# Led lights?



## Scoops111 (11 Feb 2021)

*Hi all, brand new to the forum which looks really well set out by the way!
I’m looking for some advice regarding some maxspect razor LED’s that I used years ago which were fantastic on my reef tank, my question is, will they work well on a new freshwater aquascape instead of me needing to buy new LED’s. 
 Any information much appreciated 👍🏻*


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## zozo (11 Feb 2021)

If it has white coloured light spectrum it will grow plants...  And when you like the colour then just give it a go... You can always buy a new light if it doesn't meet expectations. I've grown plants in the past under 10000K light colour. Anything higher I'm not sure it might be to blue and simply not looking very attractive.


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## Scoops111 (11 Feb 2021)

*thanks for replying, I remember when the lights were on my reef tank they were on 100% and really bright, do you think it would be best to start at 50% and take it up from there? With a 6hr period?*


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## zozo (11 Feb 2021)

No idea...  It depends on the intensity and size of the tank... Tall tanks need more light intensity than less tall tanks.

Trail and error.


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## Scoops111 (11 Feb 2021)

*ok thanks, I’ll just play around with them and go from there, like you said “see how it looks”*


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## Nick potts (11 Feb 2021)

I have a set of razors, which model do you have? 

I know mine is the 3ft and runs at 180W which is far too powerful for most planted tanks.


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## Scoops111 (11 Feb 2021)

*hi, they are 160w 16000k the tank there going on is 900x450x450*


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## zozo (11 Feb 2021)

Scoops111 said:


> 16000k


I can tell you upfront above the green and maybe red coloured plants this will look rather unattractive...
Just give it a go with placing some smaller houseplants under the light and see... That will look fairly the same as if it was above a flooded aquarium. Then decide for yourself. After it's you who has to look at it...


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## Nick potts (11 Feb 2021)

Scoops111 said:


> *hi, they are 160w 16000k the tank there going on is 900x450x450*



Just run the white only channel, and maybe a bit on the blues, that's what i did, tune the spectrum to around 8000k, also i run mine at around 30 -40% maybe on the whites.


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## Scoops111 (11 Feb 2021)

I’ll give it a try and see


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## Scoops111 (11 Feb 2021)

Nick, you mentioned tuning the spectrum to 8000k how do I go about that? Thanks


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## Nick potts (11 Feb 2021)

The razor lets you tune the colour buy reducing the intensity of the white and blue/red/green leds, running the whites at a higher % will give you a more yellow (lower K) looking light which tends to look better on planted tanks.

I would start with only the whites on, then slowly add blue until you are happy with the look, the plants won't care one bit so whatever looks good to you,


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## Scoops111 (11 Feb 2021)

Thanks for taking the time to explain Nick


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## oreo57 (11 Feb 2021)

Channel A is probably all you will use and that will still be a bit err "blue".


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## oreo57 (11 Feb 2021)

Nick potts said:


> The razor lets you tune the colour buy reducing the intensity of the white and blue/red/green leds, running the whites at a higher % will give you a more yellow (lower K) looking light which tends to look better on planted tanks.
> 
> I would start with only the whites on, then slowly add blue until you are happy with the look, the plants won't care one bit so whatever looks good to you,


Think you are considering the wrong model.. see above. And if I'm correct there is NO way to get to 8000k. Not even close.


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## Nick potts (11 Feb 2021)

oreo57 said:


> Think you are considering the wrong model.. see above. And if I'm correct there is NO way to get to 8000k. Not even close.


Maybe not 8000k exactly, but all you need to do is mix the blues and whites to achieve a good colour spectrum, this is all that the K of light is anyway (a bit simplified)


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## oreo57 (11 Feb 2021)

Nick potts said:


> Maybe not 8000k exactly, but all you need to do is mix the blues and whites to achieve a good colour spectrum, this is all that the K of light is anyway (a bit simplified)


But you can't. There is too much blue in the white channel.. 1/3 royal blue, lot of blue in the 8000k but at least some red w/ the 3000k.

ONLY ch1.. best guess..







10000k version would work.. not the o/p's..


			http://saltycritter.com/lighting/coralvue/maxspect-razor-300-watt-r420r-led-lighting-fixture.htm
		

Well "work" is relative.
In all fairness est. of record-able spectrum isn't always what one "sees"..

See for yourself.








						SPECTRA
					

SPECTRA can perform the optical simulation of many required for coral breeding. SPECTRAはサンゴ飼育に必要な多くの光学シミュレーションを行う事が可能です。




					spectra.1023world.net


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## Nick potts (12 Feb 2021)

oreo57 said:


> But you can't. There is too much blue in the white channel.. 1/3 royal blue, lot of blue in the 8000k but at least some red w/ the 3000k.
> 
> ONLY ch1.. best guess..
> View attachment 162648
> ...



You can tun the blues down as much as needed (or off if you wish, and just use the white leds which are a mix of 8k and 3k diodes.[/url]


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## oreo57 (12 Feb 2021)

Nick potts said:


> You can tun the blues down as much as needed (or off if you wish, and just use the white leds which are a mix of 8k and 3k diodes.[/url]


On the 10000k version Not the 16000k version
16000k ch 1 is 6- 8000k, 6- 3000k 6- royal blue..


> *hi, they are 160w 16000k*





Right chart  channel "A".. 2 blue 2 ww 2cw


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## Nick potts (12 Feb 2021)

oreo57 said:


> On the 10000k version Not the 16000k version
> 16000k ch 1 is 6- 8000k, 6- 3000k 6- royal blue..
> 
> 
> ...


I have the 16000K, if I turn the blues off the light is white.


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## Scoops111 (11 Feb 2021)

*Hi all, brand new to the forum which looks really well set out by the way!
I’m looking for some advice regarding some maxspect razor LED’s that I used years ago which were fantastic on my reef tank, my question is, will they work well on a new freshwater aquascape instead of me needing to buy new LED’s. 
 Any information much appreciated 👍🏻*


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## Scoops111 (12 Feb 2021)

Hi Nick, did you say you had your set on a tank? If so, how do that look? Any trouble with algae? Thanks


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## Nick potts (12 Feb 2021)

Scoops111 said:


> Hi Nick, did you say you had your set on a tank? If so, how do that look? Any trouble with algae? Thanks


I don't any longer but i used to have it running over 2 tanks.

It looked ok to me, give it a try and see what you think.


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## Scoops111 (12 Feb 2021)

I will, thank for the information, it’s been really helpful 👍🏻


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## oreo57 (12 Feb 2021)

Nick potts said:


> I have the 16000K, if I turn the blues off the light is white.


First which color white?
_
Point us the light IF the a channel puck has 2 royal blues as listed for a 16000k razor the a channel will never measure 8000k 
The look is err subjective as is the acceptance if that look.
THE big advantage of the razors are the warm white diodes but channel A will still have low cri and high k temp.
What that means is an individual choice.






Any light for the most part is useable. One should understand it though.
I'm not trying to discourage its use nor imply it's not " useable" just what it physically is, up until this point.
My personal opinion would be to sell it and get a more err tuned to freshwater light.  The color balance ( with any channel combination) would not meet "my" specifications. .. YMMV.

_


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## Nick potts (12 Feb 2021)

I'll post a pic of my razor on later, it is pretty white iirc.

I keep mine as a backup as it is a decent light, but there are certainly better FW lights out there


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## Scoops111 (12 Feb 2021)

The whole point of me originally making this post was to simply find out if I could use these lights because that’s all I have at the moment and I totally understand that they are not the best for a freshwater setup as originally I bought them for my reef


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## Nick potts (12 Feb 2021)

Scoops111 said:


> The whole point of me originally making this post was to simply find out if I could use these lights because that’s all I have at the moment and I totally understand that they are not the best for a freshwater setup as originally I bought them for my reef


Very sorry mate didn't mean to sidetrack things.

Simple answer is yes, the plants really don't care about the colour of the lights.


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## Scoops111 (12 Feb 2021)

As it’s a new setup there are other things at the moment I need to be spending my money on i.e tank etc, in time the lights will most probably be swapped out but at least the razors should get me up and running 👍🏻


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