LED or Flourescent?

[Mr_chimp]

just wondered which better led or flourescent lighting, plus can u get as many light shades with led that you can with flourescent?

[countcoco]

LED lighting is still way too expensive for most hobbyists to even consider it. Just go with fluorescent.

[Frank]

LED is much cheaper over the time. That´s the light of the future.

[Mr_chimp]

ive found some car underbody led light that you can buy seperately £25 each and they are 24" long so might get a white and a blue light and see if they are ne good

[Frank]

Meanwhile there are T8 LED bulbs avialable.

[Mr_chimp]

arent T8 quite a big fitting?

[Frank]

arent T8 quite a big fitting?

For small tanks: yes
Usually they are used to replace flourescent tubes.
However, in general LED are cheaper over a longer period.

[Mr_chimp]

hmmm, cant seem to find any led that state there light range, so might have to experiment

[Mac Myers]

hmmm, cant seem to find any led that state there light range, so might have to experiment

I've got lots of LED's on my tanks. I get them very cheaply off of Ebay from Chinese Vendors. The only downside is the wait. They are the same bulbs and light strings that sell in the US home improvement stores for 4-5 times the amount and the variety is much better as well..
So far my experience is that plant and algae growth is much less with LED's than with florescent or halogen lights and the LED "spots" seem better than the strips. Tanks I have that came with LED's don't seem great for growth either. They do make great moonlights however when blue in color.

[onecrazyredhead]

can u post the sale of LED's so i can take a look at them? Mac

[Mr_chimp]

check ebay i found these not sure if they work out expensive or not

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[Plecofool]

People like to say LED's are the future of lighting but I've been keeping up to date on all the latest breakthroughs and I's here to say that they really aren't.

Alot of people say, "hey they are more efficient."

Yah, that may be the case but do you want efficiency or higher quality.

The main problem stopping the advance in LEDs is you can only have so many LEDS in a given space.

They have made all kinds of advances using filters and ways of reflecting the light but it still boils down to the size.

They also cant penetration very far.

HID>flouro>led

I'll write more and edit this after class.

To be continued...

[Mac Myers]

Improvements are being made in LED Lighting all of the time. I only grow easy, low light plants anyhoo.

[reaverx]

Im using LED for my tank and its super cost efficient in terms of electricity , its only using less then 16 watts and its very bright

[MananaP]

I use Marineland LED light for my BKK tank and i can turn it on for days without any algae problem and it's bright enough in my opinion for moss to grow. For high grade crs i would go with HO or MH.

[countcoco]

People like to say LED's are the future of lighting but I've been keeping up to date on all the latest breakthroughs and I's here to say that they really aren't.

Alot of people say, "hey they are more efficient."

Yah, that may be the case but do you want efficiency or higher quality.

The main problem stopping the advance in LEDs is you can only have so many LEDS in a given space.

They have made all kinds of advances using filters and ways of reflecting the light but it still boils down to the size.

They also cant penetration very far.

HID>flouro>led

I'll write more and edit this after class.

To be continued...

I totally agree. The only advantage of leds at the moment is the efficiency, but I don't think it's that big of a deal given that T5 HOs are also very efficient. I've followed the led movement a while on indoor gardening forums and most people conclude that it's better just to purchase T5s. Good led lighting is still really expensive and the manufacturers haven't figured out the best color combination for plant growth or appearance. Meanwhile, T5 fixtures can be purchased cheaply and you have a huge array of tubes to select from.

[cllui]

I'm using 2 ADA 15watt Flourescent for my 2ft tank...

[Slade]

People like to say LED's are the future of lighting but I've been keeping up to date on all the latest breakthroughs and I's here to say that they really aren't.

Alot of people say, "hey they are more efficient."

Yah, that may be the case but do you want efficiency or higher quality.

The main problem stopping the advance in LEDs is you can only have so many LEDS in a given space.

They have made all kinds of advances using filters and ways of reflecting the light but it still boils down to the size.

They also cant penetration very far.

HID>flouro>led

I'll write more and edit this after class.

To be continued...

For me the main problem is people who sell LED lighting system, with bad quality led, wrong spectrum saying they sell better than hqi light with 25% less watts. And the one who buy 5mm led on ebay with unbelievable characteristics.
My tanks are full led since 2 years, diy system, for me the first one i make for a 96l is sufficiently efficient, at least equal to the old light: 2x24w -> 42w of led, so no much economy but the light is working well after 26month for a total cost of 60€.
Since this tank I make a few more light for friends or for me and my new fixture is only 26w for the same volume... but now I have more than 8000 lux at 45cm, and for the 'can't penetrate very far' 2000lux at 1.2meter. I speak of lux, I know it's not the better way to measure the efficiency on aquarium plant but it's an easy way.

Old one
4044
New fixture
4045

[SeahSengYong]

I have a bad experience with LED lighting. Some of the bulbs just stopped lighting after 1 month. LFS told me Warranty Over after one month. It is not as lasting as normal bulb. Maybe they are built to spoilt after warranty period.

[catarina pinheiro]

Hello

Sharing my experience with led´s: I use led stripes in my shrimp tanks, and I´m very pleased with them.

I normally buy some extra stripes, so I have always in stock for new setups. If you have a well plantes aquarium, I don´t recomend leds, but otherwise, it works just fine.

I usually buy the stripes in ebay, with the power adapter, and do the conections at home.

Hope I helped.

[NeyaNey]

Im going to pop in and help out with the broad statements of LED not being able to penetrate water etc.

When talking 5mm leds you're just talking visible light, You'd have to cram SO many of them over a tank to do anything more that it isnt cost effective or efficient AT ALL.

for 3w leds (what a lot of the reef people are using, and planted tanks) now you can get somewhere.


DIY options

The cost is high initially: drivers, plus leds, time. However, done right you'll save money on your electric bill, and bulb replacement costs.

Saying leds dont penetrate far is a blanket statement. True, in a reef tank on their own driven to 700ma+ they will only penetrate well enough for SPS corals up to 12" depth. But then you're talking the highlest light demanding aquaria item out there. For planted, I think the results I saw were between 17-20". There is a way to solve this problem, using optics for the emitters, this focuses the beam of light and allows it to penetrate deeper. in aquaria application the lower the number the more focused the beam, I believe anything less than 40 degree would be reserved for the tallest of the tall tanks. The tighter the optic the more spotlighting you'll have so you have to use more leds closer together to combat this. Common sized optics used in aquaria are 40,60,80


off the shelf UL listed with warranty options. Again, anything with only 5mm leds is going to be more light moonlighting, or aesthetic only. Anything to support plants or reefs will have a VERY high cost. It's really hard to get the colors you'd want (especially for planted, as most are made for reef tanks and are more like 12k-15k color). On a side note, I believe boostled & rapidled will be making a par spotlight (screws into any normal lamp) in planted tank colors - cool white & neutrals)