Lighting

[jackson123]

Are led lights good for live plants? If not what are other good lighting productions?

 

[wildroseofky]

LED lights need to be three watts per light if I understand it right to grow plants. Hopefully someone with more experience with LEDs will answer that. Most use T5HO fixtures or spiral CFL light bulbs in a lamp or metal clamp on light. Aquatraders.com has some great prices on T5HO fixtures. You need to replace the bulbs in those though because the stock bulbs are not great. If you are just starting out, I would go to Walmart or some similar store and buy 1 or 2 of the metal dome lights like these Bayco 150-Watt Incandescent Clamp Light - Walmart.com and buy some spiral CFL fluorescent bulbs. Look for daylight 6500k bulbs. I get high light with that setup.

It depends on what plants you want to grow too as to how much light you will need. Decide if you want low, medium, or high light plants. Then ask more questions.

 

[Tobykourtney]

Led fixture don't have to have 3 watt diodes to be efficient. The ray 2 only has .1 diodes and puts out a good amount of light. What size is your tank and how much light are you wanting?

 

[Sk3lly]

Plants need the right spectrum of light. Between 6000k and 7000k. With 6500k being optimal. Plants like the reds in the light, they dont do as well when given the blue end of the spectrum

 

[phishfriend]

To answer your question. Yes LED do work with planted tanks. There are alot of different opinions and some differing information out about lighting.
The most accurate way to make sure a led is sufficient to grow plants is by PAR or Photosynthetic Available Radiation. There are some very good units out there. Finnex just released a planted LED with the red spectrum. Good light I have one. Build my LED is another. Steer clear of beamworks or sattilight units. They are great for fish but have low PAR values for planted. It all comes down to what you want to grow. Do you want high, med, or low light. Once you decide that then you can zero in on a manufacturer.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Mebbid]

To answer your question. Yes LED do work with planted tanks. There are alot of different opinions and some differing information out about lighting.
The most accurate way to make sure a led is sufficient to grow plants is by PAR or Photosynthetic Available Radiation. There are some very good units out there. Finnex just released a planted LED with the red spectrum. Good light I have one. Build my LED is another. Steer clear of beamworks or sattilight units. They are great for fish but have low PAR values for planted. It all comes down to what you want to grow. Do you want high, med, or low light. Once you decide that then you can zero in on a manufacturer.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

+1 couldn't have said it better myself. Along with the light level you want it would help if you gave a general price range you are looking at.

 

[jackson123]

10-30$ or if that's too cheap I could go higher

 

[Mebbid]

At that price range about your only choice if you want higher light levels is clip on shop lights and spiral cfls. Lighting is a very expensive piece of equipment.

 

[jackson123]

We'll I am going for low light plants