Boyu lighting

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Rich74x

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Hi, I recently brought a boyu lh1000 tank and am extremely happy with it except the lighting. It was supplied with 2 x 25w T8 led bulbs. They are fine for my needs but I'd like to put some coloured lights in. I've been looking for replacements but can't find any. Arcadia do what looks like the right thing but my existing bulbs only connect one end. I have spoken to my LFS where I brought it buy they are not very interested in helping now they have my money. Any ideas or suggestions would be great appreciated. Thanks Rich
 
Hi, I recently brought a boyu lh1000 tank and am extremely happy with it except the lighting. It was supplied with 2 x 25w T8 led bulbs. They are fine for my needs but I'd like to put some coloured lights in. I've been looking for replacements but can't find any. Arcadia do what looks like the right thing but my existing bulbs only connect one end. I have spoken to my LFS where I brought it buy they are not very interested in helping now they have my money. Any ideas or suggestions would be great appreciated. Thanks Rich
I don't know much about lighting, but that store you speak of sounds unprofessional to me. They're unwilling to help you purchase new lights because you already bought something? Light's can be expensive, let alone an entire new system if you wanted to change it, I'd be all over helping a customer who wanted to increase my sales at my work.
 
Frofro I totally agree let's just say lesson learned and they won't be getting a penny more from me. Their loss, as you know us aquarium folk like to spend lots of money
 
Could you post a photo of the light as it fits on the tank. That would help us to see what the fitting is like so we can suggest another light.
 
Hi essjay, I've tried uploading pics. It is a simple 2 pin connection one end and a closed cap the other.
 

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That is not a standard T8, so you may be limited to the manufacturer's lights. Do you have specs for the present lighting? It may be fine...I assume this is a planted tank. Adding "colour" lighting can be detrimental to plants, fish...and cause algae problems.
 
Hi Byron, yes it is a planted tank. Plants seem to be doing ok lots of new growth. The spec of lights is 2 x 25w the tank is 65cm deep so I'm not sure how you work out if it's enough.
The problem is I can't find the manufacturers replacement bulbs anywhere, so should one go it looks like I will have to replace whole system. Which is a ball ache :)
 
Am I correct that this link is the tank in question? I looked it up to find out the dimensions and volume.
http://www.swallowaquatics.co.uk/aq...r-aquariums/boyu-aquarium-lh1000-bow-blk.html

To explain the lighting aspect. Watts is the measurement of energy a bulb or tube or diode uses to produce the light; it is no measure of intensity, except when comparing identical bulbs/tubes/diodes in which case the higher wattage will obviously mean more light intensity. But otherwise, no. For example, a CFL Daylight 6500K bulb (those spiral ones) of 9w produces the light intensity of an incandescent (ordinary) bulb of 40w. So watts is basically meaningless. Many lighting today is being manufactured to save energy, so we need to find other measurement tools.

If the plants are doing well, after a period of several weeks, we can assume the intensity is probably not a problem. Light drives photosynthesis, so it has to be sufficient for each plant species (they vary somewhat). Beyond intensity, we have spectrum, also critical. Plants need red and blue light to drive photosynthesis, and red is more prominent. Having high green light in the mix, such as one gets with the "daylight" 6500K bulbs/tubes, also helps. Probably because this is closest to mid-day sun and plants have evolved to use such light. Without knowing the spectrum (the Kelvin tells us this) I can't offer much more, but again if the plants are doing well after a period of several weeks (or longer) it would seem the spectrum is suitable. Algae always takes advantage of any deficiencies, so if this is not problematic it is again likely the light is working for the plants.

Byron.
 
That is the exact tank Byron and wow thanks for all the info. Much appreciated. Thought this was going to be a nice little hobby to keep my busy, little did I realise it takes over your life and you also need a masters degree in science :) My plants are doing well so for now I'm happy and will keep with what I have. Just dread the day one tube blows. Thanks for all your effort in helping me.
 
Looking at your pictures I see some text on one of the bulbs. It's not to clear but I see the letters LED. Can you get a closup picture so that we can read all the text on it? It might be some sort of LED T8 replacement using a nonstandard connector. If it is a LED I don't think you will find any off the shelf replacements. YOu might have to build your own light to get what you want.
 
I think Steven is right. The writing does look like T8 LED. And the light seems to be shining out of just one side of the tube, away from the camera. With fluorescent tube, the light is emitted all the way round the tube; the whole tube lights up. LEDs emit light in one direction, and are made rom many individual LEDs arranged down the length of the tube - I have LED lights like this on my tanks.
LEDs can be bought as replacements for T8 fluorescent tubes. The ones I have on my main tank have removable plastic end caps shaped like the ends of T8 tubes to enable them to be fixed into T8 fluorescent sockets to support them, though the mains power comes from the LED's own supply.
It is not easy to see in your photos but your tubes appear to be attached to the lid via clips at each end of the tube, which is how mine are attached.

Would it be possible to remove the tube from the lid so we can see the ends when they are not attached to the tank?
 

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