I'm going to take the plunge in LED's for 3 of my planted tanks, hoping to get some advice. Been reading alot about the Finnex on here and that seems to be one route alot of people are choosing. I came across a post on my local fish forum from someone who purchased LED floodlights from China. This company doesn't specialize in aquariums, just regular lights. He posted a video of his reef tank here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0otFIEkWzw&feature=youtu.be&hd=1
I bought 1 via Ebay from LED wholesalers to use over a 20G. Cost was $35.50 (including shipping). I wish I had not bought it. I floods the living room.
I got a 30w of this type of light, from a US seller with a plug. It's spectrum is around 5k, but it's pretty nice to look at. I did add a 2-3" aluminum foil shroud to cut down on what Hilde is talking about. I hung it high over a 20L, it should be bright enough to grow whatever plants I want. I'm still setting up the tank though, so I can't tell you how the plants grow, but I do plan to start a thread on here for it.
The 10w version, from what I gathered is around 900 lumens, so mine should be cranking over 2500.
I'm interested in getting two 10w floods for two 10g tanks but was concerned with both the Kelvin and light spread being too wide. How high did you both hang your fixtures?
Mine says 4-4500k on it. it was sold as white, but for a 30W with a plug it was the only option, it's actually not very yellow. I'd try to get one sold as "cool white" should be close to 6500k. The shroud, was taking some "great value" aluminum foil, folding it over ~3 times-in the desired width, trimming it to the right length, then scotch taping it to the fixture. It doesn't get very hot so it should be fine for now. IF you rest it right on the tank, the spread won't be an issue though. I plan to have an emersed grow box behind the tank(the black thing), plus it's just one light and a 30" tank-that is why I hung it up high.
The 10w should be enough, but if you can spring for the 20w, you can always raise it, or add floating plants.
I suggest filtering the results to US sellers, and maybe add the term plug to the search terms. The plugged 10W should be around 25 bucks total, and the 20W should be around 35.
great idea on using the pc power plug as i have hundreds laying around. just ordered the 10 and 20 watt lamps to test out sans plugs as it actually quadruples in price...
Nice link, that takes the scary out of wiring up the plug. If you order the sans plug model, these things are the cheapest lighting option hands down, as the 10w costs around 10 bucks, you cant even buy a clamp on light with CFL bulb for that.
Got mine via EBay from LED wholesalers. Here is the 1 I got from them. I felt this 1 had better reflection than the others. Only saved a few bucks getting it on EBay.
It is only 10watts. It is only usefull over a low tank like a 10 g or 20g
That is a 17" deep tank, and standard aquarium glass will block about 15% of light allegedly. If you have a deeper tank, I would buy the highest wattage you can afford, and hang it high/shade it out as needed-although I don't think you would need more than the 50W in a planted tank.
From looking at that tank though, that is not low light, at least medium in my eye-but I suppose a par meter is better than the eye test.
yeah, i was going to say, it certainly looks at least medium to high but sometimes the camera can be be decieving due to the quality of the light sensor.
I intend to test the 10W on a 10gallon (12" height) and test 2 20w on a 30 gallon (36"wide x 16" height).
You need to build a canopy to keep the light from flooding the room though. I have it 6in above 29G tank and the light reaches the end of the room, which is 17ft.
Well that kind of sucks I plan on using these on my 6x10g rack
2 of these tanks I want to be high light for propagating plants. I was thinking I would get 20w for those but I don't know if I have enough room to hang them high enough
It might still work. You could string some thick material in the front and sides. I hung material over a shelf to my 10G. I will experiment tomorrow to see how high you need it for a 10G.
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