what color did you get.. any pics tanglovers? did you lay the light right on the tank or have them hanging above tank?
LED Lighting vs Fluorescent Lighting...
- Thread starter dangerhack
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what color did you get.. any pics tanglovers? did you lay the light right on the tank or have them hanging above tank?
I built a light rack and hung it above the tank, this way allows me to get int he tank easily without moving lights. I do not recall the height off the top of my head, I think they are 8-9" above the tank. I used the white Reef Brite strips - four of the 48" ones. Basically two, end to end in the front and rear of the tank. The tank is 42" front to back and the strips are 32" apart.
Here is a quick pic of the tank and you can see the lighting when I very first mounted it (wiring has now been organized) - ignore the tanin colored water and the slight cloudiness from the substrate
Here is a quick pic of the tank and you can see the lighting when I very first mounted it (wiring has now been organized) - ignore the tanin colored water and the slight cloudiness from the substrate
I guess if you don't mind paying the cash, and aren't in need of special lighting for plants / reefs, then LED's could be the way to go... on the other hand, if you need it for plants etc, then it may get a little more costly...
I did at one stage consider getting them till i saw the price tag for a small setup and decided to go the old fashioned route with fluorescent lights until the prices come down and the technology gets better, since i've heard some serious plant keepers over here say that LED's aren't quite good enough for growing yet... although they could be wrong?
I did at one stage consider getting them till i saw the price tag for a small setup and decided to go the old fashioned route with fluorescent lights until the prices come down and the technology gets better, since i've heard some serious plant keepers over here say that LED's aren't quite good enough for growing yet... although they could be wrong?
I have never done LED lights for growing anything out (plants or corals) but I agree, I am unsure if at this point it is truely proven and is quite pricey. I use alot of LEDs over my fish tanks for the electricity savings. With this new freshwater setup I am currently running about 850 gallons of freshwater (will be 650 in a few weeks when the temperary tank is down) and 1600ish gallons of saltwater (950 is reefs, 650 is fish only). My electric company loves me as it is so I do everything possible to run energy efficient equipment. All things considered I would say I have been very successful as I figure our tanks add about $125-$150 a month to our electric bill which I find perfectly acceptible for the amount of water we are running.
what u guys think about me using this?
http://www.energybulbs.co.uk/produc...inkable+4.5w+330mm+LED+Strip+Light/2104452451
http://www.energybulbs.co.uk/produc...inkable+4.5w+330mm+LED+Strip+Light/2104452451
That is true, I used a MarineLand Single bright hood for my planted 20. I could slowly tell some of my more light needing planets need more my Ceratopteris thalictroides was doing "well" but not to the full potental. Then I had Sagittaria subulata as my bottom layer and it was slowly was dieing until I put the directly over them, and that made them come back. I just switched to a t5 to get the growth back and the second i turned it on i found a huge difference in color of the plants and how dim they where. Also to grow any plant without doing any research you need at least 2x watt per-gallon which to me would get expensive to build a LED.
Quite the contrary, actually. There are tons of serious LED builds over on plantedtank.net and reefcentral.com. LEDs are more than capable of growing corals and plants. Some guys have even found that the LEDs are so strong they need to cut back the intensity to avoid bleaching their corals. The LED technology is there, and it's been there. They have single tiny LEDs that put out more light than an entire T5HO fixture. The issue is cost, and the DIY skills involved to build the fixture and wire everything up. A lot of it is over people's heads, mine too. I had a lot of help from member 'o2surplus'. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have the setup I have.
If you're willing to invest the money and research, you can have an awesome LED fixture that will grow anything under the sun. I spent about $500 on my fixture. Expensive, but I love it, and it looks great over the tank. It's all controlled by a small computer that simulates sunrise/sunset lighting, where the lights slowly fade on in the morning and slowly fade out at night
If you are growing anything (need srs bznz lighting) LED's are cheaper in the long run over any other lighting set up, I.E. a good quality LED set up will cost around 2x what a comperable T5 set up or about 50% more than a comperable MH set up. HOWEVER, when they draw 1/4 the electricity, generate almost no heat and have a 4-6 year life span (no replacement bulb cost) they come out way ahead of other lighting set ups as far as cost goes. For general viewing and not growing there are a plethora of uber cheap LED's (Ecoxotic Stunners come to mind) that still cost less than home depot shop lights in the long run.
If I can grow anemones and SPS corals with LED's, you can almost bet they would scortch most FW plants....IMHO if you can eat the up front cost (see above) then they are 100% the way to go.
