Marineland LED Double Bright Aquarium Lighting System: Any good for plants?

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My friend looked at the same light kit for his 36 gallon. After he did some research he went with the reef capable version of them (a lot more $ though). He absolutely loves them and the lunar mode is spectacular.

My knowledge of how LED lights relate to plant growth is virtually nil...so I'm not going to be much help there unfortunately. There's a ton of super experienced planted tank members here who I'm sure can give you an idea of what type of plants that would be capable of growing.
 
I have the marineland reef compatable led on my 40 gallon FW. I also have a duel T5HO fixture. I have been able to grow dwarf baby tears (high light). It is hard to tell which fixture the plants are loving. I am going to experiment and switch off with the fixtures to see which works best for the plants. But the plants seem to like the leds. Sorry I am no help
 
I had the marineland reef ready version on my planted 46 gallon bow front. I pump CO2 and my plants grew like crazy with the exception of the baby tears and dwarf grass. I just replaced this LED system with a 4-light T5 fixture and the amount of light hitting the bottom of the tank is significantly different. I would say this LED system is medium light, if that works for the plants he wants then it is a good purchase (although still expensive).

Also, the LED system only has one rocker switch to control the LEDs and moonlights so using a timer is difficult because I had to override the timer to use the moon lights.
 
I did an experiment... I only turned on my reef leds today. I am going to list the plant that are perling:
Amazon sward (low-medium light)
Java fern (low light)
Orchid Lilly (high light) it was perling very little
I can't remember the name I think it is a Nana something

Keep in mind that I also have pressurized co2 and I dose with pps pro. The dwarf baby tears show no sign of perling.
I agree with what was said above as far as the reef leds being about medium light.
If I were you I would buy some T5 HO lights. But that is just my opinion. This test was only done for one day and is not very accurate.
One more side note my tank is 24 inches tall, so the dwarf baby tears are a long way from the light.
 
firteen888 said:
Yea, I'll prob end up with the same setup that eco has, looks like a good one and not very expensive

Zoo Med AquaSun T-5 HO Double Light Linear Fluorescent Hood at PETCO
Click to expand...

As you said, that's what I have and I love it :). The great thing about duel bulbs is that you can really mix and match them based off which appearance / requirements you want. One of my bulbs is actinic (not helpful for plants, but looks awesome), so that limits me to more low light plants, but you can choose from a wide assortment of different bulbs based off what your going for (aesthetics, plants growth, etc...). The only thing I really wish it had were the lunar LED lights. The actinic can serve a similar purpose, but they're definitely too bright to leave on all night...looks great in the evenings before I go to bed though. I think you can buy a single LED strip to work in tandem with it, if the lunar is something you really want.

If you do get it, take a close look at the bulb sizes before you leave the store. It can definitely be confusing with the way they mark the lengths of bulbs compared to the hood. I'd open the boxes and physically put the bulbs in before you leave the parking lot to make sure they fit so you don't have to drive back to the store...like I did, lol. You also have to put a fair amount of pressure to rotate the bulbs so they "click" into place...also another challenge I face which resulted in a short period of foul language being used, haha.
 
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I'm gonna try a few more LFS's after work today to see if they have either item in stock (LED or T5 HO). I don't plan on keeping anything more than a few low light plants. My anacharis died so I'll prob try the anubias plant next, which should be ok in any light. I really want it more for the looks (blue/actinic light).
 
firteen888 said:
I'm gonna try a few more LFS's after work today to see if they have either item in stock (LED or T5 HO). I don't plan on keeping anything more than a few low light plants. My anacharis died so I'll prob try the anubias plant next, which should be ok in any light. I really want it more for the looks (blue/actinic light).
Click to expand...

As far as your temperature during your fishless cycle relating to plants...turning the temp down to 77 is perfectly acceptable (probably more preferred by the plants) and shouldn't slow down any progress you've made. I'll love to see some pics of your new lights if you decide to upgrade :).

If you're a patient person, you can almost always find better deals online when it comes to anything fish related. Sometime the shipping fees end up costing more than if you bought things in your lfs...but lots of websites offer free shipping so it's always an option if you're willing to wait some extra days to save a few $'s.
 
If you're a patient person, you can almost always find better deals online
Click to expand...

I'm going on 2 and a half months in my extremely slow moving fishless cycle........ I'm a patient person :ROFLMAO:

The main reason i'm gonna try for stores first, is because I know these things are really fragile and alot of reviews from sites like petco/amazon are saying that their lights showed up broken. Also, I'm not sure if I'll like the way it looks on my tank so it'll be easier to return to a local store if need be. I'm sure it would def be cheaper online though.

If I end up getting something, I'll send you some pics (y)
 
I refurnished my 36g bf with all live plants and im adding some dw to replace the house soon to make it more natural for my fish.
the plants i've added are dwarf grass, micro sword, corkscrew vals, water sprite, java fern, anubias nana (i think thats right) and chain sword too.

The lighting I have is the marineland reef capable led.
(which btw i have no idea what the wattage on it is, i thinks like 30ish watts, but i think it goes by lumens on leds right?)

Is this enough lighting for these plants, and also do just dig a hole in my soil and plant them or is there a specific way to plants to where they will flourish? The soil i use is ecocomplete mixed with regular aqaurium substrate.

this is the tank with all the plants in it:http://i996.photobucket.com/albums/af87/pigeon05/aaaaa.jpg:

Any suggestions for placement of plants if this isnt ok.
 
Oops!! meant to make a new thread for this post above, sorry!! not tryin to take away from what yeah guys are talkin about in this thread.

Maybe a mod can move it for me???
 
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This is the 48" reef capable led with 1 T5ho daylight bulb and after market blue nighttime leds.
 

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