Led Lighting!

[Dave L]

Here's an interesting thread on the subject over on PFK.

Full Daylight Simulation


Regards

Dave.

 

[andywg]

Ok, find me ONE person who uses them in a planted tank.... (errr, as a SOLE light source)

I can't, simply becasue I don't follow planted tanks. However, if no one can find a planted person using them it does not mean they don't exist, simply that planted people haven't caught up with the 21st century yet. These systems have been available for Reef tanks for a few years now and TMC have recently/will soon release their own verions, as well as the Solaris systems which seem to have been the first ones in the US.

Sorry - simply dont believe it ! there is no such thing as a "full spectrum" LED....

A review of the Solaris array was made in this article. And I shall below quote an intriguing part:

Figure 6. Visualization of the Solaris LED spectral quality. A hand-held spectrometer clearly shows that the combination of blue and white LEDs do indeed produce full-spectrum light. See Table 1 and Figure 5 for further refinement of this information.

So it would appear that your statement above is incorrect.

 

[Dave Spencer]

Ok, find me ONE person who uses them in a planted tank.... (errr, as a SOLE light source)

George Farmer is currently trying various types out.

Dave.

 

[Lucuetus]

But where from? and how many for an 8' tank would it be 1x for every foot?

Will they light 3' deep?

 

[Rooster]

But where from? and how many for an 8' tank would it be 1x for every foot?

Will they light 3' deep?

Despite the "debate" I would abandon all hope of lighting that monster with LEDs for at least a decade...

 

[MHunt]

But where from? and how many for an 8' tank would it be 1x for every foot?

Will they light 3' deep?

Despite the "debate" I would abandon all hope of lighting that monster with LEDs for at least a decade...

10 years for LED's to be suitable? Given the amount of interest in the product I think you'll find if the products aren't out there already manufacturers will have competitive LED units suitable for most planted tanks within the year. Just open any copy of Practical Fishkeeping and there's a new LED light product being released. One of the LFS near me has a complete range of LED tube replacements, I haven't looked at them too closely but they look pretty good to me.

 

[Rooster]

But where from? and how many for an 8' tank would it be 1x for every foot?

Will they light 3' deep?

Despite the "debate" I would abandon all hope of lighting that monster with LEDs for at least a decade...

10 years for LED's to be suitable? Given the amount of interest in the product I think you'll find if the products aren't out there already manufacturers will have competitive LED units suitable for most planted tanks within the year. Just open any copy of Practical Fishkeeping and there's a new LED light product being released. One of the LFS near me has a complete range of LED tube replacements, I haven't looked at them too closely but they look pretty good to me.

Take a torch, any torch will do - now shine it into a tank of water.... you'll probably end up with a 3 inch disk of light on the bottom... now work out how many torches you would need to COVER AN ENTIRE TANK....
The torch analogy is a good one, because manufacturers jack up their brightness claims by concentrating the light into a tight beam... even then, you would be lucky to find one over 3W on sale, so even if you DID cover the tank with hundreds of these £5 chips.... it would still produce less light that a standard flourescent lamp.
After all that, they are STILL the wrong colour.

I get my crystal balls from the same place you get yours... but I wouldnt hold my breath - or waste my money for a good while yet.

 

[MHunt]

But where from? and how many for an 8' tank would it be 1x for every foot?

Will they light 3' deep?

Despite the "debate" I would abandon all hope of lighting that monster with LEDs for at least a decade...

10 years for LED's to be suitable? Given the amount of interest in the product I think you'll find if the products aren't out there already manufacturers will have competitive LED units suitable for most planted tanks within the year. Just open any copy of Practical Fishkeeping and there's a new LED light product being released. One of the LFS near me has a complete range of LED tube replacements, I haven't looked at them too closely but they look pretty good to me.

Take a torch, any torch will do - now shine it into a tank of water.... you'll probably end up with a 3 inch disk of light on the bottom... now work out how many torches you would need to COVER AN ENTIRE TANK....
The torch analogy is a good one, because manufacturers jack up their brightness claims by concentrating the light into a tight beam... even then, you would be lucky to find one over 3W on sale, so even if you DID cover the tank with hundreds of these £5 chips.... it would still produce less light that a standard flourescent lamp.
After all that, they are STILL the wrong colour.

I get my crystal balls from the same place you get yours... but I wouldnt hold my breath - or waste my money for a good while yet.

I certainly won't be wasting my money till LED lighting is as affordable as florescent. I just don't think it will take 10 years given the current rate of development.

 

[tangokitty]

I have two blue LED's that I us at night and I love the effect. My tank is 50 gallons and the night light of blue makes night viewing much better. I can see what they are doing when all the lights are off. Couldn't you try to make something your self? Electronic stores sell LEDs for a decent price, you could see how much it would be to build your own lighting system.

 

[andywg]

Take a torch, any torch will do - now shine it into a tank of water.... you'll probably end up with a 3 inch disk of light on the bottom... now work out how many torches you would need to COVER AN ENTIRE TANK....

Indeed, this is why LED units come with a large number of LEDs to cover the area.

The torch analogy is a good one, because manufacturers jack up their brightness claims by concentrating the light into a tight beam... even then, you would be lucky to find one over 3W on sale, so even if you DID cover the tank with hundreds of these £5 chips.... it would still produce less light that a standard flourescent lamp.

This is just rubbish. Have you read the link I posted? New LED fixtures put out as much light as Metal Halide bulbs, yes that's Metal Halide bulbs which reefers use becasue flourescants don't give enough light.

After all that, they are STILL the wrong colour.

Did you not read the quoted point about them being full spectrum light above?

 

[Rooster]

Ive read that article and can only stick by my original conclusions...

Heres the spectra from a tri-phosphor flourescent tube:

Compared to the LED array:

The traditional lamp has a fuller spectrum !


The proof of the pudding is that I still would like to SEE evidence from anyone who has used LEDs to grow plants....
The crux of it is this is MY opinion, based on decades of electronics experience, and a love of technology - I dont want to argue about this, prove me wrong by all means !
I would welcome the opportunity to experiment...

 

[waterdrop]

There's a nice, pretty long article about LED lighting (for general white lighting) in the New York Times Business Section today (July 28, 2008) if anyone's interested. Its more a business article and not too technical but my take is that some businesses (they give Phillips as an example) are beginning to bet that LED may come on very fast and squash compact flourescent before it gets very far along. Other business men and analysts feel that's not a good bet and that it will take longer. One of the wild cards is that people seem to like various features of LEDs enough to go out of their way to try and use them despite the currently high prices (the usual: a little more efficient, less heat, potential for greater spectrum flexibility, longevity, physical integrity, lack of pollutants upon recycle, etc.)

By the way, if the NYT web site is still the way it used to be, you might have to make an ID to get in, but its always been free in the past and doesn't come back to bother you in my experience. The articles in the paper version sometimes don't show up right on the same day in the web version but I think eventually they do, or most of them do.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Dave Spencer]

There are a few guys on APC using LEDs if I recall, some for a year or so now. Can`t remember who, though.

I would love to give LEDs a go in my planted tanks.

Dave.

 

[rossyboy]

My friend has fitted his hood with LED's now, the vibrancy of the white LED's in comparison to the old tube is amazzzzzing, it's really crystal clear.

He's also got some UV LED's to prevent/slow algae growth!

 

[Mauricia]

I use LEDs for growing plants in a tank... they're not aquatic plants, but the lights are still quite nice and the plants are doing wonderfully.