anyone used these for aquariums?? seems like you would get great blending u can choose ur own colors. i was thinking 2 white 1 blue. they r pricey though

http://www.luxeonstar.com/your-choice-of-a...-base-p-403.php

http://www.luxeonstar.com/carclo-392°-fro...-leds-p-513.php

there was a little debate since a comemrcial fixture used these

if you do end up using them just know that you shouldnt drive them to full power because they will be very bright.
however the leds will last longer since you will probably only drive them to 350ma instead of 1000ma
slightly more effecient and better for the led in general.

what kind of spacing would u use on these since there are 3 leds on one star?? trying to figure out how many i would need for a 120 x 24d x 30 high

probably not to use these would be better

it would cost a ton more for the small benefit i mentioned earlier.

at 60-40 degree optics each led is only going to cover maybe 2x2 based pureley on speculation.
get single leds.

I use these. Buying them from Luxeon Star is expensive, but the only way if you aren't prepared to solder your own.

Color blending is awesome with the LEDs so close together, and they can be very bright. We usually space the LEDs quite close together so that the seperate colors end up blending. With the LEDs really close, the need for the stars to be so close is removed, at least without optics. You could push the spacing out to about 4-5" per star, but it's still generally more expensive than an equivalent one-LED-per-star setup.These are better suited for smaller tanks where you can cover the tank with very few stars.

doctaq, LED life isn't directly controlled by current. Temperature is the enemy for LED life. It just happens that current drives temperatures. An LED at 100mA will last just as long as an LED at 700mA with temperature at the same point.

thats what i said, whatd i say?
haha naw , i figured about the correlation, i guess i was just echoing some of that debate. higher effeciency=less heat?

Some of the debate was about dimminishing returns for higher current. The solution put forward was to throw more LEDs at it at a lower current to generate more light. That is one way to do it, but it's a more expensive way to do it.

It's also the more power efficient way to do it, if that's one of your criteria. If given unlimited funds, it's what I would do. Regrettably, I don't have unlimited funds.

It is, but the difference is negligible in terms of power consumpution after you factor in the extra efficiency loss from the addition drivers/power supplies need to run more LEDs. It's not worth the effort IMO.

That depends how you're driving them. With the current "off the shelf" drivers, I 100% agree. However, there is the potential for drivers capable of more LEDs per string, which should make it more efficient.

Of course, my only point was that LEDs have a higher lumens/watt at lower current.

I'm using 8 of these (4 royal blue, 4 cool white) on my Biocube 14 and easily supporting SPS in my tank and LPS on the sandbed. Here's some pictures if you wanted to see.

Stock lighting (48w PC)


After (72w LED)


My configuration


Bought from Here