Led Lights...

[Abyss]

What's everybodys opinion on LED lights?

They are attractive because of the huge energy saving but are they as good T5s?

Was looking at something like this:
http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290564642453&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

But is that better than 4x 39w T5HOs?

 

[micko]

Would be interested to know the answer myself.

 

[SuperColey1]

Is LED lighting better than T5HO?

Yes it is far far superior.

Is it better than other flourescents that are in fact better than T5HO like T8 and T5NO?

Yes it is far superior to all flourescent lighting

Are those panels any good?

Cannot sy for sure but as it is using normal 5mm LEDs and not high power LEDs I would say it is next to useless.

The LEDs used in this hobby for actual light use rather than aesthetic lighting are high power LEDs not standard little ones. They DO get hot to the touch. They do need cooling and they burn your eyes if you look directly at them.

Comparing plant growth, LED use only 10% to 20% of the electricity consumed by ordinary lighting

Is this statement true. I cannot say for sure and do not want to be in trouble with the courts but to say 15W of normal LEDs are equal to 75W of ordinary lighting is either false or misleading. May be equal to 75W of incandescent (old style light bulbs) but is never = 75W of flourescent lighting. Even the high power LED units would be 15W = 30W of flourescent lighting.


AC

 

[Monochrome5]

I can only speak from salt water reef experience, but LEDs are really, really powerful. I ran a custom LED rig on my 8g cube and at ~40% output I had the equivalent of a 150W Metal Halide (way too much for an 8g tank). I was bleaching out the highest light corals easily and had to tone it down to about 20% to keep from killing everything.

The output of LEDs if primarily determined by two things - whether or not the LEDs have lenses and what color the light itself it (and of course wattage, but that's a given with any light). I know a lot of saltwater people that mix neutral white, royal blue, deep blue, red, yellow - all sorts of things to get that "pop" that makes coral really shine. I'm currently converting my 8g cube (with 18x CREE LEDs) to a FW Planted, so I'll hopefully know a little bit more about how the LEDs translate to FW soon!

Also, referring to your link... Those look a bit shady. For example, they list the LEDs as white, but say "465nm wavelength"... Which is blue light. So there's that. Plus they say the fixture lasts 80,000+ hours, which is pretty bogus. The high end LEDs are roughly 50,000 hours, so unless they make some sort of super LEDs with crazy wavelengths than I'd just call shenanigans and save your money. Honestly, RapidLED and Evil Customs by Nanotuners are the best LED companies out there and they offer tons of ways to customize LED setups. They make them primarily for reef tanks, but I'm sure they would be more than happy to help design a FW version.

 

[SuperColey1]

I'm currently converting my 8g cube (with 18x CREE LEDs) to a FW Planted, so I'll hopefully know a little bit more about how the LEDs translate to FW soon!

High power LEDs work fine. This uses old Lumilux3 cheap chinese copies. In these pictures the light is 80cm above tank. lol

Regards
Andy

 

[Monochrome5]

High power LEDs work fine. This uses old Lumilux3 cheap chinese copies. In these pictures the light is 80cm above tank. lol

Hehe. The problem I have is mine are less than 5cm from the water surface... But yes. LEDs + Height and you're golden.

 

[SuperColey1]

Hehe. The problem I have is mine are less than 5cm from the water surface... But yes. LEDs + Height and you're golden.

Lol. These will be 6" to 12" above the water once the tank is returned to it's usual position. Only 1.12WPG this at it's max. But that is most definately high light at 1ft or less proximity.

AC