LED Grow Lights?

[theotheragentm]

I ran across this. Aqua-Bar ABP5 & ABP3 led grow lights by SolarOasis for Aquariums I can't find much more information on it.

Anyone familiar with these or their performance? If they perform well, the initial up front cost would be saved in replacement and energy consumption.

What do you guys think?

 

[fort384]

I think it is interesting. I would interesting in knowing how much light, and in what spectrum, it is providing, since obviously the WPG rule wouldn't apply to an LED fixture.

 

[jsoong]

Those certainly look promising .... although it might be telling that the website FAQ refuses to state the lumens output or the spectral analysis, merely claiming that their light has the right spectrum for plants & so is better, etc.

From what I read, the 1st generation white LED's are still not quite ready for prime time in terms of general lighting. The record for light output is around 130 lumens per watts. Based on the claimed power of 6-9W total, I would think that those fixtures would put out maybe around 1000 lumens max (around the light of a 10-15W PC). <Maybe that's why they won't post lumen output & has to settle for vague claims of spectral superiority.> I think these might work for small tanks, but it would be interesting to read about real world experience.

I think that LED & OLED will become the light of choice in the future. There are supposed to be brighter white LED's coming down the pipe. I would not be investing a lot of money into a 1st gen product.