# LED's pros and cons



## Nat N (Jun 6, 2010)

Hi guys,
Need your opinion with regards of the discussion I had on another forum here in the UK. I personally have an opinion that LED lights are not that good for planted tanks. However, some folks on that other forum claim that they get hc to carpet under LED Solid State Lighting by the European manufacturer TMC. What I could understand from the description of Solid State Lighting (SSL) is that the LED's are positioned there in a much denser way - overcoming the usual LED problem of space between the individual lights, this way encreasing PAR to suitable for plants level. 
I still stand my ground thinking that LED technology definately has a future and is developing fast but still cannot compare to T5's, and MH.
Any thoughts to back me up - or to prove me absolutely wrong? Of course, I would much prefer to be proven wright!
Thanks in advance!


----------



## LEINAD23EC (Nov 11, 2011)

"_Quickly becoming the new king of aquarium lighting (at least with the new "high end" HO/PUR LED emitter bins), with the same shimmering effect and "popping" of coral life otherwise found in Metal Halide. This aquarium light type uses semiconductor technology as its light source. The difficulty in the past (and where many still misunderstand the complexities of LEDs) is correct wave length of the emitters.

Achieving the correct wavelengths in the correct amounts has been the challenge and why a simple LED flashlight has about as much in common to an advanced aquarium LED as a paper glider to an airplane. This however is also the advantage as much of the useless green and yellow light spectrums can be omitted as well.
Another challenge has been the sophisticated circuitry required to control voltage for delicate high end emitters from spikes or drops in voltage. As well new power suppies (ballasts/drivers) are in development that can add 10% more output from the same LED emitter.

The new reef compatible & freshwater planted tank LED's are likely to take over the market along with the T2, T5, & SHO as they become more readily available, the price comes down PUR (useful light energy) & general aquarium compatibility come up (correct emitter PUR/Kelvin technology has been a barrier in the past and continues to be the problem with the plethora of LED fixtures made in the same factories using the same lower technology under multiple brand names).

In addition these lights do not have the heat problems, often last 50,000 hours, produce less useless yellow/green spectrum light (in aquarium adjusted configurations), and are very compact. In fact this lack of production of yellow/green light in many all 'high end' emitters used by various LED Kelvin lights (whether 6500K or 14000K) often makes the LED look less bright to the human eye, when in fact the opposite is true as per useful light energy.

High end LED lights that utilize the proper Nanometer output emitter bins may prove to be more suitable for aquatic life tank-lighting and reef tanks because they offer superior flexibility when compared with traditional fluorescent lighting & even Metal Halide. When LED lights operate, the photometric radiation remains within a narrow band on the electromagnetic spectrum. Specific photometric wavelengths are often beneficial to some aquatic plant life and reef tanks. Controlling specific wavelengths becomes possible through a basic network of colored LED lights connected digital LED controllers, circuitry, and drivers.

Since LEDs emit light only in very specific direction, the installer has the option to illuminate a precise area by simply rotating the polycarbonate tube casing. For this reason the LED does not need to produce as many lumens of light as most conventional lights as many lumens of important light energy is lost due to lack of focus, including all power compacts and fluorescent lights in general, but need higher lumen outputs to achieve the same lighting parameters_."

All this information I got from this website:

http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Aquarium_Lighting.html

Now it took me some hours to read through the whole page, but from what I got in that whole article, LEDs can not only be replacing t5 or MH, but becoming better.

I think the usual LED that people use are low quality and not suited for aquarium planted tanks, but I am sure if you buy the correct ones you might get better specs for less money and less energy.


----------

