# Question about using LED Lights....



## MrCollings (Aug 13, 2010)

Hey everyone, kinda new here but have a question for you all...

I am thinking of switching over to using LED lights rather than the average Compact Fluorescent lighting. My reasoning because it uses a Lot less heat (which is currently making my room well over 100f), plus it uses a lot less energy.

I was thinking of possibly creating my own DIY hood with the LED lights built into it... You should also know that the lighting will be used on an aquarium rack i made that contains a few tanks that require medium light (plant tanks)....

I was thinking of using a few of one of the LED lights in the links below.
My question is, do you think any of these LED's would work with medium light plants?....

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.29426
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.11941
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1475

Thanks in advance!!


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## arc (Mar 11, 2010)

You can do a quick search in the forums for the detailed answer but the short answer is no.

If you have a few of these:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.35241

Or setup a system with these:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.2394

You could make a low light system with links I showed above. If you're making a large system, the cost will be high.

Problem with the led's you've picked is that they are normal 0.5mm led. They will have a low lumen/watt and since they are only 3w, its going to be dim. A single Compact Fluorescent 9w bulb will produce more light that all 3 combined.


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## AquaNeko (Jul 26, 2009)

arc said:


> You can do a quick search in the forums for the detailed answer but the short answer is no.
> 
> If you have a few of these:
> http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.35241
> ...


Wow, nice pricing on the Cree Q5. I remember buying my Q5's at $8 or slightly above that price but mind you I bought more then 3 so I got a bulk rate discount.

I fyou are new to high power LED's I recommend you go with the LED on the star base which is what the Q5 is on right now. You can buy the LED without the star for cheaper and save space but it is harder to solder if you're new to LED's. Also if you have the LED on the star the star gives you a little extra heatsinking. Something to remember here. Halogen/CFL/Incandesants/HID are all forward heat projecting. LED's are rearward heat projecting this is why you HAVE to heatsink them or you can burn them out. IIRC (mind you I come from a night riding mountian bike background where we're all high power light hounds) I recall there was a ratio of 1 x 3W LED (ie. the Cree Q5) to 2-3inches of aluminum/copper/etc heatsink surface area.

If you use something like a Cree MC-E (4 dies on one LED) then you may need a little larger heatsink as you're dealing with 4 LED's on one unit there but also that one LED will put out ~600-900lm of light.


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## bob123 (Dec 31, 2009)

*Led's*

I would think twice about using them as you will not get enough lighting for your plants I tried them and the plants did not survive. They are good for a night light for using after you turn off your aquarium lighting. If your using compact flouescents and your room heats to 100f you must have a very small room with little or no ventilation try using a small fan to circulate air.


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## MrCollings (Aug 13, 2010)

bob123 said:


> I would think twice about using them as you will not get enough lighting for your plants I tried them and the plants did not survive. They are good for a night light for using after you turn off your aquarium lighting. If your using compact flouescents and your room heats to 100f you must have a very small room with little or no ventilation try using a small fan to circulate air.


Yahh i kinda dropped the whole LED idea for now, would be wayyy too expensive to buy a billion led lights strong enough at the moment anyways.... And yah....my room is pretty small lol  
And it gets that hot because in my room i have a pretty powerful laptop on 24/7 and the heat that comes off it is Crazy (despite having liquid cooling built-in and an under-laptop fan), also the heat lamps for my turtle generate quite a bit of heat, plus the florescent lights from the tanks i currently have, plus the heat pad and lights from my ball pythons tank, plus my surround sound speakers plug for some reason generates a ton of heat as well.... than factor in the weather has been pretty hot lately....lol....yah, it all adds up..... but the window is left open all the way 24/7 and there is constantly 2 fans running


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## AquaNeko (Jul 26, 2009)

Bob123,

Are you sure you're using the right LED's? Are you using the 3mm or 5mm or 10mm ones? The ones I use flux at 230-250lm per LED @ 1A (3W on Cree Q5 bin). Even the Seoul Semiconductor (SSC) P4 U-bin is ~240lm @ 1A and cheaper then the Q5 IIRC now. 

I read somewhere on GTAA that you need something like 80lm per gallon of water. I'm not even sure what size tank and dimensions the OP has. I was going to wire up 6 x Q5's to my 3-4gal tank so that works out to 6 x 250lm = 1500lm / 4gal = 375lm per gal.

Looks like I might end up with a fuzz tank with that much lighting.


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## tobalman (Mar 31, 2006)

How's about this one. ?

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190431155178&ssPageName=ADME:B:WNA:CA:1123

http://cgi.ebay.ca/20-Waterproof-wi...431155178&po=&ps=63&clkid=6211718120652741060


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## arc (Mar 11, 2010)

For an aquarium with no plants or corals(saltwater) it'll be fine but dim. However the listed light output is only 100 lumens so don't expect grow anything.

Total light flux: 100 lumen


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## AquaNeko (Jul 26, 2009)

Only 100lm in htta LED strip? Egad. You'll prbably want 100 of those to get some good lighting. 

I remember seeing online before some guy that took Cree Q5's and some blue luxeon LED's mixed in for his tank. I think he ended up using 50 LED's for around 12,500 lm.


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## Roberacer1 (Aug 21, 2010)

*LED Lighting for aquaria*

Hey there. I work in entertainment production that is to say the technical end of entertainment. In particular I work in the live end. In the 3 or 4 years LED's have all but replaced the light rigs that we used to have. They are lighter, more robust, cheaper to run (require much less power) and are in fact as bright or brighter now. The best part is they are cheap... dirt cheap. That technology is under constant development and though the available color pallet was quite limited just like TV that has been ever expanding. For video purposes one of that technologies greatest advantages is the fact that they emit no UV or infrared radiation so we can watch TV for years without burning our retinas or getting a sunburn. Water is one way in which nature filters out UV and infrared radiation. The problem is most plants and animals including humans need some (specific frequencies of that spectrum of light actually) in order to thrive. Our sun is great at producing copious amounts of both of those in fact more than we could handle. Fortunately for us our atmosphere and the water in our lakes and oceans do a pretty good job of regulating that for us. Like I say we need that stuff to some degree though. LED's just don't produce any to start with so you could have 10 times the amount of light per gallon at the bottom of your tank but if the light spectrum is wrong you're done. Your plants and invertebrates will not live long. It long since been discovered that the best way to get a closer light spectrum through the water is via the correct florescent tubes. There are may types. Choosing the right one or ones for your system is very important and you will probably need to get advise in that regard. There are some good links regarding this that I have seen on this site but I would go to a reputable dealers and bounce some thoughts off of them too. Especially the ones that have a lot of tech stuff. It is hard to sell something you know nothing about. You may need to talk to more than one person there too. Talk to the older people as they are typically the veterans.


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