Need a little help with LEDs

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burbon44s

Candiru
MFK Member
May 13, 2012
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milwaukee
I've got a planted 150 with 550 watts of power campacts on it. But i want to go with LEDs to save some money on the electric bill. Plus now my bulbs are ready to be replaced.
Question is, what LED system should i use on this planted freshwater tank , to get the lumens i have with power compacts
Prefer diy ideas
Thanks for any input

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How tall is the tank, since im not sure with current LED tech, they can reach the bottom of a tank over say 20", unless you are growing low light plants...




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I have LEDs on my 10 gal and its almost like nuking the tank with lumens. I had florescents on it before and the plants have more than doubled in growth. Just sayin.


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^ did they double in height or foliage though?

Coz for small tanks 10G and under LED's work well, but on taller tanks they dont penetrate the water quite as well, or the spread o light doesnt reach all areas of the tanks...

I know shops here which specialize in planted tanks who has said the same thing, they work okay on certain larger tanks if its low light plans, but you wont be able to grow a carpet plant like HC properly due to the lights weakness...


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Mine is actually a reef light so its probably more powerful than a regular LED setup. And its more cost efficient. By a lot.
My plants have both grow taller and spread out. One bronze wendtii that I now have as a center piece because its so beautiful has grown from the small shrub I bought it as to the biggest plant in the tank in a pretty short time. It sends out new growths all over the place too. The whole tank will be bronze wendtii in a couple months. And all this without CO2.


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^ I'm not too familiar with the plant in question, but i am going to guess that its not a high requirement plant? as in it doesn't need strong lights / ferts and Co2 to grow?

But back to the problem with LED's as was explained to me by the store when i was considering using some on my new 50G tank. They said because the strength of LED lights at the moment tend to be a little bit weaker, plants tend to grow a lot taller to try and reach the light and don't necessarily fill out quite as well as compared to being in a well lit tank...

So depending on the type of tank a person wants to setup, and the height of it, LED lights may or may not be suitable for the tank depending on what you hope to achieve...
 
Chuncan said:
Mine is actually a reef light so its probably more powerful than a regular LED setup. And its more cost efficient. By a lot.
My plants have both grow taller and spread out. One bronze wendtii that I now have as a center piece because its so beautiful has grown from the small shrub I bought it as to the biggest plant in the tank in a pretty short time. It sends out new growths all over the place too. The whole tank will be bronze wendtii in a couple months. And all this without CO2.


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Ok, but does a reef ready light have the same Calvin light frequency i would need for fresh water plants ?
A 150 gal tank is about 28 in tall but I've only got it 3/4 full
And i am running Co2, so the more light the better
I was thinking of using LED grow bulbs but the light is either too red or too blue to see the fish

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Hey I have had radions over my 220 gal and have been getting great plant growth. nice thing is you can change the spectrum to get best growth.

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I think, your best bet might be looking into the RayII LED systems. Not sure how much lighting it would give you in your tank size though, but they make a quality product. I use one on my 5.5 and just got one for my 10, although my 75 I just decided to use t5ho.
 
dzjr1188 said:
Hey I have had radions over my 220 gal and have been getting great plant growth. nice thing is you can change the spectrum to get best growth.

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Click to expand...

That's a really nice light. How many do u have on your 220? They're kinda short.
What did u pay?

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