# LED light is working better than my T5?



## Splak (May 1, 2013)

I have 2 10gallon tanks set up.

Plants:

Assorted crypts
Dwarf Sag
java moss
duckweed

all low light, low requirement plants.

both set up the exact same way, both shrimp tanks.

Levels in each tank are the same, PH 7ish, 0 ammonia/nitrite and 5-10ppm nitrate

Both heated to 23c

both have flourite and fluval mixxed substrate (3/4 flourite, 1/4 fluval plant)

Both have sponge filters fully cycled. 

The only thing different seems to be my lighting.

On one tank, I have a new T5 plant bulb from petsmart.
and on the other, a marine land LED light strip, 17" I think?

I was told at petsmart that the LED wouldn't be beneficial to my plants and that I shouldn't try and keep plants in the tank.

So what has happened over the past few months is, all my plants in my LED tank are growing like weeds. Yet, all my plants in my T5 tank seem to not grow at all, and the swarf sag is turning dead/brownish.

Any idea's what could be happening here? I thought with such a low watt output from the LED's my plants wouldn't grow really. and vise versa for my T5!

Also, my tanks are in the basement and neither receive outdoor sunlight. I also keep both lights on for 9 hours a day max.


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

Is the T5 high output or regular? How many bulbs? Wattage?

Is the LED single-brite or double-brite?


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## CanadaPleco (Sep 7, 2009)

You can get very good PAR ratings from LED, some of the LED's I sell if you aren't running CO2, your very likely to end up with a big algae field they are so bright and powerful.

LED's can grow plants very well, so long as you get the right ones.


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## Splak (May 1, 2013)

I Have a 14 watt 6.7k lamp for my T5.

Also a Single-bright LED strip.

______________________________

Yah, I noticed today in my LED tank, green algae and hair algae growing near the top, close to the light! So I threw in a couple of baby BN plecos to help out.


That's good to know though, When my next bulb goes out I might just replace it with another LED, they arn't expensive at all compared to what they used to be!


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## CanadaPleco (Sep 7, 2009)

The marinelands aren't even bright!


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## Splak (May 1, 2013)

O dear, I couldn't imagine the taking care of a tank with faster algae growth lol.


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## coldmantis (Apr 5, 2010)

how old is the T5 bulb? if it's older then about 8 months it doesn't grow plants well. And your Marineland leds seems to grow plants well now, however in 3 months time it's going to start dimming and won't grow plants as well if at all.


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## CanadaPleco (Sep 7, 2009)

The marineland lights are pretty crappy LED's compared to almost all the rest of the competition.


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## GAT (Oct 8, 2011)

coldmantis said:


> how old is the T5 bulb? if it's older then about 8 months it doesn't grow plants well. And your Marineland leds seems to grow plants well now, however in 3 months time it's going to start dimming and won't grow plants as well if at all.


why do you think it will be dimm in 3 months. Did you have bad experience with LEDs? Ton of people seems to like LED and have good growth, even for carpeting plants. I would like to know because I have few CFLs on now but its not very pleasing to look at so im thinking for getting a T5 or LED along with proper CO2 setup.


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## CanadaPleco (Sep 7, 2009)

Good quality LED's wont dim.


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## coldmantis (Apr 5, 2010)

GAT said:


> why do you think it will be dimm in 3 months. Did you have bad experience with LEDs? Ton of people seems to like LED and have good growth, even for carpeting plants. I would like to know because I have few CFLs on now but its not very pleasing to look at so im thinking for getting a T5 or LED along with proper CO2 setup.


I been in this hobby for 4+ years, been selling plants for 3+ years. I have had hundreds of people come to my house to buy plants and chat. Marineland LEDs will dim in three months

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4


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## GAT (Oct 8, 2011)

thanks. I was thinking of finnex fixtures or the building one using cree or those cheap Chinese leds. Any opinion on those?


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## coldmantis (Apr 5, 2010)

GAT said:


> thanks. I was thinking of finnex fixtures or the building one using cree or those cheap Chinese leds. Any opinion on those?


Finnex ones shouldn't dim that fast, but LEDs and planted tanks depends on the height of your tank. If you have a 36x12" tank with a finnex led you should be fine to grow most plants but if you have something like a 24" tank you should be thinking no less than a quad t5ho.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

CanadaPleco said:


> Good quality LED's wont dim.


maybe, but poor quality LEDs definitely *do* dim. The LED on my dymax IQ3 dimmed in only a few months. I haven't used Marineland, but from what I've read, they're not exactly high quality.


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