Clip On Freshwater Lights For Plant Growth

[deftuch]

i cant seem to find any decent clip on aquarium lights for my 2 foot tank which i plan to turn into a planted spectacle! only thing is i cant find any powerfull enough? how good is led lighting for plants? if at all?

 

[kylealastairlove]

have a look at these they should fit across a 2ft tank, i was just looking at these myself!

http/www.seapets.co.uk/products/aquarium-supplies/fish-tank-equipment/aquarium-plant-equipment/aquarium-lighting-for-plant-growth/aqua-ray-aqua-gro-grobeam-600-natural-daylight-single.html

http/www.seapets.co.uk/products/aquarium-supplies/fish-tank-equipment/aquarium-plant-equipment/aquarium-lighting-for-plant-growth/all-products.html

LED is just as good as any other lighting system and will provide a certain wattage and Kelvin rating also LED has a lot LONGER life span compared to your bulbs and lamps and T5's and all those! (according to the website above 6x longer) also they give a lovely shimmering effect on the water which looks great

what tank do you have ? i wouldnt use the LED's on their own i would stick them alongside my main tank lighting to get a higher 'watts per gallon' rating  

 

[ian]

LEDs work fine on there own, they have to be the higher wattage LEDs, if you can't be bothered or don't have the inclination to make LEDs, the best range out there at the moment are the TMC range.

Here's my tanks grown under LEDs


Slice of nature by Ian Holdich, on Flickr


Nano by Ian Holdich, on Flickr


scape and wine by Ian Holdich, on Flickr



IAPLC RANKED 518th 2012 by Ian Holdich, on Flickr

The only problems with LEDs are that you can't change the colour spec without buying a whole new set. Steer clear of those cheapo ones on eBay as well, they aren't great.

 

[kylealastairlove]

i knew somebody around here would be more informative , im not the best to give info on LED's but damn ian, the things id do for a tank like yours 

 

[ian]

Remember though guys, it's not about the amount of light you chuck over a tank, but more about the distribution of the other elements, ie, ferts, C02, etc etc. over the last few years its been noted that we don't need huge amounts of light to grow plants. Excess light just gives you more algae.

 

[deftuch]

Remember though guys, it's not about the amount of light you chuck over a tank, but more about the distribution of the other elements, ie, ferts, C02, etc etc. over the last few years its been noted that we don't need huge amounts of light to grow plants. Excess light just gives you more algae.

thankyou both for your input. im planning to use a diy co2 system using sugar and yeast to begin with and stick to low co2/low light plants to begin with. the aim is that in the future i have a high tech planted nano or small tank with in line co2 and heating ect. the full works. basically i want a tank like yours ian! they are lovely