Lighting Myths, Facts and Assistance

[Phillydubs]

I am one of the Ehhh about lights folks...

I have never bothered with them much or really done any research. Back in the day it was just a bulb and you picked a white one or a blue one. Now there are lights that basically allow you to pick and make your own color blends and do some crazy things!

Now that I am going for the real deal "show tank" and because the people in the office, mostly my pain in the rear brother-in-law, I researched, asked and purchased a new light.

I wanted to maybe clear up some myths, get some hard facts and just some personal experience here from other hobbyist as to what has worked or has not worked for them in the past. Issues to be aware of or avoid, etc. I thought this would be an informative way to converse about lighting in general.

Since I moved my group of 5 wild reds from a 40 breeder to a 72 bow and added another 4 wild greens to the group, the fish haven't been super active. They swim and eat but a lot of times they like to hang out under the tree branches as a big group. I was starting to think that the new placement of the tank, higher traffic area, a bow front and too bright of lighting was the cause. I killed the light and I think if anything it added more shadows and obscurity to the blob like images in front of them. My 5 reds used to just pace the tank and beg for food all day, this behavior changed since the move. I was really hoping that a good light would assist in this issue, maybe cut the shadows and clear up their view so we looked more like people and not fun house objects.

With a good recommendation from a friend I went with this light from kens : http://www.kensfish.com/aquarium-supplies/aquarium-lighting/current-satellite-plus-freshwater-led-36-48-inch.html

I got the light today and it is a rather cool little light. Super thin, compared to my Aqueon big bulky light, this thing was like a sheet of paper. It has a cool remote with so many options. I added the light and played with it for a bit, but since I am supposed to be working, I kept my play to a minimum and went with a dimmer setting to start. I think I can already see more movement from them and a little pep in their step. I guess I was hoping to slap the light on and have them party, but we all know that isn't realistic.

So far I like the light and hope it helps them get more settled...

Please share your experiences and feedback with your own lights, past lights or what you find works best for you!!!!

[rickztahone]

One thing I will mention Phil is that people have been claiming for years that fish in general are more likely to freak out in bowfront tanks. It has something to do with the shape and the way they view everything from the inside out that has a fun-house effect. I am not sure how much of this is true but I will say that I personally had a bowfront and didn't notice any of this odd behavior.

I will also say that I believe all lighting is heading towards LED's. I would only recommend non-led's when someone is trying to achieve something specific, like planted tank and or reef tank where the lights play huge factors.

Other than that, led's are now dimmable, you can change the color spectrum, and discus on their own do not care too much what light you place above them. There is the exception of way too much light. I once put a double T5HO fixture above my discus tank to see how they would like it and they hated it.

You have to play it by ear.

[pitdogg2]

The light Phil bought works very well on plants. I had one on my 75 and grew some big plants. Foster and Smith run them on sale all the time for the same prices I would encourage to buy from them. I've lost a ton of respect for Kens Fish. I have tried to contact him for over a month on all media Phone, Email and his eBay account he will not respond to anything. I have been extremely polite in all accounts. I see he is building up negatives on eBay for the same reason too many of those they will no longer let him sell there. Too bad I was extremely happy up until my last order.

[atlantadiscus]

The Current brand lights are a OK choice for your tank.When I was researching led lights,the only negatives I heard about them was that the power supplies and remote controls could be shorter lived than expected.I went with the Marineland planted tank led model,which so far has been durable,but it lacks dimming capability and is too bright to leave on more than about 6 hours/day without causing algae issues.

[Second Hand Pat]

Phil, I have several of the Current LED Plus fixtures and I really like them. They are not too pricey and have had some for a couple years now. With wild discus I really like being able to dim the lights. Here a little vid of the baby Unini heckels with the light on the sunrise/set setting. Note that these little heckels are still shy and tentative but the light does not seem to bother them.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkxSG-4nZ9Q

[nikond70s]

i have switched everything back T5 HO. freshwater led doesnt give out that color that T5's do. i love the shimmering effects of leds. but they wash out the colors of your fish. even the ones with reds rgb etc..just cant compare to T5's. i use the white/pink color combo and it makes my fish look 10 times better then when i had led. i have several leds including finnex 24/7 and kessil and other cheap brands.

[Jack L]

i nowuse current usa satellite pro +, compared to the heat, cords, replacement bulbs, fans, etc of prior lighting solutions, these are amazing.

i can control every color channel to get whatever color i want. if you want to to go crazy like they do on reef tanks you can have different color throughout the day. lights of old just couldn't do this.

the cost savings on electric is large too.

for all this thing does, compared to cost, hard to beat. i've spent more on DIY lighting setups before than this cost.

[gunnerschh2]

The light Phil bought works very well on plants. I had one on my 75 and grew some big plants. Foster and Smith run them on sale all the time for the same prices I would encourage to buy from them. I've lost a ton of respect for Kens Fish. I have tried to contact him for over a month on all media Phone, Email and his eBay account he will not respond to anything. I have been extremely polite in all accounts. I see he is building up negatives on eBay for the same reason too many of those they will no longer let him sell there. Too bad I was extremely happy up until my last order.
I here you. Got a email the other day that a product was back in stock but i had wanted it 2 months ago.

[Jack L]

The light Phil bought works very well on plants. I had one on my 75 and grew some big plants. Foster and Smith run them on sale all the time for the same prices I would encourage to buy from them. I've lost a ton of respect for Kens Fish. I have tried to contact him for over a month on all media Phone, Email and his eBay account he will not respond to anything. I have been extremely polite in all accounts. I see he is building up negatives on eBay for the same reason too many of those they will no longer let him sell there. Too bad I was extremely happy up until my last order.

how much control do you have on light levels in the non pro version?
can you control each color and the level output of each?

what plants did you grow, and how deep was the water?
i'm looking into putting plants in my sump to see if that helps eat nitrates and i'll need a light for under there.
don't really want to spend anymore than i need too, the pro version was a LOT more.

[pitdogg2]

how much control do you have on light levels in the non pro version?
can you control each color and the level output of each?

what plants did you grow, and how deep was the water?
i'm looking into putting plants in my sump to see if that helps eat nitrates and i'll need a light for under there.
don't really want to spend anymore than i need too, the pro version was a LOT more.
I grew swords and several Anubis's. Water depth was typical 75gal as I said in my post. Mine was 48" current + model and I could control all the RBG LED's the white LED's have full or 1/2 brightness. I know nothing about the pro version. It's pretty versatile for the 90.00 I spent much better than a dual bulb T8 8000k sky white. Plants were in short clay pots with flourite plants grew to the top out of the water practically. I ran everything full on.

[Neptune]

I have been playing with the LED's in about every form and fashion for the last couple years. I've done a lot of DIY stuff with every thing from the cheap LED RGB strips from Ebay to expensive high CRI COB lights. It was fun but I got tired of spending money chasing the Holy Grail of DIY led lights.
I'm going to take one more shot it with these...
http://store.yujiintl.com/collections/high-cri-led-module/products/vtc-series-mod-cv?variant=1455866497

They have a very high CRI rating and more importantly...they have a violet phosphor. There are a lot more star LED's that have high CRI ratings and some with violet, but I'm thinking I can slaip these in a fixture pretty easily.

The thing with lighting is you have to decide what you want.
1. Display the fish with the best colors
2. Grow plants.
3. Both

Once you go to the dark side with growing plants you have a whole big set of considerations
1. PAR value...Photosynthetic available radiation
2. Low, medium or high light
3. What plants can you grow in these light levels
4. ALGAE!!!
5. CO2 levels
and the list goes on.

I built a light with a Yuji COB. The cheap one ($40) and man it throws a lot of beautiful light!
I was devising ways to hang it over a tank, but instead I threw it over my winter orchid tank and man it grows orchids!

What's over my tanks?
1. Discus tank has a 36" Ecoxotic. Really like this light! Lots of features especially ramp up and down. I have set at about 45% brightness. Java ferns and Anubias doing OK. No co2 but just put in root tabs for the anubias.

2. Planted tank, 30" Finnex sting ray and Beamswork 6500k light with half its lights on. On a split schedule, 4 on then off midday then 4 on in the evening for viewing.
Co2 injected dirted tank no ferts.
Tank is in transition right now, I pulled a beautiful S repens carpet to try to get a Crypt parva carpet going, but parva grows SOOOO slow. It's coming but its going to take a lot of time(year?)

3. Orchid tank, Yuji 50 BTC cob. On 12 hours a day and will increase 1/2 hour every month until June, then I throw them all outside for the summer.

[Neptune]

here is the carpert before i ripped it out....apparently it was looking too good!:fried:

[Jack L]

really like your planted setups.

the "carpet" did you prune it to that height, or is that how high they grow?

the best luck i ever had with planted tank was in a 75g and using NOFLO sunlight bulbs, substrate was Shultz Profile for a few dollars from walmart.

[Neptune]

really like your planted setups.

the "carpet" did you prune it to that height, or is that how high they grow?

the best luck i ever had with planted tank was in a 75g and using NOFLO sunlight bulbs, substrate was Shultz Profile for a few dollars from walmart.

It was pruned...but the beauty is...when you prune you stick the tops in the substrate to fill in.

[Phillydubs]

I have been playing with the light a bit and I do enjoy it. I got the basic set-up so no timer or anything, so doing it all manually right now. I have my 4 favorites saved thus far but they are all over the spectrum a bit. They seem to, as I expcted, enjoy the dimmer somewhat darker settings. I have a red favorite and it makes the water look stained almost but it is rather cool and they seem to like that one. I have been starting with that one in the am, then going to a brighter setting mid day then back to the red in the evening, then off...

So far so good...

[rickztahone]

Is that a Tropica 049 carpet?

[Neptune]

Is that a Tropica 049 carpet?

I just bought a bag of the Top Fin cultured Staurogyne repens from PetSmart and trimmed and replanted the tops.
I might go back to it....parva is taking FOREVER to grow!

[Jack L]

I grew swords and several Anubis's. Water depth was typical 75gal as I said in my post. Mine was 48" current + model and I could control all the RBG LED's the white LED's have full or 1/2 brightness. I know nothing about the pro version. It's pretty versatile for the 90.00 I spent much better than a dual bulb T8 8000k sky white. Plants were in short clay pots with flourite plants grew to the top out of the water practically. I ran everything full on.

thanks for info. i agree, its pretty good for 90. i went with the pro because i had more water to penetrate. but i've been running it 1/2 power to help with algea. i probably could have saved a bunch and got the one you did.

the pro lets you control RBG and W each in 100 steps. 0 off, 100 full.
lets you save a couple custom color mixes, has built in ramp on/ramp off timer.

the built in control is really hard to use, the remote works much better, but it has to be a few inches from sensor for it to work. but since the hard wired control is SO unnituitive and sensitive to touch/hard to control, i only use the remote.

[Neptune]

My Ecoxotic is like that as well. The programming took some figuring out and you have to point the remote right at it from about a foot away.
I also had a bad controller right out of the box and drove me nuts trying to get it to work eventually had to send it back. Customer service was good.

Two other things that bug the crap out of me:
1. The legs, Some are bent metal and some are plastic little legs that slide in and out. All of them feel like an after thought.
2. The way they are measured. A 36-48" light fixture only has LED's the 36" length. The legs extend to 48" but you don't have Leds, for the last 6" on each side.

OK, one more...just about every one has 120 degree optics.

[Jack L]

My Ecoxotic is like that as well. The programming took some figuring out and you have to point the remote right at it from about a foot away.
I also had a bad controller right out of the box and drove me nuts trying to get it to work eventually had to send it back. Customer service was good.

Two other things that bug the crap out of me:
1. The legs, Some are bent metal and some are plastic little legs that slide in and out. All of them feel like an after thought.
2. The way they are measured. A 36-48" light fixture only has LED's the 36" length. The legs extend to 48" but you don't have Leds, for the last 6" on each side.

OK, one more...just about every one has 120 degree optics.

how could you tell the hard wire control was bad?

mine has flimpsy metal pull out legs. they work...BARELY

[Neptune]

how could you tell the hard wire control was bad?

mine has flimpsy metal pull out legs. they work...BARELY

It would enter the programming mode, and say I was adjusting brightness, it would start to adjust then freeze and time out and never accept a new setting.