[samamorgan]

This thread is here to try and keep new and seasoned aquarists informed about LED lighting. Please post any information, especially relating to PAR vs Distance you have for the various LED lighting fixtures and emitters out there. I will add more information to the top post as people throw it in here. Please provide source links wherever possible.

:angryfire Please do not post here asking for suggestions about a certian light or recommendations for what light to choose. :angryfire This is a place for people to come and find actual information about commercial LED fixtures. If you want some suggestions, make a new thread in the lighting forum. This serves the dual purpose of not cluttering this thread and your issue getting more exposure for a suggestion. Thanks!

Deciphering This Thread

PAR Values(Source) - Thanks Gnomecatcher for the suggestion!
Values between 10-30 are considered low light.
Values between 30-80 are considered medium light.
Values between 80-120 are considered high light.
Keep in mind that these values are what is currently accepted by the community as accurate, and aren't set in stone.

Symbols
- Fixture designed for marine applications. This can be a problem in terms of high output or bad color for planted tanks.
:biggrin: - Fixture designed for freshwater planted applications. You shouldn't have to worry about output or color with these.
​

AquaIllumination Sol
PAR Data(Source) PAR Vs. Distance from source
400+ PAR @ 24"
300 PAR @ 30"
200 PAR @ 36"
Notes: Above information doesn't really do this fixture justice. Check out the source link, gives spectral output and PAR vs. distance with coverage. This fixture is meant for marine setups, so has very high PAR values. Dimming or raising the light high above the surface would be necessary for a planted setup.

AquaticLife LED 0.5W Expandable Fixtures
PAR Data not available
Notes: In response to an email i sent out, Dave Troop at AquaticLife responded saying their lights don't put out enough for plants, and are only meant for accent lighting or fish only setups (Source).

Current TrueLumen Pro LED StripLight
PAR Data(Source) PAR Vs. Distance from source
350 PAR @ surface
96 PAR @ 6"
57 PAR @ 12"
42 PAR @ 18"
31 PAR @ 24"
Notes: Numbers are for a single fixture. The source link shows numbers for multiple fixtures configured like a T5 setup as well, worth checking out.

E.Shine Systems 3G LED Aquarium Lights
PAR Data(Source)
Notes: The different configurations of this light series are much too extensive to list in this thread. Click on the source link for a full list of the 3G LED fixtures offered by E.Shine. Each page has very comprehensive PAR data, so just poke around a bit.

E.Shine Systems Aqua Washer
PAR Data(Source)
Notes: Complete graphical PAR data is provided in the source link for this fixture.

E.Shine Systems 60W CREE Classic
PAR Data(Source)
Notes: Complete graphical PAR data is provided in the source link for this fixture. Looks to be very high powered, more suited for marine use. Could use for plants if it was hung fairly high above the tank, or good for deep tanks.

Ecoxotic Panorama Freshwater Module :biggrin:
PAR Data(Source) PAR Vs. Distance from source
161 PAR @ surface (3" through air)
101 PAR @ 7"
60 PAR @ 12"
36 PAR @ 18"
Notes: One should easily cover the footprint of a 10 gallon tank with medium-high light.

Ecoxotic Stunner Strip
PAR Data(Source) PAR vs. Distance from source
105 PAR @ surface (3" through air)
86 PAR @ 7"
71 PAR @ 12"
59 PAR @ 15"
49 PAR @ 18"
Notes: Please note that the above reading is for a 4 strip array. I don't know why the testers did this since it gives us no real basis on which to judge this fixture. Good catch Erica.

Finnex FugeRay
PAR Data(Source) PAR vs. Distance from source
10" fixture: 49 PAR @ 6", 18 PAR @ 12", 9 PAR @ 18"
12" fixture: 62 PAR @ 6", 25 PAR @ 12", 13 PAR @ 18"
Notes: Amazingly low cost for an LED fixture that puts out medium light for nano tanks. Nice slim design, too. It's a good idea to check out the source link on this one, gives offset PAR values so coverage can be approximated. One of the easiest to read PAR charts i've seen. Also comes equipped with blue moonlights. Big thanks to Lowe for the data on these.

Finnex Ray II
PAR Data(Source) PAR vs. Distance from source
16" fixture: 130 PAR @ 6", 49 PAR @ 12", 27 PAR @ 18"
18" fixture: 153 PAR @ 6", 72 PAR @ 12", 37 PAR @ 18"
24" fixture: 179 PAR @ 6", 87 PAR @ 12", 55 PAR @ 18"
Notes: Great value priced fixture for various sized tanks. It's a good idea to check out the source link on this one, gives offset PAR values so coverage can be approximated. One of the easiest to read PAR charts i've seen. Big thanks to Lowe for the data on these.

Innovative Marine SKKYE Lights
PAR Data(Source)
Just look at the source link on this one, PAR data is very well explained.

Kessil A150 LED Aquarium Light
PAR Data(Source) PAR vs. Distance from source
2888 PAR @ 0"
2000 PAR @ surface (4" through air)
400-500 PAR @ 8"
80-90 PAR @ 15"
Notes: Very powerful lights, designed for reef applications. If you go through the thread in the source link, there is a lot more information pertaining to this light. An example I found interesting was the 20g long lit with a single one of these lights hung pretty high above the tank, and still growing corals (view here). Credit for PAR data goes to Frick.

Kessil A150W Amazon Sun :biggrin:
PAR Data(Source 1, Source 2) PAR vs. Distance from source
56 PAR @ 18"
42 PAR @ 21"
34 PAR @ 24"
Notes: Seem to be about perfect for getting medium light to most medium sized aquariums. Great coverage for such a small light. Credit for PAR data goes to propsi.

Marineland Single Bright
PAR Data(Source) PAR vs. Distance from source
18-24" fixture: 8 PAR @ 12", 3 PAR @ 24"
24-36" fixture: 10 PAR @ 12", 4 PAR @ 24"
36-48" fixture: 11 PAR @ 12", 4.5 PAR @ 24"
48-60" fixture: 16 PAR @ 12", 6 PAR @ 24"
Notes: Probably not suitable for even low light plants unless the tank is very shallow.

Marineland Double Bright
PAR Data(Source) PAR vs. Distance from source
18-24 inch fixture: 30 PAR @ 12", 17 PAR @ 24"
24-36 inch fixture: 35 PAR @ 12", 19 PAR @ 24"
36-48 inch fixture: 54 PAR @ 12", 26 PAR @ 24"
48-60 inch fixture: 73 PAR @ 12", 35 PAR @ 24"
Notes: Should provide low light for most tanks, depending on fixture size.

Marineland Reef Capable
PAR Data(Source) PAR vs. Distance from source
1876 PAR @ surface
253 PAR @ 6"
170 PAR @ 12"
110 PAR @ 18"
80 PAR @ 24"
Notes: Would probably have to be hung at least 1 foot above most tanks to prevent lots of algae. Great for high light on a tall tank as well. Thanks goes out again to AquaNerd blog, much better than the information in Marineland's catalog.

Maxspect Mazarra LED Lighting System
PAR Data(Source) PAR vs. Distance from source
350 PAR @ 20"
Notes: Check out the source link on this one, gives coverage data as well. This system is designed for reef applications, so put out very, very high PAR. They use the newest CREE XM-L emmiters, which are very powerful. Probably too powerful for anything a plant enthusiast could use. Click here for an image of what a reefer has done with this setup, and the extremely high PAR he's getting. Credit for PAR reedings on that image goes to Acrotrdco.

TMC AquaBeam 1500XG Ocean White
PAR Data(Source) PAR Vs. Distance from source
231 PAR @ surface (7” through air)
161 PAR @ 10”
104 PAR @ 14”
78 PAR @ 19”
52 PAR @ 25”
Notes: Uses 10 x 9000K Cree XP-G diodes.

TMC GroBeam 1000 Natural Daylight
PAR Data(Source) PAR Vs. Distance from source
195 PAR @ surface (7” through air)
120 PAR @ 10”
80 PAR @ 14”
52 PAR @ 19”
41 PAR @ 25”
Notes: Uses 10 x 6500K Cree XP-E Compact PowerLEDS.

WingoLED Fluval Edge Savior
PAR Data(Source)
Notes: Click on the source link for par data here, shows PAR values for various points at the bottom of the aquarium. Very nice solution for the Fluval Edge line of aquariums, where space and coverage are in inherent issue with this tank design. Credit for PAR data goes to WingoAgency.

WingoLED PAR38 Bulbs
PAR38 15x1W WingoLED DayLight 12,000K
PAR38 12x1W WingoLED TriBand 60 degree
PAR38 18x1W WingoLED Perfect Sprectrum
PAR38 15x1W WingoLED DayLight 6,700K
Notes: Just click on the links for these individually, great graphical par data is provided. Credit for PAR data goes to WingoAgency.

 

[samamorgan]

Not all spectrums are created equal!
Analyzing photosynthetically active radiation (PUR)

Please keep in mind that the following is purely informational, and should be taken very lightly if at all when considering an LED fixture purchase!

One of the reasons LEDs can be so much more efficient than T5, compact flourescent, and even metal halide is spectrum output. The chlorophyll pigment is green in color, which means that it reflects the green spectrum of light to our eyes so we see it as green. This means that it absorbs all other spectrums of visible light. Check out this graph:

As you can see, plants absorb visible light very well between ~400-500nm and ~650-700nm. The absorbtion rate drops off significantly in the green and yellow spectrums. Here are some LED emmiter comparisons in terms of specrum. Big thanks to redfishsc for doing the footwork on this. Notice that the warm white LEDs put out significantly lower blue spectrum spikes, but much higher red-yellow spectrum spikes. Essentially this tells us that cool white LEDs are almost always better for plant growth.

LEDs put out very specific spectrums of light, which are defined by the manufacturer. LED manufacturers can fine tune emmiters to put out exactly the spectrum specified by the client. Since PAR meters measure light between 400-700nm, an LED array putting out less par than a broad spectrum flourescent fixture may actually be putting out more photosynthetically usable radiation (PUR).

Why is this concept important?
Say two LED emmiters read around 100 PAR on a meter. The first LED spikes highest in the 550nm range. The second LED spikes highest in the 450nm range. So while both emmiters have the same PAR value, emmiter two would actually grow plants very well because it is in a range that can be absorbed by the plant, while emmiter one would probably keep plants limping along, if they could even survive.

 

[samamorgan]

Placeholder.

 

[Storm]

Great job! I have a feeling that in the next 3-6 months there are going to be a ton of nice LED lighting setups hitting the planted aquarium world. This should be interesting! /popcorn

 

[Gnomecatcher]

Could you possibly explain what the PAR number means? I know what PAR is, but I don't know what the number means. Thanks for the info! Very helpful to see them all compared next to each other.

 

[WingoAgency]

Flickr 上 WingoAgency 的 PAR38 15x1W WingoLED DayLight 12,000K PAR DATA


Flickr 上 WingoAgency 的 PAR38 12x1W WingoLED TriBand 60 degree PAR DATA


Flickr 上 WingoAgency 的 PAR38 18x1W WingoLED Perfect Sprectrum PAR DATA


Flickr 上 WingoAgency 的 PAR38 15x1W WingoLED DayLight 6,700K PAR DATA

Source: WingoLED

 

[WingoAgency]

Sam, can you put the values over a coverage on your charts as well?

 

[samamorgan]

Sam, can you put the values over a coverage on your charts as well?

This would have to be done graphically, and i dont want to have to make a new graphic every time i add a new fixture to the list. Fixtures with coverage charts will be just sourced to like the SKKYE lights are. Adding a bunch of extra information in text format to each line would make this much harder to read though too. If someone can think of a better way to do it, by all means let me know!

 

[WingoAgency]

This would have to be done graphically, and i dont want to have to make a new graphic every time i add a new fixture to the list. Fixtures with coverage charts will be just sourced to like the SKKYE lights are. Adding a bunch of extra information in text format to each line would make this much harder to read though too. If someone can think of a better way to do it, by all means let me know!

But without coverage, the data given is of very little meaning, because the LEDs are angular and most fixtures are length wise and thus 6 inches off center is very different from the center value. Furthermore, 6 inches to the left vs 6 inches to front is a big difference too. We need to find a precise way of charting them.

 

[samamorgan]

Coverage is going to vary from fixture to fixture, depending on fixture size and array layout. Patterns are never going to be the same between all fixtures, as they have multiple light sources. So there is really no way i can think of to accurately chart every manufacturers coverage in an easily readable format. Especially considering this is just dug up information, we would have to contact every manufacturer and get PAR data at different depths and offsets or just do it ourselves, which would be wayyyy beyond anything im willing to do.

This is really meant to be a place to come to get an idea of what a fixture is capable of that someone may be looking at buying, without having to go through all the research that i did to find this information out.

 

[WingoAgency]

Reasonable.

Coverage is going to vary from fixture to fixture, depending on fixture size and array layout. Patterns are never going to be the same between all fixtures, as they have multiple light sources. So there is really no way i can think of to accurately chart every manufacturers coverage in an easily readable format. Especially considering this is just dug up information, we would have to contact every manufacturer and get PAR data at different depths and offsets or just do it ourselves, which would be wayyyy beyond anything im willing to do.

This is really meant to be a place to come to get an idea of what a fixture is capable of that someone may be looking at buying, without having to go through all the research that i did to find this information out.

 

[DishyFishy]

I have been looking for something like this for a while. Thanks much for the info and the work!

 

[Atheris]

Thank you! I literally just came here to investigate lighting and was wondering about LEDs. Unbelievable timing.

 

[samamorgan]

I'm glad this is proving useful

I'm thinking about just emailing all the led lighting manufacturers i can think of and asking for PAR vs distance data.

 

[pandacory]

Please do!

That would he incredibly helpful! I am also on the verge of new lights, either upgraded flourescents and wait 2years or so for led tech to mature, or bite the bullet now and get led to keep for 5 years.

Lighting always seems to be a two fold problem. 1. Finding data on available lights or DIY stuff with decent qualitative assessments and 2. Agreeing what light ranges qualify low, med and high as I have seen such different answers out there!

Thanks a bunch, this is a great resource!

 

[Storm]

Could we make this a sticky? This is very useful information.

 

[samamorgan]

Could we make this a sticky? This is very useful information.

That would be cool. Is this something a mod would have to do?

I have emailed all the manufacturers that I know of who sell led aquarium lighting asking for par cs distance data. Already have several replies, TMC notably said they would get right on it and give me the information in a couple days. So this thread may get much bigger soon.

 

[samamorgan]

Response from AquaticLife to my multi manufacturer email:

Thanks for thinking of us for the planted tank forum. I’m sorry to say but our current LED strips are not really geared for plant growth, they are weighted heavily to the marine side and even for the marine we are using them only for accent lighting or fish only systems. We are working on a freshwater version that we hope to release soon but again this would be used for a fish only system.

As for growing plants we will have some higher wattage LED soon and we can assist in getting PAR values, spectrums and additional details when the product is released.

Regards,

Dave Troop

Aquatic Life, LLC

 

[samamorgan]

Response from Tropical Marine Center to my multi manufacturer email:

Following your email of yesterday, I’ve taken some readings from two of the units we recommend for planted aquaria. These were taken using an Apogee Model QMSS meter. The lights are mounted 7” above the water surface (this is the height where we achieve the best balance between shimmer effect, light spread and sufficient PAR, given maximum water depth of 20”. For deeper displays or where higher PAR is required at substrate, the lights would be mounted closer to the water surface).

The readings I got were as follows:

AquaBeam 1500XG Ocean White (10 x 9000K Cree XP-G diodes):

231 PAR @ surface (7” through air)
161 PAR @ 3”
104 PAR @ 7”
78 PAR @ 12”
52 PAR @ 18”

GroBeam 1000 Natural Daylight (10 x 6500K Cree XP-E Compact PowerLEDS)

195 PAR @ surface (7” through air)
120 PAR @ 3”
80 PAR @ 7”
52 PAR @ 12”
41 PAR @ 18”

I’ve attached the relevant pages from our aquatics catalogue – if there is in further information you require, please let me know.

Kind regards

Gyles Westcott
AquaRay Lighting Consultant

 

[samamorgan]

Got a long response from EcoTech about their Radion light, no help there. This isn't surprising considering that they are marine geared. I won't post the whole thing as they said they havent done any research and it shouldn't be considered an official statement from EcoTech, but heres the overall statement:

Please investigate for yourself.