LED Lights - got a few questions -planted tank

[Arkangel77]

I have some of the 3 foot LED lights from ebay in my 180 tank and they look great (AT first). The thing is after a while they seem to get dull. they 1st set of 3 foot tubes I got tottaly stopped working last week and they are barely 2 months old. I need lights that dont crank out the heat and I love the look of the LED lights in the tank but the ones I have dont seem like they will last so I dont know what I should do? I just got rid of 2 HI florecent fixtures. THERE must be a way to light this tank that wont cost $1000 and dosent turn the Hood to a OVEN! Anyone got any ideas? Thanks Arkangel77
:help:

[SuBXeRo]

Hey Ark,

LED's are great light sources but keep in mind, they too put out heat. The strips u are describing sound like regular 5mm, 10mm or superflux led strips. These leds would have to be in very large abundance to grow plants. You didn't mention plants, so a lot of LED's wouldnt be required. If you are looking to grow plants, the most efficent way would be to buy the galelio system which is rediculously priced but uses smaller led's like the 5mm or 10mm or make a light system yourself using high power 5 watt LED's, these however will run you over 100 or so to build it properly and give off a lot of heat, heatsinks are necessary.

Since you said nothing about plants, i am assuming it isnt a concern. This is fun because you have a large flexibilty with LED fixtures and types. Chances are you bought a really crappy brand of LED fixtures and LED's as well, having dealt with plenty of LED's, i know a good one from a crappy one, right on down to the color.

Personally, i buy 99% of my LED stuff from www.oznium.com (http://www.oznium.com) They have plenty of LED fixtures to choose from, very high quality merchandise, also note that flowlighting is the owners personally brand of light, of which i have bought and been quite satisfied with, i actually have an underbody car kit under my couch :) and LED one of his, had it for 5 years already.

[Arkangel77]

Well I do have some plants but they are not the focus of the tank, My Discus are. I have a few low light easy to keep plaints in there with them. I will check the link, thank you for they reply. I am sure I got some cheep crapy led's now But they were recomended by a friend so I figured I would give it a shot. The HI florecents I took out were like a furnace in the hood! These current led's give off almost no detectable heat although I am sure they do put out a little. Thanks. Arkangel77

PS - wow there is a lot of stuff on that site. What would you recomend? When you say heat sink where would that go? I guess I am a nub at all this? Your advice would be greatly aprechiated!!!

PPS - these are the strips I am talking about. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=230339681841

[acfans]

Hi Arkangel77, It seems that you bought some dirty chips of leds that will get dull and dim quickly after burn a period of time, not so reliable. Besides, so many leds on the tube can produce much heat that led lifetime will be affected. I bought some led strips lights from Hero Led Store, waterproof and in blue color mixed with cold white 20,000. you may search for them. I also saw some at oznium, super bright as well some eBays store, just keep in mind that compare them before place the order. So far, the led strips from hero led sotre perform very well. This is just my experience. Tks, Tinn .

[Arkangel77]

I gave up on LED's a while back. I am using T5's now. They are affordable and give me the light I need/want for the tanks. They don't give the same effect the LED's did but I just decided to go with something reliable. Perhaps one day when LED's are more common place and affordable I will try them again. I do think they will be "the" preferred light in the near future!

Arkangel77