# Brighter Marineland LED



## Coralite (Nov 29, 2008)

Hey Guys, did you see the new LED light that Marineland is putting out? They are calling it "Reef Capable" but if it can grow corals, it can definitely grow plants. Reef Capable LED.


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## pitabread (Jul 14, 2006)

Heard about these the other day from my LFS... sounds intriguing, but I wonder how useful they will be for plants. Reason being that for reef tanks they tend to go towards the blue-UV spectrum to simulate deep ocean light. For plants, I'd think you'd want more in the red spectrum, and these LEDs seem weak in that department.


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## snowball2020 (May 26, 2004)

Coralite said:


> ...but if it can grow corals, it can definitely grow plants. [/IMG]


not true... atinic light (the blue color) doesn't do anything for plants and most reef tank will run at 10000K spectrum while plants need 6700K to do well.


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## Coralite (Nov 29, 2008)

snowball2020 said:


> not true... atinic light (the blue color) doesn't do anything for plants and most reef tank will run at 10000K spectrum while plants need 6700K to do well.


Not true: Actinic light is a specific wavelength of blue light generally regarded to be focused around 420 nm. Chlorophyll A and B both have lots of photo-activation in the blue spectrum and without blue light our plants would grow really tall and lanky. This light will grow plants really well over a small area and the worst thing about it is that it will have a cold appearance, with poor color rendition of red and warm colors.


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## pitabread (Jul 14, 2006)

Coralite said:


> This light will grow plants really well over a small area and the worst thing about it is that it will have a cold appearance, with poor color rendition of red and warm colors.


I wonder about that. It's true that plants need growth from the blue spectrum, but as mentioned they need in the red spectrum as well. These LEDs have very little output from 620nm and up. I imagine for proper plant growth, you'd need to supplement with additional lighting.


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## rhodophyta (Jan 23, 2006)

pitabread said:


> I wonder about that. It's true that plants need growth from the blue spectrum, but as mentioned they need in the red spectrum as well. These LEDs have very little output from 620nm and up. I imagine for proper plant growth, you'd need to supplement with additional lighting.


I got some used compact reef lights actinic blue and actinic white, and put them on my planted 150 to replace some units that were toast (literally). I replaced the whites with 6700K. Those plants which had an inkling to be red turned really red, and ones that already were red, became insanely red. There were still T-8's and T-5's on the tank. They lasted long enough to be worth the price which was either free or a couple dollars. Since replacing them with a retro double T-8 strip, the red went away, and the red plants stopped liking the tank.

I was recently at SeaLife Arizona and they use all LED lights on their tanks. Theirs are LED street lights imported from Europe, and the brightness and color spectrum of each light can be adjusted from a computer or other authorized devices.

http://www.sealifeus.com/phoenix/phoenix-home


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