Ok so me and my boyfriend have been looking at LED lighting. He really wants to buy one but can't find enough benefits of LED to justify spending so much money. So our question is what are the pros and cons of LED lighting?
Edit: Just want to clarify this would be for a freshwater tank
Now that I have them over one tank I won't go back to T5 tubes.
However, I would advise you take a critical look at the size tank and decide what your commitment is to that size. If you have a 20L but, know you want to go to a 70gl.... wait. There is little benefit getting a LED fixture that will last 5-7years if you don't plan to keep that size tank that long. Used aquarium equipment is basically worthless.
LED's
Pros
- On a properly made LED light, they should last 5+ years vs needing to replace every 6 months like T5HO
- Use less power
- Less heat generation
Cons
- There's no standard on converting watts into lumens, so you need to google a bit to find out what brand of LED light is giving you the level of output you are looking for
As said above, mostly greater efficiency, lower heat generation, and longer bulb life.
Plus, you don't need a reflector.
As to the bulb life, amazon has fugeray listed at ~40,000 hours. thats something like over 4 years, constantly on.
A typical light cycle will probably extend that to something in the range of 8-12 years useful lifetime, but a lot of that depends on how well the led's are cooled, and whether they are under or overpowered, etc.
Led
Pros...
Thin and sexy profile
Lower power consumption
Depending on the model, medium to high light now possible with the RayII
Runs cooler than t5ho, ESP in summer.
Now available in 6500-7000 Kelvin spectrum.
Cons...
Slightly higher price than t5ho lamp.
Tall tanks may require a second fixture to achieve the same par rating as t5ho lamp.
Limited stock but plenty of vendor options.
Another con: some people (like me) just don't like how the light they produce looks aesthetically, so before you fork over the big bucks spend some time seriously looking at high-end LED lit tanks vs. high-end non LED lit tanks to make sure you're happy with the LED look.
Unless you run a ridiculous number of lights you shouldn't base your decision on power savings, since LED's will produce negligible savings (in financial terms) over an efficient non-LED system. But as for the coolness factor, LEDs kick everything else's butt.
....Unless you run a ridiculous number of lights you shouldn't base your decision on power savings, since LED's will produce negligible savings (in financial terms) over an efficient non-LED ....
I don't agree, 40,000 to 50,000 hours is a long time even if you are running one 1 duel T5 fixture. Even it if that isn't sufficient, the replacement cost of T5 tubes along justifies the LED initial cost. Even more true as LEDs become more popular and prices continue to drop
T5 fluorescents generally dont need replacing every 6, 9 or 12 months. They need replacing when they fail.
Plants adapt well enough.
I use T5 and Led on different tanks. Youve got to get the right led unit, dont opt for cheapo makes. One of the downsides of leds can be colour rendition vs T5s.
There are mid range units comparable in price to good T5 units.
I am noob here, so take what I write with a grain of salt.
I was really having a hard time figuring out which type of light to buy for my 55g. I knew I wanted plants, so I needed at least moderate power. One of the things that sold me on the LED fixtures was the lack of heat (or less heat anyway). You don't need fans, you don't need to worry about placement so much. The shimmer effect looked awesome too.
After buying a LED fixture (moderately priced one), it still does throw off a good bit of heat, but it's manageable without fans and nothing will burn. Also, 36watts of LED is more than sufficient lighting for most things in my 55g long tank...it's high light for sure. And I don't have to worry about those bulbs that can break and need to be replaced. I like that there is no glass, and the low profile of the light is very easy to work with.
I am at the point now that I wouldn't do anything but LEDs on my tanks, and my new 10gallon is testament to this. This is using cheap LEDs for a low light low tech betta tank, and it's really working great.
Ascetic? Freudian slip from the LED devotee no doubt
Anyway, in the case of my last post it had nothing to do with aesthetics, and everything do with pointing out that your statement about kind of old florescent bulbs being incapable of supporting plants is just wrong. As I said before, I don't know anything about T5s, but I can tell you as a matter of empirical fact that my 5 year old power compact is growing my plants just as well as it did on day one. Is that because my plants aren't terribly demanding? Who knows, maybe - but clearly and old power compact bulb can grow Ludwigia and Hygro just great.
The light from LEDs just looks dead to me (which is perfect for moonlights or deep water effects, but doesn't work for me as sunlit shallow water).
It's not just a matter of the colour, mixing in various colours helps but doesn't get rid of the underlying deadness of the light. Maybe it's just the uniformity of the light they put out I'm reacting to, maybe it's the staccato-like spectrum - don't know exactly. It has something to do with how the light behaves though, since high-end LED systems look fine to me in pictures, just don't like them in real life.
Coming from the reef side of lighting, LEDs produce a narrow spectrum and therefore have a lack of color where T5 bulbs a wider spectrum. Mixing of emitters can widen the spectrum but still have sharp drops in color.
That being said I will only run LEDs as the pros out way cons by far.
My Ray 2 is scheduled to be here tomorrow for my 72 gallon bow front. I'm excited about using LEDs over T5s or T8s. The smaller fixture was the winning point for me! I also like how they use less wattage and lower heat output. The UPS man is KILLING me right now! I want my light LOL!
FWIW, I've got two Ray 2's on my 50 Gal acrylic and I love them. I had a little problem with algae. But with some direction from forum members, I've gotten it under control by cutting the "on" time and a few other tips. They ARE bright! You should like them. :smile:
I use the flourescent power compact bulbs and wow they are bright and my vals have taken off like crazy in the short time which I have had them but the bulb fixtures look bit lame and ONLY due to that am I looking at LED but if the fixture doesn't bother you, the bulbs are great (White light type).
This is a 36 inch long, 30 gallon tank and 2 -13 watt bright white bulbs, I found the daylight type gave off to much of a blue tinge.
Jules - Thank you for reminding me to be to be more precise in my writing. I acknowledge I presented my thoughts on the effective service life of CFLs in too broad and general terms.
We almost had this thread completely hijacked, and now you're just going to sit there and let it go right back on topic?
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