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Which LEDs for planted tank?

11K views 31 replies 14 participants last post by  airbagged 
#1 ·
Hi all,

I would like to upgrade my light, i have a 2x39w T5HO, but am interested in LEDs. I'm looking at Current USA's Truelumen Pro LED striplight vs BoostLED's PAR30 bulbs.

Does anyone has any experience at growing plants with these?

I'm looking to light a 48x20x20 and a 48x24x24.

How many striplights would i need or how many PAR30 bulbs would i need?

Thanks in advance

Cheers
 
#3 ·
It sounds like your looking for a "Hi tech" lighting setup? What kind of plants and fish?

Pictures are always good too, Lol.

Good luck with your setup, its a good question because I was wondering the same thing.
 
#5 ·
Hi all

My current tank is a 48x16x20, it's 65g. My plants include swords, crypts, anubias, and ferns. Got really tired of pruning stem plants every 3 days. And I plan to upgrade, maybe ina year or so, to a 48x24x24 120g, cause i want discus, and my current tank make it a SW FOWLR or softie reef. My reason to change to LEDs is because of energy savings and long lasting bulb... and i really want the shimmer effect LOL. But i havent found anything of LEDs and plants.

I can't upload a picture from my iphone. Once i have access to a pc i'll post one

Cheers
 
#23 ·
and i really want the shimmer effect LOL. But i havent found anything of LEDs and plants.

I can't upload a picture from my iphone. Once i have access to a pc i'll post one

Cheers
have you entirely skipped out DIY section? :icon_mrgr

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/diy/152354-chinese-10w-led-vs-chinese-5050smds.html

I was playing with 10W LED's 5050SMD LED's... and 3W 660nm led's...

The hard part is, constant current vs constant voltage... I am playing with constant voltage... i want to play with constant current after i finished my stress tests on the 10W.

Do a little studing... red filled my thread with a bunch of info on LED's.

But an array is not hard to make... and the LED's are fairly cheap if you get them from hong kong.

The hardest part will be trying to get your heat sink array to look nice.


But u can see here, its not hard.. very simple:


My take...

10W LED's are nice... they are super bright... however at the same time they are super HOT.
How hot? they will burn out in 5-7 seconds unless u have a heat sink attached.

Not only that they will turn a stock intel cpu heat sink HOT if u dont have an active fan in 15 min.

3W LED's are nice... i havent fully gotten a chance to play with cree's tho on a constant current driver.
12V-10W LED's wont last long especially the 10W versions (1yr if your lucky), because they draw more then 900mA on 12V = 10.8W!!! which is bascially overboosting it.
But they costed me 4 dollars each, cover roughly 2 sqr ft with intensive light.... and being able to hotswap with those disconnects wont leave me crying when one does burn out.

20W, 50W, and 100W... man.... im scared on the heat output alone on a 10W's.. id hate to imagine the 50, and the 100W.
 
#6 ·
LEDs are more than capable of growing plants (I use them exclusively for plants).

Over a 48X16X20, using quality PAR30 bulbs, I think you'd need a minimum of 3 of them using optic angles no more narrow than 60 degrees (unless you can raise it way up high, like 20-30" over the tank).


Go with all cool white (6500K).
 
#9 ·
This is a pic of my current tank

I don't have any technical knowledge, i'm a medical resident, so i would need a plug-n-play fixture, like the current-usa truelumen pro or boostled's bulbs.

Anyone has any experience with current's striplights?
 

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#11 ·
This guy is pretty high on the TMC GrowBeam lights for planted tanks:

http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/LEDLights.html

His article shows a 12 watt TMC GrowBeam beating a 175 watt metal halide:

http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Aquarium_Lighting.html

I'm not sure about the conditions of that test and he claims that TMC has exclusive rights to a particular high-PAR LED from Cree, which I have not confirmed.

However, it does look like an interesting option.

[EDIT: After reading the article again, I'm not sure if that test uses the TMC LED]
 
#12 ·
60W of LED will be close to around 1.5-2.5 time of your current light depending on the lens.

Without lens, to achieve med to high PAR for planted requires A LOT MORE POWER than 60W. I think 60W with 60 degree lens is a great choice in your case.

Expect ~$300 for a dimmable one.

The Revolutions Series looks like this
[/url] Flickr 上 WingoAgencyRS1.0 Fixture on a 18x18x18 cube IMG_2036[/IMG]

The Grand Slam Series looks like this

Flickr 上 WingoAgencyGrand Slam A


I also noticed you asked about PAR bulbs. I have charted my PAR 38 6,700K(the brand you mentioned-I am happy to chart theirs too f some one local can lend me one) with 60 degree optics. You can match back the results with a sticky, I think from SN:Hobby so see how dense the bulbs you need.
[/url] Flickr 上 WingoAgencyPAR38 15x1W WingoLED DayLight 6,700K PAR DATA[/IMG]
 
#15 ·
Hi all

Found these in a local home improvement store
http://www.magg.com.mx/catalogo/?product=FLAT-190-CIRCULAR&q=node/854

there's 6 LEDs at 15.2 watts total at 5000k and 80º optics, the store clerk told me one unit would be enough to light a 24x24 area. At 15.2 watts with 6 LEDs i think that would make it a little over 2 watts per LED. Would this be enough for my tank? I was considering getting 2.

Thanks
 
#19 ·
ive been lookin at getting a new led one that ive liked is a plug an play with blue an white looks good from seeing it set up. its made by sunshine systems you could do a 90w raised up or two 32w panel. ive got a 90w thats just red/blue works great but would rather have a white/blue as its much much easyer on your eyes! it has more output than i need on my 40b *well more light than i can use with proper co2 levels an fauna surviving* :) my lfs has the 90w about 12"+ an its got perfect coverage for me on a 40b
 
#29 ·
Saw several lights at Lowes today that could be used for a single PAR38 LED bulb.

Like this one: http://www.lowes.com/pd_353922-4784...rentURL=/pl__0__s?Ntt=lanps&page=3&facetInfo=

I don't think you could use the shade. The bottom of the goose neck is 52" off the floor. The PAR 38's are 5" long. so the bottom of the bulb would be 47" off the floor. So for a 30" tall stand with a 16" high tank you are only 1" off the surface of the water. To use this light you would have to:

>>Easy way>> set the light on a 2' high box behind the aquarium
>>Harder way>> remove the base and attach the light pole to the aquarium stand.

Or look at this light that could be mounted on the stand:http://www.direct-lighting.com/display-light-par-halogen-fixed-arm-medium-base-BO-6133
 
#30 ·
Right now i just saw a new ecoxotic panorama module on their site, it says panorama freshwater kit, it looks like the older model, with 1w per led

http://www.ecoxotic.com/catalog/product/view/id/66/s/panorama-led-modules/category/17/

And according to ecoxotic they recommend 1 module per 12" length it seems, and i thought of using only 2 modules for a 48" long tank to get low-med light

Would it be better the newer Pro module? The newer one is like 2-2.5 w pero module

Anyone has any experience with these?
 
#31 ·
1000 lumens produce 1000 lux at one meter distance. Multiply lux by .014 to get approximate PAR for cool white fluorescent light (close enough to LED light). So, that 1000 lumen LED bulb should produce 14 micromols of PAR at one meter distance, but that is assuming the bulb emits light through a full spherical angle around the bulb. It doesn't. The light is concentrated into about a 60 degree cone, which is about 1/36 of a full sphere (I think). Therefore the PAR should be about 36 times higher or 36 x 14 = 500 micromols of PAR at a one meter distance. If all of that is calculated correctly, you should get an awful lot of light from one bulb. (At 20 inches, it would be 4X 500!)
 
#32 ·
I am currently using the aquaray grobeam 1000 on a 180 gallon planted they are amazing and the growth is insane!! they work excellent i was hesitant myself to put out the $1500 for 4 units and a controller but it was worth it!! check out my pic and see my setup. I also use Panorama freshwater leds as a secondary lighting system but the grobeams are fine without it. they are dim by contrast
 
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