would these lights be any good

[tommyk]

Hi,

Just looking for some more advice.
I have cam across a local supplier of LED light Strips, Prices are very reasonable, I am looking for opinions on how suitable these would be for a planted tank, would they give low, med or high light.

My tank is 48 inched long 12 inches front to back and 18 1nches deep. I would be mounting the strips approx. 4 inches from the water surface.

I currently have a 1000k 40 watt fluorescent tube over the tank and was thinking of adding these as extras.

The specs available on the website are as follows

• SPECIFICATIONS:

• Color:Warm or Cool White LED
• Waterproof: Choose (Waterproof +€5.00)
• Quantity: 300 leds/5 Meter (3528 type)
• Size: L500cm (5M) x W0.8cm x T0.25cm
• View angle:120°
• Working Input Voltage: 12VDC
• Working Current/meter: 0.4A
• Output power: 24W /5 Meter
• Working Tempreture:-20° to 50°
• Drive Mode:Contant Voltage
• ! Dimmable using one of our LED dimmer switches. Click on the Accessories tab above

from online chatting to the vendor he tells me that the cool white lights are 6000 Kelvin, he says that the 10000K bulbs are blueThey come in 5 metre strips and can be cut to length,Thanks for any help

 

[tommyk]

Sorry it's a 10000k bulb I have.

 

[Mebbid]

I would hazard a guess that they wouldn't help much at all. With weak LEDs there just isn't much light penetration at all which wouldn't really help your light situation in your tank.

What do they cost?

 

[Brookster123]

It seems with LEDs the more actual light diodes the less powerful they are, you should try to find out this lights par value.. That will ultimately determine how beneficial it will be to a planted aquarium..

 

[Mebbid]

It seems with LEDs the more actual light diodes the less powerful they are, you should try to find out this lights par value.. That will ultimately determine how beneficial it will be to a planted aquarium..

It's hard enough finding accurate par values on aquarium lights much less some random LED light strips. The only other way to go with this is by wattage of the individual LEDs. It's very likely that these are .5w LEDs which are useless for anything other than viewing light. The good LED fixtures run 3w LEDs for penetration which can cost up to $6 each hence the high cost of LED fixtures.

 

[Brookster123]

It's hard enough finding accurate par values on aquarium lights much less some random LED light strips. The only other way to go with this is by wattage of the individual LEDs. It's very likely that these are .5w LEDs which are useless for anything other than viewing light. The good LED fixtures run 3w LEDs for penetration which can cost up to $6 each hence the high cost of LED fixtures.

good call.. Op I'd seek other options, unless this guy is willing to give you a 30 day trial??

 

[dcutl002]

I have heard good things about the Finnex Fugeray Planted Plus.

 

[Mebbid]

If you wanted to go with finnex lights I would suggest the Ray II over the planted +. The Ray 2 is a bit more powerful and would probably be just about right.

 

[dcutl002]

Cool. Thanks Mebbid! I am tired of buying T5 bulbs.

 

[tommyk]

Thanx everyone, I think I'll give them a miss so. They were €40 plus the power adapter. I would be better save that and get a proper set.
I should have known it was too good to be true.