Led Lighting For Plant Growth

[RevolutionBoas]

Jerry thats what we are saying your better off to run them at a lower wattage.

[jcgd]

Jerry is saying running them at super low currents doesn't hurt them like you said a few posts back.

[RevolutionBoas]

I never said it hurts them I said running too cool and they dont run properly/optimally.

Jerry also mentions nothing about temperature but he does mention current.

[jcgd]

Ah, I see what you mean. I thought of too cool being as having too low a current. Because the lack of head they would product. I wouldn't think it would be very realistic to get the temperature lower than room temp. It didn't occur to me because who would bother cooling them to say freezing temp?

[Chatty_Platy]

Huh? He didn't even ask about co2, so how do we know he isn't using it anyway? The bottle stuff isn't co2. Co2 is co2. The bottled stuff - metricide or excel is a carbon source the plants can use but it isn't even close to the same. Diy works for small tanks but on a 6 footer it would be hell to have enough bottles going. How do you use co2 without artificial light? Darkness plus co2 equal dead plants. You could try sunlight but good luck balancing that beast.

The whole reason I mentioned co2 was because he mentioned plant growth. See the connection? Everyone uses light in their tanks but LED lights I have found from hearing others is too bright. The bottled stuff may not be co2 but it sure makes all my plants grow like weeds. I have never tried a DIY method but only heard of them it was a suggestion for someone to look into.

[Iceturf]

I dont have them anymore but if you spend some time on Reef Central you can find it there.

I do frequent there but haven't come across that specific point. I'll keep my eyes peeled. Not saying you are wrong, just wondering if I'm gonna kill my LEDs.

Had a look at this topic on the IA SOL web site... http://www.aquaillumination.com they state that it is a myth that dimming your led's hurts them... infact it increases their lifespan... there is also an interesting article about output led wattage / a very good read

Yes, a complete myth. The light emitting diodes work like any other component, less power does not mean damage to function, just less function.

In terms of your original question, I am unsure of which LED's they use in that fixture you linked. If they are something like luxeon rebels or Cree LEDS I think the 48-60 leds they recommend would do you. You might be able to get away with less. Just so long as they are cool whites, then thats what you want.

Actually, more important and whether those LEDs will grow plants is how the fixture is made. I seriously looked into building up my own fixture a number of years back and still want to. The key parts that your LED life will rely on are the power drivers and quality of the heatsinks/fans. Depending on how well the power converter is made, I would expect it to have a few safety features to 'smooth' out any spikes in the power. Also, the drivers should be digital. The older magnetic based power converters are both inefficient and the digital ones tend to have build in safety features. A really well designed system won't use fans to cool itself; well okay I mean really bad one might not either, it'll just break, but a good one is designed not to rely on fans.

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If you want to have DIY one, you might end up paying about the same unless you can find a friend who can soldier surface mount. A bit tricky with small parts, I'm not good at it. I would go with luxeon rebels though, if you buy enough, their price is halfed, vs cree where you buy the same amount but the price remains about the same (10 cents savings on 5$ is not a savings). Look at future electronics website, they sell presoldiered luxeon rebel cool whites 48 at a time, about 4-5$ a piece, with mount. Pretty good vs cree which can be 7$ each with mount and no bulk cost savings.

Edited May 1, 2012 by Iceturf

[Iceturf]

I guess I'm sorta ignoring your original question about plant growth. Yes, they should grow very well.