Are reef lights (LED) too much for a fish only freshwater?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
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Elwood

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 20, 2011
48
0
0
St Louis
the aquatrader has 900 lumen lights (48") and 3300 lumen reef lights. Will the 900 be too dim for my 90 gl and the 3300 too bright?

I will have mostly mollies and rainbow sharks etc..
I just don't want to be too dim or too bright.
And I don't want brown algae.
 
Well, the good news is that you aren't looking to buy them for a reef tank. lol. They aren't reef quality when they are advertised by lumens. The good news is they are good enough for fish (as long as the price is right).

For reference, a 100W incandecent blulb is 1200 lumens. The 900 is probably going to be too dim spread across four feet. You might want to double up on it or just spring for the 3300.
 
Btw, post a link of the ones you are looking at and I'll take a look at them. If you are comfortable with buying directly from the manufacturer, let me know and I'll see if I have a direct link. I have sources for most of the LED's on the market.

(let me know in this thread; you won't be able to PM me.)
 
Never mind about the link; I found them. Some of the new Chinese LED fixtures have controllers that will ramp up the lights when they turn on rather than turning on full blast. It won't freak out your fish when they do turn on. The cost of the ones with controllers start around a hundred dollars for 60W fixtures. A 120W controllable fixture is around $180.
 
The answer is "I don't know."

Elwood said:
I just don't want to be too dim or too bright.
And I don't want brown algae.
Click to expand...


"Too dim" and "too bright" are subjective. What is too dim or too bright to me is going to be different to you. Get two clamp-on shop lights and experiment with different bulbs over your tank. That way, you can find the luminosity that you like best.
 
http://gehl-led.en.alibaba.com/prod...al_60w_led_aquarium_light_for_coral_GEHL.html

Get two of these lights. They are dimmable (the company also has them with controllers). Two should be too bright for you with them turned all the way up. You can then dim them to your liking. They also have independent switches for the whites and blues.

The bad news is these are good enough quality to grow algae. Instead of being rated by their luminosity, they are rated by their PAR value. PAR stands for Photosynthetic Active Radiation, which is the wavelengths available for photosynthesis. (What will grow corals will also grow algae.)

To control algae growth, you will need to keep the nitrogen and phosphorous compounds within growth limiting parameters. The easy way is with an Algae Turf Scrubber (ATS). It can also be achieved with large religious water changes.
 
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