LED lighting - what are my options?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Fat Homer;4948190; said:
I'm actually quite interested to see how these LED's fair up against T5 / T5HO lighting, especially the set from Hong Kong when it comes to plants...

I've personally been thinking about maybe trying out some LED lighting, but been waiting for some one with plants to test them out to see if they live up to the hype that they are better than HD lighting on planted tanks...
Sp far my plants seem to like them. The sagateris (sp)seems to be florishing, the blades are getting thick and long; but it's still too soon to tell. I have live plants on most of my tanks but not the one with the 30w's. Also they are a different color I like the color of the 10w's better. The 30's have a cooler color.

I never heard they were better for planted tanks, then again I don't read about planted tanks.
 
Fat Homer;4948190; said:
better than HD lighting on planted tanks...

What's HD lighting?

With plants, it's all about PAR. As I posted earlier, the 10w lights were showing 35-45 PAR at 12", which is more than enough for most demanding plants. Lots of folks using LEDs on planted tanks these days.
 
BUMP. Did anyone get their lights yet?
 
Please keep us updated on the plant growing Danger_Chicken.
I'm very interested in how these lights work for that. If they perform well, I'll look into getting them for my 130 and replace the 220 watts of fluorescent lights that are currently over it. I'll be growing vals, sagitteria, bolbitis and tiger lotus. I must say I love the look as well. I might try the 20 watt versions though just to get that extra bit of light.
 
Looking to DIY an LED array for my setup. I'd like some moon lighting because some of my cats just hide all day, and I can't see them with the light off. I'd like to replace the fluorescent day lamp just because it's almost too bright etc. I don't want to buy a pre-made setup, just seems too darned expensive. I'm thinking of getting supplies from stevesleds.com. would a single driver (7 blue LEDs) and a double driver (14 white) be enough to light up my 46 gal bow? That would be 3 rows with 7 LEDs each spaced 4" apart to span the tank width. I'd use the housing from my current fluorescent lamp and some old laptop power supplies I have laying around.

btw tank can be seen on my other post,
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=402233
 
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=400023


rokit_armor;4978719; said:
Looking to DIY an LED array for my setup. I'd like some moon lighting because some of my cats just hide all day, and I can't see them with the light off. I'd like to replace the fluorescent day lamp just because it's almost too bright etc. I don't want to buy a pre-made setup, just seems too darned expensive. I'm thinking of getting supplies from stevesleds.com. would a single driver (7 blue LEDs) and a double driver (14 white) be enough to light up my 46 gal bow? That would be 3 rows with 7 LEDs each spaced 4" apart to span the tank width. I'd use the housing from my current fluorescent lamp and some old laptop power supplies I have laying around.

btw tank can be seen on my other post,
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=402233
 
Danger_Chicken;4946956; said:
I'm running six 10w's on my 72g low light planted tank. I should know in a few weeks how the lights do for the plants. He's a crappy phone pic of the plants after 2 weeks under the leds. I'll post another in a month. It was running 72w of T8.
2dw7mfd.jpg

JamesF;4975746; said:
Please keep us updated on the plant growing Danger_Chicken.
I'm very interested in how these lights work for that. If they perform well, I'll look into getting them for my 130 and replace the 220 watts of fluorescent lights that are currently over it. I'll be growing vals, sagitteria, bolbitis and tiger lotus. I must say I love the look as well. I might try the 20 watt versions though just to get that extra bit of light.
I'ts been about a month, here is an updated pic. I had a video but can't upload it from my phone. There has been significant growth; more in the past month than the 2 prior months. I've noticed less algea in all my tanks.
picture.php
 
I second the less algae. I don't even have any on my glass tops with 4 10W LEDS!
 
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