This shaved another 4ms off here, instead of:
Code:
IF population > 3 OR population < 2 THEN
  lednew[counter] = 0
ENDIF
Do:
Code:
IF Population > 3 THEN LEDNew[Counter] = 0
IF Population < 2 THEN LEDNew[Counter] = 0
We're trading readabillity for performance here...