aquapod lighting question

What would you run over your 12g aquapod given these choices?

a par 38 LED like this http://www.ecoxotic.com/ecoxotic-par...ed-lights.html

Pros:
nice white light
don't have to buy bulbs
tank runs cooler

Cons:
spotlight effect
hard to hang so it looks officeworthy
although I like the white light, I'm not sure my corals do - color seems to be fading
have to cover tank so I don't lose my goby who is hopefully moving in next week (the cover is even worse for the office look IMO)


Or upgrade the pc bulbs to 32W in the stock hood?

Pros:
has a nice office tank appearance
easy to keep my goby from jumping out by just stopping it from getting to the back chambers

Cons:
runs hotter but I made some modifications and this seems to be under control now using old stock bulbs
have to buy bulbs periodically
not sure if I'll like the color as much as the LED...right now the existing bulbs are pretty yellow but I have no idea how old they are...hoping upgrading to 32W bulbs will help the yellow and my corals will like them and hold their color (only plan to keep zoas and LPS in this tank along with 1 fish and some inverts) without causing more heat issues in the tank.

If I decide to go with 32W PC's, I'm not sure what bulb combo to get. Maybe two 6700k/10000k combo bulbs? Anyone have experience with these or would like to give me advice even though you don't? FYI, I have all of the above equipment other than new bulbs for the pc's.

Myself I would have Jimmy build me one for my Pod if I was going to do one.
I'd sell you mine and have him build a little bit bigger one for use on my 20 gal or fragging tank, my LED is Dimmable too

The ones he uses are multi chip LEDs. Slightly less efficient than the 3w individual LEDs but a nice blended color. They will still spotlight as that's what you get with a focused light. I am thinking of doing a combo multichip and 3w LEDs for a good full spectrum. They are not at all hard to build.

My vote is LEDs as if you're spending the money, spend it on latest technology.

cdness wrote:The ones he uses are multi chip LEDs. Slightly less efficient than the 3w individual LEDs but a nice blended color. They will still spotlight as that's what you get with a focused light. I am thinking of doing a combo multichip and 3w LEDs for a good full spectrum. They are not at all hard to build.

My vote is LEDs as if you're spending the money, spend it on latest technology.

??? 3watt single is going to be more Efficient then a chip you can get in the range of 10 watt to 100watt per Chip???
I have seen 5 or 6 different models out there ranging from 1 to 3 watt per LED, and every one I've seen Leaves Color shadows on your Rocks, I know these Chips don't seem to do that and they have a nice spread unlike the Singles that are running Optics?
And Curtis Cammie does Not Have the Depth that you have in your tank.

Yeah...this tank is just a little pod so no depth concerns.

Jim, so, do yours allow you to have an actinic look before and after your day light or do they all dim at the same time? I can't remember. I wonder if they'd fit in the hood of this tank as that's what it boils down to. I want to use the top because of it's clean look and jumper control.

If not, I could retrofit something or beg the hubby maybe. I just don't think I'd spend a lot on it...I already have two options and both are actually acceptable to me. I just can't decide between them. I'd go retrofit LED's if they'd save me money after a couple years of buying bulbs maybe. For what I plan to keep, I don't think I'd need more than pc's. I just hope to hear from someone who has upgraded to the 32W bulbs before deciding, I guess.

Thanks for the input. Great discussion!

My LED is 2-10watt 20k chips and there both dimmable, the 3 watt Red is not the red comes on and I can blend both 20k's to what my eye and corals like, You seen how they spread or I can dim the spread down by turning them down.

oh and you could use the guts in the box if to big Each chip has it's own Fan built in and is mounted on Acrylic, and the circuit board could just be mounted on the top of the pods top or else somewhere Else if desired.I know someone that does acrylic work that could and a circuit board box really easy. And the Box Jimmy has it mounted in is 7'' long x 5'' wide x 3 1/8'' high.

OK. I'll consider that option, Jim...maybe pm me a price. I know your light looked great at the swap! However, if anyone has comments on my original question, that would be great. I already have two lights, either of which would work, and am just trying to choose which. I'm not really wanting to spend money on the latest technology or even any more money than I have (remember, I dropped the first LED into the tank...another argument against the open top!!). I'm trying to have a fun tank at work with some cool inverts and the cutest little fish ever IMO. That's pretty much it, well...and some easy zoas and LPSes.

So....
par 38 LED or PC stock light w/32W bulbs?

I might have to just do the pc thing and see how I like it for myself. Sort of like I did with the bare bottom on this tank.

Jason tinkered with the hood today and happened to have a fan that will work...it's a bit bigger and much quieter than what I had so that will help a lot.

I probably should have done a build thread.

I do see that all of the conversations I found referring to 32W bulb upgrades were dated in the 2006 - 2007 range when I went back to look at them just now. I guess this is not "up and coming".

I don't think my 3 watt led's are spotty but I have alot of depth

Update - I got new bulbs for the existing hood so I knew what I had before deciding if I should change it. I really did want to try keeping the hood since it has such a nice clean look for the office. The pc's IMO offer enough light since all I'm keeping is zoas and lps. If I were to upgrade down the road, I would only be interested in a retrofit in the existing hood. I did some modding to the hood and turned the temp down in my office a few degrees (what we don't do for our tanks, right?) to keep this little tank running around 80 as it does tend to run hot all sealed up like that. Thanks for the input.