For me, I am happy.Originally Posted by salty joe
I have some pictures here, about half way down:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=645&start=30
I have become really lazy on water changes.
I do have a bit of hair algae in the main tank.
But recently, it is looking a bit less healthy, so I am encouraged by that.
Happy to see things going well.
LED and a algae scrubber IMO are all about less maintenance/work. (I like to say less expense???) Time will tell.
There is the engineering fun behind it of course also.
More led news
Affordable warm white led on the horizon? Hopefully
http://bridgelux.com/media-center/categ ... -releases/
Hope this helps.
Interesting! It would be great if the price of WW LEDs drops a lot.Happy to see things going well.
LED and a algae scrubber IMO are all about less maintenance/work. (I like to say less expense???) Time will tell.
There is the engineering fun behind it of course also.
More led news
Affordable warm white led on the horizon? Hopefully
http://bridgelux.com/media-center/categ ... -releases/
Hope this helps.
But for turf scrubbers - ehh - Not a fan of warm white anyway. Red+Blue!
So what is the current cost of 100 watts of red+blue, if it's 1000 pieces of 100mw each
Not sure about 100mw LEDS. Assume you meant the cheap 5mm little ones.
I also assume you mean buying mass-bulk, since a DIY hobbyist would go insane doing that many pieces.
A quick check, 100W looks like about $60.
Looks like you can get 20mA (50mw), red 5mm LEDs for about $0.02 to $0.04, so lets call it 3 cents.
Note that those little ones are not as efficient as the bigger ones.
I think that distribution is more important than efficiency. If you think about how much of a difference moving a cfl a few inches makes, think about how the LED intensity changes by moving outside of it's beam cone will alter growth. And of course it would be done with wave soldering.
With 1000 per side, you can lose 20 or 30 and not really even notice it.
Too bad there is no real volume for these things, it might be fun to really build a production board.
Light distribution issues can be fixed with a very cheap diffusion grating. Available at lowes, OSH, etc, about $10 for a 2x4 sheet.
I definitely use one, and as such, have no issues.
Interestingly, I think some of the standard CFL systems I see here would also benefit from some cheap diffusion grating in
front, and better reflectors in back. Optics seems to be a neglected part of many builds.
More led news
High efficiency and high output royal blue led from Cree.
http://www.cree.com/products/pdf/XLampXT-E_ROY.pdf
Hope this helps.
TWO YEARS !!!!
8-)
Amazingly, it has been two years now since I started my first LED based scrubber.
I started this thread the next day.
I did have to upgrade my scrubber - when I changed to a larger tank.
And I switched to a true vertical double sided.
BUT: Other than the additional ones, the LEDs are the same ones I started with.
Nice not to have to change bulbs, and I think I saved a lot of energy in those 2 years.
Overall, still very happy with it.
Nitrates = 0
Phophates = 0
No nuisance hair alage.
I do still run a skimmer, and plan to long term.
I also run a bit of carbon, and I do the occasional water change.
But a lot less chems/water changes than other reef friends I know.
Tank is still in slow progress though.
Only a couple of SPS frags.
Lots of room for the frags to take over.
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