Well, I just ordered the LED panels. They are coming from England, so will probably take about two weeks to get here. I bought cheap aquarium LED panels and they still cost me $170. That puts my LED bill at about $300 and total for tank to date at about $550. That includes tank, stand, live rock, sand, critters and the gas it took to get them. When all is said and done, I'll have around $650 in the "experiment". Still significantly less than if I went out and bought a single 36-inch Solaris fixture.

FYI, the tank was originally a freshwater plant tank and came with two PC retrofit fixtures. I put some turtle grass on one side for nitrate reduction. I've decided to save a little bit and put one of the PC over the grass instead of adding another LED panel. So, the coral and live rock will be under LED and the grass will be under a single PC fixture.

As soon as the panels get here, I'll start adding corals and posting monthly update pics.

I too want to do an experiment with LED lights.
I was on SWF.com and read a thread about it and came across this fixture. I think that it can work and it only runs around 13 watts and cost is $52.00. They come in white, blue and red. They also have a blue/red mixed one. Has 225 bulbs.
Here check it out for yourself.

WWW.LedWholeSalers.com

That's actually the panel that I am getting. (2 panels). However, they are made for hydroponics and you can readily find them in white (8K), blue, red, red and yellow, red and blue. It took me a couple of months to find one in blue and white. All are made in China and distributed globally by a handful of companies. I tried to get 3 different companies to special order panels with 10% violet, 30% blue and 60%, 10K white. Only one company would, and I had to order a minimum of 100. The company in England had a bunch made up that were 50% white and 50% blue. These are the panels that I got. FYI, I ended up paying about $68/panel plus shipping.

I wanted violet because it brings out the coral color even better than actinics.

Nice!!
you are already one step ahead of me.
I also want a 50% blue and white, but I want to wait now that someone else is taking the time with this experiment. LOL thank you and keep us update!!!

Jeff have you seen the LED street lights they put up on lee blvd in front of the hospital ER Entrance? I want those for my tank!

For those interested, here is the link to their ebay post:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200222494263

cool! I'm planning on setting up a DIY led array for my 5.5G too. But I'm going to use high power cree and luxeon leds. Do you know of anyone that has a lux or par meter?

Hey Jeff, what's the dimensions on that light fixture?

I'd love to try something like that over my cube for a few months....see how it works...although I do love my maristar fixture...got great color in my corals.

I'm making my own fixture. I have two LED strips that are 3" x 24" with 108 LED. The new ones are panels with 225 LED's. The outside dimensions are approximately 12.5" x 12.5". I will be running a single 24" PC over the "planted" section of the tank. Using 6500K PC.

LED's are in!!! So, while the rest of the world is freaking out over this little tiny rain storm that's coming for breakfast, I'll be playing with my fish tank.

OK, filtration and lights are all hooked up.

Current tank occupants

200 aiptasia
1 Copperband butterfly (for the aiptasia)
3 Peppermint shrimp (been there for two weeks and have eaten 2 maybe 3 aiptasia)
1 Sally Lightfoot crab
12 small Astrea snails
15 to 20 blue legs
1 small sea cucumber
1 blue mushroom (red dropped off and I moved it to another tank)
2 types of sea grass

Lighting

1, 65 watt PC @ 5500 K, directly over the seagrass
2, 24" x 3" LED strips with 108 Large size LED diodes, about 30% blue
2, 12" x 12", LED Panels with 225 small size LED diodes, 50% blue, 50% white

Filtration

1, Back Pack HOB skimmer
1, 8 watt Odyssea UV sterilizer
1, Magnum 250 gph HOB canister filter

Wavemaker

1, Aquarium Systems Natural Wavemaker strip with 3, Koralia 2 set at about 1 minute

Initial lighting comments.

I like the color and intensity of the 24" strips with the large LED diodes. I think SPS will probably be ok under these.

The 225 LED panels seem to be to dim. I'm not sure if it is the light intensity or the fact that they are 50% blue, which just makes them seem too dim. Anyway, my gut feeling is that they will be great for LPS and softies. SPS???? we'll see.

Jeff, what company are the LEDS?

The 12 x 12 are no name from China. The 24 x 3 strips are home made off of ebay.

Can you tell us what kind of coral you will be place under the LED?

My german blue montipora digitata seems to be my most light sensitive coral as far as color is concerned. It will grow under PC's, but it turns brown with light purple tips. Under low watt MH, it gets a purple base with brown polyps and bluish purple tips. Under high watt MH it gets a bright blue base with purple polyps. I'm going to put a couple of frags at different locations in the tank. I'm also going to try some chalice, acans, palys and several other colors of digitata. My internet is still down at the house, as soon as it gets fixed, I'll post some pics.

Well, I contacted the guy that makes the 24x3 strips. He has four more that are currently being tested. He tests the strips for 3 to 7 days each. He made me a fairly sweet package deal for all four. So, it looks like I'll be pulling down the 12x12 panels after only a couple of weeks.

you know jeff, with all that money you're dumping into that tank for lighting .. you could've just tried 1 solartube and used that tank to test it out ...

Stop that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now you've given me another idea. Question is, where in my house do I want a Solar tube.

All joking aside, that is a good idea. Just not sure where in the house to do it.

ILYT MAN!

Hey Marco, why can't I post pics on this thread????

I've got some update pics.

beats me .. i'll look into it tomorrow .. heading to bed now. long weekend.

I tried the solortube for light, don't bother the diffuser you have to use really cuts the light, and if you don't use it, all you will get is a concentrated beam... like a magnifying glass!

I couldn't get the pics to post, so I posted the links to my gallery.

Pic of LED strips and LED panels. PC retrofit goes directly over the seagrass.

http://www.swfmas.com/v/users/jdhuyvetter/PICT0350.JPG.html

Pic of canopy lit up.

http://www.swfmas.com/v/users/jdhuyvetter/PICT0351.JPG.html

Well, I noticed this morning that I have 4 lines of diodes in one of my 12x12 panels that are starting to "flicker".

Could this be:

A: A result of high QC standards in cheap Chinese product
B: A perfect example of you get what you pay for?

or

C:Jeff is an idiot and just poured some more money down the drain!!!!!!!!!!!

Conclusion, 12 x 12 cheap LED Panels are a failure for high light requirements. They are decent for low light, such as some of my mushrooms and softies. If I were to set up a "deepwater" tank with low light inhabitants, I would actually recommend this set up.

Result, I'm going to pull the 12 x 12 panels and replace them with the 24 x 3 strips with the larger diodes. Then, convert the tank to Acans, Micros, Chalice and Tubastrea.

No, really, I do need one more tank to take care of.. Honest....it won't cost me hardly anything.....

Somebody call my ex and tell her to come get my check book and credit cards!!!

And the answer is: "What is: C ! "

Any updates? I just recieved my first batch of LEDs for the retro I'm doing.

Replacements are up and running. Fixing the fans tonight. It does tend to run a little warm (80 to 81). Corals are holding decent color. I had to move the ones at the very top down. I don't know if they are in shock from a new tank or were getting burned. Every thing that is lower in the tank looks good. In a week or so, I'll post some pics after everything has had a chance to settle down.

Fans running two days now and temp stays between 75 and 77. Time for a water change. No pics until tank looks good. I wouldn't want any of you to see what my tanks normally look like!