rp_dawg Posted December 13, 2011 Report Share Posted December 13, 2011 I have a 90 gal that will one day soon (hopefully) be a planted tank. Haven't purchased the lights yet, but am thinking of going LED. Does anyone have any experience with this equipment for planted tanks? I am considering the following lights: http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/LEDLights.html#600 (2 strips, daylight spectrum) So, are these a good idea? Is there a better (cheaper) option out there? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayba Posted December 13, 2011 Report Share Posted December 13, 2011 (edited) I have no experience with LED lighting, I have known people that have owned the the Marineland ones, but they are just entry level ones. You could be the test pilot?! A 90 gallon is deep,I and others would be very curious as to their performance. Edited December 13, 2011 by Jayba Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted December 13, 2011 Report Share Posted December 13, 2011 Before I switched my 120g over to catfish, I was giving serious thought to building an LED fixture using CREE lights. If you're handy, you can probably get close to double the light going DIY for the same price as a manufactured set... but Ten it might not be as purdy. (null) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rp_dawg Posted December 14, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 14, 2011 Guinea pig...ugh. Looking at some reviews and hearing from the supplier, they should be sufficient for 24" deep tanks which exceeds the 90 gallon requirements. They recommended 3x12W strips, but that's pushing the budget (also saving up for some UG heater cable) - I figure since most of the fish I want like shade anyhow, I will just get 2. That will give me some areas of intense light and some gaps for shade. I'm not sure the DIY parts needed for a proper CREE light set...might be a little too in-depth for me. I do plan on building my own stand. It also appears that the make of the lights I picked do well in online reviews...and much better than the Marineland option I almost jumped on. Looking forward to a shimmery tank, thanks for the replies! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaykit Posted December 14, 2011 Report Share Posted December 14, 2011 I just installed my first LED lights in my 55g tank. The tank is a lowtech set-up with anubis, java ferns, and crypts. The LEDs seem brighter than my previous 55w PC lighting but after only 2 days I can't comment on how well the plants take to them. I ended up going with the ecoxotic panorama LEDs. (http://www.ecoxotic.com/catalog/product/view/id/147/s/panorama-pro-module/category/17/) I only bought 1 to start with because i was unsure if it would be enough to light the entire tank but I'm going to need 1 more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iceturf Posted December 30, 2011 Report Share Posted December 30, 2011 (edited) I had read a few years back about using LED lighting on tanks, when it was just coming to. Still not cheap enough to make purchasing commercial/store bought options worth it in my opinion. I tend to agree with Jvision, you could build up something pretty slick for the same cost. However, I am pleased to see that the one you linked does appear to use high powers LED's such as cree. They will look pretty nice if you go that route. Most certainly not a problem for 24" of depth, rather with LEDs of this type I believe spread is more of a problem. You could consider purchasing less than the recommended number and then if its not enough light just plan to have plants in the back, or in the middle or somewhere based upon light concentration. Edited December 30, 2011 by Iceturf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaykit Posted January 4, 2012 Report Share Posted January 4, 2012 Yes, I made sure that I got the high output LEDs. I just picked up another strip and now the 2 LED strips over the tank look awesome. I think they look better than the previous PCs i had over the tank and I went with a higher Kelvin rating to get more of a white/blue color.. So far no ill effects on any of the plants, definetly no problem with getting the LEDs output to the bottom of the tank. (The tank is only 18" deep). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
epiphany Posted January 4, 2012 Report Share Posted January 4, 2012 How about some pics and info? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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