Led Lighting

[Blue Ram]

Is it possible for LEDs to lose their intensity or the colour they emit over time or do they just burn out completely all at once? Reason I ask is that I have been using a Finnex MonsterRay on a tank since January 2014. Didn't like the light from the start because of the very intense pink colour of light but used it anyway. Over the last week, the colour of light seems to have changed to being very orange and my tank looks like a science project gone bad. I've contacted Finnex to see what they think. Anyone else experience this with any type of LED fixture?

Also looking for recommendations for a replacement fixture - 48" long - tank has low light plants and houses a beautiful diamondback terrapin with his fish buddies.

Thanks for any advice and/or suggestions.

[ckmullin]

I still like 5tho over led, not got on the led bandwagon just yet.

[jvision]

From my understanding, it's the transformer that will go before the actual LEDs burn out... that's what happened to a MonsterRay I owned. Rich at Finnex.ca replaced the transformer for me (was within 1yr warranty).

It's hard to beat Sunblaster T5HOs for ease of replacement and cost - seems everyone is selling them now. I still like my Finnex lights. The best "white" light I have is the FugeRay - I have 5 of them. I keep the blue moon lights on all of the time and gives a great color to the tank; grows plants very well in shallow tanks, and does the trick for "low light" plants in deeper tanks.

[Psylant]

I've owned a lot of different LEDs and built my own. LEDs do fade over time very slowly, but usually do not shift in kelvin (color). They can fail all at once for a multitude of reasons, but usually not if everything was working fine and unaltered, and water didn't get in the system to cause a short.

[PistolPete]

Yeah I only use them to display fish. But I can't go back after my first few LEDs. I have been very lucky, no diodes failing no issues at all and it has been at least two years since I got my first led. My t5 ho would burn out before then.

[jumpsmasher]

I have a couple of LED strips that died on me recently - but both were the AC adapter as they both started "flashing" instead of staying on when they are turned on. I have a replacement AC adapter coming so will see if that fix it

[Iceturf]

Colorshift is possible, depending on how that brand of LED emitters work exactly "http://www.philipslumileds.com/technology/quality-white-light". If for instance the emitters are several LEDs tightly packed of different colors to provide white light, I could imagine one of the colors might be having issues. It could experience faster degradation, with it's lumen output droping off faster than the other two.

How much color-shift would or could occur, I have no idea.

No experience with that brand though.

Edited September 21, 2014 by Iceturf

[Percilus]

I know it's a little late but I too was searching for a good led for a planted tank. I am new to the hobby but I do a lot of research before I jump into something and I've come to the conclusion that for best bang for my buck the Aquaray led's by TMC are a great choice. J&L in Vancouver stocks them and that says something in itself and gives us a great place to order them from at fair prices for the quality. Anyone looking to get through a lot of hoops on this issue should research PAR vs PUR in led lighting and the difference from say T5 par and LED par readings. http://www.aquarium-...m-lighting.html good link on the subject. If you dig deeper and look hard you will find the pros using aquaray for it's awesome pur and pwm technology at a good price. Apparently in Europe these lights are all the rage but unknown to the masses in north america for many different reasons. I encourage everyone to do research on these lights, and the numerous opinions on them and the science of led lighting in general before buying say a Finnex unit. Especially when we Canadians would be jumping threw so many hoops for that light at the moment when for the same price we could get something far superior for what we want to do any ways right out of Vancouver.

I plan on purchasing the aquaray mini 400 for a small chi or standard 5.5 betta tank to start learning from experience and keep costly mistakes cheaper. Even though I've researched planted tanks to death I think it's something you gotta do a lot of the stuff not just read or watch on you tube.

I'm not saying I'm correct. But I read a lot of different articles on this subject from a lot of different sources. What I found was a bunch of marketing hoopla or un-researched bias opinions promoting this light or that light and not a lot of science backing any of it up until I ran into a article about pur vs par and started digging into things that route.

The only draw back I can see about this form of lighting is it may not make the tanks look as good as say a T5HO setup would to the actual human eye. But for me less carbon footprint, lower energy costs and great light for plants and animals is my #1 concern. Anyone who has gone to a place like Bigal's or petsmart in Edmonton or Calgary know it would not be expensive to augment looks with a cheap LED light on top of the one getting things done any ways But finding one that grows plants as well as a T5HO setup is another matter entirely.

Oh and one more thing when your looking for quality in a product look for the warranty to be massive. TMC warranty is 5 years. Good comparatively priced LED's running on decent but outdated LED technology generally have a 3 year warranty and a lot of knock off garbage has a 1 year or no warranty at all. There is a reason for this and I encourage all who invest heavily in lighting to not be lazy in finding out why.