LED Lighting

[rl1360]

What are your thoughts on the Newer LED Lights on a Discus tank?

[twocat]

I like the looks of them. I also like those LED Xmas lights that are like a rope. I have seen some of those on outdoor decks and I think they would look good as a light that was strung around my fish room over the tanks.

Mark

[John_Nicholson]

I don't have any but I have liked what I have seen in other places. One of the vendors that is scheduled for the NADA show specializes in LED lighting. Looking forward to seeing what they bring to the show.

-john

[ericatdallas]

So I'm NOT a big lighting snob... but I do like that I save a lot of power by running LEDs.

For a shrimp tank, I run four red LEDs (underdriven at 2W/ea [max 3W]) and three white LEDs (underdriven at 7W/ ea [max 10W]) and they grow moss like no other light I've used before (CFL, incandescent, T5) and run on much less power... 30W vs CFL 45W, Incandescent 75W/100W, T5 54W/108W). I did build another hood for a 20G with one 30W white LED and it nearly killed the moss after two weeks (not sure yet, so I switched lights and I'm waiting to see if they recover).

I think a big difference is the quality of LEDs and the combination of colors just like other lighting (i.e. 5000K, 6500K, 10000K, etc) and add red, blue, or other colors to enhance your particular combination of plants/fish.

For my house I bought cheapo LED lights which were poor substitutes for incadescents and CFLs (dim lighting and poor colors). However, the higher end bulbs I can't tell the difference (i.e. Crees at HD).

[mountain_bike]

For around 150$ I bought the Current usa satellite plus 48". It's not too expensive, but it's not cheap either (well maybe compared to some for corals or planted tanks). But I highly recommend this light if all you want is something to make your fish look better. It has a wireless remote control with presets and some cool effects like storm or cloud cover (I wouldn't plan on using these especially the storm effect as it is not good for the fish), but the remote allows you to mess with the colors a bit and it has rgb and 6500k white leds all in one unit. So you can individually adjust the colors or just use one of the presets.

Downfalls are that the transformer gets hot and the first one I ordered was malfunctioning. But the website I bought it from had a guarantee and the company themselves offered to replace it when I wrote them an email.
I have been running the replaced light for 6 months with no problems. I highly recommend, but I am no light expert and this is my first led. Par is 28 at 18" and the 48" fixture is 30 watts with 96 white leds and 48 rgb

[Discus-n00b]

My thoughts on LEDs? My thoughts are why aren't you using them? Thats for anyone. Lower energy consumption, virtually no bulb replacement,, almost zero heat generated into the tank or the room, and like Eric said the color combo I can achieve...why aren't you using them? I switched ALL of my tanks, Freshwater and Saltwater to LEDs last year and will not be going back to anything else. I own both home built DIY fixtures and premade fixtures, like them both. Nothing but LEDs here.

[Second Hand Pat]

Matt, which premades are you using?
Pat

[daffyfish]

For around 150$ I bought the Current usa satellite plus 48". It's not too expensive, but it's not cheap either (well maybe compared to some for corals or planted tanks). But I highly recommend this light if all you want is something to make your fish look better. It has a wireless remote control with presets and some cool effects like storm or cloud cover (I wouldn't plan on using these especially the storm effect as it is not good for the fish), but the remote allows you to mess with the colors a bit and it has rgb and 6500k white leds all in one unit. So you can individually adjust the colors or just use one of the presets.

Downfalls are that the transformer gets hot and the first one I ordered was malfunctioning. But the website I bought it from had a guarantee and the company themselves offered to replace it when I wrote them an email.
I have been running the replaced light for 6 months with no problems. I highly recommend, but I am no light expert and this is my first led. Par is 28 at 18" and the 48" fixture is 30 watts with 96 white leds and 48 rgb

How tall is the tank, it is on? Could it light the bottom of a 24" tall tank?
Thanks

[pece1976]

LED all the way, here are some photos of mine DIY LED (a friend of mine build it) , 3x10W (2x10000K, 1x6500K), 16x1w (8x1w blue, 8x1w red)

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800x600q90/856/50pb.jpg

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800x600q90/707/9jdn.jpg

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800x600q90/21/c2pb.jpg

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800x600q90/840/tflu.jpg

about how the fish look under this fixture take a look here (all photos and the video from #40 are taken under this light, but believe me it looks much better in person, note: all photos are taken with iPhone 5S and are not edited):

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?109639-Feedback-please&p=1062770&viewfull=1#post1062770

there is a sponsor here http://forum.simplydiscus.com/forumdisplay.php?280-Build-My-LED-(Nick-Klase)-Austin-Texas that will help you to build your LED fixture

[Discus-n00b]

Matt, which premades are you using?
Pat

Beamworks at the moment. Cheap from ebay and quite bright for bare tanks. Really not using them to grow anything just light tanks.

[mountain_bike]

How tall is the tank, it is on? Could it light the bottom of a 24" tall tank?
Thanks

My tank is 18" , but they give a par value of 21 at 24" so I'm sure it will be ok to use at that depth but not work well for any sort of planted tank. You can email their customer support and they respond within a day or two. My guess is it will work well because I have a marineland led on a smaller tank and that is providing much less light. So in my little experience it is bright. Also, how long is your tank? Mine is 48" so the 48" fixture sits atop the whole tank. I read many people with bigger tanks get 2 of these fixtures.

[mountain_bike]

Also, you can look in my profile at latest started threads and click on the only one. I have a couple pics to give you an idea, but keep in mind my glass tops were a little dirty so it does look a tiny bit brighter now.

[sholvey]

For around 150$ I bought the Current usa satellite plus 48". It's not too expensive, but it's not cheap either (well maybe compared to some for corals or planted tanks). But I highly recommend this light if all you want is something to make your fish look better. It has a wireless remote control with presets and some cool effects like storm or cloud cover (I wouldn't plan on using these especially the storm effect as it is not good for the fish), but the remote allows you to mess with the colors a bit and it has rgb and 6500k white leds all in one unit. So you can individually adjust the colors or just use one of the presets.

Downfalls are that the transformer gets hot and the first one I ordered was malfunctioning. But the website I bought it from had a guarantee and the company themselves offered to replace it when I wrote them an email.
I have been running the replaced light for 6 months with no problems. I highly recommend, but I am no light expert and this is my first led. Par is 28 at 18" and the 48" fixture is 30 watts with 96 white leds and 48 rgb

I agree except the malfunctioning part (haven't had it running long enough) I just bought a 48" for my 60" 100 gal. it is pretty sweet and has a great par at 20". My kids like the lightning option. I am starting that tank up and will put plants in next week when shipment gets here. I like what I see so far.

[daffyfish]

My tank is 18" , but they give a par value of 21 at 24" so I'm sure it will be ok to use at that depth but not work well for any sort of planted tank. You can email their customer support and they respond within a day or two. My guess is it will work well because I have a marineland led on a smaller tank and that is providing much less light. So in my little experience it is bright. Also, how long is your tank? Mine is 48" so the 48" fixture sits atop the whole tank. I read many people with bigger tanks get 2 of these fixtures.

Eight foot tank. So, will be needing two fixtures. I've also been thinking about getting three led floodlights.

[mountain_bike]

I agree except the malfunctioning part (haven't had it running long enough) I just bought a 48" for my 60" 100 gal. it is pretty sweet and has a great par at 20". My kids like the lightning option. I am starting that tank up and will put plants in next week when shipment gets here. I like what I see so far.

Please let me know Sean, I have been thinking about doing some plants but didn't know if this light could handle it. I read that it should be able to and on another forum I read they were thinking of building an all white led to be used in combo with the satellite for heavily planted tanks but maybe the light is sufficient on its own.

I am glad your kids are enjoying the light, I always thought the smaller versions of this light would be a such a good gift for a kid with a small setup. A little pricey for a kids gift, but cool nonetheless.

And for the 8 foot tank I can only assume the two satellite fixtures would be great, but I have no experience with floodlights so I am sorry I can't be more help. But it is good to hear that other people use and like this light a well.

[ericatdallas]

Found this while doing taxes...

http://www.dsireusa.org/searchby/index.cfm?ee=1&re=1

It lets you find tax deductions, rebates, or other programs on LED bulbs and other energy efficient programs... it doesn't apply everywhere and is municipality/city dependent or even utility dependent.

If I lived the next city over I could actually get an energy rebate for switching to LEDs. I'm pretty sure you could make the case of switching aquarium lighting to LEDs as well.

[Discusdude7]

I'm liking my finnex monster ray and ray 2

[syclonejim]

I'll second the Finnex, I have the the Finnex Planted+ which has true 660nm RED LEDs. My plants in my 55 Gallon really have responded well. According to Finnex, studies have found the 660nm Red Leds to be one of the most efficient wavelengths for plant photosynthesis. The Planted+ also has the blue LED moonlight feature which is pretty dam cool at night.