thejasteam
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2012
- Messages
- 11
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?
dbn1 said: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
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
ucrdave said: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
This is true.fort384 said: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.
dbn1 said: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 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