here's an interesting proposal..

[esworp]

I've got a /ton/ of track lighting fixtures at my disposal..

I know what you're thinking, halogen bulbs are the wrong spectrum and they're WAY too hot for planted tanks.. hear me out.

Actually, don't hear.. just take a look here: http://img.ebigchina.com/cdimg/231510/746215/0/1089433101.jpg

See where I'm going with this? Has anyone else considered white LED arrays for lighting a planted tank? The fixtures are usually 12 or 7 watts, with 20-24 18000+MCD leds per fixture.

Some ponderings that I throw out there to the board:

1. Does and 1 watt of LED light = 1 watt from a CF? metal halide? Is a watt a watt? (12 watts of led light is A LOT OF LIGHT, or is it? maybe since it's usually from a rather small point source, it's misleading...)

2. It looks like the major suppliers of white leds tune thiers to output at 6500K. Anyone know something to the contrary?

[Timmain42]

Very cool! I'm using a 50W halogen light to power an 8 liter fern grow-out jar right now, I bet those LED bulbs would be a lot less warm in my cubicle. Hmn...

[esworp]

You can get teh bulbs on ebay for about 12 bucks a pair.

[lousybreed]

watt for watt LED's are the most efficient source of light currently. I believe that they are currently developing units to replace high powered metal halide lights in factories and on street lights because the energy savings is huge

[lousybreed]

there are nano reefs that are currently using only led light. by the way, led light is not the same as halogen light so don't compare the two!

[frmrreefr]

One small problem, what color temp do they put out? If they are too blue, it would lead to excessive algae growth. Too red, same thing. Same goes for reefs. I find it hard to believe that there are actually people out there that are lighting reefs with only LED lighting. It would for one get prohibitively expensive to buy enough LEDs to light even a nano-reef sufficiently to support even hardy soft corals like mushrooms and Colts. If you want any other info on that, go to reefcentral.com and take a look at all of the threads dedicated to Kelvin and PAR.

I believe the plant game is the same as the reef game. Watts mean squat if you don't have the right color temp......

[lousybreed]

One small problem, what color temp do they put out? If they are too blue, it would lead to excessive algae growth. Too red, same thing. Same goes for reefs. I find it hard to believe that there are actually people out there that are lighting reefs with only LED lighting. It would for one get prohibitively expensive to buy enough LEDs to light even a nano-reef sufficiently to support even hardy soft corals like mushrooms and Colts. If you want any other info on that, go to reefcentral.com and take a look at all of the threads dedicated to Kelvin and PAR.

I believe the plant game is the same as the reef game. Watts mean squat if you don't have the right color temp......

exactly, you can buy 5500K and leds that have the same spectral output as actinic so you can achieve the 50/50 look every reefer loves. I also agree watts mean squat because LED's barely use any power yet produce good light. reefcentral is where i read about the pico reef using led's as light. there was an entry in 2004 ADA planted tank contest that used only led's as a light source.....I never said that it would be cheap!!!