Actually - LED's are dirt cheap when you do them yourself.
5 to 7 bucks per LED usually if you shop around for Cree's xr-e's. Dollar or so for optics if you want to zero in light on say sps - or don 't use optics and let the light flow over the whole tanks.
Drivers range anywhere from 20 - 35 bucks depending on which brand you use. Buck pucks allow a easier time with dimmers. Meanwell's allow you to drive more LED's. So pico to say 6 gallon nano a single meanwell would drive 8. A buck puck would drive 6 I believe.
Only other think you would need is a heat sink which isn't that hard to come by.
So yeah - if you are talking about buying a pre-fab LED system or lamp then it will cost you. However, I don't think I've seen any LED system pre-made that is worth it regardless of manufacture. You can make, control, and tune in your own system for 75% of the cost.
Rough estimate:
35 dollars: meanwell driver (8 leds)
24 dollars: 6 bucks x 4 cree white leds
24 dollars: 6 bucks x 4 cree royal blue leds
85 dollars and you have a LED lighting system provided you have the misc stuff laying around for say wires, heat sink, and hood to retro it into...else cost goes up if you need to buy wood to make, etc.
LED's get a bit more costly when we start talking about lighting 50+ gallons. Unless you buy in bulk the cost for LED's alone goes up as you need 20 to 40, etc. I am currently buying 48 LED's for my new hood I'm buying. So its 10 here, 10 there, etc over time.
5 to 7 bucks per LED usually if you shop around for Cree's xr-e's. Dollar or so for optics if you want to zero in light on say sps - or don 't use optics and let the light flow over the whole tanks.
Drivers range anywhere from 20 - 35 bucks depending on which brand you use. Buck pucks allow a easier time with dimmers. Meanwell's allow you to drive more LED's. So pico to say 6 gallon nano a single meanwell would drive 8. A buck puck would drive 6 I believe.
Only other think you would need is a heat sink which isn't that hard to come by.
So yeah - if you are talking about buying a pre-fab LED system or lamp then it will cost you. However, I don't think I've seen any LED system pre-made that is worth it regardless of manufacture. You can make, control, and tune in your own system for 75% of the cost.
Rough estimate:
35 dollars: meanwell driver (8 leds)
24 dollars: 6 bucks x 4 cree white leds
24 dollars: 6 bucks x 4 cree royal blue leds
85 dollars and you have a LED lighting system provided you have the misc stuff laying around for say wires, heat sink, and hood to retro it into...else cost goes up if you need to buy wood to make, etc.
LED's get a bit more costly when we start talking about lighting 50+ gallons. Unless you buy in bulk the cost for LED's alone goes up as you need 20 to 40, etc. I am currently buying 48 LED's for my new hood I'm buying. So its 10 here, 10 there, etc over time.
