# Led



## adam (Mar 3, 2011)

i'm thinking of getting led lights for my 20 gallon planted aquarium just wondering if thats a good idea or no i use co2 and fertilizer.


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## 5318008 (Dec 11, 2010)

Seems ok with me but if you have the marineland one in mind, you'd be stuck with low light plants
I can't remember but I think the output is around 1000 lumens which is slightly lesser than a t8. 
but it looks sleek, and will save you on electricity bills


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## Norman (Feb 13, 2011)

If you are hoping for a planted tank then get something else or expect to add a second fixture. I have the LED hood on a 37G and even low light plants struggle. However, I do have a the Marineland double light LED fixture on my 
75G along with a T8 fixture and the plants are doing very well. I do not use CO2.


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## Kooka (Feb 8, 2011)

I also have a 75 gal tank with a Coralife T5HO and a 36" Marineland double bright LED. The LED does add a nice lighting effect when used in conjuction with the T5's, but IMO it wouldnt nearly give you enough light for plants on its own. You'd be better off in getting a nice T5HO fixture, or if your handy with electronics, build your own LED system using high intensity LED's from Cree.


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## Roberacer1 (Aug 21, 2010)

*Led Lights.*

I was looking at LED's when I was trying to outfit my 30 gal tall. LED has become the bulb of choice in many circles. What I did was spend some time online digging. What I found out is that in terms of intensity (I thought this too) you can certainly gang enough LED's together in order to get enough light on top of the tank. In theory you could make it even brighter if you wanted. Most lighting in Theater and large concerts for example is now LED due to the low power draw. Gone are the days when shows needed 3 (+) 600 volt, 200 amp 3 phase power drops. LEDs do it all with a few hundred amps. The real issue is spectrum. Plants require a specific kind of light. The best of course is the sun but in terms of mimicing the sun from what I understand the best has been florescent. Metal Halide is often too but from what I read one needs to use florescent with that for plants as well.
Florescent has come a long way too. There are a few different types. Compact florescent has similar problems to leds. The best are the standard tube types. Even with that there are a few different configurations. T8 is the old style that we have had for 30 or so years. T5 types offer up a High Output (HO) and Super High Output (SHO) bulbs. The difference between the two is that SHO is designed to "be over driven" which dramatically shortens lifespan of the bulbs and really from what I saw only yield a little more light. I have a deep tank so "Push" (output per square inch) is important to get to the substrate level. The light only has to penetrate approximately 2' of water. The issue is that water actually absorbs light at depth. I went with a 2 bulb t5 HO rig (aquatic life). My other tank is a standard 35 gal and is only 18" tall (it's longer). It has a single t8 bulb on it. I am injecting CO2 in the tall tank and not the shorter one. Fertilize with "Flourish". They both grow plants ok. The 30 tall is considerably better at it though. The biggest issue is in the 35 gal (single t8 bulb) the bottom levels of the plants loose their foliage over time so that most of the leaves are at the top of the water. With the tall tank the foliage is good right to the substrate. I am told this is what I would have expected had I went with lesser lighting on the tall tank. In truth it is a big difference and the price difference was about $75.
With T5 you have to have a HO bulb and fixture to achieve HO. Likewise with SHO. SHO bulbs are not so readily available in Toronto either. Most bubls are Normal output bulbs. If it doesn't say "HO" on it it isn't. On a side note I was going to buy the Coralife fixture as it was a brand that I knew and loved from years ago. I read a review online that dissed them horribly. Last I heard Coralife recalled the product. I am not sure if they have solved the problem and reissued but I am very happy with the "Aquatic Life" fixture that I did get. It was similarly priced.


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## Kooka (Feb 8, 2011)

Roberacer makes a couple of excellent points in regards to the limitations of the current LED technology. However, on many other freshwater aquaria websites, you could find a wealth of information on the relative PAR data and general effectiveness of LED's in growing some very demanding aquatic plants. On the other hand, if you decide on going the T5HO route, I also agree with Roberacer, according to some internet reviews, the Coralife fixtures do tend to be problem-plagued with ballast issues, a very narrow profile and general electrical malfunction, so it would be prudent to spend a little extra and get the superior (in my own humble opinion) Aquatic Life fixture. Speaking from personal experience, I have both these fixtures on a 20 and 75 gallon and both are functioning flawlessly; it's important to take product reviews on the internet with a grain of salt, some people have problems, others do not.


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## Roberacer1 (Aug 21, 2010)

Ya, I often tend to ignore the propaganda and look and check stuff out on my own. I accidentally stumbled across some comments when I was looking online for pricing and model info. You need to know that I liked the look of the Coralife. My tank is as much a piece of furniture as it is the home of my critters. Form matters and straight up I don't like the visual of the square block on top of my tank. That said if it don't work what good is it. It was actually the LFS that talked me out of the Coralife by reiterating what I read online. The pulled them from the shelves. As far as the light spectrum stuff goes I can't remember where I got that info exactly but as memory serves it was someone with a PHD. I tend not to blindly trust what store or industry folks say. I was once one of those and I have to say I learned a ton since. I wish I knew then what I know now that is for sure. That isn't to say that store folks don't know anything. It is just that their training is usually pretty limited and if the store is busy they don't have time to do much in the way of studying because they have 30+ tanks of new stock to maintain all of the time. The whole thing puts a new spin on keeping fish as pets. hehe.


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## Roberacer1 (Aug 21, 2010)

Ya, I often tend to ignore the propaganda and look and check stuff out on my own. I accidentally stumbled across some comments when I was looking online for pricing and model info. You need to know that I liked the look of the Coralife. My tank is as much a piece of furniture as it is the home of my critters. Form matters and straight up I don't like the visual of the square block on top of my tank. That said if it don't work what good is it. It was actually the LFS that talked me out of the Coralife by reiterating what I read online. The pulled them from the shelves. As far as the light spectrum stuff goes I can't remember where I got that info exactly but as memory serves it was someone with a PHD. I tend not to blindly trust what store or industry folks say. I was once one of those and I have to say I learned a ton since. I wish I knew then what I know now that is for sure. That isn't to say that store folks don't know anything. It is just that their training is usually pretty limited and if the store is busy they don't have time to do much in the way of studying because they have 30+ tanks of new stock to maintain all of the time. The whole thing puts a new spin on keeping fish as pets. hehe.


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## Roberacer1 (Aug 21, 2010)

A thought that I did had. We have had florescent lighting for many years. Technology has advanced but until hydroponic became the thing to do nothing much changed. LED is a "green" technology and there is a lot of effort being put into developing green tech right now. Last I heard LED was mostly out in terms of plants but I would not say down for the count yet. There is some buzz about some new stuff that I haven't really checked out yet. Once again it takes more than a good add to sell me. LED has science money behind it and have come leaps and bounds in the last 5 or so years. The concern has to do with light spectrum beyond that which we see. UV, infrared, etc. As an example I have a vine growing in a pot next to my tank with the "Aquaticlife" fixture on it. This vine likes to grow itself to where it gets right in between the glass top and the light. In no time those leaves burn and drop off. The light that is emitted has a red cast to it and with the blackwater (brown actually) mixed with the light from the other bulb (6000K) makes it look a little green. The one bulb is a 650nm (plant spectrum). What is dumb is that the damn vine won't learn. (I guess plants are stupid after all) At least when your kid touches the hot element on the stove he realizes that %%#%##@@ is hot and won't ever do that again. The light isn't temperature hot but they do use florescent tubes to make tanning beds too. The bulbs in those beds are similar to the 650nm bulb. As we know that tech works real well. hehe.


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