# Your LED planted tank pics



## jimmyjam

Hey guys, I was just looking into setting up a few 4 foot grow outs, and Im just looking into a good led setup. 

I want to see all the success or bad stories about your LED setups. Please post your aquascapes here with your tank and lighting specs, with a bit of feedback

Thanks


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## pyrrolin

If they are just grow out tanks, I would just go cheap and get shop lights from HD for $18


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## jimmyjam

Im looking to setup 3-6x 50 gallon 48 inch long 12 inch tall tanks. I will have tonina and erios/ bucephalandreas. So it will be a full high tech grow out. 

I just wanted to see the growth of peoples tanks. I already have 2 of 4xt5ho shop light and tech fixtures. Im thinking about getting a finnex for the third to start off with. Any pics or experience with growth with LED?


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## CanadaPleco

Jimmyjam, have you seen these videos of Finnex Fixtures?

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=495537


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## jimmyjam

yeah they look good, thanks anyone one have any of their own?


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## CanadaPleco

There's a whole ton of people in the GTA that have them. How often they frequent this forum is another question. There's some testimonials on the site.


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## TorontoPlantMan

jimmyjam said:


> yeah they look good, thanks anyone one have any of their own?


I don't have a Finnex but I have two Marineland Aquatic Plant LED fixtures, I was skeptical at first because of other Marineland LED fixtures I previously saw but because I got them free I figured I'd try them out. I'm really surprised at how much light it gives off, and in your case on a 12" high tank with the 48" fixture you'd have PAR/LUX at 12" - 172/10530. 172 PAR will let you grow anything you want.

Here's the rest of the info

Aquatic Plant LED Lighting System - 48" to 60"

Number of 1 watt White LEDs - 46
Number of 3 watt RGB LEDs - 8
PAR/LUX at 12" - 172/10530
PAR/LUX at 24" - 83/4810
Lumens - 4480


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## jimmyjam

thanks man, thats great info, do you have any pics of that tank? did you grow any light demanding plants in that tank? Comparable to a t5h0 output, did you find the growth as good?



TorontoPlantMan said:


> I don't have a Finnex but I have two Marineland Aquatic Plant LED fixtures, I was skeptical at first because of other Marineland LED fixtures I previously saw but because I got them free I figured I'd try them out. I'm really surprised at how much light it gives off, and in your case on a 12" high tank with the 48" fixture you'd have PAR/LUX at 12" - 172/10530. 172 PAR will let you grow anything you want.
> 
> Here's the rest of the info
> 
> Aquatic Plant LED Lighting System - 48" to 60"
> 
> Number of 1 watt White LEDs - 46
> Number of 3 watt RGB LEDs - 8
> PAR/LUX at 12" - 172/10530
> PAR/LUX at 24" - 83/4810
> Lumens - 4480


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## TorontoPlantMan

jimmyjam said:


> thanks man, thats great info, do you have any pics of that tank? did you grow any light demanding plants in that tank? Comparable to a t5h0 output, did you find the growth as good?


No problem. I don't have a picture with the lights on my tank yet but I'll take one for you with just the T5HO's running (dual bulb) and then what it looks like once I turn on the LED's. As per light demanding plants I have some dwarf hair grass, glosso, microsword, s. repens, alternanthera reineckii mini, C. Parva, and all the other plants aren't light demanding plants but can tolerate it. So far I'm finding the growth to be quite well, the dwarf hair grass has started to turn a slight reddish which is really cool, I've tried to take a picture of it but can't seem to get a good enough shot with just a P&S camera. The only issue I'm having is that the light is so strong I'm having to now find a new balance for CO2 and ferts as I'm having diatom issues, I'll get there eventually but this light is definitely a hidden gem for those who have experience with high light and co2/ferts.


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## jimmyjam

sounds good, I want to makes sure that the toninas and hc will be good and not reach for the light or Worse yet die off. I'm looking forward to the comparison . Good post!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## TorontoPlantMan

They should do great, the only die off I'm having is from the gloss and hair grass i recently got as they were grown emersed. Attached are the pictures for you, The first picture is the tank with just the T5HO bulbs on which are located at the back part of the tank, it's a 30" Coralife 31watt dual bulb fixture with 6700k and the pink bulb. Then the second picture is with the LED's on which sit on the front part. It was awfully hard to take a good photo because of all the ambient light coming out as you'll see in picture 2. So picture 3 is with all the lights on (LEDs included) and the exposure set to -2, in all the other pictures the exposure was 0.



jimmyjam said:


> sounds good, I want to makes sure that the toninas and hc will be good and not reach for the light or Worse yet die off. I'm looking forward to the comparison . Good post!
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## kyle

Hello also interested in this.

torontoplantman
1) Do you normally use t5ho and the led or just led?
2) What substrate are you using?
3) how long has the tank been set up for running with the Leds?

PS I have some Dwarf Hair Grass and Glosso for free for you to experiment grown submerged, if you ever come out my way Islington and Dundas- Etobicoke


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## jimmyjam

the led look good! I might have to pickup a light to play with. Whats a good place to get it from for decent price?



TorontoPlantMan said:


> They should do great, the only die off I'm having is from the gloss and hair grass i recently got as they were grown emersed. Attached are the pictures for you, The first picture is the tank with just the T5HO bulbs on which are located at the back part of the tank, it's a 30" Coralife 31watt dual bulb fixture with 6700k and the pink bulb. Then the second picture is with the LED's on which sit on the front part. It was awfully hard to take a good photo because of all the ambient light coming out as you'll see in picture 2. So picture 3 is with all the lights on (LEDs included) and the exposure set to -2, in all the other pictures the exposure was 0.


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## TorontoPlantMan

kyle said:


> Hello also interested in this.
> 
> torontoplantman
> 1) Do you normally use t5ho and the led or just led?
> 2) What substrate are you using?
> 3) how long has the tank been set up for running with the Leds?
> 
> PS I have some Dwarf Hair Grass and Glosso for free for you to experiment grown submerged, if you ever come out my way Islington and Dundas- Etobicoke


Hey Kyle,

1. I normally use T5HO as I've had great growth with just the dual bulb fixture, I always wanted to get a quad fixture but never had the funds to support that. I recently had an issue with Marineland and as a result they sent me 2 of these LED Plant fixtures 24-36" (check the previous page for specs, the PAR is nuts). I've always been skeptical of LED's but this fixture has changed my mind for sure, I just wish I knew more about CO2/ferts in order to really take advantage of this light.

2. The substrate is pretty complex, many will disagree with my choices but I've chosen my substrate this way due to certain rare cryptocoryne's which I have. It has a border of fluorite dark with the middle with MTS in the middle and capped with fluorite black sand. This covers all elements needed for plants, especially with the murite of potash, natural clay, and aragonite added. Here's a bit of a better description

- Seachem Fluorite Dark (Outer Wall)
- Seachem Fluorite Red (Mixed with MTS mix + on top of and underneath MTS mix)
- Seachem Fluorite Black Sand X 2 
- Aragonite sand
- Natural clay
- Mineralized Top Soil (MTS) Soaked and dried for 6 weeks, mineralized with natural clay from the badlands as well as other additives. (murite of potash, worm castings, etc)

3. I've only had the tank up and running since December 27th, 2013 and the LED's were added two weeks ago but I can genuinely say that I see a growth difference with them, especially with the DHG turning red.

Also, wow thanks a lot man that's really nice of you to offer the DHG and Glosso for me to experiment with, I'll be sure to bring some plants your way as well. Please do let me know about the A.B and B.V when you feel comfortable selling a piece, I literally dream of those plants 



jimmyjam said:


> the led look good! I might have to pickup a light to play with. Whats a good place to get it from for decent price?


Big Al's currently has them on sale so now would probably be a chance if you wanted to try them out. The built in timers are really handy too. If I recall correctly the ones I have are on sale for 319.99 from 399.99, it's pricey I'm not gonna lie, but if money isn't an option I wouldn't hesitate to get another one.


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## jimmyjam

Looks like your substrate has it all! Crypts will love it, just be careful when they start over growing the tank and you need to get rid of some. As I have expressed in the past, I'm not a fan with working with MTS because I cant scape with it properly without leeching. But if your trying to grow out crypts, it def has more nutrients than ADA. 

I also have glosso and HC, Im in makham, your welcome to some for experimental purposes =)


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## kyle

Torontoplantman.

Yeah No problem about the other A.B. and B.V. they will come back. When you said Diatoms I thought the tank was newly set up that is a big sign. They will go away just needs time.

I want to really believe in the leds ( I mean more PAR less energy fewer bulb changes or degredation on output). I have been following the progression for years now and they keep getting better, just not sure if Im ready to ditch the T5ho just yet.

Keep us updated if you can we would love to see the progression through time and growth


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## jimmyjam

I feel the same!



kyle said:


> Torontoplantman.
> 
> Yeah No problem about the other A.B. and B.V. they will come back. When you said Diatoms I thought the tank was newly set up that is a big sign. They will go away just needs time.
> 
> I want to really believe in the leds ( I mean more PAR less energy fewer bulb changes or degredation on output). I have been following the progression for years now and they keep getting better, just not sure if Im ready to ditch the T5ho just yet.
> 
> Keep us updated if you can we would love to see the progression through time and growth


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## TorontoPlantMan

jimmyjam said:


> Looks like your substrate has it all! Crypts will love it, just be careful when they start over growing the tank and you need to get rid of some. As I have expressed in the past, I'm not a fan with working with MTS because I cant scape with it properly without leeching. But if your trying to grow out crypts, it def has more nutrients than ADA.
> 
> I also have glosso and HC, Im in makham, your welcome to some for experimental purposes =)


I'd agree that the substrate does pose a threat for leeching if I start pulling up my plants but I plan to let this one just grow out and many of the crypts I chose are slow growing so it should be okay for now. Thats really nice of you to offer those plants, I've been meaning to pick up one of your HC packages as the growth looks awesome.

BTW, Sorry to go off topic but Jimmy do you by any chance know all of the Cryptocoryne species in which you have? I'm trying to complete my collection but I'm still short a few, PM me so we don't lose focus of your tread.



kyle said:


> Torontoplantman.
> 
> Yeah No problem about the other A.B. and B.V. they will come back. When you said Diatoms I thought the tank was newly set up that is a big sign. They will go away just needs time.
> 
> I want to really believe in the leds ( I mean more PAR less energy fewer bulb changes or degredation on output). I have been following the progression for years now and they keep getting better, just not sure if Im ready to ditch the T5ho just yet.
> 
> Keep us updated if you can we would love to see the progression through time and growth


Great keep me posted on the growth of them. I'm hoping the diatoms will soon go away or I'll have to keep cutting the light back more and more.

Honestly I'm completely with you guys on the whole T5HO VS LED debate, I've seen amazing tanks grown with T5's but I must say that I'm still really surprised with the growth of this LED fixture. I've never had a quad T5 so I cannot compare how it would be as opposed to running the LED+T5HO fixtures but the growth on my plants is really starting to take off.

I'm going to take a picture every Monday for the rest of the month of just one specific area of my tank which is directly under the LED's so you guys can see the 4 week growth with pressurized CO2 and all that jazz  Attached is our 1st Monday.


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## Sameer

If you ever saw my journal on TPT, it tells the whole story. There are tons of pics of my plants in T8s and with LEDs. BuildMyLED is what I went with as I had the option to choose from more colours. Plus, it seemed to be the cheapest from the rest. With t8s, t5HO and LEDs, my plants have grown like weed in all of them. Light isnt as important as nutrients and co2, atleast from my experience.


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## bobert_889

I'm currently running to 160w maxspect razors 8000k on a 230 gallon system growing low to medium light plants. If you had one on a smaller tank I'm sure it would be enough for high light plants.

I'm starting an 25 gallon iwagumi rimless tank now and just bought a 24" finnex ray two. Attempting to grow dwarf hairgrass with it, i'll let you know how it goes.

here is my 230
http://www.gtaaquaria.com/forum/album.php?albumid=189


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## jimmyjam

cant find it, can you send a link



Sameer said:


> If you ever saw my journal on TPT, it tells the whole story. There are tons of pics of my plants in T8s and with LEDs. BuildMyLED is what I went with as I had the option to choose from more colours. Plus, it seemed to be the cheapest from the rest. With t8s, t5HO and LEDs, my plants have grown like weed in all of them. Light isnt as important as nutrients and co2, atleast from my experience.


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## jimmyjam

Thats a awesome tank man, nice build, and nice sump setup. I eager to see a journal on the iwagumi.

How much did the maxspect set you back? Are they 3 watt bulbs?



bobert_889 said:


> I'm currently running to 160w maxspect razors 8000k on a 230 gallon system growing low to medium light plants. If you had one on a smaller tank I'm sure it would be enough for high light plants.
> 
> I'm starting an 25 gallon iwagumi rimless tank now and just bought a 24" finnex ray two. Attempting to grow dwarf hairgrass with it, i'll let you know how it goes.
> 
> here is my 230
> http://www.gtaaquaria.com/forum/album.php?albumid=189


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## jimmyjam

Thats a awesome tank man, nice build, and nice sump setup. I'm eager to see a journal on the iwagumi.

How much did the maxspect set you back? Are they 3 watt bulbs?



bobert_889 said:


> I'm currently running to 160w maxspect razors 8000k on a 230 gallon system growing low to medium light plants. If you had one on a smaller tank I'm sure it would be enough for high light plants.
> 
> I'm starting an 25 gallon iwagumi rimless tank now and just bought a 24" finnex ray two. Attempting to grow dwarf hairgrass with it, i'll let you know how it goes.
> 
> here is my 230
> http://www.gtaaquaria.com/forum/album.php?albumid=189


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## bobert_889

yup 3 watt bulbs. Bought them for around $500 each when they just came out. really great lights very happy with them. The finnex ray 2 that i just got is brighttt! no control, timer or dimmer though. I wish it could ramp up like the maxspects.


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## Sameer

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=262082&highlight=

4th page is where I post about my led, should be the 1st post on that page.

The main reason I bought leds is because I was tired of changing t5ho bulbs. They were expensive and in the end, I just didnt want to bother with another variable.


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## kyle

Sameer I read through your pos on tpt.. You have some really good growth and colours in your tank.

Initially you used shop lights . And also make mention of t8s alot in the threads. Did you jump from t8s to leds or have you also used t5ho?

Also initially you regretted the switch to led do to the spread and half tank being dark

. What changed your mind. Did you add 2 led fixtures or combine 1 led and 1 t8 fixture on your tank.

Thanks

K


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## Sameer

kyle said:


> Sameer I read through your pos on tpt.. You have some really good growth and colours in your tank.
> 
> Initially you used shop lights . And also make mention of t8s alot in the threads. Did you jump from t8s to leds or have you also used t5ho?
> 
> Also initially you regretted the switch to led do to the spread and half tank being dark
> 
> . What changed your mind. Did you add 2 led fixtures or combine 1 led and 1 t8 fixture on your tank.
> 
> Thanks
> 
> K


Hi Kyle, I used two shop lights for about 2 years. I just wanted more colours in my plants. More precisely, I wanted my L. aromatica to turn red, like we see pics on the net. I had pressurized co2 then and now and I always EI dosed (it turned out it was stellatus which ate my brain out from the frustration). So I moved to T5HO. I think I used them for almost a year but I did not see a difference. I suspect that the bulbs that came with the fixture were garbage. Rather than spend $30 a bulb, I decided it was time to move on to LEDs. Ive seen many threads of people with some killer Dutch styled tanks so I made the decision. I also didnt want to worry about, "maybe the bulbs are old, maybe thats why the plants aren't doing well" variable. So I sold my fixture for the price I bought it from, to someone who was legally allowed to grow you know what.

I researched with different led manufacturers and either they were in the $500+++++++ range, for reefs or they were just 6400k range. I found out about BML and it was the clear winner against the other fixtures. I asked around on their forum about the fixture and how I cannot hang them and they were not so clear with me. They told me everything would be fine, par would be x and x and that the plants closer to the surface might block the light, but I was too caught and skipped right over it.

Once I got my leds, they were not bright at all vs t5ho and t8s. Not to mention since its only 1 strip of light, the cone effect is terrible. This is why everyone with leds hang their fixtures, which was not possible for me. Because of these two reasons, I regretted my quick jump to leds. I quickly solved the problem by placing one T8 fixture. The tank is now bright enough and the PAR gets places. I did notice a big difference in my plants as well. The crazy high par has coloured up many plants that never coloured when I had my t8s and t5ho.

In the end, Im fine with my led and t8 combo. The best thing to do though is DIY leds. Ill try to link to a guy who has an amazing planted tank with leds.

EDIT: This guy is using two because he has not hung his fixture, check out the pics in his first post and then go to the last page. Amazing tank:

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=541881

This is what I want to do when I do move up to a bigger tank. The led setup is just mouth watering!!!

Page 33, post 343. Check the previous page too!
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=224490&page=23


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## kyle

Thanks for the detailed response Sameer. 

Seems to work very well for you maybe the mixture of both light types takes the best of both worlds.

Would you recommend buildmyled (think that is it BML) over diy or any other led company

its interesting I have switched most of my flashlights to led for about 5 years now from the old maglight style...it took awhile to get used too as most led bulbs are this cold white style not very natural to our eyes...but longer battery and longer bulbs are a great help and not to mention more compact.

I still cant get ised to some of those dollar stores that use the cold white fluorescents it drives me nuts...also some of the parking lots are switching to led...cold white style led

I also recently did some research on medical Penlights for a present and the concensus is that the old halogen lights have more to offer over the new led Penlights as they can show skin colour shades better and the led appear too strong and bother peoples eyes during inspection. More medical practioners tend to use the old filament bulb over led...imagine looking at someones skin with a cool.white led bulb everyones skin would look more bluey white. Then when viewed at under natural sun or possibly a .midday bulb.

..

Also you dont find surgical.rooms using led lghts right now for the same reason.

Maybe jimmyjam can respond here...any advancements In physio in relation to lighting?


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## Sameer

I would recommend BML over other leds because you can choose what temps. you want your leds to be. And the price is actually better than others in some cases. Recommending it over DIY? I dont think theres anything on the market thats better than a good old DIY. Id love to go diy led when I have the time.


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## jimmyjam

I suck at big DIY projects, it ends up being way more time that is worth my hourly rate =) And I get no personal gratification with sore back and tiredness lol

I on the other hand wouldnt mind paying someone to do it 

What do you mean by controlling colour temps? Do you mean by controlling witch lights go on, sep switches?


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## Sameer

jimmyjam said:


> I suck at big DIY projects, it ends up being way more time that is worth my hourly rate =) And I get no personal gratification with sore back and tiredness lol
> 
> I on the other hand wouldnt mind paying someone to do it
> 
> What do you mean by controlling colour temps? Do you mean by controlling witch lights go on, sep switches?


I meant to say what coloured leds you can have installed vs lets say all 6400k lighting. Ive attached a pic of what I chose. You can buy a dimmer as well, for like $15 but I find that a waste. Something like that should come free when you are spending $300 on a strip of leds.

I would also pay to have a diy done 

atm the more I think about my dutch, the bigger the problem Im seeing with my led strip. The cone of spread from my fixture does not seem to be enough to prevent the plants from melting. When you grow a thick bush, the plants deep inside die out because theres no light. In my case, it seems to be accelerated. Even after take out the plants every week, pruning the lower stems and planting them back, I still cant make the dense bush grow up to the water surface. By the time they reach the water surface, alot of the stems inside are just black and dead. I hope you get what Im saying. For nature and other style tanks a strip can work, but not when you have a thick jungle on the back half of the tank. Thats why t5ho and leds spread out to the width of the tank work. Atleast, this is what Im concluding atm seeing thru exprience. It sucks bad!

Also the links I posted in my previous post, those DIY guys, they can control the intensity of different leds on their fixture. The guy posted pic with the entire tank being blue, red and white and then all of the leds on full power to equal them out.

So the colour choice is for 12" that I chose, this repeats for the entire 48".


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## jimmyjam

I know exactly what you mean about the dead lower half of the plant. I get some of that with the t5ho, but I trim enough to keep it at bay. I found my halides had the best penetration and least amount of mid to low stem die off, but I also found more hair algae growing at the bottom halves due to more light penetration down there. Interesting though.



Sameer said:


> I meant to say what coloured leds you can have installed vs lets say all 6400k lighting. Ive attached a pic of what I chose. You can buy a dimmer as well, for like $15 but I find that a waste. Something like that should come free when you are spending $300 on a strip of leds.
> 
> I would also pay to have a diy done
> 
> atm the more I think about my dutch, the bigger the problem Im seeing with my led strip. The cone of spread from my fixture does not seem to be enough to prevent the plants from melting. When you grow a thick bush, the plants deep inside die out because theres no light. In my case, it seems to be accelerated. Even after take out the plants every week, pruning the lower stems and planting them back, I still cant make the dense bush grow up to the water surface. By the time they reach the water surface, alot of the stems inside are just black and dead. I hope you get what Im saying. For nature and other style tanks a strip can work, but not when you have a thick jungle on the back half of the tank. Thats why t5ho and leds spread out to the width of the tank work. Atleast, this is what Im concluding atm seeing thru exprience. It sucks bad!
> 
> Also the links I posted in my previous post, those DIY guys, they can control the intensity of different leds on their fixture. The guy posted pic with the entire tank being blue, red and white and then all of the leds on full power to equal them out.
> 
> So the colour choice is for 12" that I chose, this repeats for the entire 48".


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## TorontoPlantMan

Hey Jimmy, 

Attached is an updated picture of the tank under the LED's. I'll post the before and after picture after 12 day's of growth. I did do a trim though so keep that in mind, nevertheless you can really see the difference in the DHG and the flame moss.


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## jimmyjam

looks pretty good man, whats the fert dosage like, photo period, and co2? And did you mean e-tennelus or dhg? I dont see DHG in there.



TorontoPlantMan said:


> Hey Jimmy,
> 
> Attached is an updated picture of the tank under the LED's. I'll post the before and after picture after 12 day's of growth. I did do a trim though so keep that in mind, nevertheless you can really see the difference in the DHG and the flame moss.


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## TorontoPlantMan

jimmyjam said:


> looks pretty good man, whats the fert dosage like, photo period, and co2? And did you mean e-tennelus or dhg? I dont see DHG in there.


Thanks. Phosphorus, Potassium, Nitrogen, Trace and Iron X2 a week. T5HO come on at 12:00 and then by 1:00 the LEDs are on, and then by 5:00pm the LED's are off and from 5-7 the T5HO's are still on. CO2 is roughly 2-3 BPS.

And the dwarf hair grass is right beside the s.repens and a.r mini, I guess it just doesn't look so "Dwarf" before I haven't trimmed it. It is dwarf hair grass though, I also have normal hair grass in there which looks nothing like it. Definitely not e-tennelus though.


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## jimmyjam

I currently use LED lights for doing my eye exams with no issues. I also use infrared LED as part of our laser treatment. But, Im not sure about the technology.



kyle said:


> Thanks for the detailed response Sameer.
> 
> Seems to work very well for you maybe the mixture of both light types takes the best of both worlds.
> 
> Would you recommend buildmyled (think that is it BML) over diy or any other led company
> 
> its interesting I have switched most of my flashlights to led for about 5 years now from the old maglight style...it took awhile to get used too as most led bulbs are this cold white style not very natural to our eyes...but longer battery and longer bulbs are a great help and not to mention more compact.
> 
> I still cant get ised to some of those dollar stores that use the cold white fluorescents it drives me nuts...also some of the parking lots are switching to led...cold white style led
> 
> I also recently did some research on medical Penlights for a present and the concensus is that the old halogen lights have more to offer over the new led Penlights as they can show skin colour shades better and the led appear too strong and bother peoples eyes during inspection. More medical practioners tend to use the old filament bulb over led...imagine looking at someones skin with a cool.white led bulb everyones skin would look more bluey white. Then when viewed at under natural sun or possibly a .midday bulb.
> 
> ..
> 
> Also you dont find surgical.rooms using led lghts right now for the same reason.
> 
> Maybe jimmyjam can respond here...any advancements In physio in relation to lighting?


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## GAT

I heard Finnex is pretty good. There are some threads in NPT showing off good results with Finnex. Ray2 is for High light and FugeRay for low and I think Planted+ is sort of medium light. Anyone tried that? I think you can get 36' Ray2 for like 115+tax and free shipping from amazon.ca


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## GAT

Just an update for anyone looking to buy LED fixtures. I bought the Finnex planted+ and its been great. All of my plants growing great and I am seeing pink color on my hygro sunset and bronze on hygro ceylon. The ludwiga wavy(not if thats the real name) even turned red as it reached the top.

Great fixture and I got the 30" fixture for 100bucks


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## FlyingHellFish

Greetings!









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## Yann

*Kessil?*

I'd be very interested if some one has used a Kessil Amazon Sun or gotten their hands on the 360 Tuna Sun?? Way out of my price range to go experimenting with, but they look like they could be totally worth it


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## jimmyjam

nice what size tank, and specs



GAT said:


> Just an update for anyone looking to buy LED fixtures. I bought the Finnex planted+ and its been great. All of my plants growing great and I am seeing pink color on my hygro sunset and bronze on hygro ceylon. The ludwiga wavy(not if thats the real name) even turned red as it reached the top.
> 
> Great fixture and I got the 30" fixture for 100bucks


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## JNSN

FlyingHellFish said:


> Greetings!
> 
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> =======
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What's the purple prickly plant ID?


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## Yann

That's looking pretty awesome Hellfish! 
How is it for viewing? do you get much of a "disco ball" effect, or is that pretty much negligible?


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## FlyingHellFish

Tons of simmer, it's almost like a screen saver is projected on my wall. Mostly noticeable at night. And the purple plant is some rotala brevip, I think?


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## jimmyjam

take a full on pic of the red plant, it looks like ludwigia brevipes, or arcuata


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## FlyingHellFish

^ Ops, yeah jimmy is right, it's ludwigia brevipes.

I found a picture of the simmer effect, it's with high intensity colour led and medium white led.










If you do go for LEDs, get a fixture that let you control the intensity and colour. That pretty much what makes LEDs better than fluorescent lighting, it's the control. The Current USA fixtures are really nice.


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## GAT

jimmyjam said:


> nice what size tank, and specs


its a 29 gallon standard tank and DIY CO2. I have dirt capped with gravel. Substrate to the fixture is about 16". so far I am very happy with it and I am getting good color. I will add a pic here this weekend.

That being said, like Hellfish said it is better to get a light that can control the intensive and the color spectrum but those might cost lot of money. This is 2nd tank but I plan on getting a bigger so I will get a custom light for that tank. Good thing about finnex is that it is only 100 bucks and hopefully it will last a few years!


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## jimmyjam

hey man is that hob with a nozzle output instead of a waterfall output? If it is, what brand and model



FlyingHellFish said:


> ^ Ops, yeah jimmy is right, it's ludwigia brevipes.
> 
> I found a picture of the simmer effect, it's with high intensity colour led and medium white led.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If you do go for LEDs, get a fixture that let you control the intensity and colour. That pretty much what makes LEDs better than fluorescent lighting, it's the control. The Current USA fixtures are really nice.


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## FlyingHellFish

Naw, just a aqueon whisper.


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## GAT

This is how my tank looks after a month the Finnex planted plus light


http://imgur.com/a

. I don't think you can see but the rotala stems are green even at the bottom. Same goes for hygro stems. I have DIY CO2 so that helps but I had it with previous light setup as well but the stems on the bottom were turning black. I think this LED light has better penetration than my CFL lights. I am quite happy with the fixture.


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