Very Powerful LED Fixture Question

[plantbrain]

How deep is the tank, you never stated this critical piece of info. In general, LED's offer poor spread of light, good for spot lighting or from a long distance, but then you lose intensity, so it often ends up being a poor trade off energy wise.

If you chose the Cree 3 W, they offer decent spread and you can space them out evenly over the foot print, the spot light type things do not do that and tend to add too much light, the tannins will go away, too much light will be a thorn in your side for a long long time to come.

Better to go less, rather than more, with light intensity. Especially a lot of light on a larger tank. Great way to grow algae though.

[Hoppy]

I think you need to step back and start thinking from the start. You apparently can afford $1000 or more for lighting, but you are using the cheapest substrate material you could get. As a result of the substrate decision, you have a big tannins issue, making lighting the tank more difficult than it needs to be.

Why not switch to a commercial aquarium substrate, that doesn't release that much tannins, using some of the money you plan to spend on lights? You can buy a lot of ADA Aquasoil for that much money, and have a proven great substrate, that doesn't give you the tannin problem. Your tank is probably something like 96" x 30" x 30", which can easily be lighted with T5HO, or LEDs. You could use 4 of these 48" lights, http://www.catalinaaquarium.com/stor...oducts_id=1842 in two rows, separated by about a foot, and get about 50 micromols of PAR at the substrate, more than enough to grow any plants.

Then, start planning a CO2 system, which will be essential, and is by far the hardest thing to get right on a big tank like that.

[DeNoctis]

Originally Posted by plantbrain

How deep is the tank, you never stated this critical piece of info. In general, LED's offer poor spread of light, good for spot lighting or from a long distance, but then you lose intensity, so it often ends up being a poor trade off energy wise.

If you chose the Cree 3 W, they offer decent spread and you can space them out evenly over the foot print, the spot light type things do not do that and tend to add too much light, the tannins will go away, too much light will be a thorn in your side for a long long time to come.

Better to go less, rather than more, with light intensity. Especially a lot of light on a larger tank. Great way to grow algae though.

Thank you very much for your insights and articulate advice. As many have said in the past it is always great to have you chime in.

[Steve001]

Originally Posted by DeNoctis

Thank you very much for your insights and articulate advice. As many have said in the past it is always great to have you chime in.

There are other lighting options that may be workable. They are fluorescent induction lighting and possibly plasma lighting.

fluorescent induction lighting
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/sh...d.php?t=136175

[DeNoctis]

Originally Posted by Steve001

There are other lighting options that may be workable. They are fluorescent induction lighting and possibly plasma lighting.

fluorescent induction lighting
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/sh...d.php?t=136175

Great suggestions Steve. Thank you. I actually looked into both. The ESL (induction) bulbs seems a great option but I couldn't find too much information on them never mind easily obtainable products. But they have great lifetime. I also looked into the plasmas and they are by far (IMO) the best quality of light as they essentially duplicate the sun's spectrum but they have massive transformers/heat syncs/fans, probably get very hot and again like the ESLs are in their infancy manufacturing-wise. I was only able to find one supplier and the expenses were astronomical. I will keep my eye open for both though as they may find their way into the aquarium world soon. Thanks again.

P.S. Just read through some of the links you provided via the other thread. There is some great stuff in there and I didn't know about those ESL suppliers.

[Steve001]

Originally Posted by DeNoctis

Great suggestions Steve. Thank you. I actually looked into both. The ESL (induction) bulbs seems a great option but I couldn't find too much information on them never mind easily obtainable products. But they have great lifetime. I also looked into the plasmas and they are by far (IMO) the best quality of light as they essentially duplicate the sun's spectrum but they have massive transformers/heat syncs/fans, probably get very hot and again like the ESLs are in their infancy manufacturing-wise. I was only able to find one supplier and the expenses were astronomical. I will keep my eye open for both though as they may find their way into the aquarium world soon. Thanks again.

P.S. Just read through some of the links you provided via the other thread. There is some great stuff in there and I didn't know about those ESL suppliers.

You are welcome.
If you look at the threads I've started you'll find many highlight what's new in lighting options.

Almost all of the cutting edge lighting technology info I come across I find on the site called Reef Builders. For example: http://reefbuilders.com/2012/07/09/1...on/#more-60222