# Do all aquarium LED lights work ?



## tubamanandy (9 Jan 2016)

Do most/all led lighting system built for the aquarium trade grow plants ?

The reason I ask is, if I remember correctly, a well known aquatic gardener in the UK didnt used to stock them or recommend them until he found one that actually grew plants well. To be fair this was going back a few years but not that many


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## zozo (10 Jan 2016)

I guess the well known aquatic gardener is the Green Machine  I remember a article like that on their website.

LED industry is developing redicolously fast and new designs double in power every few months.. Actualy experiences from 6 months ago are out of date.. if you want to keep up with that, i would say do not spend to much money on the latest yell they sell in the LFS for way to much money where you pay top money only for the designs. Next to that before you know it a better led is launched again on the market. Before the latest models are sold out the are outdated again. And if you want to upgrade you are stuck with the brand you bought. Most of them make sure their materials are not for universal use and not fit for plug and play with random standard controlers etc.. If you are handy with DIY than go for that option. Only thing is, you have to do a good research what the latest available specs are and where too buy the latest developments.

LED production is fairly cheap and for ready to use fixtures the money is in the design not in the electrinic material used.

For example i builded this 50 cm led fixture myself.  I started november 2014 and upgraded this setup already 2 times to keep up with the latest developments.




It contains 5 of the latest rigid aloy SMD dual chip 8520 led strip with a total of 144 leds with 65 lumen p/led, plus 1 full spectrum unit 32 led. 50 watt total, No idea how i have to recalculate this to tube lights specs but i'm pretty pleased with it and the strips only cost me € 3,50 each with aluminium heatsink housing included. Ordered directly from Korea, where this dual chip led strip is initialy developed and already before it was available in shops in europe. And spend € 15 on the acrylic to mount it to and € 20 on the steel wire set to hang it. € 30 on the controller and € 20 on the powersupply. Now in the local shops moths later the old stock is sold out and this excact same strip is available in the european shops for 6 x that price. Even the shops can't keep up with this development they are walking way behind.

As soon as a better led is lauched i only need a soldering iron and 5 minutes work and i'm up to date again.. Not that i need it, but so to speak.. Still i would do it, just for the fun of it and see what it does. After all the are dimmable.. 

Go search the shops and find a compleet 50 watt aquarium light setup for € 100...


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## Dr Mike Oxgreen (10 Jan 2016)

zozo said:


> It contains 5 of the latest rigid aloy SMD dual chip 8520 led strip with a total of 144 leds with 65 lumen p/led, plus 1 full spectrum unit 32 led. 50 watt total, No idea how i have to recalculate this to tube lights specs


I tend to use a rough rule of thumb that T5 fluorescents produce about 70 lumens per Watt, give or take. So if you know the total lumen output of your LEDs, divide that figure by 70 and you have the 'equivalent' T5 wattage.

My 25 litre nano tank has a 1200 lumen Beamswork LED fixture and an 800 lumen Interpet LED strip. So I estimate the equivalent T5 wattage as 28W (2000 / 70).


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## AndyMcD (10 Jan 2016)

Tubamanandy, a couple of comments on LED lights. Don't know enough to give you a definitive answer. I'm trying to grow simple plants.

Have you read George Farmer's Superfish journals? He has got incredible results with these budget range aquariums and he has been surprised at how well the plants (easy / medium) have grown with what should be an under powered LED. Worth a look at the journals. 

My point is, even with some of today's budget range, apparently underpowered LEDs, if you know what you are doing, these lights can grow plants.

Also, I recently planted up my first proper aquascape with an Arcadia OTL LED light about two weeks ago. Even with the power set at a third and afterwards a quarter, I've managed to cause a big algae outbreak (due to my poor housekeeping - probably insufficient water changes). 

My point is, the light is far more powerful than I'd realised. I've read the TGM article too. I suspect it is quite outdated. 

Take a look at the following two diagrams for the light I have. Please note a couple of points:
- in the centre of the tank at 300mm deep, PAR is about 280. Please note where 280 is on the top diagram.
- note on the top graph that 'medium' PAR (pink band) is somewhere between 50 and 80 PAR. This suggests that you may want to run the light at about 25% to 33% of full power. LEDs allow you to control the power in this way.


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## zozo (10 Jan 2016)

Dr Mike Oxgreen said:


> I tend to use a rough rule of thumb


Ok, but in how far is a rule of thumb true to real time output..  Visualy i see a massive amount of light output i could never ever reach with 50 cm long tube lights.
i would need a very expensive accurate immersible PAR meter to give a definitive number..

But given the factory specs the best SMD dual chip 8520 available 3 months ago are 18 watt per meter with 72 leds providing 65 lumen each..

72 x 65 =  4680 lum /18 = 280 lum p/watt per meter

I have 2 meter (4 x 50 cm) of these strips above my tank that would be 9360 lum total..

The 1 full spectrum unit only gives in its specs 10 watt on 36 leds and the color spectrum in Nm.. Where 1 watt is equivalent to 5 watt HPS,HID,MH,Incandescent & Halogen Lamp.  I didn't add anything of that to the above sum.

The lights hang little more than 20 cm above the water line of a 30 cm high tank in my case.. I lately saw a same dimension tank with a lid and a 35 watt t5 tube in it.. And it looked like a darkroom compared to this, but still had nice plants.  So i think i over did it a bit, but ti doesn't realy matter for these prices i can and they are dimmable.

Look at *SuperColey1* scape with DIY Cree led project and what he grows under it.. You could say that's pretty outdated to the todays available specs..  But still it's amazing.. 

So why toss with numbers, the proof is in the pudding..


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## Greenfinger2 (10 Jan 2016)

Hi Tubmanandy, I use 30w 6500k garden flood lights £ 30 each They work a treat and grow plants well. So no need to break the bank with the latest systems 

One photo


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## zozo (10 Jan 2016)

Yes indeed sorry Roy, i forgot to throw you as mater cheff into the pudding as well. And you make this pudding realy haute cuisine..


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## James O (11 Jan 2016)

tubamanandy said:


> .....a well known aquatic gardener in the UK didnt used to stock them or recommend them until he found one that actually grew plants well....
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## James O (11 Jan 2016)

Said 'aquatic gardener' obviously had a very tenuous grasp on how light works and more worryingly, how the plants he flogs grew.  He seems to no longer be under that delusion as he now sells LEDs.  His plants are none the worse.

Light is light, sun, T5, T8, compact fluorescent, metal halide, LED etc etc.  The plants don't know or care. They make the best of what they have.


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## tubamanandy (17 Jan 2016)

Decided to turn my lights (LED) down to 60% to help with the BGA - should know in a week or two whether this approach works.

I've personally build all manner of LED fixtures in the past but always had the BGA issue, I'm 99% certain its simpoly due to too much light


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## zozo (17 Jan 2016)

tubamanandy said:


> BGA issue, I'm 99% certain its simpoly due to too much light



Yes and no..  When it's establishing in your tank light will of course be an issue and a trigger to establish even more.. Dimming the light or hanging it higher will certainly help to battle the algea.. If you can live with that because you have plants still able to flourish under the amount of light you give them even with dimming. Than this is indeed the simplest solution to the problem, why not!?

But in tanks with only very advanced plants where you would like to get the most out of it, you might not even get enough light with any Led or Tube light fixture available today. Hence there are enough scapers hanging a few 100 watts Metal Hallides above it and still have algea free tanks..  These people have to adress algea issues in an other way than just playing with the lights.


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