want to be limited i want to put a piece of sps in the corner of the tank and on the sand and know that its getting the right light. i want this to be a awesome tank and a great looking one so making sure i do my homework on this

 

[pecan2phat]

You can always contact Rafael to take a look at the Phobos in person, he is in Clifton, NJ, Felix probably has the Cree X-Plores in his place in Huntington.
James from Acan Lighting has fixtures over his office tanks in Commack and pdnyc on this forum has the Aqua Illuminations over his 30" deep tank.

And I get the free car as commission :lol2:

 

[cali_reef]

And I get the free car as commission :lol2:

I need a new car!! The Tacoma got rear-ended and is totaled.. I should spend the insurance check on some LED's so I can get e new car :lol2:

I ran into an old pal in a LFS (vivid aquarium :inlove today, he tells me the owner of Rio is coming to market with a "affordable" LED setup:shhh:.. I think I may get to play with some in a few weeks..

 

[Alex]

I've been doing some reading and it seems that leds are limited in some form or another. At Macna It was all about the Led bulb or fixture. I've been looking at them for my Marineland 200DD tank, but like I stated, some don't cover a tank that wide without added fixtures, or the par is non-existent at a depth of 27". and when both are good price is a factor.

Crazy corals My apologies in advance for the question, pecan2phat I've been looking at the AI 3' or 4' fixture as a solution what's your opinion. and what would a comparable PacSun fixture be? The tank is 48" x 36" x 27" at present I have a 12 bulb T5 retro which gives me good growth and color for SPS, LPS and softies.

 

[125reefer]

im looking into acan as well.i am prob going to get 2 12in a103 for my 92 corner.i think having separate units is very beneficial then having 1 unit at 24in.you can adjust the spread which ever needs it the most.and from what ive read the par in a 25in deep tank will still grow sps near the tank bottom.i forget what the price is for the a103 per foot

 

[pecan2phat]

Alex,
I agree that not all LED lights produce the same results even if wattage is similiar. I also agree that any height over 22" to 24" should be lit with 3w LEDs with focal optics. 3w for intensity coverage, focal optics for reigning in the light for less light spill over. Now because of 60 degree optics, you are forced to use 4 modules over your 48"x36" tank. If you had a 48"x30" then I would say you can do 3 modules mounted perpendicular to the front pane.
The Pacific Sun X-Plore Cree unit would do well. So if you were doing 1 master & 3 slaves, it would be about $3800
If you are running an open top, I would also look into the Acan 103. It's a sleek unit and pretty sexy. He is using 75 degree optics in the center cluster rows and 50 degree optics on the outer row. I don't know at what wattage he runs the LEDs but they are more then 1w & the fixture is pretty bright.
But also you would need two 48" fixtures to cover your 36" width. At $675 per foot, his lights would hit the $5400 range.

 

[pecan2phat]

Alex,
I forgot to mention that I don't believe IMO that the AI modules would cover the width and they run 40 degree optics on their LED clusters.

Again, all the scenerios are just my opinion and what I would do if this was my tank. Others will argue that you don't need 4 pacific Sun modules or 2 Acan 103 fixture.

 

[Alex]

Alex,
I forgot to mention that I don't believe IMO that the AI modules would cover the width and they run 40 degree optics on their LED clusters.

Again, all the scenerios are just my opinion and what I would do if this was my tank. Others will argue that you don't need 4 pacific Sun modules or 2 Acan 103 fixture.

What about running them parallel to the from glass the long way, the AI fixture of 3 units?


Sent from my iPhone using Reefs

 

[pecan2phat]

AI modules are meant to be mounted perpendicular, they are small modules in comparison. They are meant for every foot of tank length so if you turned them parallel, you would decrease the needed modules for length but now you handicapped yourself on width and would definitely need a second row.

 

[pecan2phat]

Alex,
Everytime I post an opinion, I get a lot of negative feedback on what I would use, do or prefer so I do suggest that you contact the pacificsunusa for their suggestion, acanlighting.com & reefgeek.com

 

[aznt1217]

-Read through all the pages of the thread. I only read that the tank is 9 feet long. What are the other dimensions. I understand you are probably going nuts with all the different advice and methodologies of the way the LED systems are built. Then add to that all the optics, wattage, companies, etc. it can be very overwhelming. I have some other questions though.

Some other questions:
- What do you intend on keeping mainly?
- What's your budget? I am assuming you are willing to spend $6,000 on an LED system? Which in my opinion is more than enough.
- Do you care about the look of the fixture or is this going to be a covered canopy kind of deal? -- Can be a big factor in cost.

 

[CrAzY cOrAlS]

hey aznt i went with a 300 gallon tank instead 6 foot by 3 foot by 27 high. it will be a dominate sps. with def some lps i dont want to be limited, this has been driving me EXTREMLEY crazy and discouraged, i want leds but will the acan light do a 36 inch spread? there only pushing there leds to 1w. what kind of bulbs there using? pacific sun has won me over at this point with the t5s as a addition but my only worry is will it give the tank a good spread of light? i dont want to be limited on what and where i can keep things. what you think ant?

 

[NYreefNoob]

1 AI is about perfect for a 24g ap which i have 1 on it does really give complete coverage on it though. but mine is a gen 1 also so dont know if it will be more coverage on the newer one's