Ultimate Light unit

[Carol]

If you had Santa sat in front of you and he asked you which suspended LED light unit you might want, to grow more than an Anubis forrest ,what would you ask Santa for?
I am personally convinced that contrary to what I have been told that LED lights do deteriorate over time,shifting in intensity etc.

 

[Konsa]

Hi
Once upon a time there was the thing that the T8 and T5 tubes should be changed every year to successfully grow plants.
My plants obviously didn't get that memo and keep growing with T5 and T8 bulbs about 7 -9 years old.
If Santa is reading this will love a Twinstar LED unit to fit my 80cm tank
Regards Konstantin

 

[oreo57]

If you had Santa sat in front of you and he asked you which suspended LED light unit you might want, to grow more than an Anubis forrest ,what would you ask Santa for?
I am personally convinced that contrary to what I have been told that LED lights do deteriorate over time,shifting in intensity etc.

Well short of a yet to be produced model of my specs..
And suspended..

Radion G6 - EcoTech Marine

RADION G4 LED LIGHTING - The best aquarium LED light in the world just got better.

ecotechmarine.com

Mitras LX 7000 Series

www.aquariumcomputer.com

Mitras LX is supposedly future proof w/ upgradeable led boards.
Both have warts.

 

[Wookii]

Well short of a yet to be produced model of my specs..
And suspended..

Radion G6 - EcoTech Marine

RADION G4 LED LIGHTING - The best aquarium LED light in the world just got better.

ecotechmarine.com

Mitras LX 7000 Series

www.aquariumcomputer.com

Mitras LX is supposedly future proof w/ upgradeable led boards.
Both have warts.

Unfortunately EcoTech confirmed to me that they have no intention of making a G5 Freshwater - so we’re stuck with the G4 for now (still an exceptionally good light!).

 

[oreo57]

Unfortunately EcoTech confirmed to me that they have no intention of making a G5 Freshwater - so we’re stuck with the G4 for now (still an exceptionally good light!).

That's what they told me at first too..

Radion XR15 G5 FW FRESHWATER Aquarium LED Light Fixture - Ecotech Marine

Shop The Best Saltwater Aquarium Equipment & Supplies at Saltwater Aquarium. We Carry Everything you will Need for your Fish Tank.

www.saltwateraquarium.com

A look at the Ecotech Marine G5 Freshwater LED Lights | AquaNerd

A look at the Ecotech Marine G5 Freshwater LED Lights. Learn more on our blog.

aquanerd.com

 

[oreo57]

Sorry.. Image size was annoying me .. then replied instead of edited..
Fixed.

 

[Wookii]

If you had Santa sat in front of you and he asked you which suspended LED light unit you might want, to grow more than an Anubis forrest ,what would you ask Santa for?
I am personally convinced that contrary to what I have been told that LED lights do deteriorate over time,shifting in intensity etc.

Santa would have to set his Elves to work, and make me a light that hasn’t been created yet.

I want an RGB light (same diodes as Chihiros Vivid II/ADA Solar RGB) in a small pendant form factor (like Ai Prime or Kessil form factor), but high output, with additional supporting LED’s (Royal Blue, Orange, Deep Red) to extend and enhance the colour rendition beyond the three peak the RGB LED’s provide.

 

[Carol]

I long for the days of Halides ,full spectrum. Everything was so very easy to both understand and results achieved. Maybe I should ask Santa for a Time Dilation Portal that fits easily into the corner of the bedroom ,Stewie Griffin has one .I could go back to 1978 when I was slim and still had my own motorbikes…ahhhh…..(shut up Carol) .

 

[hypnogogia]

I long for the days of Halides ,full spectrum. Everything was so very easy to both understand and results achieved. Maybe I should ask Santa for a Time Dilation Portal that fits easily into the corner of the bedroom ,Stewie Griffin has one .I could go back to 1978 when I was slim and still had my own motorbikes…ahhhh…..(shut up Carol) .

I loved my metal halide lights back in the day (2 X 70 W) produced such lively dolours and sparkle. Slow arm up like sunrise. Best lights I've ever owned, but expensive to run.

 

[Carol]

I loved my metal halide lights back in the day (2 X 70 W) produced such lively dolours and sparkle. Slow arm up like sunrise. Best lights I've ever owned, but expensive to run.

Tell me about it,thats the main reason we changed to LED. Tho I can never get the results with hard corals that I got with halides.
I had a Guisemann unit 2x250w halides and 4x T5’s . Our electric bill was …troubling…

 

[Wookii]

That's what they told me at first too..

Radion XR15 G5 FW FRESHWATER Aquarium LED Light Fixture - Ecotech Marine

Shop The Best Saltwater Aquarium Equipment & Supplies at Saltwater Aquarium. We Carry Everything you will Need for your Fish Tank.

www.saltwateraquarium.com

A look at the Ecotech Marine G5 Freshwater LED Lights | AquaNerd

A look at the Ecotech Marine G5 Freshwater LED Lights. Learn more on our blog.

aquanerd.com

View attachment 178302

Amazing! They can’t even be bothered to list it on their own website! 😂

 

[oreo57]

Amazing! They can’t even be bothered to list it on their own website! 😂

Ahhh you ran into what I did recently.. Got old pages and weird diode configurations for a "freshwater" light (mostly blue like the reef version)
Not the first time their site was a mess w/ old pages or hard to reach info.
Radion G5 - EcoTech Marine

Bottom of page..
Oddly 4 diodes less than their reef lights.. See black holes.
I've been playing with suggestions for them to fill the holes but their spectrum is not really conductive to an easy modification without mixing colors on channels or re-designing the traces.
Besides they wouldn't listen to me anyways.
I have weird hobbies..

 

[erwin123]

Are UV-A/UV-B beneficial to aquatic plant growth (I've watched the Bruce Bugbee videos on terrestrial plants and UV)? Would more LED manufacturers start incorporating UV diodes into their lights in search of the 'ultimate' LED? (like the Week Aqua LEDs)

or maybe even a standalone light that supplies only UVA, UVB, and NIR, to supplement existing fixtures, like this: 5 Channel Spectrum Light Bar

 

[oreo57]

Are UV-A/UV-B beneficial to aquatic plant growth (I've watched the Bruce Bugbee videos on terrestrial plants and UV)? Would more LED manufacturers start incorporating UV diodes into their lights in search of the 'ultimate' LED? (like the Week Aqua LEDs)

or maybe even a standalone light that supplies only UVA, UVB, and NIR, to supplement existing fixtures, like this: 5 Channel Spectrum Light Bar

What's " important" to commercial horticulture is not necessarily important on our level.
If one wanted to there are plenty of "UV" or IR led bars that could be added to an existing setup.

As to current lights adding UV correctly is either a high added cost with the possibility of a shortened lifespan.
Not even considering lens burning UV diodes still have shorter lifespans than most other leds.
This is getting better but costs for quality are not at "normal" diode levels.
Note on your light bar there is no estimate of lifespan.

One thing though.. UV-B is never really recommended especially if you have other than plants. Well unless you have lizards ect..
There does seem to be some "pest reduction" benefits in terrestrials though. Again, does that really apply here? ????
As a water column sterilizer.. ok.
Away from any inhabitants and not directly applied to the plants themselves.

Except for costs there is nothing really stopping manuf. from throwing the kitchen sink into a light.
And except for some possible "suntan" pigment increases neither will add any visual appeal AFAICT.

There have been "specialty" t5 tubes that "do" uv. Never were popular in fw aquariums AFAICT.

Having benefits doesn't always imply a necessity.

 

[Aquahorti]

The best light for me would be the ELOS PlanetPro (ELOS - The Aquarium Company: Company Store | ELOS-Europe) with these LEDs from Yuji (https://www.yujiintl.com/upload/file/2020/20200303/20200303102159_2811.pdf) at 5600K in the bars.
I have the PlanetPro (as well as the PlanetCompact), but not with those LEDs in the strips. To me the benefit of the PlanetPro (and for that matter the PlanetCompact) is the option of changing the LED strips to fit your needs, although for most people in the hobby going with full spectrum would do the trick. You could add some red, green and blue LEDs to the mix for making the colors pop, but that would purely be for your viewing enjoyment and not required for the plants to have the extra boost from RGB.
I have also the LEDs in homemade lights but if I could combine them that would probably be my ultimate light.

Are UV-A/UV-B beneficial to aquatic plant growth (I've watched the Bruce Bugbee videos on terrestrial plants and UV)? Would more LED manufacturers start incorporating UV diodes into their lights in search of the 'ultimate' LED? (like the Week Aqua LEDs)

or maybe even a standalone light that supplies only UVA, UVB, and NIR, to supplement existing fixtures, like this: 5 Channel Spectrum Light Bar

You still find some low quality LEDs that are leaking a lot of UV light from the pump used to excite the phosphorus, so depending on what LEDs you are using you might already have UV light in your setup.

UV-B is never really recommended especially if you have other than plants

But that is not the same as it being discouraged. I find it most prudent to use Occam's razor when presented with various claims. The stone cold fact is that UV-A/B/C is present in nature and that everything have evolved under the same sun and that we 'see' UV light in nature. That does not mean that the benefits gained from using UV light are great, but as long as the intensities do not exceed those normally found in the habitats in nature it is more likely that the inhabitants can deal with them.

And except for some possible "suntan" pigment increases neither will add any visual appeal AFAICT.

There is ample research looking at what role the wavelengths outside the traditional PAR range are having on various aspects of plant physiology and it do suggest that we can use it to improve on plant health. And it is not just in the UV range, also in the IR range.

 

[oreo57]

Being present in nature does not imply benefits ..i e. Tornadoes, floods, volcanoes.

 

[Aquahorti]

Being present in nature does not imply benefits ..i e. Tornadoes, floods, volcanoes.

Both floods and volcanoes are essential in the distribution of nutrients on earth, so those are not good examples.

Tornadoes are not known for any substantial benefits to ecosystems other than the rain they also bring and possibly moving some matter around. But what any of that have to do with light is eluding me, other than whatabouism.

 

[oreo57]

See #17. Blue vs UV sort of.
High intensity wavelengths aren' t always necessary even if organisms have built defenses against them. Note defenses not benefits.
Nature is not benign. More like hostile.
Shunting resources for uv protection/DNA repair is a waste of resources. To be fair I believe some of these pathways have fairly low energy/ resource useage so not a big deal BUT unnecessary if provided w more gentle environment.

Benefits of violet light?

www.plantedtank.net

 

[jaypeecee]

...or maybe even a standalone light that supplies only UVA, UVB, and NIR, to supplement existing fixtures, like this: 5 Channel Spectrum Light Bar

Hi @erwin123

I'm unsure about the use of UV-A and UV-B LEDs in a freshwater aquarium lighting fixture. One would have to consider the pros and cons of these sub-400nm wavelengths. I guess photoreduction of iron from Iron III to Iron II may be beneficial but I'm not sure. I do like the incorporation of 660 nm LEDs in the above - this corresponds to one of the peak sensitivities of chlorophyll A.

JPC