# LED Suggestions for 90 gallon Freshwater Planted tank?



## Majoram (Feb 26, 2010)

Hi,

I have a Planted 90 gallon Freshwater tank that currently has 2 AquaticLife T5HO fixtures. So that's 4 bulbs at 54Watts each.

So I'm looking to replace them for various reasons:
- Reduce electricity cost
- Reduce maintenance cost (bulb replacement ~ $100 yearly)
- Fixtures have to be moved everytime for feeding etc.

I have no idea what brands are good or not and so far all I have been looking at is below. I was also looking at a ZooMed and Kissel but the first has had some bad reviews on here and the second cost is out of my range.

I'm not even sure if my lighting is overkill or not enough.
I'm mostly concerned about my foreground plants. I want to grow them into a nice carpet.

Any suggestions or advice?

Aquatic Life LED Aquarium Light Fixture, 48-Inch

Finnex Ray2 Aquarium LED Daylight


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## Bullet (Apr 19, 2014)

Can't go wrong with this unit !

http://www.reefsupplies.ca/online-store/Kessil-A360WE-Tuna-Sun-Freshwater.html


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## Majoram (Feb 26, 2010)

Bullet said:


> Can't go wrong with this unit !
> 
> http://www.reefsupplies.ca/online-store/Kessil-A360WE-Tuna-Sun-Freshwater.html


 Good intentions but WAAAY out of my price range.
I'll need 2 fixtures (I assume).

I was even looking at the 160 but that too is out of my range.
I'm working with a budget of about 400 and that's provided my current fixtures sell.


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## Pocky (Jun 20, 2015)

I had the same problem as you. 90gal 48x18x24

I did a lot of research on this and I decided to go with low light planted setup. It would have been too expensive to do high tech high light (high par value) light.

I see the aquatic life led you linked but it doesn't have any PAR data. I ended up going with the Current USA Satellite freshwater+. I price matched petsandponds price at bigals. It was under $200. at 24inchs the PAR is only 21. But with a little substrate it should be a little bit higher. 

I just got the light last week so I can't really tell you how well plants are doing or not but I like the light so far. 

I was going to get a finnex unit but they no longer ship to Canada. It's difficult to find, the only place is EBAY and it's super expensive.

I also looked at the fluval 2.0 planted or whatever light but it was $300 before tax and they wouldn't give me par data for anything beyond 18inches.


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## Majoram (Feb 26, 2010)

Pocky said:


> I had the same problem as you. 90gal 48x18x24
> 
> I did a lot of research on this and I decided to go with low light planted setup. It would have been too expensive to do high tech high light (high par value) light.
> 
> I see the aquatic life led you linked but it doesn't have any PAR data. I ended up going with the Current USA Satellite freshwater+. I price matched petsandponds price at bigals. It was under $200. at 24inchs the PAR is only 21. But with a little substrate it should be a little bit higher.


I found this thread about the PAR for the EDGE:
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/10-lighting/577321-how-about-aquaticlife-edge-led-fixtures.html
It says Ch1 & Ch2 @ 18" + 55-65.

I'm not sure what that means though.
I know PAR is a measurement on the light penetration at a specific depth.
So is 55-65 good?


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## Yann (Feb 16, 2013)

Unless you're going to spend the money on the high end LEDs like Kessil or Radion, Fluval will give you the most bang for your buck in your budget range (especially with a deep tank).


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## Pocky (Jun 20, 2015)

Majoram said:


> I found this thread about the PAR for the EDGE:
> http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/10-lighting/577321-how-about-aquaticlife-edge-led-fixtures.html
> It says Ch1 & Ch2 @ 18" + 55-65.
> 
> ...


55-65 is quite high, but for your 24inch depth it won't be that number.

Are you sure you want light that high? If you can't keep up with the ferts and co2, you'll just be growing algae


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## Majoram (Feb 26, 2010)

Yann said:


> Unless you're going to spend the money on the high end LEDs like Kessil or Radion, Fluval will give you the most bang for your buck in your budget range (especially with a deep tank).


I got a AquaticLife Edge 48" and was going to get a second but found a Fennix 24/7 Planted plus and got that too. So I will have both for my tank.



Pocky said:


> 55-65 is quite high, but for your 24inch depth it won't be that number.
> 
> Are you sure you want light that high? If you can't keep up with the ferts and co2, you'll just be growing algae


I want to grow a carpet in the foreground. I got the ferts to do PPS and will be setting up CO2 as well. Haven't had any algae outbreaks since I first started (knock on wood).

I figure i'll adjust the length of time the lights are on if it's too much.


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