LED's for planted tanks (not lunar)

A lot of people from other plant forums have experimented with this. Most seem to conclude that it's too expensive to achieve anything even moderately usable for most systems.
I read where it was done successfully on a small tank with a large array of quality LEDs.

a while back I did a bunch of research on led lamps for a non-aquarium project i was working on, and found this site that has a really wide selection of LED bulbs, including several in the daylight color range. there are a lot of options. here's their edison screw type bulb page... lots of ideas. http://www.superbrightleds.com/edison.html

Yes, its been done, LED's have lit marine and freshwater tanks alike. Take a look at the Solaris units. Some have even DIY'd their LED lights like you are talking about.

The issue usually is cost, and if DIY, also appearance and hassle. So far the only LEDs that come close to the performance of high end fluorescents are very costly. Its a technology that is increasing every year, lower prices, greater efficiency, so we should be there soon.

To get a decent amount of light, is not cheap.

I figure about 40 LEDs @ $1 per, + shipping + class 2 transformer @ $10 + resistors, your looking at $60 easy.

Well, also remember that LEDs DO have limited life to them, and don't burn out, just dim over time. I would estimate the useful life would be about 5-10 years.

Also, look to getting a few fans, keeping LEDs cool is key to a long life.

Ajordan said:

good stuff...

$60 isn't cheap but if it "never" needs bulbs replaced and performs well that may be approaching the realm of "affordable."

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What are you talking about? $60 is dirt cheap lol. I guess you must be talking about a small tank? Cost is relative to size of tank so that piece of info is kind of important. Whats the cheapest solaris unit? A few hundred bucks for a 9" light... for a 48" your talking over a thousand...

DDeHaven II said:

Well, also remember that LEDs DO have limited life to them, and don't burn out, just dim over time. I would estimate the useful life would be about 5-10 years.

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LEDs dont last forever. Just the dinky single colored low output ones have a very long life. But also there is a couple of shoplights in my folks garage that were 'old' when they moved in in the early 80's that still work...

Most of the high power ones are only 2-4X the life of a good fluorescent anyhow. They are actually similar to fluorescent in many ways, they both use similar rare earth phosphors excited by energy to give off light. They also generate plenty of heat despite common misconceptions. Even the small 5W led's for flashlights comes with thick aluminum slug heatsinks built in.

If money is of no concern they make fluorescents that will last 100,000 hrs....

I saw a guy build a small LED hood for a 5g, used way more than 40 LED's, in the end, I think he was pushing 100 LED's over that 5g.