# List of good LED fixtures



## Timon Vogelaar

Hi all,

I am currently collecting info of available LED fixtures to compare them. I've searched many times to available LED fixtures on the market but when i read on this forum i see that that there are lots of fixtures i never heard off.
My question is if you can add LED fixtures you know to this list so that we can search those for ourselves to choose which one fits best in our situation.
I see many new/current members asking the same questions. When this topic becomes big and useful it may become a sticky?

LED fixtures list;

ADA Aquasky
Chihiros series

TMC GroBEAM
Kessil Led Fixtures
Zetlight fixtures
Dennerle Trocal LED
Eheim Powerled
Fluval Fresh & plant 2.0 LED
Aquatlantis EasyLED
Daytime ECO and Cluster
Up Aqua Pro
Lum-Light AK
Aqua-Medic; EcoPlant & LEDspot 

Flexi Mini LED
ECOtech Radion XR15 Freshwater
Finnex LED fixtures
Current Satellite Plus PRO

Maxspect fixtures
LupyLED fixtures
Giesemann fixtures
Orphek fixtures

DsunY
NEMO Light Aqua Fresh

Beamswork fixtures

Aqualighter fixtures
......................................
Please reply with the LED fixtures you know and i will add it to the list 
Many thanks!


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## stu_

UP Aqua Pro


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## zozo

One of the first to explore led lights above an aquarium was the German Firm Lumlight.. After their succes with prooving leds are the new future aquarium lights, lots of others followed with taking this concept into production and Lumlight couldn't keep up with the big boys, was outcompeted and declared bankrupt since januari this year.
But their production line was bought by https://www.aquarienkontor.de/ and they will continue the production under the name Lum-light AK

Lumlight meant serious business did a lot of research on this and also developed a led fixture wich was water cooled by the tankwater.. Which was rather revolutionary idea and not only extending the led lifespan it also heated the aquarium during lights on and saved on the power bill.  Definitely a brand to keep track of, tho i have no idea how the new owner well extend the production. 

Another German brand is http://www.aqua-medic.de/ have very nice light fixtures and as far as i know the only one who sells universal steel wire suspension kits which can be used for more lights than just their own.


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## Timon Vogelaar

Thanks Zozo & Stu_ your fixtures are now added to the list


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## DavidW

FLEXI-mini full spectrum white LED. I've got one of these on my sump it a great little light for a nano tank.


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## Timon Vogelaar

DavidW your fixture is now added to the list


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## Gage Harford

Finnex makes good lights at an affordable price in the US.  I use the Planted+, Planted+ 24/7, and Ray II models.


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## Timon Vogelaar

Gage Harford, thanks, your fixture is now added to the list


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## Nelson

Current Satellite Plus PRO,
http://current-usa.com/aquarium-led-lights/satellite-led-fixtures/satellite-led-pro/


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## Timon Vogelaar

Nelson, Wow! Nice one. Your fixture is now added to the list


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## tadabis

Maxspect R420R or Maxspect Glaive or Maxspect Nano. UK distributor of Maxspect told me that the new freshwater version of R420R aka RAZOR will be out soon (about 2 or 3 weeks) and its currently not listed online as upgraded freshwater version because its being manufactured and prepared for a market.


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## Timon Vogelaar

tabadis, this looks like the real deal! Thnx, your fixture is now added to the list.
Keep 'em comming


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## gareth777

LUPYLED  for the ones with really deep pockets


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## tim

http://www.giesemann.de/577,2,,.html if I could afford it


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## tadabis

Timon Vogelaar said:


> tabadis, this looks like the real deal! Thnx, your fixture is now added to the list.
> Keep 'em comming


 NP  you just made a small mistake in the company name in the list  you missed letter "s"  should be Maxspect


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## tadabis

Just remembered one more good company, I think from Germany, called ATI they do leds and LED + T8 mixed fixtures. I have heard that they are good quality ones.


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## Timon Vogelaar

- Gareth777, nice one, pricing started at €2500,-. ; your fixture is now added to the list.
- Tim, some beautifull looking fixtures they have! Also added
- Tabadis, your right, i corrected the name. I've searched for ATI and it looks like its for saltwater tanks only 

Maybe you guys know some more affordable fixtures between €1 - €500?


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## Tim Harrison

Timon Vogelaar said:


> Maybe you guys know some more affordable fixtures between €1 - €500?


€236 or £199 in real money
http://ecotechmarine.com/products/radion/radion-xr15-freshwater


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## Timon Vogelaar

Tim Harrison said:


> €236 or £199 in real money
> http://ecotechmarine.com/products/radion/radion-xr15-freshwater


Thats a good one! But it was already on the list   

Verstuurd vanaf mijn HTC One met Tapatalk


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## Tim Harrison




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## micheljq

https://orphek.com/

They make powerful led lights, passively cooled, one year warranty.  They have lamps for Reef and Freshwater planted.


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## Timon Vogelaar

Micheljq, thanks for your comment. Yet another "unknown" fixture. But they look very promising!
It's added to the list


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## Timon Vogelaar

Found another one; DsunY
Example; 

Although with some fixtures i find it hard to find proper images, information, pricing and reviews ect.


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## LondonDragon

Now you need to buy one of each and review each one for us


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## tim

LondonDragon said:


> Now you need to buy one of each and review each one for us


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## LondonDragon

tim said:


>


Or you tim 

I do like the ADA Aquasky, little bit out of my price range, I have seen a portuguese store that sells some similar, just not as good looking, brand name MasWas you would have seen them on Pedro Rosa Dutch journal, and I am looking forward to seeing the new Twinstar LED luminnaires also, those look a good alternative for  the Aquasky, just have to wait for pricing


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## Timon Vogelaar

LondonDragon said:


> Now you need to buy one of each and review each one for us



Wow, thats a true honor! I would love to do that for UKAPS. I sended you a pm for further info about you funding it...  
The MasWas looks like a good replacement for the aquasky. Chihiros has another fixture that is almost an excact copy of the aquasky.

Thanks for the heads up about Twinstar. I didn't know they are about to launch an LED fixture soon. The pictures look very promising;


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## Ricardo Romão

Dear @Timon Vogelaar,

There is nothing better than a video to judge the real plant colours!


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## Timon Vogelaar

Ricardo Romão said:


> Dear @Timon Vogelaar,
> 
> There is nothing better than a video to judge the real plant colours!





Well, thanks for the commercial 
Nice too see someone from Twinstar Iberica on the forum.
I like the looks of this fixture. I am actually looking for something i could hang too a ceiling.

If it's "The worlds best full spectrum aquarium LED" is yet to prove...
And i am curious what this fixture will cost?


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## CooKieS

Hi,

The 60cm twinstar led version is 139€, not bad. 

Hope it has a dimmer, no review yet!

I love my chihiros led, cheap priced, dimmable (dimmer include), inox stand available for adjusting height and lenght, lovely Ada like design...


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## Luís Cardoso

You can see maswas on my Through The Forest journal. O have replaced the zetlight Lancia with them.


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## LondonDragon

CooKieS said:


> Hope it has a dimmer, no review yet!


Don't think it has a dimmer!


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## Luis Batista

The leds are a good saving on the end of the month but what about the reliability?
Does the led chips stands for 5 years? 10 years?
Neither the aquasky, chihiros and similar were out there time enough to insure that they last year's without burning this or that.
This is my major concern about led fixtures...

Sent from my Nokia 3310!


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## Ricardo Romão

Timon Vogelaar said:


> Well, thanks for the commercial
> Nice too see someone from Twinstar Iberica on the forum.
> I like the looks of this fixture. I am actually looking for something i could hang too a ceiling.
> 
> If it's "The worlds best full spectrum aquarium LED" is yet to prove...
> And i am curious what this fixture will cost?



*60cm* will cost around *115€* without VAT.  

This means that you may have a high quality RGB solution with full spectrum, between 400nm to 700nm, for less than 150€!!!

Furthermore:

All solutions are optimized for the different tank sizes;
Now you can see the real plant and fish color due to the wide color gamut;
You don't have to worry about dimming because their specifications allow you to grow plants that don't like much bright;
Last generation Samsung and Nichia LEDs;
Special Materials to optimize heat dissipation;

Made in Korea.

Look at these colours. As you can see in the last video they are so real


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## Timon Vogelaar

Thanks mate!
I do like more specific details about;
- Lumens
- Par value
- How many LED's in the fixture
- Instead of what brand of led i wonder what kind they are for example; 5630 LED's
- Watt per LED
- What is the Kelvin value



Ricardo Romão said:


> ou don't have to worry about dimming because their specifications allow you to grow plants that don't like much bright


I don't like it when manufacturers decide what the customer should or should not worry about! ADA's does this as well with there new RGB Solar, they say; " Why do you want to dim it, the color rendition is perfect. "

In my opinion a piece of hardware should do what ever the customer wants it to do. Two most important things are;
- When battling against algae it is in some cases important you can dim the light for the plants to take over and get things balanced again.
- A LED fixture should always be dimmable to give the customer full control so there can be sunset's sunrises and maybe moonlight.

I find it strange that company's manufacturing fixtures don't understand this. Where i live Customer = King. In the smartphone market it isn't any different though 
(for a cheap copy of good value; Chihiros seem to understand this!)


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## Alexander Belchenko

I wish I could by this LED in Ukraine for such price. Most of the products either unavailable or overpriced to loose any sense.


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## Ricardo Romão

Timon Vogelaar said:


> Thanks mate!
> I do like more specific details about;
> - Lumens    - You can find it on the twinstar's facebook. However it only tells you the "quantity" of light. More lumens are not necessary better, in fact, more than needed will promote algae.
> - Par value  - It depends on many factors, including height. On the other hand it measures between 400 to 700nm, and many wavelenthgs does not matter for plant growth.
> - How many LED's in the fixture - LED specifications are already available at Twinstar's facebook.
> - Instead of what brand of led i wonder what kind they are for example; 5630 LED's - 5630 only tells you the size of the led and nothing more.
> - Watt per LED - They have different LEDs, so different w/led.
> - What is the Kelvin value - Light has 7050K
> 
> 
> I don't like it when manufacturers decide what the customer should or should not worry about! ADA's does this as well with there new RGB Solar, they say; " Why do you want to dim it, the color rendition is perfect. "
> 
> In my opinion a piece of hardware should do what ever the customer wants it to do. Two most important things are;
> - When battling against algae it is in some cases important you can dim the light for the plants to take over and get things balanced again. - Yes you are right, however please remember we cannot measure many wavelenghts with our eyes. Anyway you can just turn them off like T5.
> - A LED fixture should always be dimmable to give the customer full control so there can be sunset's sunrises and maybe moonlight. - Functions can be cool, but just for the users. However they are not important for plants and fish. Instead of it, in my humble opinion, I think the most important is the quality vs design vs price. What would you prefer? Quality and performance or functions? Pro Aquascapers only need perfect light for their projects, functions are optional.
> 
> I find it strange that company's manufacturing fixtures don't understand this. Where i live Customer = King. In the smartphone market it isn't any different though  Everything has a reason, but please remember, in terms of light performance don't focus in what your eyes can see
> (for a cheap copy of good value; Chihiros seem to understand this!)


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## Timon Vogelaar

Thanks for answering;

- If my eyes can't see it i'd like a company who backs it up with science.
- I asked what kind of LED's and size is a part of saying what kind of LED's they are. That's why i said "for example".
- I know PAR is different at heights but it easy to test when you have an different kinds of aquariums and a PAR meter.
- You say its cool for the user and not for plants and fish. Well i really don't understand why you say such a thing. Look at the nature! And now look how your fixture works. It's not only a good feature for the user but it's best for plants and especially for fish because they always react heavily when the lights suddenly get flashed on. It's not about what i prefer. The problem lays in making concessions where there doesn't need to be any. Dimming of lights has not been so popular since LED's where introduced.
- I know Twinstar wants their light to be the best but remember that eventually the user needs to see, test and decide for themselves. You want to stand out for Twinstar but in my opinion you try to hard 

I'll see how specific Twinstar is going to be about this fixture.

I find that your image about "pro aquascapers" is somewhat strange. Because the pro's really know what they are doing and they use all kinds of fixtures. Some use cheap floodlights and some use expensive LED's from Kessil but they are both able to create beautiful aquascapes.
In my personal opinion;
" Aquascapers are just like true artists where the inside of the aquarium is their painting, all accessories (including light) is their paint and nature is their example! "


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## micheljq

Luis Batista said:


> The leds are a good saving on the end of the month but what about the reliability?
> Does the led chips stands for 5 years? 10 years?
> Neither the aquasky, chihiros and similar were out there time enough to insure that they last year's without burning this or that.
> This is my major concern about led fixtures...
> 
> Sent from my Nokia 3310!



TMC Aquaray gives 5 years warranty if the product is registed with them.

Michel.


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## Alexander Belchenko

Typical T5 lights have about 10 000 hours of work, IIRC, and you need to change them (ideally) each year. If those LEDs are about to 30-50 thousands hours, you might expect their lifespan to be something like 3-5 years, which is not too bad, but not immortal either.


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## zozo

The regular single white colored leds are pretty stable in their lifespan.. But the RGB's are somewhat more fragile, i gues it's because of their size.. For example a single color of a 5050 or what ever size is just one single chip, a RGB 5050 is 3 very small chips cramped up in the same size housing. They kinda burn out sooner, probably a heat issue. All RGB strips i have show inconsistancies after a few months 24/7 burning hours. 

RGB is a nice feature for creating ambient colors but it has little extra positive effect on plant growth..  If i had to buy a branded unit i definitely would not choose one with RGB in it. Since even if you want to create a moonlight ambiance at night, still a very dim white light looks 10 x more natural then any other color especialy blue is very unatural. RGB is fun to play with if you DIY make some for a few euros and easy can replace a € 5 strip. Not so easy to fix this in branded units i guess.


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## Nuno M.

I have to say that I'm using CHIHIROS A-SERIES 120cm version and they are really good lights for a really reasonable price 

You can follow my journal here and judge by yourselves : http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/crystal-mountain.42683/#post-458212

Till now the growth rate has been astonishing even the HC carpet is filling in at light speed


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## GTL_UK

NEMO Light Aqua Fresh !


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## Timon Vogelaar

Nuno M. said:


> You can follow my journal here and judge by yourselves


I am and i love it :]



GTL_UK said:


> NEMO Light Aqua Fresh !


YAY :] Another one. Added too the list...

Keep 'em coming people


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## Lauris

Beamswork. Have one for nano. Currently stored away waiting for next nano inspiration. But fairly cheap and great it is


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## Timon Vogelaar

Lauris said:


> Beamswork. Have one for nano. Currently stored away waiting for next nano inspiration. But fairly cheap and great it is



How could i forget Beamswork 
When i was looking for LED fixture i came by Beamswork through Ebay. They look pretty good but i just could't tell if they where just as good or better then Chihiros/ADA & MasWas fixtures.
I looked up your journals but the pictures are gone. Wanted to see you results with this fixture...


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## Lauris

Timon Vogelaar said:


> How could i forget Beamswork
> When i was looking for LED fixture i came by Beamswork through Ebay. They look pretty good but i just could't tell if they where just as good or better then Chihiros/ADA & MasWas fixtures.
> I looked up your journals but the pictures are gone. Wanted to see you results with this fixture...



Hi, thanks for response 

Here is one of my projects with beamswork only (hi-lumen 1000)

https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/lkzgraphy/sets/72157655997198483/

And another one with it used as supportive light along with T5's (until it was replaced with Radion)

https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/lkzgraphy/sets/72157653613213618/


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## CooKieS

Twinstar ES 600 VS. Ada aquasky 601


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## Timon Vogelaar

CooKieS said:


> Twinstar ES 600 VS. Ada aquasky 601


Wow, ADA looks brighter... 

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## CooKieS

Timon Vogelaar said:


> Wow, ADA looks brighter...
> 
> Verstuurd vanaf mijn HTC One met Tapatalk



But twinstar color render looks better to me.


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## Glenn Birtwistle

Hi guys, Can someone recommend a 4ft budget led light and where to find a trusted retailer please?
I've toyed with the idea of buying an aquarien eco from eBay but I'm just trusting of the Chinese sellers and the shipping times...please help I kinda need one for next week as I'll be starting to plant the new tank over the weekend. 
Cheers


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## Aqua360

was just going to suggest Beamswork until I seen it at the bottom of the list there  cracking little fixtures, cheap and very powerful; though not my first option if I had the cash to spend on dimmable light instead


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## Alexander Belchenko

May I add to your list a product from my country? Currently I'm using this light and should admit I like it due to options to change light intensity and color temperature.

http://www.aqualighter.com/aquascape.html


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## Alexander Belchenko

It seems aqualighter site is slightly english unfriendly, but this link should give you english version

http://www.aqualighter.com/aquascape.html?language=gb


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## Timon Vogelaar

Alexander Belchenko said:


> May I add to your list a product from my country? Currently I'm using this light and should admit I like it due to options to change light intensity and color temperature.
> 
> http://www.aqualighter.com/aquascape.html



Alexander :], This one is really worth adding! It really does not matter which country it is. Thank you


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## MatusG

I also have the Aqualighter 2 and its really good light. The problem is dimming  does use CREE and its really nice and bright.


Odoslané z môjho iPad cez Tapatalk


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## Timon Vogelaar

MatusG said:


> I also have the Aqualighter 2 and its really good light. The problem is dimming  does use CREE and its really nice and bright.
> 
> 
> Odoslané z môjho iPad cez Tapatalk



I am reading up on the Aqualighter 3. I find this really an interesting fixture;


 


 

This fixture should give you 4300 lumen with this single LED strip with different colors. Sunrise, Sunset and Moon capabilities. ADA's Aquasky 601 gives you 2850 lumens and is not controllable.

This one looks like the real deal


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## Alexander Belchenko

Aqualighter 3 needs separate control device, otherwise it's just light.
http://www.aqualighter.com/controller-AquaLighter-Device-8454.html?language=gb


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## micheljq

I just want to say it is difficult to judge a light by the lumens alone.  Lumens are a mesure of visible light to human eye, not plants.  Plants use light quite differently.

There are the PAR/PURs which are better measures even so, personally the best way i saw was to try the light for many months and see the plant's response.

Michel.


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## radar

Fluval Aquasky.

If like me you like the look of the hood that came with your aquarium, the LED units have snap on fittings which allow you to utilise your existing light bar to mount the LED units. Units are adjustable length wise so probably very handy for Juwel hoods


Just fitted two 30w units to my Fluval Roma 240, so far I'm very happy.


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## Ricardo Romão

micheljq said:


> I just want to say it is difficult to judge a light by the lumens alone.  Lumens are a mesure of visible light to human eye, not plants.  Plants use light quite differently.
> 
> There are the PAR/PURs which are better measures even so, personally the best way i saw was to try the light for many months and see the plant's response.
> 
> Michel.




I agree. In fact the PUR is the perfect measure. A good par meters will read more or less between 400 to 700nm. This way, if you have a strong green spectrum (brightness to our eyes), plants will not grow well, however the PAR meter will read it 
Also how the plants and fish look to our eyes is very important. The real fish and plant color rendering is expected in my opinion... and some just photoshop it if you see it carefully


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## dravec

Please can you write me e-shop for twinstar ligth 600e ???
Have somebody an experience with this light? I would like to buy light from premium brand and I can not choise between ADA Aqusky 601, Chihiros Crystal 601 .... and now Twinstar ligth 600e.
thank you for help


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## Manisha

Hi, I just thought I'd mention that the Chihiros has 2 ranges - the Aquasky & the A series. 

I'm really happy with my A Series A-501
Luminous Flux: 4800pm
For 50cm long tank
£41.00


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## Manisha

Alexander Belchenko said:


> Typical T5 lights have about 10 000 hours of work, IIRC, and you need to change them (ideally) each year. If those LEDs are about to 30-50 thousands hours, you might expect their lifespan to be something like 3-5 years, which is not too bad, but not immortal either.



I thought t5s/t8s needed to be changed every 9-12 months but apparently this isn't correct http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/roma-240-lighting.42227/


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## Timon Vogelaar

radar said:


> Fluval Aquasky.
> 
> If like me you like the look of the hood that came with your aquarium, the LED units have snap on fittings which allow you to utilise your existing light bar to mount the LED units. Units are adjustable length wise so probably very handy for Juwel hoods
> 
> 
> Just fitted two 30w units to my Fluval Roma 240, so far I'm very happy.




Thanks for your suggestion. There are lots of other "fixtures" suitable for in-hood use. Though i intended this thread to be just for LED fixtures used for aquascaping. You know, those that are good quality and pleasing to the eye. I have added Fluval Fresh & plant 2.0 LED which is their aquascaping fixture.



micheljq said:


> There are the PAR/PURs which are better measures even so, personally the best way i saw was to try the light for many months and see the plant's response.



Very true! I named the lumens because Aqualighter did not put the PAR value on their website.

@Ricardo Romão Those are gorgeous pictures. I am curious how this product wil be received.


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## Jim..

Would anyone know if and when these are available in the UK?



Ricardo Romão said:


> *60cm* will cost around *115€* without VAT.
> 
> This means that you may have a high quality RGB solution with full spectrum, between 400nm to 700nm, for less than 150€!!!
> 
> Furthermore:
> 
> All solutions are optimized for the different tank sizes;
> Now you can see the real plant and fish color due to the wide color gamut;
> You don't have to worry about dimming because their specifications allow you to grow plants that don't like much bright;
> Last generation Samsung and Nichia LEDs;
> Special Materials to optimize heat dissipation;
> 
> Made in Korea.


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## Ricardo Romão

Jim.. said:


> Would anyone know if and when these are available in the UK?



AquariumGardens


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## Ricardo Romão




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