Muzz Posted August 30, 2013 Report Share Posted August 30, 2013 Hi Gurus, I am looking at improving the lighting on my 6' tank with the main interest of plant growth. I understand that I will need 1watt per two liters of water and around 7000k, and this is where I am getting confused. LED lights that I have been looking at on ebay say 15watts per 3' set with 8000k and 460nm blue. Will these lights promote plant growth or am I off the mark? I am also running co2 and running a 8hr lighting cycle. I looking into buying 2 x sets of these below. LED Aquarium Light Blue White 90cm 3ft | eBay Cheers, Muzz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angry Posted August 31, 2013 Report Share Posted August 31, 2013 Short answer. No. Why not hit up a sponser for a reputable brand that will get the job done for the same money? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muzz Posted September 1, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 1, 2013 Ok cool, cheers for the reply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angry Posted September 1, 2013 Report Share Posted September 1, 2013 Thankyou for not making me write out the long answer on my phone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nini Posted September 1, 2013 Report Share Posted September 1, 2013 But why? :3 (sorry, had to) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhysl Posted September 1, 2013 Report Share Posted September 1, 2013 8000k and 460nm blue. the blue lights are for marine algae and corals. freshwater species do a lot better with a lot more red light (hence why the grolux bulbs are generally pink) I don't know much about the LED's thou, would love to have a pick at someones brain about em if anyone is knowledgable Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muzz Posted September 1, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 1, 2013 the blue lights are for marine algae and corals. freshwater species do a lot better with a lot more red light (hence why the grolux bulbs are generally pink) I don't know much about the LED's thou, would love to have a pick at someones brain about em if anyone is knowledgable That makes sense, Cheers for your input. It would be good if someone could elaborate some more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angry Posted September 1, 2013 Report Share Posted September 1, 2013 Those particular lights u linked are low output LED's and IMO not what you want considering you are going Co2 and I pressume wanting high light... (not to mention the plugs fall apart and every so often "some" of the LED's fail straight out of the box) Disclaimer: I have not bought from that seller just talking about my experience with that brand Can not emphasize enough, drop by a forum sponsor (or even their website ) and do a little comparo on some better quality LED options Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhysl Posted September 1, 2013 Report Share Posted September 1, 2013 don't know if I can post to other fourms? Lighting Spectrum and Photosythesis - Lighting - Aquatic Plant Central its not easy to summarise in a single post lol. there's a wealth of info on the net, just have to find it! And then theres differences for every single type of bulb you use (fluro, incandescent, halogen, LED, induction lighting...). the basics is, your plants utilise red and blue the best, but EVERYTHING has to be balanced. Once you pump up the light, you need to add ferts to allow the plants to grow at a quicker rate, and then you get to a point where you also need to supplement carbon (in the form of CO2 injection) to allow for even quicker growth. some plants need high light/ ferts and CO2 just to survive... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boxhead1990 Posted December 12, 2013 Report Share Posted December 12, 2013 Just build your self a fixture basses around a few 10w 6500k diodes and a a dimable ballast with a few rgb 3w's and then tune the colour to what you like Iv had great success with Chinese 3w 10k's with a few 5500k diodes mixed in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boxhead1990 Posted December 12, 2013 Report Share Posted December 12, 2013 Or you can make life easy and eBay some 30w led spotlights and role with one for every 2 foot depending on how much light you need and wether your pressurised c02 or not Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluebelle Posted December 12, 2013 Report Share Posted December 12, 2013 Muzz, will you please let me know if you find the right led fixture? I'm looking for the same thing for my 6'. Sponsors might have the right one, but I just haven't got $600. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donny@ageofaquariums Posted December 12, 2013 Report Share Posted December 12, 2013 We have tried all the cheap high output chinese models on the market today and had nothing but drama with them. Most do not have proper plugs and instead come with a dodgy converter. Ya life aint worth the few hundred you save buying something dangerous! Also warranties were a total nightmare, resulting in us losing a lot of cash looking after customers. Which you have to do man. If its potential drama for you or us, we wont continue to stock it! We want quality products and most of all happy customers. My advice is that if you are not going to go with a company that produces quality safe high output LED lights with an actual real warranty.... then go a for compact fluro! Yea they aint as power efficient as LED, but they do put out incredible light that results in very good plant growth. Anyone wanting to check out some of the lights we have on offer should come check out the planted tanks we have in our display room. Currently setup over plants we have aqualina compacts, ecolamp strips and 3 way bars, eheim LED, fluval compacts, fluval T5 AND ecotech radions. We love our lighting tech Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
