My New LED from Build My LED - review with pics

[-gb-]

I received my new LED today from Nick. He was great to deal with and very eager to help me select the correct LED for my setup. I ended up going with the Discus Red LED combination. Great for looking at the fish and perfect for growing plants.



This is what my 65 gallon tank looked like with two 96W 10,000k compact florescent strips. They were about a year old. The plants in the tank had stopped growing to any extent due to the lights being worn out.



This is the tank under the new 35" LED light:



I'm going to use this thread to document the growth of this plant. My expectations are high. I'll post pics every week.



As I document the plant growth it's good to know that I also have CO2 and occasionally toss in some Flourish Excel.

[a volar]

Is this fixture using 1 or 3 watt leds?

[-gb-]

Hi Ismael, there are 45 LED's & I think it's about 75 watts. Maybe Nick can let us know if I have this correct.

[Chad Hughes]

Any pictures of the fixture?

[-gb-]

Here is a picture of the fixture. I was surprise how sleek it is. Very well designed and built!

[-gb-]

You'll see that I have an old light fixture behind the LED. I have it come on 30min before the LED. It's about 17watts. This way the fish don't get startled when the LED fires up. After the LED tunes on the old light turnes off.

[CrazyAngels]

I like the nice brightness your tank seems to have now in comparison to the previous light. Also the discus don't seem to be minding it. Congrats


Can you please tell me what type of plants are those, specially the one on the side, I just don't recognize it and like the way you have it hanging.

Thank you

[-gb-]

Hello Jorge,

Here is a closer picture of the plant. I have no idea what it's called. I've had these two plants in my tank for over 10 years and somewhere along the way I forgot what they were called. Maybe someone else can identify it for us. Feel free to steal the picture and post it on a plant forum if you like. You may have better luck finding out what it is. If you do... let me know.



BTW - this is about 2 weeks growth. This plant grows like a weed.

[Chad Hughes]

I love it!

Thanks!

Here is a picture of the fixture. I was surprise how sleek it is. Very well designed and built!

[CrazyAngels]

Hello Jorge,

Here is a closer picture of the plant. I have no idea what it's called. I've had these two plants in my tank for over 10 years and somewhere along the way I forgot what they were called. Maybe someone else can identify it for us. Feel free to steal the picture and post it on a plant forum if you like. You may have better luck finding out what it is. If you do... let me know.



BTW - this is about 2 weeks growth. This plant grows like a weed.

Thank you very much, I like the simplicity of the plant, also that it looks nice and healthy in the warm temps of a discus tank.. I wonder how they would do with no CO2..

[rbarn]

You can make a dimmable power supply for that fixture pretty easy I bet.

[-gb-]

You can make a dimmable power supply for that fixture pretty easy I bet.

BuildMeLED was selling them for $15 but I didn't get one. In retrospect I wish I did. I guess I'll just have to buy that new Neptune Systems Apex AquaController I've had my eye on. Need more money, more fish gear and more fish

[0Dgreen]

how much did the fixture run you?

[-gb-]

how much did the fixture run you?

I picked it up for $230 + a few dollars for the mounting brackets and shipping. IMO it's an unbelievably good deal. Expechially considering what I was spending on light bulbs every year.

[Discus-n00b]

Much nicer whites with the LED fixture.