Before I talk about LEDs I would first like to introduce myself briefly because I am new here. I have always been into aquariums and reptile/frog keeping. I have a 90 gallon reef tank and a tropical greenhouse. I also keep dart frogs and love building vivariums. Building vivariums is actually what brought me here. I have always taken a lot of inspiration for my vivarium builds from pictures of beautiful planted aquascapes.
here is one of my vivariums-
Vivariums and planted aquariums actually have a lot in common besides the fact that you guys flood your tanks. I plan on getting into the planted tank hobby eventually but will probably lurk around on the forum for some time to gain more knowledge.
One similarity between vivariums and planted tanks is lighting. I actually use LEDs meant for planted tanks for a lot of my vivariums. This brings me to the subject of this thread.
For the past few months I have been communicating with some LED manufacturers in order to design some bulbs and fixtures for use in vivariums. I had some 60w par38s made in order to see what they were like. I have had them set up over a couple vivariums for a few months and the plants are already growing really well and coloring up. These first samples just included some red, blue, warm and cool white diodes. This is what they look like.
I am able to customize the bulbs with whatever color combination of LEDs I choose, wattage, beam angle etc. So my question is what LED combination do you guys think is the best to both optimize growth and coloration of plants as well as to make the plants look good in the tank? My second question is if anyone would be interested in using these bulbs in their aquariums? I feel like these bulbs could work great as a pendant light source either hanging or with a gooseneck. If I did start making these for other people they would probably cost 70-$75 for a 60w for example. I am also not limited to bulbs but would like to first get a really nice spectrum dialed in so I can try something similar on other style fixtures. Here is what I was thinking for LED combination.
So what do you guys think? What should I change as far as the combination of LEDs? And is there any interest in these or other style fixtures with a spectrum like this for use in planted tanks?
here is one of my vivariums-
Vivariums and planted aquariums actually have a lot in common besides the fact that you guys flood your tanks. I plan on getting into the planted tank hobby eventually but will probably lurk around on the forum for some time to gain more knowledge.
One similarity between vivariums and planted tanks is lighting. I actually use LEDs meant for planted tanks for a lot of my vivariums. This brings me to the subject of this thread.
For the past few months I have been communicating with some LED manufacturers in order to design some bulbs and fixtures for use in vivariums. I had some 60w par38s made in order to see what they were like. I have had them set up over a couple vivariums for a few months and the plants are already growing really well and coloring up. These first samples just included some red, blue, warm and cool white diodes. This is what they look like.
I am able to customize the bulbs with whatever color combination of LEDs I choose, wattage, beam angle etc. So my question is what LED combination do you guys think is the best to both optimize growth and coloration of plants as well as to make the plants look good in the tank? My second question is if anyone would be interested in using these bulbs in their aquariums? I feel like these bulbs could work great as a pendant light source either hanging or with a gooseneck. If I did start making these for other people they would probably cost 70-$75 for a 60w for example. I am also not limited to bulbs but would like to first get a really nice spectrum dialed in so I can try something similar on other style fixtures. Here is what I was thinking for LED combination.
So what do you guys think? What should I change as far as the combination of LEDs? And is there any interest in these or other style fixtures with a spectrum like this for use in planted tanks?