Ideal LED setup for a wilds tank

[DiscusBR]

What a great community this is. Always great and generous feedback.

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.

Thank you for posting the pics and your comments, Matt. Very detailed and helpful information. I will try to mix cool and warm lights, as you suggest. I will also try dimmed cool whites instead of blue lights for the moonlight effect.

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

Thanks, Pat. I am giving up the blue monlight. The problem with the second setup is that, according to what I have read, warm LED lights are not appropriate for plants. So a mix of warm and cool lights might be the way to go.

If someone can give some feedback about LED lights and low-light plants like Anubias, that would be great.

[Darrell Ward]

Honestly, one 70 watt, 6500K MH, hung about a foot above the tank, would give the same effect for slightly more than $100 with bulb. It would also easily grow low light plants.

[DiscusBR]

Honestly, one 70 watt, 6500K MH, hung about a foot above the tank, would give the same effect for slightly more than $100 with bulb. It would also easily grow low light plants.

Most likely you are right. But LEDs consume less electricity and last much longer. They also give a shimmer effect that regular lamps don't give.

[Discus-n00b]

Thats the thing that got me with my MH when I had a reef. The bulb prices are insane. LEDs are more expensive front end but will save more in the long run. Can't deny the MH has the looks, grow power, and shimmer though...because it does. MH lights also get HOT, i'd be willing to put my tongue on my heatsink for my LEDs any day of the week....after running them for 12 hours.

[Darrell Ward]

It's true that the big wattage, reef bulbs get hot. The 70 watt bulbs are tiny, and I find they get no hotter than CF lamps I've used in the past. The cost of the bulbs depend on where you get them. These $20 bulbs work as well as my $69.95 bulbs....http://www.lightexports.com/servlet/...bulb%2C/Detail I ain't sticking my tounge to any electrical device! LOL!
Of course you guys can believe what you want, but I'm telling you for the money, you won't find ANY better lower wattage lighting than 70 watt MH. I've tried them ALL, and have a workshop full of fixtures to prove it.

[Discus-n00b]

I'll take your word for it Darrell, as I have only used 100w and above.....my main arguments against it were bulb prices and heat. My tanks are not in a separate fish room, so any heat is an issue for me, the less the better. Though I am sold on LEDs currently....but like I said...not sure about LED grow power, just that they solved my heat problem while giving me the same visual appearance of a MH and bulbs that last 2, 3, 4, etc times longer. If I had another reef tank, MH would be very much in the mix for lighting.

[Dubiadiscus]

discusBR I had a though about how you can dim the lighting down a bit. Instead of using screen to dim the light you could always use window tinting like they do for cars as well as your house hold window. That way you could make your glass top as light or as dark as you needed.

Just a thought. And by the way you have a beautiful setup I love it alot!

[DiscusBR]

discusBR I had a though about how you can dim the lighting down a bit. Instead of using screen to dim the light you could always use window tinting like they do for cars as well as your house hold window. That way you could make your glass top as light or as dark as you needed.

Just a thought.

That sounds like a great idea! I think I will try it. I will post pics when I make the changes.

And by the way you have a beautiful setup I love it alot!

Thanks!

[Second Hand Pat]

discusBR I had a though about how you can dim the lighting down a bit. Instead of using screen to dim the light you could always use window tinting like they do for cars as well as your house hold window. That way you could make your glass top as light or as dark as you needed.

Just a thought. And by the way you have a beautiful setup I love it alot!

Layers of window screening will do the same thing and it is not permanent. You can add or remove layers as needed.

[DiscusBR]

Layers of window screening will do the same thing and it is not permanent. You can add or remove layers as needed.

Thanks, Pat. As I said before, 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. Window tinting, like the ones used in cars, would make the glass darker without adding any material on the top of the glass cover, which is visible in the case of my tank.

[Second Hand Pat]

Mauro, would you be tinting the glass top, or the lens on the light fixture. For me the window screen is a temporary thing until the fish are use to the brighter light. So for me it is an adjustment tool. Sorry to repeat.

[Discus-n00b]

The window tint isn't permanent either, its the roll kind of stuff from walmart, I use it on my 100gal as a background.

[Dubiadiscus]

Second Hand Pat, The window tint wouldn't be permanent even if you where to have it glued to the glass. You can still remove it by using a razor blade and some water its only glue. I myself have done it in the past to car window. The idea of a screen would work but I have to agree with DiscusBr. You could even tint the light fixture lens with it. If it is glass you could get a new piece of glass tint the new one and keep the original lens clear and after time you could always install the original light lens and just have a spare one that is tinted.
Just a thought.

[Second Hand Pat]

Will the window tint adhere to acrylic? Many fixtures have acrylic shields to protect the lamps.

[Dubiadiscus]

It should adhere to the acrylic with out any problem. IF for some reason it wont work with the acrylic you could alway get a peice of glass cut to the same size as the acrylic and tint that instead.