cainechow Posted March 8, 2012 Report Share Posted March 8, 2012 Are these LEDs any good for plants or are they just bright? http://www.aquatraders.com/LED-Freshwater-Bright-12-p/56201.htm 6500K colour, but only .06W? This doesn't necessarily mean no good but I am leaning to just for lighting and not for growing. Anyone have any experience with them? I know one can go sunblaster for cheap, but options are good right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cainechow Posted March 8, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2012 Wow... I totally forgot to finish the title of the topic before posting. Lame! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geleen Posted March 8, 2012 Report Share Posted March 8, 2012 (edited) Are these LEDs any good for plants or are they just bright? http://www.aquatrade...-12-p/56201.htm 6500K colour, but only .06W? This doesn't necessarily mean no good but I am leaning to just for lighting and not for growing. Anyone have any experience with them? I know one can go sunblaster for cheap, but options are good right? I did a lot of research recently and I found that for freshwater planted tanks LED's are supplemental only as the technology getting the right spectrum has not been perfected at 6500K It requires coatings (likely phosphorus based) on the LED to make the spectrum and that is not easy. It looks like the minimum is a 3 watt LED and many of them, creating a heat problem that requires a fan. I believe we are 3 - 5 years away from reliable LED for the planted tank. John Edited March 8, 2012 by geleen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted March 8, 2012 Report Share Posted March 8, 2012 I purchased one recently. It really seemed to me that after one day it dimmed down significantly. I don't own any kind of light meter, but day one looks very bright and lit up well all the way to the bottoms of the tank; however, the next day it looked quite a bit dimmer. It is now in the cupboard and replaced w 2 SunblasterT5s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckmullin Posted March 8, 2012 Report Share Posted March 8, 2012 From my reading...with LED's you get what you pay for. An led setup that costs 30 bucks...or an led setup that costs 300 bucks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cainechow Posted March 8, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2012 Good points guys. A sunblaster is going to be the cheapest way to start on my 10 gallon me thinks.... I might consider going custom LED build from Modular LED when I do my custom tank. But for now sunblaster it is! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremoose Posted March 8, 2012 Report Share Posted March 8, 2012 I had one for awhile and for plants it was insufficient but it looked just fine and it's really low profile so it looks sleek on top of the tank as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckmullin Posted March 8, 2012 Report Share Posted March 8, 2012 not sure if economical but I'll throw this idea out there. If this unit is sleek looks decent etc but just the led's are poor...perhaps buy those other cree etc and throw them in this unit. dunno if the volts/watts would match up tho. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cainechow Posted March 8, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2012 Is there a heatsink that these LEDs are mounted on? if not then you'd definitely want to go something custom over customizing those I would guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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