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Help with my new led lighting

Alastair

Member
Joined
27 Dec 2009
Messages
4,402
Location
Denton, Manchester
Hi everyone, in the lead up to my to be journal of a bigger puddle, I've decided to sell my ati sunpower and opt for an led fixture.
The questions I want to ask is this, my new tank is going to be 5ft x5ft, and the LEDs are these (but not these exact ones) http://www.buy-electrical.co.uk/content ... _x_3w.html
So what I wanted to know is each unit is equivalent to 1 x 50w halogen light, but what does this compare to in t5??
I'm thinking that 150-200watt of t5 would of kept my new tank in a low light category so how many of each of these led units would I need to get 200watt equivalent of t5s?? I have no idea what halogen lights compare to in t5s or is it the same? I know lumens from these are much less than a t5.

The new unit will be an mdf square board framed about 3ft above the tank, so would say 5 of these be ok??? They give off a 30 degree spread......


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Re: Help with my new led lighting

Hey Alastair, my 1000ND has 10 3w LED's in so each of those units is marginally less than 1 x 1000ND. Not sure if that helps. But each of my tiles should cover 2' x 2' Your tank is 5' x 5' and I would really have said you want 8 or 9 x 1000ND's for that (holy sh1t thats almost £2500 worth of TMC kit 1). That would mean you want about 30 of those units. (I hope the maths is right, but its late and Im a bit tired).
 
Re: Help with my new led lighting

I have been trying out GU10 LEDs for a couple of years now, this is what I think.....
Overall I am very disappointed in the bulbs performance! I have tried several makes in a variety of Ws, at the moment, over my lounge tank I have 3 x 11 w leds of three different colours, I use them to great effect by individually switching them on in sequence at 15min intervals (via timers) & then actually switching them off just after my T5s come on!
My disappointment comes from - the lack of actual light they produce compared to the equivalent w T5s - the short life span of the bulbs (not all but maybe 15% of the bulbs I have bought in the last two years have failed)
However, if i were in your position, I would consider using a combination of 11w Leds & 11w megaman bulbs.

I love these lights because ... they easily outperform the same w LEDs & are a much better match against a 50w halogen also, they have a slow start light a MT light taking about 30 secs to reach full power http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-x-Megaman-1 ... 35baa6c545
I would be looking at using 4 x megermans for the main light source & using maybe 12 LEDs for colour effect & sunrise sunset & moon light.
 
Re: Help with my new led lighting

foxfish said:
Any more thoughts on this Alistair?

Yeah was just having a quick think, if I was to skip using LEDs, and opted for the mega mans, would 5 or 6 of these still be classed as low light and give me enough growth still??
I've noticed too that non seem to be above 4000kelvin so would appear very yellow??


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Re: Help with my new led lighting

Well I have a feeling that megerman is just a trade name - try a search for low energy bulbs & look out for same type of element.... I saw these in 6500k http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GU10-LOW-ENER ... 53e945eef9
My best advice would be to buy an 11w LED & a 11w megaman & see what you think but I would still recommend a combination as the fitting are same & pretty cheap in B&Q in fact you can but both types of bulb from B&Q anyway.
B&Q sell GU10 fitting for about £20 for a pack of ten.
 
Re: Help with my new led lighting

What do you think of these??? Do I need ip65 rated or will these be relatively safe above the new tank??
I'm clueless on building a lighting rig I'd need some help on a how to but for ten its not bad

http://item.mobileweb.ebay.co.uk/viewit ... 5026825612


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Re: Help with my new led lighting

OK mate, well I can probably help you a bit... the main issue with all these latest low energy bright light bulbs is they are much bigger than than halogen bulbs! well not so much bigger but longer, so they stick out of the standard fittings by 10-25mm depending on the actual bulb. This may or may not be an issue to you.
Are you going to build the wooden overhead box the lights sit in?
There is an easy option by buying a ready made multi bulb spot light unit, again plenty on display in B&Q, some of them come already fitted with the megaman style bulbs too.
I might be able to show you some examples but I am not at home for a few more days.
 
Re: Help with my new led lighting

foxfish said:
OK mate, well I can probably help you a bit... the main issue with all these latest low energy bright light bulbs is they are much bigger than than halogen bulbs! well not so much bigger but longer, so they stick out of the standard fittings by 10-25mm depending on the actual bulb. This may or may not be an issue to you.
Are you going to build the wooden overhead box the lights sit in?
There is an easy option by buying a ready made multi bulb spot light unit, again plenty on display in B&Q, some of them come already fitted with the megaman style bulbs too.
I might be able to show you some examples but I am not at home for a few more days.

Some examples would be great yes.

Well the link I showed then is ten gu10 units but with the 11watt bulbs included where as some of the other units such as this number 281029412578 is a halogen unit. So do the normal halogen units allow the 11w energy savers to be fitted??
Normally the led downlight are 29 each but I can get ten for less than 20 pound on ebay. Or the second item are 3.69 each I'd just have to purchase seperate 11w energy bulbs then and what ever wiring etc I'd need to rig it all up.
If I do it ill build a basic 3ftx3ft board from mdf, mount how ever many units I think should be suitable then create a frame around the outside of the main board so even if the energy bulbs stick out a bit you'd not really notice then.




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Re: Help with my new led lighting

Yes - Gu10 fittings suitable for halogen bulbs will take low energy Gu10 bulbs in exactly the same way.
You could use 15-18mm MDF although it is a heavy material, you would need a base like you say & a frame that sticks about 100mm above & perhaps 50mm below to give effect. You can also buy eyeball fitting that swivel to any angle so you could group the light in a smaller area if you wanted too.
 
Re: Help with my new led lighting

foxfish said:
Yes - Gu10 fittings suitable for halogen bulbs will take low energy Gu10 bulbs in exactly the same way.
You could use 15-18mm MDF although it is a heavy material, you would need a base like you say & a frame that sticks about 100mm above & perhaps 50mm below to give effect. You can also buy eyeball fitting that swivel to any angle so you could group the light in a smaller area if you wanted too.

Thanks mate. So what else would I need other than the ten lights in the first link I showed to rig this all up to run from a plug socket then?? Do you think all ten would be over kill if so how many do you recommend??
And Do you think they'll be suitable?? Or should I opt for a gu10 halogen unit and just buy the megamans. I've spotted the tilt gu10s too for 3.99 each on eBay.

Ps I can always pick a lighter wood which would weigh less

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Re: Help with my new led lighting

The light are just wired in line from one to the next, you dont have to wire them all or you can do them in batches with independent plugs & timers. I dont know just how many you can join in one loop though?
Your link looks to good to be true (I notice they dont post to Guernsey either) I have no idea about the bulbs performance but at that price you cant really loose!
You are obversely going to have to experiment a bit to achieve want you want....
 
Re: Help with my new led lighting

Well the seller said they're fine to take the megamans too, I just haven't a clue how to wire them up and how many to go for. I'm thinking between 6 and 8.
I was never good at electrics so don't know where to start


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Re: Help with my new led lighting

Don't know how to pm from my phone but will send you my number tonight if you wanna pick my brains about the electrics. Haha i still can't grow plants that well but I've been doing an ok job at pretending to be a sparky :lol:

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Re: Help with my new led lighting

somethingfishy said:
Don't know how to pm from my phone but will send you my number tonight if you wanna pick my brains about the electrics. Haha i still can't grow plants that well but I've been doing an ok job at pretending to be a sparky :lol:

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Ha ha yes please mate lol.


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Re: Help with my new led lighting

somethingfishy said:
Don't know how to pm from my phone but will send you my number tonight if you wanna pick my brains about the electrics. Haha i still can't grow plants that well but I've been doing an ok job at pretending to be a sparky :lol:

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Too good since they want you so much you get called out on Sundays :lol:
 
Re: Help with my new led lighting

Interesting thread guys, I am thinking of doing the same sort of thing for a new marine tank rather than forking out £500+ on a led unit.

I will be trying it over a just shy of 2ft cube. I have seen the purple too which are a close wavelength to the ati purple plus tubes so may give those a go as well as the blue.
 
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