LED lights for plants?

[thejasteam]

for a planted tank would any low light plants get by with led lights? Most reads say no but I'm not sure. And can java fern be tied to anything or is it specifically driftwood?

 

[GodFan]

LEDs can be used for high light....they are just expensive. Cheaper LEDs should be fine with low light plants. And yes Java fern can be attched to stuff other than wood. Like rock.

 

[blert]

Depending on the LEDs yes. The cheapo LED strips, no, not even for low light. Likely not even the overly expensive Marineland fixtures. But really, LEDs are not the best choice for low light, it would cost too much for proper coverage.

 

[GodFan]

Cheapo LEDs will work for very low light probably. Anubias is very very low light.

 

[ucrdave]

I'm sorry but I disagree with all of you. One can use LED lights for low and high light plants. Search Ebay for ”LED flood day white” I have found many many high lumen/watt for a drastically cheap price that beats anything I've ever seen!. I'm purchasing a USA provider flood LED at $16 10watt with free shipping. With 3 to 5 of these I can have my plants pearling.



With my one gallon I have pearling with only 400 lumens total output of which all is not on the plants.

To many people have misconceptions about leds

Is you still don't believe me look at my YouTube link of my one gallon pearling.

Www.YouTube.com/ucrdave

Also search YouTube for ”LED planted tanks”

There are so many success stories that one cannot dismiss Leds as a viable light source and at a good price

 

[fort384]

I am not sure I would consider $48 a cheap lighting solution on a 1 gallon tank .

 

[ucrdave]

Smart typically LED setups run for all least 250 and my setup will be Leis than half that cost

 

[fort384]

I wouldn't agree with that. You can get a very good LED fixture for less than $250. Taotronics makes reef capable fixtures for more like $150.

Granted you can and I have spent far more than that on LED fixtures. I have trulumen Pros on my FW planted and AI Sols on my reef. But, lighting small tanks with a PC or CFL fixture is far more economical.

 

[dbn1]

Gday , I'm from down under ( Australia ) and new to planted tanks , just in the middle of setting up a 5ftx2ftx2ft tank which I'm hopping to use plants as part of the tank scape
really wanting to use LED's for lighting to keep power cost down but there are so many differing idea's on if they work with plants ,I'm looking at DYI options to make the project cheaper just need to get my head around the right light spectrum needed for growing plants
if you can shed any light (ah ah )on the subject would be huge help
cheers ,mark

 

[blert]

Gday , I'm from down under ( Australia ) and new to planted tanks , just in the middle of setting up a 5ftx2ftx2ft tank which I'm hopping to use plants as part of the tank scape
really wanting to use LED's for lighting to keep power cost down but there are so many differing idea's on if they work with plants ,I'm looking at DYI options to make the project cheaper just need to get my head around the right light spectrum needed for growing plants
if you can shed any light (ah ah )on the subject would be huge help
cheers ,mark

LEDs work great for freshwater planted tanks, but it depends on the LEDs. Cheapo LED strips will not work, they just don't have the power to push any usable light down into the water. You can look into the ones that Fort listed above or you can DIY your own. You are going to want to look for 3 watt LEDs. CREE is the leading brand and the most efficient. BridgeLux is probably next in line but theirs are no where near as efficient as CREE so you will need much better cooling or use a dimmer to bring the output down so you don't fry them. For good coverage you take length X width / 16, so you are looking at ~90 LEDs to get full non-spotty coverage in that tank. As for color, you are going to have to research and make that determination yourself as everybody likes different looks. You could stick with mostly 6700k units and throw in some royal blues, and maybe even some reds and greens, for pop.
You are still looking at between 180 and 270 watts of power so the electrical savings is not where it's at. The savings come from not having to replace the bulbs every year or so.

 

[dbn1]

THANKS for all the info ,there's a lot to consider when growing plants in a tank ,iv had this new tank for a month and still dont have water in it yet , iv decided on substrate then filtration and now up to lighting ,will be nice to get to the sitting down and looking at fish stage , as for LED's iv found a couple of company's Rapidled and Maxspect and they have
cree 660 nm led for $4.00 each x 90 plus drivers heat sinks cooling fans etc is going to add up ,starting to wonder if fluro tubes arent a better way to go ,anyway thanks for your help ,
ps i like the idea of bears being able to fight back

 

[ucrdave]

On Ebay you can find packs of 5 or 10 and even more leds for a cheaper price. I've seen many is these leds to output 100lumens/watt. Dont just settle for 4 dollars a pop... You can do better. As for diy LED fixtures, sometimes you can end up paying more than if you bought a fully assembled item. Still look around is what is say, dont give in to status quo

 

[fort384]

On Ebay you can find packs of 5 or 10 and even more leds for a cheaper price. I've seen many is these leds to output 100lumens/watt. Dont just settle for 4 dollars a pop... You can do better. As for diy LED fixtures, sometimes you can end up paying more than if you bought a fully assembled item. Still look around is what is say, dont give in to status quo

Yes, good advice. And you are right that it is easy to surpass the cost of a suitable off the shelf fixture if you aren't careful with the costs of your DIY fixture.

 

[blert]

On Ebay you can find packs of 5 or 10 and even more leds for a cheaper price. I've seen many is these leds to output 100lumens/watt. Dont just settle for 4 dollars a pop... You can do better. As for diy LED fixtures, sometimes you can end up paying more than if you bought a fully assembled item. Still look around is what is say, dont give in to status quo

Yes, good advice. And you are right that it is easy to surpass the cost of a suitable off the shelf fixture if you aren't careful with the costs of your DIY fixture.

This is true.
But lighting a ten square foot area with LEDs sufficiently powerful enough to grow plants in an aquarium is going to cost A LOT no matter which route you take. Less efficient LEDs generate more heat which then lead to increased costs just to keep them cooled. Just something to think about.

 

[fort384]

This is true.
But lighting a ten square foot area with LEDs sufficiently powerful enough to grow plants in an aquarium is going to cost A LOT no matter which route you take. Less efficient LEDs generate more heat which then lead to increased costs just to keep them cooled. Just something to think about.

Yes, I would agree - at least the initial or upfront cost. Good LED lighting is not cheap.

 

[ucrdave]

Yes the cost will be up there regardless. But at least if one does good research they can find very good LED setups that last 13.7 years @ 10 hours/day to 17 years @ 8hours/day. Over the years, the initial cost week be diminished; no need for bulb replacements, electricity costs, chiller costs for salt water tanks, and whatever else. I would say leds are a great way to go and is you can't think if the good results, look on YouTube for ”LED planted tanks” and see the amazing results!

 

[dbn1]

I do think LED's are way to go although i think off the self items are going to costs
$1000 plus so id hope they would last along time , an other concern is the heat they give off
the tank in my lounge and in summer could become a large heater has anyone looked at mounting LED's on a water cooled heat sink

 

[blert]

I do think LED's are way to go although i think off the self items are going to costs
$1000 plus so id hope they would last along time , an other concern is the heat they give off
the tank in my lounge and in summer could become a large heater has anyone looked at mounting LED's on a water cooled heat sink

I was actually contemplating doing so for my 40b reef tank. I have six of those Koolance hard drive heat sinks from an old computer build, an aluminum radiator, a pump/reservoir and a large ultra quiet fan. So I have everything needed to build the cooling system, I just need to invest in a 36 CREE kit and build a canopy.

 

[dbn1]

Was also thinking we spend alot of $ on heating
our tanks ,could the heat from led's be used to some
how maintain 27 deg or is that just trying to get to
tricky

 

[ucrdave]

I do think LED's are way to go although i think off the self items are going to costs
$1000 plus so id hope they would last along time , an other concern is the heat they give off
the tank in my lounge and in summer could become a large heater has anyone looked at mounting LED's on a water cooled heat sink

DIY wont costs in the $1000s if you do good research. You can find CREE good bin # LEDs in the correct color temp on ebay.

If doing salt water set ups Orphek DIF XP 100 / 50 / 30 - Reef Aquarium LED Lights this link is amazing for deep tanks and they're not expensive at all compared to what Ive seen.

As for heat... they give off SUBSTANTIALLY less heat than ANY lighting system. if you do want to cool them with water (maybe even back into your tank water) here's a nice set up

Watercooled Aquarium LED light also recaptures heat

In most cases the best heat transfer using CPU water coolers to remove heat from your LED would be in the case of the LED being a square or round high wattage LED like below

FREE SHIP 50W WHITE LED Lamp Chip Bright Light Bulb For Ceiling Flood Spotlight | eBay

The water coolers to use with this could be

XIGMATEK AIO-S80DP Liquid cooling system
Antec KÜHLER H2O 620 Liquid cooling system CPU heat exchanger with integrated pump
Thermaltak CLW0217 Water 2.0 Extreme Closed-Loop Liquid Cpu Cooler

With these various coolers you can liquid cool but with funky looking results. I think it would not be aesthetically pleasing to see cpu radiators hanging about, UNLESS you have fully enclosed hood and mod the hood to fit the radiators and high wattage LEDs.

In all I really like the fish tank water cooled LED set up. One could use those high wattage square LEDs on the same set up he had. Have a metal working friend is AWESOME and with that nice picture I believe I have a grand idea for my own tank now =)