L.E.D. Lighting help needed.

[jhart]

I been out of the hobby for a little bit, And I'm ready to jump into it full force again.
My only concern is lighting, I do know I want to go the L.E.D route , What I need to know is..
How much light/ Watts do I need per Gallon, for fish only and for reef.. And How deep will the light penetrate ect..I can do more research but MR is my first place.
First off I like to do a DIY set up , something that is affordable, I need to light up 12 x 12 x 12 bays for fish only, and a bunch of flats at 8 inchs in height at various lengths and widths .. Im sure this all has been discussed over and over on here and there must be 1000 threads any help will be greatly appreciate..
BTW Hello to all My Friends !!and New ones Im sure I will meet..

Thanks for all your help..As some of you know me Im very Fair and your help wont go un noticed when the time has come to share the Love..

John

 

[Ben11vick]

Led's are great lights for sps and lps corals. My lps grow twice as fast. I have 2 units of aqua illumination. But if your willing to go all out get the radions.

 

[kenconnect]

John i see ur from yonkers also if u want to stop by and take a look at my tank with the ai led ur more than welcome to swing by

 

[jhart]

Led's are great lights for sps and lps corals. My lps grow twice as fast. I have 2 units of aqua illumination. But if your willing to go all out get the radions.

Thanks I'm looking for the DIY route or plug and play / Edison base bulbs, I have over 20 tanks at 12x12x12 , 30- 6x6x6 and 4 flats at 48x24x8 , so fixtures isn't the way I wanna go I already have T5 and MH , but I'm trying to not go in that direction just cause I'll need to have to buy all new bulbs and some replacement parts ,and large chillers.. So Im looking into L.E.D.

 

[jhart]

John i see ur from yonkers also if u want to stop by and take a look at my tank with the ai led ur more than welcome to swing by

The AI's is there a link... Thanks for the invite, I will definatley check your system out ..

 

[jhart]

Ahh I just checked them out .. way to expensive and pretty for what I need...
Hanging bulbs off an aluminum channel's is the route I'm looking.. wattage and drivers and bulb types is more or less what Im looking for...

 

[kenconnect]

Ok the way to go is a par 38 light

 

[jhart]

Ok the way to go is a par 38 light

Thanks I think par 38 will be the way I'll go.. I just need to find which ones ..
If you have any suggestions / links / Ebay , I realize the wattage way per gallon isn't the way to measure them as there's other factors to consider such as Lumen, par, K. and so on.. So any knowledge on this would be greatly helpful.. Thanks again John

 

[howze01]

I would talk to Wingo if I were you. He would be a huge help. You can try to PM him or put a post up in his vendor forum.

http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/wingo-led/