Oromis Posted August 1, 2013 Report Share Posted August 1, 2013 A few days ago I scored a little 10W Cool White LED Flood Light off Ebay for $10 and it arrived today Mind the messy wiring job. I got it just to experiment and have a play with. But so far I am really liking it. Its only slightly warm after a few hours of running. The light is very bright, and gives the tank a really clean, crisp look to the eye. I've set it up over the Betta Barracks instead of a simple desk lamp ahahaha. Kinda hoping that it will nicely support some small easy going plants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nem0 Posted August 1, 2013 Report Share Posted August 1, 2013 Looks good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayPee Posted August 1, 2013 Report Share Posted August 1, 2013 I suggest you get a sparky to look at it. I have heard that they are sometimes not wired up properly on the inside. Like the earth wire not connected and so on. I have seen tanks run on these they look good. But they got them wired up by a pro. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oromis Posted August 1, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2013 I suggest you get a sparky to look at it. I have heard that they are sometimes not wired up properly on the inside. Like the earth wire not connected and so on. I have seen tanks run on these they look good. But they got them wired up by a pro. Yeah, I'm going to open it up and give it a good look. Its pretty simple to properly attach the earth if its not properly connected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donny@ageofaquariums Posted August 1, 2013 Report Share Posted August 1, 2013 Time to get real swords and test its abilitys? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grubby Posted August 1, 2013 Report Share Posted August 1, 2013 This LED universe is so exciting, so many DIY options. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr2mark Posted August 1, 2013 Report Share Posted August 1, 2013 Im using some of these ebay LED flood bigger brothers on my 6 foot planted tank with great results. At less than $1 a watt to buy and with all the light directed down they are cheaper to buy and run than flouros. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oromis Posted August 2, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2013 I came across them a while ago on eBay and though that they would do alright for a tank light. But I didn't have an excuse to get one. But since I was setting up the barracks I could justify it and threw down $12 on one that was finishing next. Looks great. I have to say it puts out some really nice light. From my very limited experience with it I would definitely recommend it for a fish only tank light with the benifit of very lower power usage, cost for a decent amount of light. Hopefully it does well for planted too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oromis Posted August 3, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 3, 2013 Im using some of these ebay LED flood bigger brothers on my 6 foot planted tank with great results. At less than $1 a watt to buy and with all the light directed down they are cheaper to buy and run than flouros. How many have you used over the tank and what wattage are they? Just curious, Im tempted to try them out over my 3ft tank if they work well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt_a Posted August 3, 2013 Report Share Posted August 3, 2013 This is how my friend has wired up one of his with a switch in line. One is enough for a 3ft tank, but the light needs to be about 6 inches above the water to get a good spread of light. If the tank was a super fancy display tank I might be inclined to go for 2, but that's an extra $10 and an extra 9w of power draw.... That's starting to get pretty expensive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oromis Posted August 3, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 3, 2013 Ahh yeah, looks good. That was my thought on how to wire it, just havnt been out to bunnings yet. Do you know how the well the plants are going under that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oromis Posted August 3, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 3, 2013 (edited) Sorry double post.. Stupid wifi hotspot! Edited August 3, 2013 by Oromis Double Post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt_a Posted August 3, 2013 Report Share Posted August 3, 2013 Plants? In an aquarium? That sounds nearly as silly as having substrate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr2mark Posted August 3, 2013 Report Share Posted August 3, 2013 How many have you used over the tank and what wattage are they? Just curious, Im tempted to try them out over my 3ft tank if they work well 2x50w and 1x80w. Plants were growing great with diy substrate but I recently added bottle co2 and having to trim them every 2 weeks now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oromis Posted August 3, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 3, 2013 Plants? In an aquarium? That sounds nearly as silly as having substrate. A bit of a fan of bare bottom? From my two week experience with it, I found it hard to keep looking clean. Didn't take much to muck it up. 2x50w and 1x80w. Plants were growing great with diy substrate but I recently added bottle co2 and having to trim them every 2 weeks now. Sweet. Would you say its "high" light or "low/medium". I was thinking hypothetically about 3x20W or 2x30W over the tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oromis Posted August 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2013 Whilst my partner and I were away house sitting on the south side I managed to score another LED flood of eBay on the cheap, just because I liked the first one so much. But it was a tad tall to fit in the hood of the Blue Planet 50L, sooooo... Modified it a touch.. I removed the back portion with the LED driver and extended the cables and mounted to a plate with holes to match the tanks existing screw. Heres the result. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oromis Posted August 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2013 (edited) Also just to post twice in a row, we got some plants today to test out the light. A sword and a grass type plant or pokemon. Full Tank Shot She just wouldn't get out of the shot! Finally out of Shot. Wooo. Here is the grassy stuff. The grassy stuffy gets much less light than the sword. But well see how it goes. They both have root tabs also. Edited August 20, 2013 by Oromis Uploaded wrong photo. Woops Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donny@ageofaquariums Posted August 20, 2013 Report Share Posted August 20, 2013 Good call on the sword! Looking good aready. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PETFISH Posted August 20, 2013 Report Share Posted August 20, 2013 what is the kelvin rating? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oromis Posted August 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2013 With the sword we cut it right back and cut away the long roots to hopefully make it grow. Its a cool white LED, the page or box doesn't specify a colour temp but off memory cool white is around 5500K - 6500K ish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr2mark Posted August 20, 2013 Report Share Posted August 20, 2013 Sweet. Would you say its "high" light or "low/medium". I was thinking hypothetically about 3x20W or 2x30W over the tank. With co2 growth skyrocketed so I presume higher than low. I dont have any lumens/area or PAR data so I would just be guessing. Great photos Oromis. I think my colours show up well to the eye like yours, but I havnt tried any other lighting before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oromis Posted August 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2013 The photos only get half the picture. They show quite nicely. So I would assume it has a fairly high color rending index (CRI). I don't even PAR, I should probably research it to understand it, but on the other hand, I don't really want to ahaha. Just for the maths on lumens! Ahaha Just looked up some specs and found that the stated output of the tubes I use (Sylvania Aqua Star, Grolux) have an output of 1960, but to be fair I have a predy poor reflector so assuming only 80% is directed into the tank. Thats just under 1600 lumens a tube. With a 20W Flood light putting out about 1800-1900 according to the information page would hopefully be directed directly into the tank so close to full effectiveness. so 4x20W should beat the light output significantly.. To the human eye.. For all I know the LED's put out more light at wavelengths used by plants than the tubes. (But I assume the Grolux tubes are pretty spot on in that front) Unfortunately the light fitting we bought on the cheap had crappy ballasts (who would have guessed ) they really screwed our tubes a bit. Espically when one of the ballasts blew. We replaced the ballasts with some quality gear but the damage is already done, the tubes don't look too healthy (lots of spluttering at the ends). So when it gets around to the time to replace the tubes Im looking at about $80 plus postage to get new ones, or $85 posted for Floods... I know which is more appealing to me (plus hopefully wont need to shell out again in another couple of months.) Im thinking of just buying 5x 20W, to have two spare, because one would be good for a fry grow out and a spare can't hurt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oromis Posted August 30, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 30, 2013 Just an update on how the sword it going under the light just after a week. Overall the 4 leaves left after we cut it back before planting it have mostly melted and gone horribly see through But.. Two fresh healthy looking leaves Quickest I've ever seen a sword spit out new leaves The grass melted a little bit but not a huge amount. Hasn't really started to grow yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donny@ageofaquariums Posted August 30, 2013 Report Share Posted August 30, 2013 The sword is casting off its emerse leaves and growing submerse ones. I will rocket once its roots get established! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oromis Posted September 1, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 1, 2013 Still growing like a charm. i was wondering How long should I leave the immerse leaves on it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
