Topic for Discussion

[Deleted]

What do you prefer for lighting? LED or Fluorescent? If LED, did you come across issue with anything like plant growth for example? what do you see as pros and cons for both

[guppyguy]

That easy for me. I have many small tanks but need high light for my plants on most of my tanks except my low light crypt tank. I use high wattage compact florescent to be able to get proper lighting in a small tank with great success. They come in many different wattage and nice for me to be able to adjust lighting accordingly. Only cons for me is like any florescent lighting after 6 months to a year starts to lose it intensity and needs to be replaced. Even if the bulbs still seem to be working fine. But I all in all I am very happy with my lighting set up.

[Rainbowfish Alan]

For me one of the questions is how much led lighting is enough? I currently have about 1.25w/g T8 fluorescent. If I had to replace that with led, what do I need? Now I realize that w/g isn't a great measure, but I don't have a PAR meter, so a general rule of thumb as a starting point would be nice. After a ton of googling I don't feel that there is a generalized guide available. I'm glad you started this thread because perhaps someone with led experience with leds can comment.

[3littlefishes]

I use HO T5 fluorescent lighting. I have one double ballast 4 ft over my 55 gallon tank. On my tank wall I use Grolights that are also T5s I purchased from the TSC. They work extremely well! I think my gro lights actually grow plants better than my expensive fixture I bought specifically for aquariums. I don't think I would use any other lighting as this works well for me. The only prob I am having as one of my tanks is too close to my patio door and the increased summer lighting keeps making the water green.

[Deleted]

i my experience with LED, which is limited at best, i find a couple of reasons for it. i bought a cheapo marineland strip to use on my 30 gal. it gave my tank a natural look or rather gave it an underwater shimmering look to it . what i have found atleast with my tank is at night if i shut off the fluorescent light as well as the house lights my fish would almost hybernate. i would get up in the morning turn the basement lights on and find my fish "sleeping" at the bottom of the tank. with the "moonlight" option my fish are active and it carries very low light but enough to stop the sleeping of the fish. I am currently using it in conjuction with my current store stock ballast,and it brightens up my tank.i have followed some comments from other forums with this very same topic and although i dont have a planted tank i dont have much to worry about. there hasnt been an excess of algae growth in my tank. One person on another forum had this to say about it.......... Alright, I'll start out by saying I don't know anything about using them for an aquarium.....
but I have done research on using them for plants.
I would assume the same rules would apply to a planted tank.

LEDS are great for plants, because as you may or may not know, they only produce a "spike" of light on a photometer- IE if you buy a blue LED bulb, it will run cool, use very little electricity, and will produce an abundance of light in whatever its spectrum is- Blue if I remember right is 420-480 nanometers (nm).

Plants only use 2 wavelengths of light for 90% of their photosynthesis and growth- 660nm (red) and 440nm (blue). So you can save TONS of electricity, by having a custom spectrum- a flourecent light is technically almost as efficient as LEDS- it's negligible. But, if you have a light that only produces green and red, without all the orange, yellow and green that most plants don't use... well thats where the big savings come in.

Because of the way LEDs are very... "specific", they would not work very well for a full spectrum solution.
If you really wanted to make one, and have good light for your plants while keeping a decent appearence so you can see your fish, I'd say 1-1-1 ratio of 1 warm white, 1 cool white, and 1 440nm blue would work well- the colors would combine to appear balanced, but would actually be rich in the "deep blue" which our eyes can't really see, but plants thrive under. (again, this is based on research, not experiance)

IMO, I'd rather have flouros simply because that way, if you get a sudden power surge, its much cheaper to replace. LEDs are sensitive to power fluctuations, plus I've heard that if you hook them up to an electric timer (the ones with the digital clock, not the mechanical ones) they can wear out faster. Plus, if one LED in your fixture goes out, then you're stuck. You can't replace them.

[Admin]

LEDs are only good once you go for the quality ones (at least 3 watts per led and a top quality name brand led-ex: Cree is probably one of the best brands), but they are very very expensive. IMO t5HO are the best for price and performance