Lighting question.

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Eaglemccloud

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Feb 27, 2011
Messages
37
Location
Ohio
I have a 54 corner that needs new lighting for the plants I know I'll need medium to bright lighting for the plants I'm going to be adding. My question is are the flourescent bulbs better than LEDs? Should I put both on my tank to help with my plants growth?
 
Well everyone has a different liking when It comes to lighting. LEDs use less power then fluorescents however they cost more. Fluorescents will do the job, or you could use Compact fluorescents (the little twisty bulbs). Yet if your willing to spend the money then go for the LEDs which last 100 times longer than fluorescent tubes. It all comes down to what you want and the money your willing to spend.
 
Before dumping all that money into LEDs, you may want to read this first... http://www.bonsaihunk.us/info/LEDvsFluoresclll.html

Also, LED bulbs and fixtures generally tend to yield far less gross lumens than CFLs or T5HOs...

If you want a high yield of Lm/W, I do recommend the T5HOs... They're a bit pricy but not as pricy as getting LEDs. I think you'll find that two bulbs would do the job for a 55.
 
Coyote, that LED link is a bit outdated. LEDs have come a long way. They used very small diodes, which won't do much for plants. You really need high-power diodes. I've got a high-light 20H planted tank using 30W of high-power LEDs. It's all about PAR (photosynthetically available radiation) and good LEDs and T5HO bulbs put out a lot of PAR.

As far as fluorescent vs. LED, kevkev pretty much nailed it. T5HO fluorescents can give you a lot of PAR, but you have to deal with bulb replacement. LEDs have a high buy-in cost, but they're more energy efficient. You can DIY an LED fixture for far less money than the cost of a lesser commercial fixture. I've got ~$100 into my fixture and I could have built it more cheaply if I knew what I was doing at first. It's probably even a little overkill for my 20H. The LED link in my signature has more details.

Eagle, be aware that if you want a med-high to high-light tank, you'll need to dose ferts and inject CO2. Without CO2 injection, I had GSA all over the glass in my tank within 24 hours of installing the LED fixture.
 
Well BigJim, thank you for correcting my information! I appreciate it.

Cheers!
 
Thanks for the info guys. I was starting to get confused looking at some of the options for my lights. I think I'll go with the fluorescents since I've already got the fixtures. If I come up with anymore questions I'll ask.
 
Sure thing! We're always glad to help. BigJim helped me a lot with my lighting questions too.
 
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