Red plants and LED's?

[Nathan.G]

after doing some more head scratching and web surf'n
now i want the bml, its more all the way round

so now I'm down to $220, $280, Or $500

think i might go sat + x2 and at worst case i lose a little and sell it ebay, but then i will go bml 10k and 63k

Btw finnex sucks at customer service 3 emails over 2 weeks and no response! Thats what i call service

 

[acitydweller]

I have two 40g breeders that are stacked above one another. The upper tank runs a 36" quad bulb teklight with mixture of red/violet/day light bulbs.
Below i run a 5000k BuildMyLED kit, (2) 36" MonsterRay and a Ray II.

Lots of trial and error went into these tanks but I can safely grow most things nowadays after 3 years of messing around. To say red light isnt necessary is sort of incorrect as it is beneficial to photosynthesis. What may be considered excessive are blue actinic bulbs as the 6500k bulb provides an abundance of blue spectrum light.

The likely reason why many plants get more colorful is actually intensity. i'd avoid the 10k spectrum light for plant growth but my targets are more inlight with helping plants reach their full potential than my own viewing satisfaction. Dont get me wrong, my tanks arent terribly purple and offcolored but they do provide coverage for a wide spectrum of light.

If you are interested in some next gen products, H-CRI bulbs offer a higher quality of light than LEDs and richer light than even fluorescent bulbs. I think I have some spectrum charts on my product review article. here is the second part of 2 which shows the charts.http://www.theaquaticplantsociety.org/flexi-mini-nano-led-follow-up/

If your colors are not hitting the right shades, consider tuning your fertilzers as well.

 

[sonychemp]

Hi All

See this article to understand whats needed for Plants to grow(what spectrum). Most said we need 660nm, not so, Fluval Aqualife & Plant Performance has the required components as any other LED manufacture.
Only thing to check is if this reaches all plants. I believe if you put 2 units for 24/29 High will be fine, same is tru with any LED fixture.


[h=2]Photosynthesis and LED Grow Light Spectrum[/h]Chlorophyll A and B are the two primary compounds responsible for photosynthesis. These compounds absorb wavelengths of light with the highest efficiency at 439nm and 469nm blue, and 642nm and 667nm red. Aside from Chlorophyll A & B, there are other accessory light-harvesting pigments, most notably carotenoids, which absorb light with the highest efficiency at 439nm and 483nm blue. The other less noted pigments such as xanthrophylls, account for less than 5% of the energy supplied forphotosynthesis, and absorb small quantities of light in the 480nm – 620nm region. Since Chlorophyll A & B along with Carotenoids supply over 95% of the energy necessary for photosynthesis, these are the only wavelengths a properly-tuned LED growing light should focus on for the greatest results.
Testing has shown that the only horticultural lights capable of creating such fine-tuned spectral outputs are Full Spectrum LED Grow Lights. By focusing the nm output of each LED to a corresponding wavelength absorption point (like 642nm), the rates of photosynthesis can be increased dramatically over HID lighting. Testing has also shown that if you do not focus directly on the wavelength absorption point (ie: using a 625nm or 630nm instead of 642nm) you will have dramatically lowered rates of photosynthesis by comparison. For these reasons you want to focus on making sure whichever grow light you purchase comes as close as possible to 439nm, 469nm, 483nm, 642nm, and 667nm.

 

[acitydweller]

Agreed and valid points however nearly all hobbyists who keep an aquarium on display will likely not want their tanks to show like this:

Great in theory but in practice the most folks will return back to using 6500k lighting. There is ample blue spectrums provided under 6500k which is why adding RED led's and fluorescent bulbs is often needed for balance.

 

[Byron Amazonas]

Agreed (post #14). Scientific tests cited by Walstad determined that aquatic plants responded best (the photosynthesis activity producing oxygen was the measure) under light with a colour temperature between 6000K and 7000K, what she terms cool white. She writes:

The fact that plants did very well with Cool-white, which produces mostly green-yellow light was an unexpected result of this study. One would have expected plants to do better with Vita-Lite. This is because Vita-Light was designed for growing plants; its spectrum, which is rich in red and blue light, matches the light absorption of plant chlorophyll much better than Cool-white and many other fluorescent bulbs.

Cool-white was found to give off 13% more photosynthetic light than Vita-Light. Perhaps Cool-white's slightly higher light intensity explains its better performance? However, I would also argue that green-yellow light is what many submerged plants encounter in their natural environment. Aquatic light is not like terrestrial light where the blue and red wavelengths predominate. Aquatic light is unique. This is because the water itself absorbs red light, while DOC [dissolved organic carbons] absorbs blue light. What's leftover for plant photosynthesis is mainly green-yellow light. Aquatic plants may have adapted their photosynthetic machinery over the course of evolution to use green-yellow light fairly efficiently. Thus, the assumption that aquatic plants grow best with full-spectrum light may not be valid.

My own experience doesn't counter this, and I use 6700K over my single tube tanks and 5000K and 6500K mix over my dual-tube tanks. And from my limited research into LED suitable for planted aquaria, the LED producing much the same spread seems to prevail.

Byron.

 

[Nathan.G]

Ok made my decision, doing the BML 63k &10k with the splitter and dimmer, call me crazy but I'd rather have too much light that i can dial back than not enough. i have yet to hear anyone complain about their lights, but have herd complaint about all the others. and as far as features like rain storms or a remote, don't need em cause ill never use em.

But if any one thinks I'm making a fatal error please speak up! nothing worse than buyers remorse

 

[Byron Amazonas]

Ok made my decision, doing the BML 63k &10k with the splitter and dimmer, call me crazy but I'd rather have too much light that i can dial back than not enough. i have yet to hear anyone complain about their lights, but have herd complaint about all the others. and as far as features like rain storms or a remote, don't need em cause ill never use em.

But if any one thinks I'm making a fatal error please speak up! nothing worse than buyers remorse

My only suggestion and one which applies to any light, is either to view the light over a freshwater tank first, or be able to easily return it. This was my problem with the one LED I tried; the online data was one thing, but it looked terrible on the tank, and not being able to go back I had to sell it at a loss. Buying from stores usually avoids the latter.

 

[Nathan.G]

Unfortunately, i won't be able too either, Build My Led is all built to order so its all on me, it sucks but out of all the LED light i checked out everyone i talked to love theirs. and they had the lest cons. so if anyone hated theirs please speak up!

 

[Nathan.G]

byron, i looked into the return policy and i have 30 days to return as long as i don't build a custom spectrum, and they have a 3 year warranty. 2 lights and dig controller $600

 

[sonychemp]

Hi Actydweller.
I did not mean to tell, that they only keep red and blue. What i meant is that 2 fluval LED will give ample light and spectrum for plant growth and as any other in the market.
This LED (Fluval) has 6500 K and 15000 K for viewing.
I am not an expert, but will let you know how my plants are doing after some weeks of testing.