[MadTurtle23]

I would love to hear some peoples experience with LED lights. I am setting up a low tech dirted tank and I am trying to find the right light.
29 gallon with- 1 inch dirt and 3 inches of BDBS
My plants are all low-moderate light plants.
Hygrophilia,Val, Crypts, buce, dwarf chain sword, Amazons, and trident java fern.
The light I am looking at is a hygger FS with around 1200 lumen.
From what I have read, between 10-20 lumens for per liter(60 ish per gallon if my math is correct) is the range to aim for. With this light I should be right around 15 lumens per litre.

Are lumens are a good way to figure out what kind of light I should be using? My thinking is that a lower intense light, for longer, is better then a stronger light for shorter periods. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[somewhatshocked]

Lumens and watts per gallon are not good measurements. They really don't mean anything at all because different tanks are different depths.

PAR data is what you're looking for. Photosynthetic Active Radiation.

Lumens = the light you see. PAR = the light plants see.

Have you read the Stickies here in the Lighting section or read any of the other lighting posts? That will be extremely helpful for you. Would also be a good idea to check out the Tank Journals section. Find people with tanks like yours or tanks like you want to set up. When you see what they're using and how they're using it, you'll have an even better understanding of how things work.