Lighting decision

[Laurencek]

Hi all,

Novice coming into this hobby, currently have a fluval 125 tank. Currently empty and hope to get into aquascaping. Spent a lot of time reading and trying to learn.

I came across the term high light and low light. I have seen par be mentioned. When shopping for a light my first challenge was size. The tank is 80cm and most premium brands are either side of this number being 60cm or 90cm in length.

I have looked at the Oase led premium 80 light. Plan was to lay it on top as it is 83cm. There is no mention of par levels I can find or spectrum. It’s showing as 58 watts which seems considerably higher than a basic led strip light. Lumens showing 2370. Is there a way for to decipher if this light would be classed as high lighting?

I get the bit about co2 potentially determining categories of plants but there is mention of needing a strong or high lighting in some.

just looking for some tips to deciphering available information in particular the oase 80 premium led. Seems little reviews on the light but a million on their filters so assume it would be a good night.

just help would be appreciated when looking for lights when things like par etc are not mentioned and if there is anything else to look out for.

 

[ceg4048]

I have looked at the Oase led premium 80 light. Plan was to lay it on top as it is 83cm. There is no mention of par levels I can find or spectrum. It’s showing as 58 watts which seems considerably higher than a basic led strip light. Lumens showing 2370. Is there a way for to decipher if this light would be classed as high lighting?

Hello,
Lamp manufactures, with the exception of the very high priced marine brands, rarely produce PAR data for the consumer. There really is no direct conversion of lumens to PAR, simply because lumens is a parameter based on human vision, which has nothing to do with the way plants use light. When conversion charts are produced, it is a certainty that the lamp output was measure with both a PAR meter and a lumen meter at the same time so that plots on a graph could be made to determine conversion factors. If no conversion factor is provided then the only thing we can say is that high lumens typically are related to higher PAR. Exactly how high is not possible to determine without proper instrumentation.

I get the bit about co2 potentially determining categories of plants but there is mention of needing a strong or high lighting in some.

This is false. There are no plants that "need" strong light. The only people that benefit from strong light are the people who sell anti-algae products. CO2 grows plants. strong light merely forces them to use CO2 faster.

just looking for some tips to deciphering available information in particular the oase 80 premium led. Seems little reviews on the light but a million on their filters so assume it would be a good night.

Just get any lamp that fits the size of your tank, that has a variety of colors, such as RGB+white - and most importantly, has the ability to vary the power output.
If hobbyists spent half as much time fretting over CO2/flow/distribution as they do about lights we would have a lot more progress.

Cheers,

 

[erwin123]

if you have a Fluval, why not consider the Fluval Aquasky 14552? You can buy 2 sets for better front to back coverage.

At 21w per piece, it admittedly isn't the brightest of lights and there is something to be said at getting the most powerful light you can afford even if you are running at lower power - if you don't run LEDs at 100%, the light remains relatively cool and the lifespan is probably increased.