[trawilson01]

i am new to plants and with leds you cant use wpg.
so i have been searching and researching for a light i like.
i came across this
http://www.aquaticlife.com/light-fixtures/edge-led
..
i really like it and was looking into it some. i do not know if it is good enough for plants.
is aquaticlife a decent brand?
anyone used this light or know of it?
i did call a rep, nice and helpful. he gave me some specs.
at 12" below the light it produces 95 -105 par
at 18" it produces 55 - 65 par
the lumans at 16.5" are 4240 - 4250
my aquarium of choice is a 125g, about 20 - 21" from surface to substrate, 23" total tank height. 18" depth front to back, 72" long.
so what does everyone think?

 

[Kal18seven]

I'd like to see if anyone is using these. I was wondering the same myself. Pretty sure aquatic life is a popular brand. I have used there t5 freshwater lights with good results.

 

[trawilson01]

finally some kind of response. i was starting to think something was wrong with this site.:icon_sad:

 

[TekWarren]

Interesting! I like these lights are sort of modular and they give a way to hide multiple power cords. Prices don't seem to crazy either.

I don't have experience with "big" tanks but I grew plants in my 40breeder with a single beamswork fixture that used .2watt leds...but there are 3 rows of them. I just recently upgraded two dual .5w led beamswork fixtures now that I have more plant growth. The BW lights do not have any red or blue leds however.

I'm tempted to grab one of these in 30" to try on my low tech 20 long. Even if I needed two that's only around $50...

 

[trawilson01]

what light are you referring to?
i dont think these are modular, and they are more pricey than that i think.
it sounds like you are referring to zoo meds aquasun led fixture.

 

[TekWarren]

Not really modular but look kinda like they go together when side by side and there is a cover that helps hide the cords from each unit.

I was looking here: http://www.aquaticlife.com/light-fixtures/led-05w-freshwater

click on buy now, 30" is only $25.99 or were you looking at something else??

 

[trawilson01]

oh yeah, those are neat and they do hide the cords.
i was referring to the "edge" model.
it has a built in timer and even gradually turns the lights on like nature. pretty cool!
no more spooking the fish, should work very well with discus.

 

[TekWarren]

DOH! Sorry my bad LOL. Yea those are quite a bit more expensive! The LED layout is interesting. A little to pricey for my taste but I roll with "cheap" Beamswork products mostly without any plant issues.

Still considering the other model I linked to above though...

 

[trawilson01]

i like that other model as well and thanks for letting me know how your plants do with the light you have. it helps me to decide.
what set up do you use now that they do well with? what watts and lumans or par?

 

[TekWarren]

I'm not sure what the par is but here is a write up I did recently on the lighting I am using...quite a bit of text at first but pics if you scroll down. I am using a .5w model but there are 1w and 3w models in various sizes.

http://warrenreptiles.com/beamswork-led-planted-aquarium-lighting/

 

[JJ09]

I'm glad you posted the specs because I have this light and am still trying to figure out the balance between light/ferts. My tank is 18" high so now I know I have med light level... (trying to keep it low tech, no C02). Do you still have the light? how's it working out for your plants?

 

[Fiishman]

I have this on my 12 gallon long and it will grow algae like mad if you don't have CO2. Add co2 and you get pearling monte carlo with bright green growth. I used it previously on a 40 breeder but it wasn't powerful enough or wide enough so I added a planted+. still only really hit medium light levels.

 

[rtfish]

I have one on my 15G and I had to stop using the high light or chan 2 on it as I was getting too much green algae. Also had to reduce the chan 1 time and increase the ramp up/down to 2 hrs. I bought it as I was going on vacation and all I had was an old T8 single tube. Needed something quick and that had a timer and memory. Tank only has one type of crypt wendtii, java moss, pygmy chain swords, and Hygrophila corymbosa Kompakt. I had to run out and replace the bn pleco I moved to my larger tank and put a few amanos in to cut some of the algae on the glass, etc. I'll take a pic and post later, but the crypts went nuts and grew huge and the java moss is super bushy. Now the crypts are starting to suffer from green algae growing on them and curling a bit.

 

[JJ09]

Fiishman- well, if it was too powerful for your 12 gal but not enough for a 40, do you think it would be ok on a 38? That's what I was going for: low/med light, no C02.

rtfish- thanks, that's helpful to me. I did have a lot of green algae. I had it 30 min sunrise/sunset, 1 hr ch 1 and 6 hr ch 1 + 2. I think I'm going to increase the sunrise/sunset time, maybe increase ch 1 and decrease ch 2 (or maybe not use them combined together) see if that improves things...

 

[Fiishman]

It should be fine on an 18" tank. For reference, I use a 1hr fade time. 10 hours total for Light 1, 8 hours total for light 2

 

[rtfish]

and I should have noted I don't have co2 on the 15g and why I need to manage the lighting.

 

[JJ09]

Thanks. I've reset mine to have 2 hrs fade in/out, 8 hours total chan 1 and 5 hours total chan 2. Before I had it nine and six hours respectively, and the plants were growing well but GSA. I don't use C02 so I think I need to keep the lights lower.

 

[rtfish]

Thanks. I've reset mine to have 2 hrs fade in/out, 8 hours total chan 1 and 5 hours total chan 2. Before I had it nine and six hours respectively, and the plants were growing well but GSA. I don't use C02 so I think I need to keep the lights lower.

Same fight as me. Lots of GSA growth and that stuff is tough! Have it growing inside of my hob intake pipes. Hard place to remove it from.

 

[JJ09]

Try one of those little bristle brushes? I have more nerite snails now too, they seem to eat the stuff but not fast enough.