[blackdog76]

I just ordered a 5M roll of 5050 SMD LEDs off stealbay and was going to use a 4ft strip for the back of my tank. I have a Ray 2 in the center which seems to be doing great for my emersed start but I will have red plants in the rear. I'm using the main bulk of the roll for another project, so before I buy a planted plus I thought I would give these a shot. Specs say 650-660nm for the reds. It's a 7 to 1 ratio red to blue.

 

[blinky2088]

I am just starting to use these strips however in combinations with t5hos.

Currently over a 4ft long 75 Gallon tank with 6 x t5ho and with 2 x 1 meter grow strips. I may play around with it later ie reduce 6 t5ho to 4 or 2 and maybe add more strips dont know yet.

I can say that with 2x 1 meter strips at 5 red to 1 blue ledc ombo at 660nm reds, you cannot visually see a difference at the bottom of the tank with my
t5ho's on. Even if 1 just use only 2 x t5ho with 2 strips of grow bulbs the
t5ho overpower the leds. So my tank does not look like a bad acid trip shining pink light everywhere

The 5050 leds at 60 led per meter are rated at 14.5 watts per meter so total is 29 Watts compared to 2 x 54 w t5ho = 108 watts. Plus red light is harder for humans to see than the white colour my t5ho are putting out

The difference may come with growth or when plants get closer to the surface colours may appear more red??? .

I have tried just the 2 x led grow strips over the tank only and it gives an amazing red colour to the plants not very strong to the human eye in the tank going through the water but when it hits a red plant it is really reflected beautifully, Almost like a red-sky...dusk/dawn effect.

I have put these strips in led strip housing/ fixtures and they look very proferssional also come with a diffuser I dont plan on using yet, but I could not find them in 4ft length only 100cm length so the mounting will be a little work over a 4ft tank. There are other options like making my own that would fit the 4ft length but may not look as tidy.