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LED good enough to grow these plants?

I hope someone with direct experience with these units can offer advice. I've not used these myself, but I do notice one thing that would worry me, at least until I saw the light over an aquarium. I tried a couple of LED units in the store, over one of their tanks, and these units also had the blue white and red "bulbs." This created a wierd light, with actual areas of pure red under the red bulbs, and these tinted areas extended down into the tank. In other words, the different colours did not mix together, but acted more like coloured spot lights, though not very bright. I would never use something like that, so check that on these units, they seem much the same.

Byron.
 
nd these units also had the blue white and red "bulbs." This created a wierd light, with actual areas of pure red under the red bulbs, and these tinted areas extended down into the tank. In other words, the different colours did not mix
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If each LED has a focusing lens you could get the spotty colors problem. bases on the pictures of the products I see they don't have lenses. So instead of the light being focused into a small spot the light quickly spreads out eliminating the spotty color pattern.

I would like to know if these lights could grow
Staurogyne repens
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Good question but there are some problems:
  1. What is the length width, and depth o the tank? The 5 watt lamp is probably not enough for this plant. The 11watt might be enough.
  2. What is the lighting recomendation for the plant? That appears to be medium to high.
  3. How much light does the lamp put out? That means we need a PAR or Lumen or some other brightness rating. That is not available on there web site.
The only information I have is the wattage of the lamp. That is the power consumption rating of the lamp. not its brightness. Based on the wattage I am guessing it will give you a low light rating.

The size and death of the tank helps to determine roughly how much the light spreads out. IF your tank is smaller than I am guessing the light might be OK . If the tank is large or deep it might not be enough.

The only information I have is the wattage of the lamp. That is the power consumption rating of the lamp. not its brightness. Based on the wattage I am guessing it will give you a low light rating. That might not be enough.
 
I had the 16 inch stingray in my 5 1/2 gallon. It grew plants but also a lot of hair algae and cyanobacteria as well. My tank most definitely wasn't balanced. I think it's a bit too much for the lower light plants I had(anubias and crypt wendtii). It did grow dwarf sag good until the other stuff took over. I eventually am going to put this 16 inch light on a ten gallon and hope the deeper depth will work better. I believe this comes in a cliplight as well. Might be a better option for a five gallon. (Note...I also have hard water. I'm also still new to keeping plants. So far only successful with anubias.....lol. regular marineland LED for that, not plant light.)
 
So would taking a desk lamp and putting a good light bulb in it work or would a LED be better.And if so which one?
 
For a small tank a desklamp could work just fine if you get a good bulb(within some of the parameters that have been discussed already). LEDs can work as well. You just have to find the right one for your situation.

Don't forget that it's not just the light itself that grows the plants. It's the nutrients as well as the time the light is on too.

With lighting I've found it's mostly trial and error. You have to do a lot of research yourself. Google the light you are interested in and read lots of reviews. With a desklamp you have the option of trying different bulbs. Not so much with an aquarium led light.

I do suggest getting a timer for whatever you decide to go with though. It will make things a lot easier. Hopefully you can find what works best for you!
 
Ok so will the desk lamp be kinda like a reflector and for now until I get the cash for a better bulb will the bulb I have right now in the desk lamp work?
 
Its a standard size five gallon.
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Is it:
  • 17"X7X4
  • 7"X7"X24
  • 15"X7"X12
All of the above are 5 gallon tanks. The first one is a square box with 4 " of water in it. It would require multiple bulbs all with low light output. The second one is very tall with a small area. IT would require a very bright light . The last is roughly the size of a typical one. Its lighting requirements would be somewhere between the two other tanks.

Gallons, liters, wattage, incandescent, fluorescent, LED doesn't mater. Lumens, PAR, water depth, spectrum, CRI, and beam spread matter


So would taking a desk lamp and putting a good light bulb in it work or would a LED be better.And if so which one?
Click to expand...

Gallons, liters, wattage, incandescent, fluorescent, LED doesn't mater. Lumens, PAR, water depth, spectrum, CRI, and beam spread matter. 99% of the time none of that is listed on the bulb packaging or manufactures web pages doesn't have any of that information. Even the price of the bulb is also not a good indication of how good the bulb is. There are probably a lot of expensive LED bulbs out there that are no better than a cheep Fluorescent tube. That is why "Will this bulb worK" is a very common question.

It is difficult to compare bulbs when you have none of the needed information. Fortunately you have some observations from people that have used a product similar to what you are looking at. Cowgirl did have a lot of algae but if I recall correctly she was using a fertilizer deficient in copper. I used the same fertilizer and like hear got a lot of algae. So I think her problem was caused by a fertilizer. Zante also had good experience with a deep large tank.

Two features that are very handy for any light is a timer to turn it on or off and a dimmer. That way you could adjust the on time and brightness as needed without going to the store again and buying another light.
 
Ok well I was planning on putting just a very strong cfl in there that ideally would have 1500 lumens and 6500k,in the desk lamp I should add shall the 1500 lumens and 6500k be good for my medium to high lighting plants?And if I have to add a second desk lamp.
 
I have the Finnex Planted Plus 24/7 LED on my 60g and it works great. I will say that as much as I really like the 24/7 mode, with my 24" depth, some plants need a bit more midday light. I operate the light on a timer to provide total darkness in the wee hours AND often put the light in max mode from 10am to 3pm. If I was to operate the light only in max mode, I would need about a mere 6 hours of photo period.....but again. I quite like the surreal effect of sunrise to sunset/moonlight lighting as it adds another dimension of 'real world' realism to the aquarium.
Frankly, I think LED's represent the future not only in aquariums, but also household lighting. They operate cooler, are more energy efficient, and last longer than other types of lighting.
 
That is true but I dont have 100-120 bucks to drop on a aquarium light on a 5 gallon right now. so thats my im waiting for my question to be answered.
 
Yes,I know but I may just go for a desk lamp since I can put in a stronger bulb in there and it will be cheaper even if I got to get two.
 
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