Ideal LED setup for a wilds tank

[DiscusBR]

Hi folks,

I have a 80g tank with 7 wild Cuipeua discus, shown in other threads. Here is a pic of the tank:



As you can see, the tank is lightly planted with few "hardy" plants, especially Anubias. I would like to ask your help with lighting. The tank has an Aquaticlife fixture with a single 54w T5 HO 6,000K lamp. It turns out that a single T5 lamp is too much for my wilds, who tend to hide when lights are on and come out when lights are off. I tried floating plants, but frozen dried blackworms were getting stuck in the plants and I gave up on them. I am considering a getting a LED setup, but I have no experience with LEDs. What would be an ideal low-light LED setup that would still allow me to keep the plants? Any help is appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[Chillinfish]

For my old wilds, I used the Marineland double bright LED system. They where all very peaceful with the lighting more in the whiter color rather than a gold/sunlight you find in the natural blackwater areas of wilds. As far as keeping plants, I don't know how it would perform. They claim to be reef ready as far as keeping photosynthetic animals...

Andrew

[joanstone]

Marineland has singe bright, double bright and reef capable LEDs. I've wondered about how well they work lighting up big, deep tanks, I was considering them as an option on my 220. I have a small one on one of my smaller tanks. I've liked it, but half of the blue lights stopped working suddenly so I'm a bit disappointed.

[CajunAg]

Mauro, this might be a good place to start: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/li...ompendium.html

[Niblet]

Love the background! Is it some sort of slimline that fits inside the aquarium? Beautiful set-up!

[DiscusBR]

Chillinfish and Joanstone: Thank you for comments and feedback. CajunAg: Thanks for the link to the article, which I will read with great interest. I will digest all this information and try to decide what to do.

Love the background! Is it some sort of slimline that fits inside the aquarium? Beautiful set-up!

Thanks. The background is Aquaterra´s Slimline Mesa Rockwall.

[Second Hand Pat]

Mauro, if you have a piece of glass between the light and top of the tank you could use window screen to filter some of the light which will darken the tank some. The more layers of window screen the more it will darken the tank.

[DiscusBR]

Mauro, if you have a piece of glass between the light and top of the tank you could use window screen to filter some of the light which will darken the tank some. The more layers of window screen the more it will darken the tank.

Thanks for the suggestion, Pat. That is another possibility. I have a glass top in the tank, which looks nice. My only concern is that is that a screen over the tank would not look good. It is pleasant to the eye to see glass on top of the tank and I fear that a screen would spoil that.

[Discus-n00b]

I use a homemade DIY LED fixture for mine. Honestly, haven't seen much plant growth when I put them in there but I think thats more from water movement and festivum snacking on them then light. Honestly not sure how it would perform with plants down lower. If I was rebuilding my fixture I would go with more cool whites then warm whites. Warm whites give a great biotype look, but I've found that I would rather see the fish and its colors more (like your tank above) then have the tank water look brown. Click the link in my sig and you can see more on mine.

[sayitfast]

I like these... they're supposed to have an option this month for lights that are more Freshwater focused.

http://www.ecoxotic.com/aquarium-led...d-fixture.html

[DiscusBR]

I use a homemade DIY LED fixture for mine. Honestly, haven't seen much plant growth when I put them in there but I think thats more from water movement and festivum snacking on them then light. Honestly not sure how it would perform with plants down lower. If I was rebuilding my fixture I would go with more cool whites then warm whites. Warm whites give a great biotype look, but I've found that I would rather see the fish and its colors more (like your tank above) then have the tank water look brown. Click the link in my sig and you can see more on mine.

Thanks, Matt. I know your terrific tank and have always been impresed by your technical skills. Your comparison of cool x warm whites is very useful. But how many LED lights do you think would be sufficient for a 80g tank? Looking back, do you think your setup needed less or more lights?

I like these... they're supposed to have an option this month for lights that are more Freshwater focused.

http://www.ecoxotic.com/aquarium-led...d-fixture.html

Thanks, that sounds like a very versitile system. Unfortunately, it is quite expensive ($500), although I am not familiar with the cost of LED fixtures.

[Discus-n00b]

I think the number of lights was fine, especially If I changed the color temperature of them (warm white to cool white). Either way, I had enough room on my heatsink to be able to expand if needed, so undershooting was better then overshooting for number of lights. They won't be packed tight like they would in a SW setup, unless of course its something like a fully planted tank.

[DiscusBR]

Hi Matt and everyone, please advise me. I found a guy who manufactures LED aquarium fixtures here in Rio. I am considering options for my 80g tank. He suggests putting eight 6000K cool white lights and four blue lights (for the moon effect) in the fixture (white and blue lights will work independently). Since I want a low light tank -- but with sufficient light for my Anubias -- would that be a good setup? Would 4 cool white lights work or do I need 8?

Thanks in advance.

[Discus-n00b]

Sorry these are bad pictures, and crappy looking tank right now lol but this first one is with 4 cool white LEDs.


This is with 6 warm white LEDs


Just to give you an idea of looks. The cool whites are more blue, the warm whites and more yellow. 8 would give pretty good light as seen by my 6 picture above. I run all 10 at once. In terms of plants it might classify as low light, but believe me its pretty darn bright. I have NO idea about growing plants, so I can't advise on that at all. To me, 4 cool whites alone is to blue and to dim (not sure it would support plants). I tend to like a 50/50 mix of warm and cool whites. To me, blue moonlights are a gimmick. Moonlight is actually white, and dimmed cool whites would serve as a more natural moonlight. Blue works, just to disney cartoon looking to me lol...personal preference.

I would really speak to someone who knows about growing plants with LEDs.

[Second Hand Pat]

For the moon effect on freshwater I think the dimmed cool whites would work best. The blue work great for reef tanks. Now Mauro this is what I would do if it was me BUT NO personal experience with this. I like Matt's second picture a lot better then the first...again MHO only.
Pat