# Evolution Aqua ea 900



## gunny bedford (2 Jan 2019)

Hi

Just waiting for this tank to come:
https://www.fishkeeper.co.uk/product/evolution-aqua-freshwater-900

the blurb states it has 2 16W Sun LED's, is this sufficient for a well planted tank, or should i add more, the blurb suggests up to 2 more lights can be added, so if i add more, what would people recommend ?

Thanks
Neil


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## Siege (2 Jan 2019)

Due to the depth of the tank personally I’d add the the 2 optional lights to it.

Look at low light carpeting plants, crypt Parva for example.


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## alto (2 Jan 2019)

Definitely add light

In the George Farmer video you linked in your other thread, note the plant selection and placement ... hopefully there will be an update sometime soon 

If you don’t have much planted tank experience, I’d not begin with C parva (which is less forgiving than most cryptocoryne species) - instead add this later once you and tank are going well


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## gunny bedford (3 Jan 2019)

what LED's would be a good addition for more light ?


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## Kezzab (3 Jan 2019)

You can buy additional EA led tubes I believe.


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## alto (3 Jan 2019)

gunny bedford said:


> what LED's would be a good addition for more light ?


Budget?
Plant goals?

If you want a carpet with 
HC 
https://tropica.com/en/plants/plantdetails/Hemianthuscallitrichoides'Cuba'(048BTC)/4478

MC
https://tropica.com/en/plants/plantdetails/Micranthemum'MonteCarlo'(025TC)/4442

or similar, the you’ll need a light with high intensity LEDs to obtain higher PAR level at substrate
But that also means, injected CO2 and good flow (again more budget for filtration)

If this is your first go round with a planted tank, start simpler - the EA Aquascaper 45cm height is easier to light and filter, than the significantly taller EA freshwater 

As you’ve gone with the taller tank, you can use taller carpet plants such as H tenellum, E parvula etc while maintaining perspective 
You can stash MC into rock crevices - so higher in scape and closer to light 
Lots of great plants for every scape


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## JHammer95 (19 May 2021)

Sorry to resurrect this ancient thread but I have related questions . I’ve got the EA 900 too; with 1 extra EA LED bulb. I don’t have a PAR meter but still feel like the lights are insufficient.

Anyone got any other LED recommendations? Would Fluval Plant 3.0 be a good idea? Calculating its lumens per litre of water, only comes out to 9 which is below the Tropica ‘easy’ category.

Evolution Aqua have no idea what lumens their bulbs are, so I can’t calculate what they’d be in addition

And how do I know at what point liquid ferts and LEDs aren’t enough (easy plants); and I’ll need CO2?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, cheers !


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## oreo57 (19 May 2021)

JHammer95 said:


> Sorry to resurrect this ancient thread but I have related questions . I’ve got the EA 900 too; with 1 extra EA LED bulb. I don’t have a PAR meter but still feel like the lights are insufficient.
> 
> Anyone got any other LED recommendations? Would Fluval Plant 3.0 be a good idea? Calculating its lumens per litre of water, only comes out to 9 which is below the Tropica ‘easy’ category.
> 
> ...


So you have 3 tubes @ 16 watts each.
I take it  these are no longer available?
Rough estimate of lumens for each is about 1360 based on wattage.
249 litres
16L/litre/3 tubes

Now the catch is the LED delivery is better so less lumens are needed in a sense.
Less wasted lumens
Many calculations have shown 2W t5 = 1W LED and "efficiency" (Lumens/Watt) is close to equal.. well in the recent past.
So real PAR would be double for leds vs equiv. wattage t5.
Both are about 90 Lumens/watt
Example 54W t5ho 4850 lumens = 89.8 Lumens/watt





						Philips 135103 - F54T5/850/HO/ALTO - High Output T5 Bulbs - 54 Watt - 5000K | 1000Bulbs.com
					

Buy the linear fluorescent Philips 13510-3 tube for your smaller fixtures. Find the type of lighting you want at 1000Bulbs.com!




					www.1000bulbs.com
				




Since most current leds have dimming functions I'd err on the side of 1.5W/1W

So say you want 30 lumens/litre
249L x 30 (target value) = 7470 lumens
7470 x 1/1.5
4980  LED lumens.
So you are only 900 lumens away in Led's w/ 3 tubes

You can figure the Fluval out from here..
13.5 should be the "effective" lumen/watt number based on your orig 9
20 is the new 30 based on LEDs.. (30 x 1/1.5)(9+11 = 20 =30)
11 x 249 = 2739 LED lumens plus Fluval will get you "30"

2241 (fluval) + 2739 (added) = 4980 = 7470 T5ho
So 2 of your tubes and a Fluval will push you to "medium" light





						The right light for your aquarium - Tropica Aquarium Plants
					

Choose the right light for your tank




					tropica.com
				




Or close..  Hopefully.

Note lumens are measured in an integrating sphere capturing ALL photons (but scaled to the lumen range, ignore for now)
Tubes have reflector losses, restrike (photons bouncing back into the tubes), and maybe other things which is why a lumen = lumen.
Leds have some of these but generally in much smaller quantities.
And why lumens isn't a very good measuring stick.


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## JHammer95 (19 May 2021)

Wow this is an amazing reply - so quickly too. Are your calculations based on running the Fluval 3.0 on full power? I believe the tubes are still available - just hard to come by. Just want to make sure I’m making the right decision, as the Fluval is a pricey upgrade.
Does pushing me into medium mean I’d then need co2 to not throw off the balance ?
EDIT:

Would it be more cost effective to buy another tube if I could? Or if not, run 3 tubes and run the Fluval at 50%?


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## oreo57 (19 May 2021)

JHammer95 said:


> Wow this is an amazing reply - so quickly too. Are your calculations based on running the Fluval 3.0 on full power? I believe the tubes are still available - just hard to come by. Just want to make sure I’m making the right decision, as the Fluval is a pricey upgrade.
> Does pushing me into medium mean I’d then need co2 to not throw off the balance ?
> EDIT:
> 
> Would it be more cost effective to buy another tube if I could? Or if not, run 3 tubes and run the Fluval at 50%?


First thing is  is your tank balanced for you now?
See you thought the light was low and I just offered my take on how to increase it and do it sort of safely.
I have a hard time thinking about leds without a dimming function so one can slowly tweak w/out imbalancing their system.
Consistency is usually key to any well run tank.
Depending on how much a tube costs yes, that is the most cost effective way.
More later

Oh yea Fluval on full
What "color" tubes do you have btw?
What is est. current cost of another?
What does the power supply say as to "output"?


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## JHammer95 (10 Jun 2021)

I went ahead and bought the plant 3.0 32w and the mounting brackets are on the way here - although I’m not entirely sure how they’ll stick to the roof of the tank - but hey ho


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## JHammer95 (16 Jun 2021)

Managed to get the light attached in the end

Running it on 75% now to see how I go. I've also recently bought JBL Aqua Lab test kit to keep an eye on nutrient levels. Very long process but gets the job done. Will report back with progress


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## icewolf250 (23 Jul 2021)

Hey Jhammer
I have the same tank as you, and I'm looking for replacement lights as two of mine died. What size light did you get and how did you mount to the lid?


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