Marineland Aquatic LED Light Fixture

[GoldsGuy]

Hi,
Marineland had announced some time ago they were releasing an LED fixture for the FW planted tank. Well, yesterday I saw they finally have been released to retail. Saw them on Dr. Foster and Smith and Petsolutions.com Has anyone gotten one yet and if so, what are your thoughts on build-quality, light coverage, function, etc.
Or, does anyone know of another similiar fixture which similiar functions that's just as good or better and better pricing and has had more reviews?
Any info would be appreciated. I have a goldfish tank with plants but have been using the stock LED fixtures (with low-light plants) which has worked, but obviously need more for the plants to florish.

 

[mohican]

I saw it came out too and the price really scared me away. I just got my T5 HO's about 1.5 yrs. ago and just going to stick with that. Tank seems to be doing good anyway. Like you, I'm anxious to hear more about them as they become more widely tested by us; to say the least.

 

[maxwellag]

Hi,
Marineland had announced some time ago they were releasing an LED fixture for the FW planted tank. Well, yesterday I saw they finally have been released to retail. Saw them on Dr. Foster and Smith and Petsolutions.com Has anyone gotten one yet and if so, what are your thoughts on build-quality, light coverage, function, etc.
Or, does anyone know of another similiar fixture which similiar functions that's just as good or better and better pricing and has had more reviews?
Any info would be appreciated. I have a goldfish tank with plants but have been using the stock LED fixtures (with low-light plants) which has worked, but obviously need more for the plants to florish.

I'm subscribed to petsolutions on youtube and they posted a video about this about 2 weeks ago. I'm the one that argued with the person in the video in the comments. They are using some false advertising here. They only used low light plants in the setup shown, and they claim that they are medium and high light plants. I'm sure they can grow low light plants just fine, but I wouldn't replace my T5HOs for these with med-high light plants. It's not worth the money, and you can get a much better bang for your buck with T5HOs-the price is literally cut in half, and the performance is doubled.

 

[GoldsGuy]

Yeah the price is much higher than I had anticipated. I have waited for this fixture all year as I like and prefer LED. However I'm not going to pay such a high amount. I also wanted LED over T5 due to fact I have golds which are cold water and LED heat the water less.
I've looked at the Aquaticlife T5HO light for freshwater that has lunar LED and 24-hour timer. Anyone have experience with freshwater version?

 

[maxwellag]

Yeah the price is much higher than I had anticipated. I have waited for this fixture all year as I like and prefer LED. However I'm not going to pay such a high amount. I also wanted LED over T5 due to fact I have golds which are cold water and LED heat the water less.
I've looked at the Aquaticlife T5HO light for freshwater that has lunar LED and 24-hour timer. Anyone have experience with freshwater version?

I don't have experience with that specific model, but I have a few T5HO fixtures myself. Usually unless you put them directly over the tank instead of on mounting legs, they don't transfer much heat to the water. Some of the really high power ones have cooling fans too.

 

[GoldsGuy]

Btw I have goldfish so can only do low-tech and generally low to medium light plants. My tank wouldn't be heavily planted. I do want to upgrade tanks next year. Currently have 55-gallon and probably will do 120 to 150 gallon. If I got a quad T5HO fixture would it be possible or worth it to change 54-watt lights for 18-watt until I upgrade. I want a visually pleasing tank that I can grow some plants, show off golds and not grow algae. Suggestions??

 

[fishfanatic]

Btw I have goldfish so can only do low-tech and generally low to medium light plants. My tank wouldn't be heavily planted. I do want to upgrade tanks next year. Currently have 55-gallon and probably will do 120 to 150 gallon. If I got a quad T5HO fixture would it be possible or worth it to change 54-watt lights for 18-watt until I upgrade. I want a visually pleasing tank that I can grow some plants, show off golds and not grow algae. Suggestions??

A quad T5HO fixture puts out a lot of light. Without co2 injection your tank will be an algae farm. Are you planning on co2? If you are not then I think a duel bulb fixture would work just fine (that might even be a little over kill).
I don't believe you can just replace the bulbs with different watts. But what you can do is mount the light to your ceiling and raise it off of the tank. This way there will be less light in the actual tank.

 

[GoldsGuy]

A quad T5HO fixture puts out a lot of light. Without co2 injection your tank will be an algae farm. Are you planning on co2? If you are not then I think a duel bulb fixture would work just fine (that might even be a little over kill).
I don't believe you can just replace the bulbs with different watts. But what you can do is mount the light to your ceiling and raise it off of the tank. This way there will be less light in the actual tank.

Well I like the idea of the quad fixture having an integrated timer. I did read somewhere online I could change bulbs for a lower wattage. Figured if I could do that I would be future-proofing my tank by putting the 54's back in. I don't plant to do co2 but from my understanding golds produce a lot more co2 than a community tank. Why was asking for advice from those with experience with a planted gold tank ideally. Otherwise the marineland aquatic LED,

 

[GoldsGuy]

What was saying the marineland aquatic LED may be my best bet.

 

[Freakgecko91]

If this is the fixture you speak of, then yes I have one


View attachment 98146

 

[GoldsGuy]

If this is the fixture you speak of, then yes I have one

Is that the new aquatic led for freshwater or the double bright led? The aquatic led was just recently released and has white and RGB LEDs. Anyone buy one yet? Thoughts? Price you paid?

 

[Freakgecko91]

It's just the double bright, after looking at the box, sorry

 

[GoldsGuy]

It's just the double bright, after looking at the box, sorry

Do u have fresh or saltwater? Plants? What's your opinion of the fixture?

 

[Freakgecko91]

I have freshwater, 40 gallon column, but it's 2 feet deep! I'm trying my hand at plants, but have been struggling. I'm new to the whole planted tank so I can't say whether they're good or not for plants unfortunately :/ however, I do love the lighting depth they add to my tank, as I use it in addition to a T8 bulb. I love the blue LEDs for a moonlighting, looks great and allows or some night viewing. Overall, it's been pretty darn good, but for the life of me, I can't remember how much I paid

 

[GoldsGuy]

I have freshwater, 40 gallon column, but it's 2 feet deep! I'm trying my hand at plants, but have been struggling. I'm new to the whole planted tank so I can't say whether they're good or not for plants unfortunately :/ however, I do love the lighting depth they add to my tank, as I use it in addition to a T8 bulb. I love the blue LEDs for a moonlighting, looks great and allows or some night viewing. Overall, it's been pretty darn good, but for the life of me, I can't remember how much I paid

Yeah I've heard mixed opinions with these and plants. I'm currently using stock LED with low-light plants and they do well but leggy. My anubias is about to bloom though. They just came out with the new fixture made specifically for freshwater planted but it's pretty expensive and only available online so not able to see fixture yet in lfs.

 

[Freakgecko91]

I'm not having much luck with plants yet lol even anachris died in my tank! I'm having some succes with a few varieties of hygrophilia, and I have a java fern that's doing ok, and an Anubias that's doing fine. But my hygrophilia difformis seems to have new growth its ony been a week or two though

 

[GoldsGuy]

I'm not having much luck with plants yet lol even anachris died in my tank! I'm having some succes with a few varieties of hygrophilia, and I have a java fern that's doing ok, and an Anubias that's doing fine. But my hygrophilia differ mid seems to have new growth its ony been a week or two though

I had anachris that was growing but leggy. Had hornwort that was growing fast. But with having golds they also aren't plant friendly and makes it harder to have nice plants. My goal is to have some plants for benefit of golds and aesthetics. Also to try to absorb ammonia and nitrate.

 

[Freakgecko91]

I wish I had a green thumb, but alas, nope I have a mind able to retain random animal knowledge, but growing plants doesn't seem to be my strong suit lol

 

[GoldsGuy]

I wish I had a green thumb, but alas, nope I have a mind able to retain random animal knowledge, but growing plants doesn't seem to be my strong suit lol

Well this is a great forum for advice. I think with the double bright LED you may need to stick with low-light. If I get the aquatic LED I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[Freakgecko91]

Please do! I plan to upgrade my tank eventually ( once I move out, so my mom doesn't yell at me haha) and really want a nice planted tank