[sports_doc]

Amazon.com: 36-48 in. Marineland Double Bright LED Light - 16 x 1W white - 8 x .06W blue: AbsolutelyPets

Best price I've found.

I have 4, and I like the slim trim, the cold running, and the color spectrum on the eye...

I dont like the tunnel effect that LED has and I still would like them to have 50% more LED for the same size fixture

 

[verbal]

Shawn,

It was great to see you at frog day, and that female azureus is doing great in her new home.

I have several of these as well, with the same impression as you. With the spacing, the LEDs almost act a spot lights, especially in my shallow tanks (40BR, etc.). Marineland does have a reef-capable version, which I also have, that has more bulbs per sq ft (essentially twice as many). This lamp is nice but expensive, and it does run a lot hotter. I suspect it's overkill for most of our frog vivs, but it sure is pretty on my soft coral reef tank.

Ryan

 

[Julio]

Give it another 3 years and they will have more LED bulbs for the price. they are already coming out with 5watt LEDs on those fixture, pricey though.

 

[motydesign]

it sucks as those LEDs are only $3 a pop, and the only issue with the higher wattage is the heat. if the fixture can disapate the heat off the LEDs then i bet it would be fine. the only other question i would have is the light curve. i have found that a mixture of the White and Warm white will give a decent wave balance for the plants, but white and blue will give almost ZERO red
here is a chart with warm and white mix(colored part)(red line is about natural sun). blue and white would drop to very low values after the 500 area

 

[mellowvision]

I used the double brights over a plants holding tank for a while, and a lot of the plants started dying. I was running 2 fixtures over a 24x24x20" cube, and even though it looked ok to my eye, the plants were not getting what they needed. I tested these for well over 2 months before swapping them out for appropriate fixtures.

 

[insularexotics]

Those wave graphs are very misleading. LED's actually have a VERY narrow peak as opposed to a broad spectral coverage, like a fluorescent. Even with a few different types, you don't get the broad coverage they advertise. I saw a great talk on LED lighting for corals. And the takehome message was that they are not adequate for photosynthesis yet. I would no texpect it to be different for terrestrial chlorophylls. You can get things to grow under them. But you need more than you would think because they don't hit the peak absorbances of chlorophyll.

 

[motydesign]

Those wave graphs are very misleading. LED's actually have a VERY narrow peak as opposed to a broad spectral coverage, like a fluorescent. Even with a few different types, you don't get the broad coverage they advertise. I saw a great talk on LED lighting for corals. And the takehome message was that they are not adequate for photosynthesis yet. I would no texpect it to be different for terrestrial chlorophylls. You can get things to grow under them. But you need more than you would think because they don't hit the peak absorbances of chlorophyll.

yes the led peaks are very steep! and this chart was a 50/50 mix of two leds to get the best curve i could, and its still not that great. thats why i ended up with a really good full spec CFL instaed of doing the leds.

 

[DendroJoe]

I am ordering some 1 watt LEDs to replace the blues. will post once i replace them.

Joe

 

[motydesign]

What color you replacing with? Red? That'll be the only one that'll really do what you need but doesn't do much for viewing

 

[Venutus1]

What color you replacing with? Red? That'll be the only one that'll really do what you need but doesn't do much for viewing

hmmm.. I don't understand.
Since the whites are like 10K, I think replacing the blue with a warm white 4k would be the way to go to sort trying to average it out?

BTW, even though it is very low tech, wouldn't it be an interesting experiment introducing more red into the mix by using a red sharpie marker to add a little red / orange tint to a bulb here and there? Don't make fun untill you try it.

hey...Check this out (not avail in the US yet)

Arcadia the leaders in pet-care lighting technology - ECO AQUA LED

 

[motydesign]

Yeah the warm white will help a little with the curve, see graph above, thtas a 50/50 with what you want to do and will be similar in color to 5 or 6 k (guestimate)

 

[DendroJoe]

I will be replacing it with bright white for deeper tanks.
I think the 18" high tanks are ok with the amount of light.

What color you replacing with? Red? That'll be the only one that'll really do what you need but doesn't do much for viewing

 

[chadfarmer]

maybe looking to a diy fixture

i have cree 3w on a saltwater tank and they can grow anything under them

 

[bshmerlie]

So Shawn...As is are these lights working for you or are you having trouble with plant growth?

 

[sports_doc]

I dont think I would notice plant issues for a few more months....


I have a worry though.

S

 

[bshmerlie]

How long have you had them?

 

[chadfarmer]

im going to try a ecoxotics Panorama Module 8,000K White 12 watt

 

[shockingelk]

I dont think I would notice plant issues for a few more months....


I have a worry though.

S

What is your take on LED lighting now? For what tank depths have you seen success in plant growth? What models do you have experience with?

I would love to use LED on two new 25Hs!

THANKS!

 

[fishfry]

I have been using the Marineland single bright led on a standard FCA cube tank since about summer 2010. I would prefer more light, but it works fine to light up the tank and grow some plants for me. Not the most exciting plant, but I grow buckets full of Aglaonema and Ludisia discolor has grown well and flowered numerous times. I also grow some small ferns and moss. I would definitely recommend two fixtures or the double bright version.

I am looking to purchase some more of these fixtures for future tanks, but I am going to go with double-bright versions and possibly the Beamsworks version. Previous to these Marineland lights I was using a cheapy LED fixture I bought of ebay and eventually had electrical problems.

On my reef tank I use kessil led pendants and I am really happy with them, I would be willing to use those as well but they are a bit cost prohibitive. I have also used truelumen strip lights which are very similar to the exotics panorama strips, I have been happy with those too.

 

[sports_doc]

Truth?

All the Marineland LED's I bought burned out.

expensive crap is what they turned out to be.