LED's for planted tanks (not lunar)

Ajordan

Ajordan

Se?or Member - Get it?
Nov 21, 2006
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Massachusetts
I have been wondering if it would be possible to DIY some LED lights for growing plants. I have seen the high intensity setups that are very expensive. That got me thinking that there might be a cheaper way...

For the purpose of discussion, forget what the light might actually look like (I have heard that HP sodium lights will grow plants well but who wants an orange tank).

My assumptions may be wrong, but if you look at a graph of PAR sensitivity...

http://www.sunmastergrowlamps.com/SunmLightandPlants.html

you get an idea of what sort of light you need for plants to grow. If you were to take a list of LED's that had the wavelength and luminous intensity...

http://www.superbrightleds.com/leds.htm

wouldn't you have the foundation for figuring out how to make an LED rig for plants?

This is more of a thought experiment right now. What are some other considerations? Again, for the purpose of discussion, lets ignore price and what the tank might look like.
 
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.
 
good stuff...

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

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.
Click to expand...

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....
 
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