Led Lights And Plants?

[KrystaK]

So over the past while I have noticed that LED lights are becoming a lot more popular in aquariums.
I'm planning on getting a Betta for my office, and I want to add some live plants, and I was wondering if LED lights will help the plants grow? I know there's a specific spectra that plants need, but I'm not exactly sure what that is or if LED lights have said spectra...
 
There is a lot of natural light in my office (An entire wall of windows) So I'm also wondering how much light aquatic plants should get a day, as I don't want to have an algae problem. 

 

[NeonBlueLeon]

People will warn you that sunlight will lead to algae problems, but I have kept tanks by windows with minimal problems.  However, BGA is easier to develop in sunlight in my experience, but it all eventually disappeared when I got my tanks in balance.
 
Lighting period changes.  Ruling out sunlight, I would run my planted tanks at 10 hours when fully established.  During plant acclimation (newly set up planted tanks) I would run lights for 5-6 hours.  Too long of a lighting period may cause unsightly algae to grow.
 
I am new to LED too, but I recently bought LEDs designed for aquariums, and the company rated their LEDs at 6500K.  We'll see how well they work in my new tank.  I've been running fluorescents up until now.

 

[ech0o]

It is simple, LED is cheaper to buy, cheaper to run, is more efficient as you can fit more light into a smaller area, prettier to the eyes.   I also notice that my tanks with T5 get worse algae then my LED tanks (different kinds of algae, BBA comes with T5 and have never had it with LED's).   Of course the initial fixture is usually less when dealing with T5, but after one bulb replacement you are surpassing the price of the LED units, while the LED's won't have to be replaced for a good 10 years.

 

[Ch4rlie]

It is simple, LED is cheaper to buy, cheaper to run, is more efficient as you can fit more light into a smaller area, prettier to the eyes.   I also notice that my tanks with T5 get worse algae then my LED tanks (different kinds of algae, BBA comes with T5 and have never had it with LED's).   Of course the initial fixture is usually less when dealing with T5, but after one bulb replacement you are surpassing the price of the LED units, while the LED's won't have to be replaced for a good 10 years.

 
Is there anything in particular you need to look out for when looking for LED's to replace T5 or T8 light fittings?
 
Any rules of thumbs and anything to avoid when looking for LED's to purchase i.e. controllers, remote control, wattage etc

 

[ech0o]

If you are upgrading from T5, you want to watch out for individual LED bulb wattage, and it should probably not be less then 1W per LED.   There are exceptions as some fixture manufactures are now packing insane amounts of the low wattage SMD chips into very small areas, and actually matching the PAR ratings from the larger diode fixtures.   There are many levels of fixtures and some of the more pricey options have controller options, I know CURRENT USA has some really feature oriented fixtures for an affordable price that use the smaller bulbs, have RGB options, and remote control.   In my opinion the biggest thing you want to avoid is marineland, aqueon, fluval, etc. LOL

 

[NeonBlueLeon]

In my opinion the biggest thing you want to avoid is marineland, aqueon, fluval, etc. LOL

The one's that everyone has
 
I am actually using the CurrentUSA Satellite LED+.  It is pretty much what ech0o described.  It has 6500K LEDs along with RBG LEDs.  It comes with a remote and is fully customizable.  I got the 24"-36" (adjustable length) for about $80.  This is my first LED light (used to be fluorescents only).  It's been running with new plants for only three days so far.  Today, my sagittaria has new leaves, my vals are sending out runners, and my rotala and ludwigia have been growing roots since day two.  The tank has sand on top of soil, and currently only gets a 4 hour photoperiod.  No algae... yet.  So given all that, I'd say it's working properly.
 
Here's the remote for my lights.  Here is the link to CurrentUSA's website for the lights I have.

 

[ech0o]

Neon, keep you photoperiod low like you are, and you should not have an issue.  The biggest problem I have seen with the RGB led's in freshwater setups, is people running colors for too many hours a day.  There are some algaes that love individual colors and wavelengths of light, but it all comes down to over using the lights when problems arise.

 

[NeonBlueLeon]

A quick update, all my plants are showing growth now with my LEDs!  Very happy with them!
 
And thanks ech0o for the advise.  The photoperiod is at 5 hours and 15 minutes now.  It's amazing how much growth they can get with such a short photoperiod!  Correct me if I'm wrong, but I've heard of high-tech tanks that run lights for 10 hours or more.