# DIY LED Lighting via Luxeon Stars



## Gomer

I thought I'd move over from lighting to here since it is a DIY project,...but then again, it is a lighting issue 
This is a continuation of this thread:
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=695

This LED project has 2 parts:
1) To look at long term viability of LED lighting
2) Comparative growth from LED lighting vs PC lighting

Part 1 will be 24x1watt Luxeons over a 10g. There will be a combonation of high and low light plants. This study will go on for approx 6+ months assuming good plant growth.

Part 2 will be a side by side comparison of 7x1watt Luxeons vs 1x7watt PC (Azoo palm light). The plants will be grown in the same environment using small "critter" cages with weekly water changes of nutrient enriched water. CO2 via Excel and water circulation via an airstone. The plants to be grown are Hemianthus micranthemoides, Glossostigma elatinoides, and E. acicularis. There will be no trimming of the plants. If the plants grow emersed, then I'll let them keep growing.

Photo documentation of both will be posted here. The plan is ~ every 2 weeks.

This project is made possible through a generous Luxeons star donation from:








www.lumileds.com


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## Gomer

Today is a good day  Fedex had a delivery!!!


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## Gomer

a close up


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## gpodio

Donation?? Now you're talking, who did you have to kidnap to get those? :wink: 

Keep us updated, you've surpassed the only hurdle I can think of, that is the price of the LEDs.

Giancarlo Podio


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## Gomer

I wrote up a considerably more lengthy proposal and submitted it. After going through a few channels, it was approved etc. Of course Lumileds's will be following this thread quietly 


Right now this is an expensive alternative, but if I my project has very favorable results, then perhaps other light companies (ie JBJ etc) might look at this and you might see some fashion of them on the market . When this happens, bulk orders will drive things down$.

...or so the plan goes.


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## gpodio

I'm sure, not to mention the longevity of LEDs, dimming possibilities, power consumption and combination of LEDs to acchieve the desired overall look. I think if you consider what we spend each year in lighting the higher costs are not that bad, paying for something that works is no problem, it's paying for it to try it out that is hard  

Keep us updated!
Giancarlo Podio


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## Daemonfly

Yeah, they should most likely be dimmable, which is a deffinate bonus over common flourescent setups. If these have any kind of longevity as most LEDs, then thats also a plus. I can also see much easier mounting options, less space taken up in the hood, as well as a safer, lower voltage system. These would also give great options for mounting to give more light in one area, and less in another, etc...


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## Corigan

Daemonfly said:


> Yeah, they should most likely be dimmable, which is a deffinate bonus over common flourescent setups. If these have any kind of longevity as most LEDs, then thats also a plus. I can also see much easier mounting options, less space taken up in the hood, as well as a safer, lower voltage system. These would also give great options for mounting to give more light in one area, and less in another, etc...


The benefits are unbelievable and I really don't see that many cons. I assume the heat being produced wouldn't heat up the tank so much during the day. I also like the fact of the LED's being dimmable. Could create a dusk till dawn effect with a controller and not have to have a 4 bulb setup to create such an effect. Of course the life expectancy and possibilities of the smallest lighting fixtures around is also a bonus. I can't wait to see how this experiment turns out, keep us posted with plenty of updates Gomer.

Matt


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## Synapse

... When night falls we could use the same "smart" dimmer to moon light our tanks... :roll: Can't wait until these leds are available at WallMart :wink:


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## Gomer

Looks like my drivers will arrive next week along with the rest of the Luxeons. I already got a monster heatsink. It is overkill, but I got a good deal on it 

Got some scrap aluminum and mounted a single star on it and am powering it with batteries. Running at 0.29amps and WOW..it is bright. Can't wait to take it home to compare the single 1watt star to the 7watt PC


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## Gomer

Hurried home and got a first comparison photo. ..it is NOT a fair comparison, jsut a comparison 

Both photos were taken with the same camera conditions. In real life, the light is BRIGHTER than the photos show. I just didn't want to adjust things more than keeping things static.

The top picture is a 7watt Azoo palm light.
The bottom picture is a SINGLE 1watt luxeon star.
The picture is a section of my baby shrimp grow out tank.

Keep in mind also, that equal light intensity (to the eye) isn't the same as equal PAR. An experiment later will tackle that issue.


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## rusticitas

I work for a program at a University that gives me excellent access to some very nice shop facilities (I am the computer lab administrator). I have been chomping at the bit to make some DIY "nano" aquaria for home and office to learn the tools in the shop, and use the new design and CAD tools to plan with.

I am very much looking forward to your test results. These sound extremely promising for making some beautiful and highly efficient "nano" aquaria. Cannot wait to get my hands on some to try out! 

-Jason


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## Corigan

Cool photos gomer, I can't believe how much just the 1 luxeon star is lighting up that aquarium. How many stars do you guestimate it will take to match the intensity of the 7 watt azoo?

Matt


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## Gomer

That is what I will soon find out. My drivers should be here next week, so I'll know shortly after that. I'll have 7 1watters to directly compare (from both an intensity and a PAR standpoint). Just have to wait


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## Gomer

had a little time to play in the machine shop today. wired it temp and ran it with a regulated power supply. ..Sorry..didn't have the camera with me..but it sure was nice and bright! I'll work on the 24 LED section later in the week.

Should have my drivers the beginning of next week, and then I'll be able to post comparison pictures of LED vs PC


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## Gomer

view of the heatsink...an overkill, but I got a deal on it. ...hmm...I can switch out to 3watt luxeons on this


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## Synapse

Nice to see the progress you've made.

Are you going to use Silicon Heatsink Compound on those luxeons. Will help with heat conduction.


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## Gomer

I will be using some arctic silver III....CPU thermal heatsink compound 

..had some extra.


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## bms

Gomer,

I have not worked with LED's for a while, and they seem to be connected in series, why connect them in series... 1 blown LEd would mean all of them turn off or would the LED bypass itself?


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## Gomer

In this case, they are supposed to be in series. The power will be by a constant current source designed for these LEDs

The 7 will be driven by the 350ma driver and the 24 by two 700ma drivers

http://www.advancetransformer.com/xitanium/advance/images/a_350ma_700ma_cco.pdf


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## Gomer

Another comparison...still not a fair one 

The top picture is a 7watt Azoo Palm light 7100K
The bottom is 7x 1watt luxeon stars that are ONLY driven at 115ma, NOT their rated value (and value that I will drive at when I get the drivers) of 350 ma.

hope this is starting to shed light on the issue


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## Gomer

WOOHOO!!! Drivers and last 10 LEDs came in today 

time for an update picture

Some food for thought. Fluorescent lights are not on 100% of the time. They flicker at a high rate. this means that if you had an LED and a flourescent light putting out the same visible amount of light, the LED is really putting out more! How much more is dependent on how long the Fluorescent light is OFF for between pulses. Plants see # of photons at a given wave length, NOT the apparent intensity.


Top picture is the 7100k Azoo palm light.
Bottom picture is 7x 1watt Luxeon stars driven at 350ma.
All camera conditions are the same for both pictures


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## skids

I m a sucker for new fancy high tech stuff so the dawn / dusk capabilites of your setup do appeal to me. 

Could one of you post just bullet style what LED's strengths are supposed to be over Power compacts? 

Lower PG&E bills? Less heat?


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## Gomer

The follwoing is for LUXEONS..not normal LEDs

+high can get very high light density
+last ~50,000 hours (10-15 years+)
+more effectively remove heat
+can use as "spot lights" with a lense
+can do dimming/dusk/dawn
+all sorts of colors if you want to add a little more of a given color
+appears to have a good photosythetic responce overlap
-expensive
-needs a heatsink
-must DIY some part of it


maybe more +/- ...?


Not sure about wall plug efficiency, but 7watts of luxeons light the tank more than a 7watt PC. Not sure about plant growth, but I am working on that.


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## IUnknown

I have a question for the people using these LUXEONS. I am planning on getting the Nova II for my tank. The thing I am worried about is that the MH bulb will look to yellow. Would the 5 watt blue LUXEONS be bright enough to balance the color out if installed in the fixture?
Thanks,


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## Gomer

I am not familiar with the Nova. not sure if the luxeon would work unless you got something like 20-30° optics.

how about adding a small PC instead?
a 10-12,000K should help there perhaps?


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## IUnknown

Hey gomer,
Yeah the fixture is only 6" long, so I don't think there is room for PC's. Maybe if I add the luxeon's pointing at the bulb in the reflector. I'll have to try things out.


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## Gomer

7watt vs 7watt begins. Here is the start...Day 0

Plants in there:

Dwarf Hair Grass
Rotala Indica
Glosso
narrow leaf pearl weed (?)
Pear weed (HM)


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## BigRed27

Interesting, looking forward to future posts


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## Gomer

A new update

For comparison pics, all camera settings were the same. The lights are really brighter than represented, but that doesn't matter for this post.


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## Cheyd

Images failing...


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## Gomer

I'll fix it tonight.


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## Gomer

6 days on the 7v7 comparison


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## Daemonfly

Looks like slightly better growth under the LEDs?


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## Gomer

I think it is still early to call since the plants weren't 100% identical between containers. ..i just like to document as much as I can


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## Winz

hi Gomer,

sorry, is me again...
hehe... what's about the temperature testing? ...heheee

anyway, good job. thank you very much!

i have some ideas already. 
1. your Luxeon Star should be 5500k but the PC is 7100k. i am afraid PC's one should be close to blue while the Luxeon Star close to yellow. can u find PC which is more close to 5500k?? so that, we can be more easy to identify the color rendering result? (sorry to put it so hard.)
2. is your PC absolutely new? if not, the difference may show from the result.

ps. it is better if u can take pics from the eye-level next time. ^^


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## Gomer

I did test it once, but it was about 1.5hr after the lights went out. those temps were the same. However, the PC tank did have a bout 25% more water evaporation than the LED light setup

I wont be getting a new bulb to check color rendering. If someone wants to donate a 5500k 7watt PC then I will  The LED actually looks rather white with little hint of yellow, green or blue. These are the WO leds for those following Luxeon Binning. I do have some others with a greenish tint. These are mixed 33/66 to some WO's on the big LED setup.

The PC isn;t absolutely new. It is a few months old. This however shouldn't be a big issue. New PCs are brightest when new but rapidly drop ..then they slowly drop intensity over time. I am testing the PC while it is still reasonably young which is probably more representative of a PC than a brand new one (considering the length of this study).

I'll do eye level next time. ..just trying to avoid flash glare.



Winz said:


> hi Gomer,
> 
> sorry, is me again...
> hehe... what's about the temperature testing? ...heheee
> 
> anyway, good job. thank you very much!
> 
> i have some ideas already.
> 1. your Luxeon Star should be 5500k but the PC is 7100k. i am afraid PC's one should be close to blue while the Luxeon Star close to yellow. can u find PC which is more close to 5500k?? so that, we can be more easy to identify the color rendering result? (sorry to put it so hard.)
> 2. is your PC absolutely new? if not, the difference may show from the result.
> 
> ps. it is better if u can take pics from the eye-level next time. ^^


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## Winz

hi Gomer,

THX for ur helping~~
it sounds that Luexon + heatsink really release less heat than PC.
cool~

why u do open flash to take pics?
it should be better if u dun turn on "flash" and open wider the aperture from ur camera.

THANK YOU VERY MUCHHHHH!!

look forward for more comming result!

ps. hehe...what do u mean of "WO"?


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## gpodio

Hey, just thought you might be interested in this article:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/august2003/feature.htm

Towards the end of the page there is a nano-reef that Tullio Dell Aquilla setup using LEDs. Looks very bright for 13W of light. Looks like he is also combining different LEDs to get the desired overall look.

Keep us updated
Giancarlo Podio


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## Gomer

Another update. Thought this would be a better way of showing the tanks. White balance is now the same between the pictures. No flash. The PC has a blue cast. The LEDs seem very neutral in color..perhaps a slight yellow in comparison.

Dwarf hair grass: LED is starting to show runners. PC nothing
Rotala indica: Both are close, but the LED is slightly ahead(although they both appear stunted)
Glosso: too close to tell
2 leaf pearl grass: LED clearly ahead
pearl grass: LED clearly ahead. Horizontal growth seen with the LED only


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## pomby27

wow, Gomer, you're very lucky to get them for free. they are about 11 bux a piece! i envy you..haha


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## Gomer

well, it was a wee bit more involved then saying "can I have some for free"

Free in money, still may not be free.


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## Gomer

update:
Rotala is still stunted in both tanks. I think it might have to do with starting out with "fresh substrate"

Hair grass and both types of pearl grass are really taking the lead in the LED tank.


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## Gomer

well, doing a little nano tank, so I also had fun with a new LED light *L*

Converted a Zalman CNPS3100 cpu heatsink to mount the LEDs. (probably enough heatsink to passively cool 3x3watt stars instread of the 1watters on right now). Also threw together a quick and dirty DIY contant current source. makes a really nice little "micro halide"!!!!


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## Gomer

tossed some water in the tank. An anubias nana for color. A little printer paper for backing.

bask in the shimmering glory!


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## pomby27

haha, saw that at nano-reef.com, i must say, all your DIYs are quite impressive.


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## Gomer

I think I am going to call this particular end of the study an end. I don't think I need to continue with this exact setup.

here is what I noticed about the LEDs

1)They had a significant advantage over the PCs with HM (2 and 3 leaf). This should be EXTREMELY obvious in the pictures.

2)The LEDs had significant more runners with dwarf hair grass (not obvious in the picture, but ovbious if you looked from above).


3)Neither the LEDs or PCs had possitive results with rotala or glosso. These tanks had virgin substrate, so there was pretty much NO macro nutrients for the roots. All ferts were in the water column. This MIGHT account for the glosso and rotala. I would have to repeat this with mature substrate to confirm.

NEXT: I will move the LEDs to a "normal" environment. I'll get 1 or 2 nanos up and soon enough, the 10g as well.

Comments and suggestions are welcome


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## Geo

Very impressive findings, Gomer! 

If I could afford something like this right now I would go do it, just because I'm a techno geek and I like good plant growth 

Out of curiousity, if you are able to: How much does a system like you tested cost? 24 lights, controller boxes, heat sink, all little extras, etc. 
Something like that would be fantastic to put over my tanks, so I am just a little curious


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## AndyL

Geo said:


> Out of curiousity, if you are able to: How much does a system like you tested cost? 24 lights, controller boxes, heat sink, all little extras, etc.
> Something like that would be fantastic to put over my tanks, so I am just a little curious


Unfortunately the cost of gomers system is rather high... But overall it might not be so bad...

www.luxeonstar.com <- where gomer got some of his toys

Star1 emmiters are 11$us each
Xitanium drivers are 30-84$us each - depends on how many emmiters/ options as to which one...

Plus wire, solder, and some sort of heatsink...

Andy


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## clay

hate to be late to the party here, but gomer, do you run experiments like this often?


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## Gomer

I run experiments all the time *L*...but those are school related research projects 


I'd most likely do these things again once I figure out a new thing to test *L*


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## IUnknown

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=41595


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## Gomer

Thanks. interesting indeed 

What I'd LOVE to see, is those white LEDs using phosphors that have a center closer to 600-650nm


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## CanadianCray

What about using these. Wouldn't they make construction easier or are the outputs different.

http://www.luxeonstar.com/item.php?id=297&link_str=189::194&partno=LXHL-MWJA


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## Gomer

a couple issues

1) even more pricey
2) each LED has a 10° collumating lense so it would not spread very well


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## CanadianCray

Oh ok I just saw that they called it a flood so figured it would spread the light out.


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## Adam

I know with DIY moonlights for SW reef tanks alot of people sand the lens off, so its not focused. Something similar might be able to be done on that one as well, if you then polished the flatened lens. Just an idea.


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## Gomer

Actually, you can unfocus that fixture. The 10° columating lenses are removable as far as I know. I know that you can use those same mounts and snap on those same colimating lenses.

As for sanding, unless you opticaly polish, you loose light due to scattering.


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## Nillo

That is an interesting experiment. I can see why they would be willing to give you free LEDs. The fact that the wattage is the same doesn't mean the amount of light that is being produced is the same. Wattage is only going to matter when figuring out the cost of running the system. In fact, since led's are supposed to be more efficient, there is probably considerably more light coming from the LEDs vs. the old PCs. This would account for the superior growth seen in the LED tank. The images also lead me to believe the the quality of light coming from the LEDs is inferior to the PC's. Since you are in touch with the manufacturer, can we get some stats on the LEDs? I would like to know what the CRI is for the LEDs. Although comparing that to PCs that generally have a low CRI might not be the best comparison. Maybe comparing the LEDs to t8 tri-phosphor bulbs with CRI's over 90 would be enlightening. I have used LEDs on Marine FO tanks, and I do like them, but I don't think they render color well, that isn't a problem in marine tanks were people are used to seeing actinics over tanks (talk about bad CRI)

One good thing about the experiment is that you have shown that you can grow plants with LEDs.

Shawn


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## TeutonJon78

I just came across this thread. I think it's a good test, as when I was looking at modding up my tank, I found the Luxeon's on the web and thought that it would be a neat idea for a tank lid.


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## pfd2005

nb - I'm certainly not a planted tank expert, but I do have some experience with led lighting systems (for house interiors). 

It's great to see people experiementing with LED lighting for tanks. I believe they're the light source of the future for the aquarium.

There are a couple of issues with the white Luxeon LEDs though. Firstly, they're not all that efficient. They beat incandescent light bulbs, including halogens, but frankly don't come close to T5 fluorescents or HPS/MH. Then there's the light spectrum, which is not ideal for plant growth. The problem is that phosphor coatings for LEDs are not particularly advanced, compared to those used in off-the-shelf plant-grown T5 tubes (with good reflectors). This is compounded by the fact that white LEDs are optimised for reasonable colour rendition, not growing aquatic plants. 

The solution is to use a combination of descrete colours (Luxeon offer a reasonable range of wavelengths) to create your own customised colour spectrum. Obviously some experimentation would be needed, but as LEDs are very easy to dim, it's within the scope of the DIYer.


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## defdac

*PUR-efficiency of Luxeon Stars*

I took the white and warm white spectral distributions here:
http://www.luxeon.com/pdfs/DS23.pdf

Question: Is it correct that the warm-white Luxeon has 20 lumens per watt, and the white Luxeon has 45 lumens per watt?

If so, the warm white Luxeon has a very lousy PUR-efficiency of 0.13 microEinsteins per Joule (comparable to an ordinary Halogen), and the white Luxeon has 0.38 microEinsteins per Joule.

The PUR-efficiency was calculated with an action spectrum for green plants (B):
http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/Sciences/BotanicalSciences/PlantHormones/Nutrition/706.GIF

This means you would need apx 7-8 times as much watts when using Luxeon Stars compared to an efficient T8-bulb like Philips Aquarelle (0.8 microEinsteins per Joule) to achieve the same growth-rate.


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## Gomer

one thing to consider is that I got better growth using 7 watts of LED vs 7 watt PC that. While the PC didn't have that great of a reflector, it does show you that it is reasonable to compare the two watt wise.


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## defdac

Yes I had that into consideration. My guess is that at no depth you easily light-saturate the plants with so much light, so you wouldn't get any significant difference in growth-rates. You have to spread out the LED:s, so you will smear out the wattage over a larger area. A 160% increase from a good reflector on the PC might have changed things also, but all in all I think the plants are pretty much light saturated in both tanks - and if so the nutrients, especially CO2 is the main growth-rate-difference-factor. Breathe a bit more on the LED-tank and it will win.

Also fluorescents gets less efficient with their watt-rating. A 40 watt T8 is for example more efficient than a T8 15 watt of the exact same brand.


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## czado

Bumping for reference with http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/showthread.php?t=12379

Excellent threads. Thank you.


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