anyone tried LED replacements for low-med light planted tanks?

Sploke

Sploke

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Oct 20, 2005
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I'm looking at different options for replacing my CF bulbs over my planted tanks. The bulbs have been getting too expensive to replace on a regular basis, so I've been checking out some of the LED retrofit options. Mind you, these are not high light, high tech tanks. I've got 2x96w over a 150 and 2x65w over a 55, enough to grow most low and med light plants with decent success. I've been going back and forth between the screw-in replacements with 3-5 diodes, and doing a few of those over the tank, or doing a few of the 4' T8 tube replacements. I can find a few options in the 5500-6000K range, just wondering if anyone has tried any of the available options and what kind of results you've had?
 
Small tanks are okay, sort of strange looking, the larger more $$$ fixtures are nice, and some DIY versions can be done with mixed results for some, success for others.

I like T5's for now.........till LED's get cheaper and better, and some patent issues run out.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 
Yeah I'm certainly not looking at the Solaris or AquaIllumination type high powered fixtures...more something along these lines:

http://www.ledlight.com/led-tube-lighting.aspx

Like I said, low-mid light, low tech. I know they're low powered LEDs, nothing compared to what Cree or Luxeon offers for the high-output LEDs, but looking for something cheap and easy that will suffice.
 
Very interesting site Sploke. I didn't even know they had such a thing as LED tube lights. I would like to know more about this as well and how it works out for your tanks. Maybe I can try this in the future when the bulbs are a lot cheaper. =|
 
There's an outdoor light on that sight that is weather proof and 36 watt. seems like it would be an awesome retro with some work. but it's like $260. Hope the price on these comes down soon. Is there any way to rate the light color of led's? i never seem to find any info on the bulb color.
 
Not always. but if you do some digging you can usually find some mention of the light temperature, either in K or a "soft white/cool white/daylight white" description.
 
I got my hands on some LED bulbs. These particular bulbs are called EarthLED fluorescent tube replacements by a compay called AdvancedLumonics. I used an ond 4' two bulb fixture, tore out the ballast and rewired it for these bulbs. The bulbs are $155 for a two-pack, they are rated at a color temperature of 5800K,, the LEDs have a 120* beam angle, and are rated as a replacement for a 40w bulb, using 15w per bulb.

http://www.earthled.com/DirectLED-t8-fluorescent-led-tube-replacement.html

As a reference, here is a pic taken about a year ago. This picture is 1/30" exposure, f5.0, ISO1600. The tank at this time has 2x65w CF lighting from AH Supply, with 6500K Bulbs that are about two years old.

Fish 147.JPG

The second pic was taken with the same settings. Thew tank now has the 2x15w LED tubes over it.

55gal 004.JPG

The light from the LEDs is slightly more yellow as the color temperatures would indicate, but not enough to really bother me. The level of brightness seems pretty comparable to me. I will be using these for a few months to see how it works out, to see if I want to go this route over some of the other tanks as well.

Fish 147.JPG 55gal 004.JPG
 
I recently went to a seminar on LED light for motion picture use. Color temp. is very important there. There are two ways to get daylight. 1) use Daylight rated LEDs. 2) use a mixture of red, green, and Blue LEDs.
1 is expensive because LEDs are by nature spike emitters (1, or just a close group of wavelengths) They have to be tested and sorted by hand. Because these bulbs are premium- they cost bunches. And a LOT of individual LEDs are needed to make even a 15w fixture.
2 is a place where you could try to DIY it. The draw back in film is that the shadows show a distinct red,green & blue fringe. This wouldn't be much of a problem because moving through water will bend the light around. I don't know if any aquarium manufacterers are making RGB LEDs, but you could look around because people are definitely making them for photography.
And as I said, if you like soldering lots of little light together you could probably make your own really cheaply. Colored LED's are a dime a dozen- literally.
 
I've tried several LED bulbs for different fixtures around my home, and they all seem to have issues with the internal electronics overheating and the bulb failing after a few weeks. I think a fixture that is designed to use LED's would be awesome, but I would be really weary of trying another "LED bulb" - it seems the technology just isn't up to par yet. I would definately hold on to any warranty info for those bulbs.


I just realized the problem... I couldn't figure why LED's that burn cold would have overheating issues... DUH! The massive resistor banks crammed into the base of the bulb are overheating.... LED fixtures have the resistor banks more spread out, and possibly even cooled with forced air.... lol... when I was younger and stupider I tried replacing a small bulb in my car with an LED, without thinking about the need for a resistor... exploding LED's are kinda cool... but the burnt fingers weren't...
 
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