# Anyone had good success with TMC Grobeam 600's?



## willsy (28 Feb 2018)

Hi

I'm currently changing over aquarium and am going to re-use my 4 TMC Aquaray Grobeams.

I was using 2 of them on my closed top 125L but I'm moving to a 180L open top where I can suspend them. I can also improve c02 injection with my new dual stage regulator.

Trouble is that I've not had a huge deal of success with the TMC lights. I get a lot of melting of plants etc. I also notice that growth is better on my original aquarium since putting on my old Arcadia LED stretch lights on there!

I understand about c02, ferts and flow etc.

Just wanted to really know if there are success stories with these particular lights and I'm not flogging a dead horse. 

Cheers

Will


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## Edvet (28 Feb 2018)

willsy said:


> I get a lot of melting of plants


Meaning the lights work too good


willsy said:


> growth is better on my original aquarium since putting on my old Arcadia LED stretch lights


meaning lower light, more adapted to your situation


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## willsy (28 Feb 2018)

Edvet said:


> Meaning the lights work too good
> 
> meaning lower light, more adapted to your situation


So it's not my lights. It's just how I'm using them?

The thing is that everyone seems to have success with T5 for high tech but I can't find anyone having success with Grobeams 600s in particular.

Or am I simply talking rubbish and if I get everything balanced they will work?

If anyone uses the Grobeam 600s with excellent results I would really like to know to put my mind at rest. 

Cheers

Will


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## Edvet (28 Feb 2018)

willsy said:


> if I get everything balanced they will work



Plants will grow in almost all light situations, aquarists then to melt them with to much light.
( even the Amano tanks are low light mostly)


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## alto (28 Feb 2018)

Have you read through this Ian Holdich journal 


Back to my roots


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## tam (28 Feb 2018)

I use one over my 70L low tech. I use it with the controller and ramp up and down (4 hours each side) - it hits 90% at the peak but then starts ramping down again. Plus floating plants reduce the light further. Brought a pair and my brother has the other one over his 100L without a controller.

Maybe you just need less of them or to use a controller to limit the output?


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## willsy (28 Feb 2018)

alto said:


> Have you read through this Ian Holdich journal
> 
> 
> Back to my roots


Hi Alto

Looks like Ian switched from the Aquaray tile to the low tech Aquabar quite early on. This is probably more comparable to my old Arcadia stretch.

I'm just wondering if the Aquaray Grobeam's are too intense even on a dimmed setting?

Cheers

Will


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## willsy (28 Feb 2018)

tam said:


> I use one over my 70L low tech. I use it with the controller and ramp up and down (4 hours each side) - it hits 90% at the peak but then starts ramping down again. Plus floating plants reduce the light further. Brought a pair and my brother has the other one over his 100L without a controller.
> 
> Maybe you just need less of them or to use a controller to limit the output?


Hi Tam

Do you get good growth low tech?

Thanks

Will


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## tam (28 Feb 2018)

willsy said:


> Do you get good growth low tech?



I think so. It's slow and steady, but healthy. I don't have them at the moment, but red root floaters really coloured up nicely under it - you could see the outline of the light bar in the green to red colour change so I don't think they limit growth in any way. No issues with melting. I've a lot of anubias, some crypts, buce, vallis - I'll take you a photo this evening if you like.


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## willsy (28 Feb 2018)

Y


tam said:


> I think so. It's slow and steady, but healthy. I don't have them at the moment, but red root floaters really coloured up nicely under it - you could see the outline of the light bar in the green to red colour change so I don't think they limit growth in any way. No issues with melting. I've a lot of anubias, some crypts, buce, vallis - I'll take you a photo this evening if you like.



Yes please, a photo would be great Tam... I would really appreciate that.

Just really like these lights with their shimmer effect, plus I already own them so won't need to spend extra on lights for my new aquarium!

Really only need some confidence to carry on with them... I think it's probably a few things that I was doing wrong with my old aqaurium before (which I plan to rectify this time around). 

Thanks

Will


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## mort (28 Feb 2018)

I have two of these over a 60x45x45 cm signature tank and they do well. I don't run a controller, just on for 6 hours and then off. The room gets lots of natural sunlight but they seem to do a good job.
The tank is fairly low tech, low co2 injection, and the tank is a jungle style setup. I have lots of floating plants plus masses of guppy grass, crypt balansae, crinium calamistratum, buce's, anubias, aponogeton. Most of the time it's hard to actually see in the tank due to the plant mass.  
I have failed with various stem plants but I think that was me and not the lights and since I've got better it's only really hygrophila pinnatfitida that has failed. 

So I know they grow plants but it's just a matter of finding those that thrive for both you and the tank.


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## sonicninja (28 Feb 2018)

I know it’s a different array of LEDs but my aquaray mini tile 400’s and 500’s have been great. The additional dimmer is ace too and really helpful to start low (I’m at 12% on a single tile approx 20cm above a 16litre nano) and turn it up if it’s insufficient. I have a ramp at either end which is also useful. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro


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## tam (28 Feb 2018)

Sorry, haven't mastered taking aquarium photos - it's not as dark as it looks here.


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## Bacms (28 Feb 2018)

I also had a horrible experience with the Grobeam 600. I had a pair on top of my 60x45x30 and struggled for almost two months until I decided to pack them and use the Fluval plant 2.0 LED light that had come with the tank and suddenly all the problems went away even though I was using a lot more light. Never really understand what I was doing wrong. Had the controller and kept pushing them down without any success. However I have seen a few people using them without problems so likely to be difficult lights rather than anything wrong with them


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## sciencefiction (28 Feb 2018)

Well, the conclusions are not always straight forward if one clears their minds of what they constantly read about....

Here is what I make out from all the comments so far....



mort said:


> it's only really hygrophila pinnatfitida



Hydrophila pinnatifida requires light on the high side.



tam said:


> Sorry, haven't mastered taking aquarium photos - it's not as dark as it looks here.



Beautiful tank dominated by low light requirements plants.



sonicninja said:


> I know it’s a different array of LEDs but my aquaray mini tile 400’s and 500’s have been great. The additional dimmer is ace too and really helpful to start low (I’m at 12% on a single tile approx 20cm above a 16litre nano) and turn it up if it’s insufficient. I have a ramp at either end which is also useful.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro



The tank is dominated by a big java fern if I remember correctly from your other recent thread?




Bacms said:


> Never really understand what I was doing wrong. Had the controller and kept pushing them down without any success.



Perhaps you should have pushed up, contrary to what everyone else told you.



willsy said:


> I get a lot of melting of plants etc.





Edvet said:


> Meaning the lights work too good



One gets a lot of melting if they don't put any light over the plants for example, or have insufficient light over the plants, so how come the conclusion is the light is too much?


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## mort (28 Feb 2018)

sciencefiction said:


> Hydrophila pinnatifida requires light on the high side.



It does need a good amount of light yes but I believe in my case it was a co2 limiting issue rather than light as it grew strongly before I cut back on co2. Don't get me wrong I'm not suggesting these lights are amazing but they are a fair quality for their price and I don't find them limiting at all, in fact i'm impressed just how dense I can grow my plants with them.

Like lots of things in life we can be happy and love different things. I've played with led's that cost thousands when I ran a lfs but am still using 2008 led technology over my sps tank because it works. I actually strongly dislike the most popular led in the marine hobby and was not impressed at all with the freshwater version which people go crazy for. So for me its find something you like and try to find what works rather than keep chopping and changing because you think it doesn't.


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## Edvet (1 Mar 2018)

sciencefiction said:


> One gets a lot of melting if they don't put any light over the plants for example, or have insufficient light over the plants, so how come the conclusion is the light is too much?


I ,perhaps falsely, presumed the new lights are brighter then the old ones. And, like when people changed their T8's with the then new T5's, problems arose like melting plants.


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## sciencefiction (1 Mar 2018)

Edvet said:


> with the then new T5's, problems arose like melting plants.



I doubt it melting plants is an issue with high light......Brighter lights can certainly drive deficiencies but melting isn't one of the issues....Can you show me any proof/evidence, even anecdotal but proven, that melting plants is due to using stronger lights? However, there is evidence that plants melt when the light is below their light compensation point...


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## Edvet (1 Mar 2018)

Light compensation point is quite low, so i doubt grobeams are below that, but i will look it up and come back on it.


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## sciencefiction (1 Mar 2018)

mort said:


> It does need a good amount of light yes but I believe in my case it was a co2 limiting issue rather than light as it grew strongly before I cut back on co2.



Light and CO2 can compensate each other. The higher the CO2, the lower on light you can go. If you back down on CO2, the light compensation point increases, so you need to up the light.......My hydrophila pinnatifida I grew some years back in a non-co2 tank melted until I moved it to better light conditions, then the melting stopped and it started growing...


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## sciencefiction (1 Mar 2018)

Has anyone read these threads?

https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/par-readings-for-tmc-mini-led-400-and-tmc-grobeam-600.33192/

https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/anyone-using-these-without-trouble.30700/#post-371672.


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## tam (1 Mar 2018)

tam said:


> I use it with the controller and ramp up and down (4 hours each side) - it hits 90% at the peak but then starts ramping down again.



Sorry, just double checked my controller & instructions, what I've actually got set is ramp up for 4 hours, on for 5 hours at 90% and then ramp down 4 hours. They count ramp up inside the time set, but ramp off is afterwards. Thought that didn't seem like enough hours.


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## Edvet (1 Mar 2018)

sciencefiction said:


> Has anyone read these threads?


Looks as if they are not that strong indeed, I only have experience with the 1500 tiles, and they are quite strong ( no par reader, but they are highlighting two spots in my large tank).


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## micheljq (1 Mar 2018)

As for me they were the lights which allowed my vallisneria to grow in my ancient 65G tank, which was rather deep 24".

Right now i use only one Grobeam 600 over my no co2 - 22G tank, 24" X 14" X 16"(high) and i am pleased with it.

I also use TMC leds over my saltwater tank, I use Aquabeams 600 Marine White over my reef tank.

Michel.


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