LED lighting for planted 36 gallon freshwater?

A

Alplily

AC Members
Nov 6, 2011
10
0
0
Estes Park, CO, USA
Hi folks,

Trying to find an easy, affordable way to upgrade my lighting (standard fluor/hood) to LEDs (mostly for energy-efficiency). The lighting needs to support plants. What do I need to know? And what do you recommend? Thanks for suggestions and guidance. This is way out of my comfort zone!

alplily
 
I recently setup a new tank and was looking into LED's everything I read about them indicated the current fixtures on the market aren't to good for planted tanks they'll support low light plants and thats it(and that was the marineland double bright I read that about), LED's are more then capable of supporting other plants its just that noone makes one yet, its possible to make a DIY LED fixture for a planted tank. Reef setups use different light spectrum's then plants.

If your upto the DIY task googling 'DIY LED planted tank fixture' should yield some good results and you can follow other peoples plans and part sources, or you can do what I did and say screw it and buy a T5 fixture lol.
 
Part of the reason is cost. T5 is mature off the shelf technology with lots of competition at all price levels.
...For great pricing, check out strip lights and reflectors at your local hydroponics store.
Another part of the reason is LED lighting is different light. Neither good nor bad, just different. And hard to photograph well.

DIY LED is very reasonable. Commercial off the shelf products, not so reasonable or not great lighting. We're getting there though. The reefers are driving this bus, as they did T5HO, and VHO before that. If you are at all handy, and willing to read enough threads, or follow a specific recipe, you can DIY a two row 12 emitter 24" LED fixture for about $50.00. It will grow plants and in fact may be too much light. Spending a bit more to make the fixture dimable is a good idea. Another minor issue is taking pictures of an LED lit tank to show it off. Most cameras and picture takers (not photographers) can't deal with the light quality yet.

Marineland Double Brights will grow plants in a 12" tall tank. Bushy is better than stems as the stems head for individual emitters.
For a fish tank, the Double Bright fixtures are terrific !!!
 
Hey dbosman.... thanks for the input and the great info. DIY would interest me, but by the time I figured it all out and ordered all the parts, my plants probably would die! ;-) I am sure the appropriate off-the-shelf LEDs will come along eventually. My tank is around 20" tall, so the Double Brights would likely not be adequate.

I am considering the following, which seems like a good value. Is a 30" light what I should get for my 30L x 12D x 22" tank? Only asking because a lot of the 24" fixtures will expand to 30"... ?

http://www.marineandreef.com/AquaticLife_30_inch_T5_HO_Lamp_Fixture_Freshwater_p/ral20143.htm
 
That one looks good, but if your not going to use the interconectability that it offers which sounds like you don't need also I think the mounting legs it has might be like the ZooMed fixture though it wont work if your using a glass top the legs are meant for mounting to open top tanks. I've seen other x2 t5ho fixtures for $60 or less.

with a 24" on a 30" tank it works you just don't want to put any light demanding plants at the ends, put your lower light plants there. Some of the 30" fixtures also only use 24" bulbs, I managed to get a 30 that uses 30 bulbs.
 
I have 4 of these fixtures:

http://www.catalinaaquarium.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=71_136&products_id=1413

They will customize any fixture for a small fee. I add cords/switches so each light can be turned on/off individually, lighting options is the key. I also add hanging eyelets, legs, splash guards, they have black hoods available also. Customer service is excellent, great company to work with. If your a member of any local clubs, mention it, they give discounts.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom