Marineland double bright led, good deal?

[philipraposo198]

On amazon I see this on sale 47% reg was 299 down to 159.00. Anyone have this? I would be using it on a planted tank 48*19*18.5

Would a t5ho double lamp from coralife be better?

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[Brookster123]

What types if plants? That led will prob put you high end of low light, it will be way more cost effective long term vs. the t5 ho. Check out the fugeray planted plus! They're great and about the sane price I think..

 

[Old Scales]

The Marineland double bright would still be low light on your tank. There are better, less overpriced options out there IMO. OS.

 

[FishBoy185]

Try the Current USA satellite LEDs on amazon. They are super bright and have a lighting and cloud and night time mode. And its also customizable. They are only $116 right now on Amazon. Highly reccomend them!

 

[Mifsud]

Time for some math...

Marineland's Double Bright LED fixture's product data cites an luminous flux of 1800 lumens for their 48"-60" model.

Assumptions:
1) 10% of the light is reflected at water's surface (1620 usable lumens enter the water)
2) 15% of the light that enters the water is absorbed or reflected by floating particles (A VERY cloudy tank, 1520 usable lumens are available to the plants)

Definition--1 lux = 1 lumen/(meter^2)

Then the area of the bottom of your aquarium is 48"x19"= 912 sq in

= 0.6 m^2

Then we have 1520 lumens/0.6m^2 yielding 2,500 lux

A luminous flux of 2500 lux corresponds to a "Very Bright" aquarium

 

[threnjen]

Edit: Current USA LED+ is a fun alternative at a good price, but the PAR is not as high.

 

[threnjen]

Time for some math...

Marineland's Double Bright LED fixture's product data cites an luminous flux of 1800 lumens for their 48"-60" model.

Assumptions:
1) 10% of the light is reflected at water's surface (1620 usable lumens enter the water)
2) 15% of the light that enters the water is absorbed or reflected by floating particles (A VERY cloudy tank, 1520 usable lumens are available to the plants)

Definition--1 lux = 1 lumen/(meter^2)

Then the area of the bottom of your aquarium is 48"x19"= 912 sq in

= 0.6 m^2

Then we have 1520 lumens/0.6m^2 yielding 2,500 lux

A luminous flux of 2500 lux corresponds to a "Very Bright" aquarium

But plants don't use Lumens, they use PAR, so it's not really the same thing. The aquarium will be bright to US with that lumens but it is not necessarily good for plants.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=160396

Marineland double bright is about 54PAR at 18" from the light, which isn't that bad.
However I see that the Current USA LED+ is only 28 PAR at 18", so I do stand corrected that it's not better. It is more fun though http://current-usa.com/aquarium-led-lights/satellite-freshwater-led-plus/


I would say that at $159 the ML double bright is finally APPROPRIATELY priced. It used to be mid 200-s which was outrageous for what it does.

 

[threnjen]

The Finnex Ray 2 is only $10 more and is MUCH better than the Marineland.
Amazon.com: Finnex Ray2 Aquarium LED Daylight, 48-Inch: Pet Supplies
71 PAR at 18"

source: LED Lighting Compendium

 

[Mifsud]

But plants don't use Lumens, they use PAR, so it's not really the same thing. The aquarium will be bright to US with that lumens but it is not necessarily good for plants.

It's important to pick a lamp that will provide energy to you plants as well as be attractive to look at. You may be disappointed with how your aquarium looks under a 7000K lamp.

 

[philipraposo198]

How do I figure out par values?? And if I am NOT using c02 than how high of part do I really want??

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[Mifsud]

How do I figure out par values?? And if I am NOT using c02 than how high of part do I really want??

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Unless you have experience with spectroscopy, this is something you would need to be told by a manufacturer.

In your aquarium, CO2 will be the limiting reagent for photosynthesis. Without CO2, you can get away with using a low-PAR lamp.

 

[philipraposo198]

I ended up purchasing the finnex planted plus 48" led. Thanks for the input.

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[Brookster123]

You did good

 

[Old Scales]

Good move. VERY good move...Congrats. OS.

 

[Mifsud]

You're going to love it. Thank you sharing this with us.