Ack. I thought I researched this well enough. I just bought a 48 inch Marineland Double Bright LED lighting system for my 4 foot 120 gallon. It seems that I lost fish color especially pink on the cupid cichlids and the purple on the threadfin acara's pectral fins and the red on the chocolate cichlid. I'm hoping it is just because they are stressed from the water change. Anyone use LED out there with success? Advice or thoughts?
Uh Oh. LED lighting a mistake?
- Thread starter TahoeFish
- Start date
I used LED with great success. Fluval Edge (or is it Juwel?) aquariums use LEDs and they look amazing too. Just look it up. 
I think you need to give the tank and fish some time to get used to the water change and lights. I really love the marineland double brights, but i do find the white to be a bit to yellow for my tast.
Have you noticed your biotidoma and Heckelii loosing color at water changes befor? the colors you talk about these fish loosing can be faint in stressed specimens. I have changes bulbes on my Moba frontosa in the past and just the act of changing the bulbs has stressed them enough to loss color for peroids of time. I would give the tank some time to settle down. If you woke up and the sun looked really different would you think something strange happened lol.
Have you noticed your biotidoma and Heckelii loosing color at water changes befor? the colors you talk about these fish loosing can be faint in stressed specimens. I have changes bulbes on my Moba frontosa in the past and just the act of changing the bulbs has stressed them enough to loss color for peroids of time. I would give the tank some time to settle down. If you woke up and the sun looked really different would you think something strange happened lol.
I've been using Marineland double bright for about 6 months and I really love it. Especially the shimmer effect if you have a few pumps disturbing the surface. My original plan was to use metal halide lighting but I decided it was way too bright for a ca/sa cichlid tank... it was gonna look like a football stadium with fish in it lol
At first I did see it a little "weird" though... coming from 10k white fluorescent lights I found Marineland to be on the pink-ish side instead of pure sharp white, fish looked different.... that's because of the blue actinic lights on it, but I got used to it and now I would never go back.
What you might be seeing might also be related to the fish being a little stressed from the change... give it a week and see how you like it.
At first I did see it a little "weird" though... coming from 10k white fluorescent lights I found Marineland to be on the pink-ish side instead of pure sharp white, fish looked different.... that's because of the blue actinic lights on it, but I got used to it and now I would never go back.
What you might be seeing might also be related to the fish being a little stressed from the change... give it a week and see how you like it.
Why do you think they suck?
I agree with dparks that the yellow hue is not my favorite although it may be some tannin in my case as well. Are others experiencing a bit of a yellow hue? I'll give it a few days and see what happens with the fish. It is true that they may be stressed. The lunar lights seemed to surprise them. Has anyone else heard of fish colors getting washed out with LED?
Thanks all.
I agree with dparks that the yellow hue is not my favorite although it may be some tannin in my case as well. Are others experiencing a bit of a yellow hue? I'll give it a few days and see what happens with the fish. It is true that they may be stressed. The lunar lights seemed to surprise them. Has anyone else heard of fish colors getting washed out with LED?
Thanks all.
I have a DIY led system for one of my smaller tanks and as soon as Im overhauling my larger tanks I am switching to LEDs, the color is as bright as you want it with a DIY system.
I'm not really a DIY kind of person, but any ideas on the yellow tinge I'm getting from the marine land system? Sounds like others get that as well. While colors have returned on the fish, I don't find them as vibrant or as clear of contrast as under 60 watts of old style flourescent that I pulled off my 60 gallon. I feel like I'm missing something.
I don't see yellow hue at all... The white bulbs are 10k white (whitest you can get without looking blue) and the blue actinic bulbs give the light a really subtle pink hue but no yellow. It must be your water. Use purigen for crystal clear water at all times.