a led only plant tank ?

[iro]

Hello guy's im setting up a new tank, and would like to make a planted tank, but not only with mosses.but is only led enough for a tank like this? is the lightspectrum enough (with the high quality leds)? are there people who would like to post there planted tanks to see what plants are doing well under this conditions? i know that not all plants will do good. i self have a fluval edge 25 litre and in this tank you have two 10watt hallogen ,i want to change them to 2 led lights and maybe one extra blue led strip. already thanks for the help

[iro]

here some pics of the lamps that i had in mind to replace the hallogene

[Nubster]

I can't comment on those light specifically but LED lighting is viable for planted tanks. There are folks on some other "planted tank" sites that are using LEDs with great success. They are mostly DIY lighting systems though.

[RiverAquatics]

LED can work well but still not hitting its stride yet. I priced DIY and pre-made and prices are everywhere. The style bulbs you show are some of the many choices but you have to consider the light specs. Like Nubster wrote, it's all over planted tank sites.

I'm thinking of going LED soon but it's such a big change that it's hard to make sense of how bright these bulbs are.

If you go LED, post what you did so we can gather some ideas here... and the long term results too.

[iro]

ok i will, im thinking to use the m16 led bulbs they have more led and a bigger angel of light, and 2 of them give the same light like 80 watt hallogene

[Murad]

I have that in mind too, since the FLUVAL EBI kit I bought is not enough IMO except for moss and low light plants. Been researching it still. Would like to hear how it turns out.

[madness]

I believe that some hobbyists are in the process of collecting PAR data on various LEDs (both retail units and attempting to find useful info on things like Cree LEDs).

Here is a decent new resource: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/li...ompendium.html

I do know that the guys who go with good Cree LEDs in the DIY seem able to get whatever light level they want. Just a matter of figuring out the best way to spread the light evenly (which optics to use, how to physically space the LEDs, etc.).

Innovative Marine has LED clip-on lights (for rimless tanks) that they publish PAR charts for and hopefully other manufacturers will follow suit as it greatly simplifies and clarifies the comparison of lights.

BTW, the TMC Aquaray lights are pretty high powered and would definitely work for you (but they aren't cheap).

[iro]

this lights that i want to buy are costing something around 14 euro a piece so whe will see

[madness]

I looked into various clamp-on (for rimless tanks) LED lights when considering to upgrade the lighting on my Fluval Ebi as well.

The best option that I had found (affordable but with enough PAR to be in the med light range) was the Innovative Marine 8W 10,000K clamp-on light. They provide PAR data but what it comes down to is that at the substrate level you are likely to get 20-50 mmols of PAR which is actually a great range. 50mmol should allow you to grow anything (and only carpet plants will be at substrate level...even a few inches higher in the water increases PAR significantly) and 20-30 is a pretty good low-light range where most stuff grows but algae isn't insane and CO2 may not be mandatory.

For $80-$100 dollars and looking pretty good for a clamp on light it is a simple but viable option, IMO.

The AquaRay AquaHabits Mini-LED 400 runs closer to $150 but seems to absolutely blast the living the heck out of an ADA 30-C (same dimensions basically as a Fluval Ebi) but it can't be dimmed without an optional controller/dimmer (which is cool and does stuff like sunset/sunrise and 'storm functions') which unfortunately costs as much as the light itself.

I have that in mind too, since the FLUVAL EBI kit I bought is not enough IMO except for moss and low light plants. Been researching it still. Would like to hear how it turns out.