# LED Lighting



## Nelumbo74

Thought this was an interesting article regarding LED lighting. You might have to create a login ID to view it, but it's free.

http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages/blog.php?blogid=210


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## Qwertus

Can you build those with Bright LEDs from hardware stores though?


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## queijoman

I read the article, but something doesn't set right with me. LED's are narrow-spectrum lights. Don't plants need a broad range spectrum of light for photosynthesis?


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## Muirner

If you look at the Solaris LED fixture you can see that the LED's are actually red and blue, it all depends on how you set it up to the amounts of each. 

So maybe there would be a way to get high quality led's in the proper spectrum's and blend them?? I wish i had access to quality but cheap led's.


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## Manwithnofish

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/equipment/57012-what-s-skinny-led-lighting.html


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## Cory Keeper

wow.... the ignorance on this forum regarding LEDs is stunning.
I know this is my first post but I want to make something very clear. I have done very involved and extensive research regarding LEDs and plant growth. I even have a 29g medium/heavy planted tank growing under just a mere 15 LEDs @ 45w of power. The expected life before I need to look at replacing said LEDs is right around 20 years @ 8 hours a day).


Lemme clear up a few things. 

All LEDs are not similar. a 5mm small little LED is not the same as the what the solaris units use, High Power LEDs. 5mm LEDs are in all regards to aquatic lighting, useless. Even with hundreds of them they still offer very little PAR. HP LEDs on the other hand, can match or even SURPASS MH in terms of PAR with enough of them, at a fraction of the power might I add. 

I use just a mere 15 HP LEDs over my 29g tank and I'm getting far better growth than my 69w CFLs, with much less algae growth. I am contemplating an extra 6 LEDs for even better lighting.

So the next time you buy a little dinky 5mm LEDs and not seeing much growth, you know why. 5mm is useless for us aquatic plant growers. 

I'm not trying to be mean or anything, but it irks me when people complain that LEDs don't support plant growth when they are using the wrong kind of LEDs.


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## dnrdarryl

So what did your 15 HP LED's cost you?


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## Cory Keeper

Oops, forgot to mention that. With hood and the DIY controllers, only about 200-250. While a tad on the pricey side, keep in mind I don't have to touch them for another 20 years.


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## queijoman

Cory Keeper said:


> wow.... the ignorance on this forum regarding LEDs is stunning.
> ...
> I'm not trying to be mean or anything, but it irks me when people complain that LEDs don't support plant growth when they are using the wrong kind of LEDs.


You must have got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. I can't figure out why you wrote such a condescending post and If you didn't notice, my question about LED's not supporting plant growth was answered very well a long time ago.


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## god91234

Cory Keeper said:


> wow.... the ignorance on this forum regarding LEDs is stunning.
> I know this is my first post but I want to make something very clear. I have done very involved and extensive research regarding LEDs and plant growth. I even have a 29g medium/heavy planted tank growing under just a mere 15 LEDs @ 45w of power. The expected life before I need to look at replacing said LEDs is right around 20 years @ 8 hours a day).
> 
> Lemme clear up a few things.
> 
> All LEDs are not similar. a 5mm small little LED is not the same as the what the solaris units use, High Power LEDs. 5mm LEDs are in all regards to aquatic lighting, useless. Even with hundreds of them they still offer very little PAR. HP LEDs on the other hand, can match or even SURPASS MH in terms of PAR with enough of them, at a fraction of the power might I add.
> 
> I use just a mere 15 HP LEDs over my 29g tank and I'm getting far better growth than my 69w CFLs, with much less algae growth. I am contemplating an extra 6 LEDs for even better lighting.
> 
> So the next time you buy a little dinky 5mm LEDs and not seeing much growth, you know why. 5mm is useless for us aquatic plant growers.
> 
> I'm not trying to be mean or anything, but it irks me when people complain that LEDs don't support plant growth when they are using the wrong kind of LEDs.


that was informative where would u get the leds?


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## queijoman

god91234 said:


> that was informative where would u get the leds?


Try this thread.

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/showthread.php?t=57642


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## Cory Keeper

Luxeon Rebels
http://www.luxeonstar.com/luxeon-rebel-stars-c-29.php

Cree XR-E R2
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.15943

Rebels will give a somewhat purple/pink tint, barely noticeable, whereas the Crees will give a somewhat green tint. It would be very difficult to find a "pure white" HP LEDs. Your choice really.


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## Jeff.:P:.

I just set-up a luxeon LED fixture for a Bio-orb nano reef. These are reeaaaaallly intense. Only 8 LED's and loads of lumens.

you can see it here...
http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=179070


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## Jeff.:P:.

People in the reefing world have been using these for a while now. It's truly amazing what you can do with these in terms of space, power, efficiency, and color configurations. With a large amount of colors for options you can pretty much create any Kelvin you want. I can't wait to see more planted tanks with these LED's.

here was my LED and driver source:
http://www.luxeonstar.com/


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## Malawi

Cory Keeper said:


> Luxeon Rebels
> http://www.luxeonstar.com/luxeon-rebel-stars-c-29.php
> 
> Cree XR-E R2
> http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.15943
> 
> Rebels will give a somewhat purple/pink tint, barely noticeable, whereas the Crees will give a somewhat green tint. It would be very difficult to find a "pure white" HP LEDs. Your choice really.


Very interesting ideed.

I guess that combining the rebels and CREEs should give pretty decent result.

I have som CREE spotlights that are not used for aquarium, but the light output and quality seems pretty good.


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## Cocobid

Ok from what I am reading in the next few years we will all be using LED's for our lighting it appears this is the direction of our hobby. I spent most of my aquatic life in the salt world. We should be able to achieve the colors and intensity we need with LED. It is absolutely amazing what the salt people are doing with LED's .. very impressive.

I ran across this site over on a salt forum the other day and thought I would share. Now that being said I have not a clue on how to build/design a lighting unit. But I would like to try. I would love to have an LED setup for a nano.. You can almost like plug and play technology change the color of bulbs you are using.

Living in Texas with our summer heat coupled with living a 100 year old home the heat that our lights give off and energy consumption makes me stand up and take notice of this type of light.

http://www.superbrightleds.com/other_bulbs.htm


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## PLANT^NUT

Thanks for all the informative post and links. I found it all to be very informative.


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## nkambae

*PowerBrite LED*

Ran across a product at my LFS called PowerBrite by Current-USA and wondered if anyone had tried them yet. They can be used individually or hooked together in arrays. They may be an inexpensive option for lighting small displays with LED technology. I don't believe these fixtures have the chutzpa to illuminate a deep tank but others may disagree. I'm going to pick one up for an Eclipse 1.5 gal. tank my niece owns. I'll post back and let you all know what I think. Here's the Current-USA page link.

http://www.current-usa.com/powerbrite.html

Good luck to all who enjoy growing weeds in water!

stu


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## Cory Keeper

And those sadly, while a nice step forward, are too overpriced to actually justify any benefits gained. 4 LEDs over a 12" area is just far too dim to grow anything. To make matters worse, my 1:24^2" formula (1 HP LED for every 24 square inches of SURFACE area) only applies to the more powerful, 3w LEDs. These are 1w.

So say I had a 12" model, with the 4 10K LEDs over a tank measuring 12"x12", 1 strip would provide me with a 1:36^2" ratio, well into the low light, assuming these were 3w LEDs, as it stands, these are dimmer 1w (three times dimmer actually) giving me a ratio comparable to 3w LEDs of 1:108^2". Way way too low light to grow anything, moss included.


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## merk1_99

Cory, do you have build thread on here? Curious as to the combo of bulbs you chose to use. I was thinking of just using Cree whites. Wasn't sure if blue, or red would be worth adding.


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## BassMan

I'm faced with an interesting aspect of this topic. I bought a fixture which includes 4 LED's built in. I was thinking of running them by themselves at night for viewing pleasure but wasn't sure if they would interfere with plant growth or fish resting times. Any thoughts?


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## andyh

I have a Coralife 4X96W Lunar Pro that has 5 built-in blue LED's for nighttime "lunar lights" (on a 72" top). I've had it for 3+ years with no problems on the plants. The room has to be completely dark to even see them. It's cool to see the Ghost Knife Fish that hides all day go about his business at night.


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## merk1_99

The LEDs you have built in are most likely 5 mm or 1 watt lights which will not disturb fish sleep, or interfere with pant growth.


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## BassMan

Great to know! Thanks guys!


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