Love to hear opinions on this one... Online reviews give LED's a bad rap but wow, I saw one in action on another tank and it blew me away. And that moonlight option that some have is fantastic. Plus they are cheaper to run and don't gove off heat. But again bad rap for longevity. What do you guys think?
LED vs Fluorescent
- Thread starter FishDad
- Start date
I agree led has changed lighting alot but i think the cost is still to high for the initial purchase. i know i pay more in the long run buying bulbs but they are small chunks and don't seem to hurt the wallet as much lol. The only reason i have the one i have is cause a fixture went bad and decided to try it. but i believe once my other fixtures start to go bad i will be buying led or making my own fixtures from led.
I use fluorescents. I did have a 2.5g with LEDs, but they kept randomly turning on without being plugged in and then they wouldn't turn off they're dead now, but I like my fluorescents more. It seems to light up the tank more and the bulbs last a while. Plus, they seem to bring out the colors in all my fish, especially the neon colors like in dwarf gouramis. I guess it all comes down to personal preference.
LED can be had in many different wave lengths that can be selected to bring out the color in plants, fish, and coral. The color I get from my FW and SW tanks using the 12,000K and 19,000K Led's is amazing!!!! Non of my other type lighting compares, not even my Metal Halide.
LED is very expansive to buy pre-built. I make all my own Fixtures. I get my LED drivers and adhesive stickers from rapidled.com and I get my LED's from steves LED's or 6x3 w LED with Constant Current Driver Kit DIY Item | eBay . I also get heat sinks and drivers from this last link as well. I also use aluminum "U" shaped channel from the hardware store as heat sink as well. Plastic eve trough and end caps make a great fixture to, and you can paint them to what you want.
LED is very expansive to buy pre-built. I make all my own Fixtures. I get my LED drivers and adhesive stickers from rapidled.com and I get my LED's from steves LED's or 6x3 w LED with Constant Current Driver Kit DIY Item | eBay . I also get heat sinks and drivers from this last link as well. I also use aluminum "U" shaped channel from the hardware store as heat sink as well. Plastic eve trough and end caps make a great fixture to, and you can paint them to what you want.
I prefer LED's. I switched out the Halogen bulbs that were in my SW Fluval with LED's, and there's literally no comparison. Everything is so much clearer and the colors really pop. My globe also came with LED's, and again, the colors are amazing. The difference between the colors of the plants in my 60 gallon (florescent lighting) vs. the globe is insane. I recommend them for any type of setup.
I never considered different types and wavelengths of LEDs. I was planning on getting just a standard double strip from the lfs by Marineland. I don't know the specs but for about $200 I can light up my tank. Do you think those are sub par compared to something like whats on that link. I'm all freshwater so coral isn't a concern of mine, but I don't want to buy crap either.
I have had the marineland LED and its nothing like the 3 Watt LED units in the link. The one with the white (12,000K or 19,000K and two blue would be fine for a FW tank. I even have two blues in my FW set-up and the Africans just pop with color. For your size of tank you would need at least two of them. Also the ones in the link are easy to get parts for if something ever happens to it.
I'm curious about the LED thing too. My tank kit came with an LED hood. It's got 21 LEDs total, 7 banks of 3 per the pic on the box.
One thing I don't get is I've seen claims that you need X amount of watts per gallon for certain plants, etc. Isn't it really lumens that plants need? (measure of light output)
Joel
One thing I don't get is I've seen claims that you need X amount of watts per gallon for certain plants, etc. Isn't it really lumens that plants need? (measure of light output)
Joel
LEDs have the potential to be better and worse than fluorescent. The technology of LEDs is so varied, that you got to look into a particular unit a bit and not just think "all LEDs are the same". With fluorescent lights, you pay for the fixture because you can get whatever bulbs you want. With LEDs, you pay one time for both and can't swap, so you gotta get it right.
Tnx Gomer.
I get the fact that not all LEDs are the same in regards to their light quality/intensity of output. Say for instance a cheap Harbor Freight Tools flashlight, vs. A Hi dollar LED. They're like night and day. Same goes with some cheapy LED household replacement lamps.
A little off topic, but I don't get the watt/gallon concept. Watts is a measure of power. Nothin' to do with light. IMO, they keep rating lighting in watts, because people are used to the output of a ~60 watt incandescent bulb. 60 watts worth of LEDs would burn the eye-balls out of your scull!
Joel
I get the fact that not all LEDs are the same in regards to their light quality/intensity of output. Say for instance a cheap Harbor Freight Tools flashlight, vs. A Hi dollar LED. They're like night and day. Same goes with some cheapy LED household replacement lamps.
A little off topic, but I don't get the watt/gallon concept. Watts is a measure of power. Nothin' to do with light. IMO, they keep rating lighting in watts, because people are used to the output of a ~60 watt incandescent bulb. 60 watts worth of LEDs would burn the eye-balls out of your scull!
Joel
watts/gallon is outdated. It held in the days of old T10/T8 fluorescents where you could equate wattage to intensity to par. It worked well enough. When high efficiency reflectors came into play with T5's that old metric was made semi useless (though some used a lower level w/g). LEDs toss that way out because their efficiency is all over the map. With LEDs, people generally use PAR.
This might be useful to you:
LED Lighting Compendium
This might be useful to you:
LED Lighting Compendium