thinking about switching to led lights

[rnyce]

Hi Guys, i was looking to get feedback on lighting. I have recently had to restart my tank do to a toxic death in my tank. I lost almost all my corals. But i am slowely rebuilding and very interested in opionon on lighting. I currently have a 75 gallon tank running a aqualight pro HQI/Compact Florescent/Lunar light fixture. It is a nice piece and all my corals thrived with this set up.
I like a lot of people have heat problems in the summer and having to change the bulbs anually does get costly + the cost of electricity.
Some of my friends have mixed reactions on the lighting yet i do not know anyone who is using them.
Please give me some feedback and your thoughts.
Thanks

 

[The Munch]

At this point it seems like an short term vs long term cost issue. LED purchase cost is greater than halides/t5, but the long term gains could wash that away.

I personally switched my 30 gallon frag tank over to LED and soon I'll be converting my 125 display to LED. The growth has been acceptable and the colors are much better than I was getting under the halides. The greens, blues, and purples are really popping.

I did a DIY setup with cree XP-E cool whites and royal blues.

 

[Jocko]

Does anyone have any experience with those cheaper (<$75) little strips that I'm seeing around? Like the powerbrites, stunners, etc? I'm contemplating switching my QT system over to LED mainly because the smaller water volume is more susceptible to temp fluctuations from MH.

And more to the OP's question, if they are pretty good, has anyone chained some together to cover a larger tank? Has this worked for you?

 

[CaptainAndy]

Check out Wingo's threads on manhattan reefs.com

His custom stuff has entered the tri state retail market and cost is much less, quality is high and lots of satisfied customers. Has a buy 2 get one free sale right now.