had one of my main tank lights fail... at just a little over a year...

[TwoTankAmin]

I took that to mean just above the water surface.

Over the last 24+ years i cannot tell you how many times one of my lights has fallen into the water. I always grab it fast To date not one light has failed to work after getting wet. Nor have any fish, inverts or plants been electrocuted either.

However. LEDs are very sensitive to getting wet. With an open top tank there is no protection against water splashing up onto the LEDS. This can be caused by a fish getting spooked, or dropping something into the tank that splashed, etc.

edited for my usual typos

 

[anewbie]

The fluval plant 3.0 have been quite durable; there are some negatives but in regards to fallen into aquariums and keep on ticking they have - well past the warranty.

 

[seangee]

The fluval plant 3.0 have been quite durable; there are some negatives but in regards to fallen into aquariums and keep on ticking they have - well past the warranty.

I always had success with Hyggers when they were outside of the aquarium. When I changed the light on my main community tank, where I had no choice but to have it as part of the hood, it survived for 2 weeks. I had considered using silicone to double seal everything, fortunately I didn't so was able to get a refund. I replaced it with a Fluval Aquasky 2 and that is still going strong after 2 years. And yes its been in the water

 

[TwoTankAmin]

When I began my using live plants one of the women well know in the arena (her name eludes me) she stated that the intensity of light is more important than. spectrum. She also said if you cannot grow any plant in 3 wpg, the light is not the problem. But back then there were no LEDS and mostly we used fluors and even incandescent bulbs.

Two of the things that I will not spend a lot on for my tanks are heaters (the least reliable equipment we use) and lighting. My favorite bulbs are full spectrum and high CRI (over 90).

I have a few of the Zoo Med Ultra Sun T-8s on the shelf. They have a CRI of 98, a temp of 6500 are full spectrum and ;ast for 10,000 hours. The only tank where I have the old A.H. Supply power compacts is my in-wall planted 75 gal. I have a number of these on the shelf since taking them off tanks years ago.

 

[anewbie]

I'm not sure i agree with intensity - i'm finding many plants do extremely well with 10 to 15 par; which if you know what par menas that is relatively weak.

 

[seangee]

Typically I find that white LEDs work best because the spectrum is constant, even when individual lights fail. I don't measure PAR but if I am getting too much algae I reduce the intensity using a dimmer. If I need stuff to grow faster I turn it up. The intensity in my tanks is much lower than you would expect but the plants seem to do fine.

Interestingly in my dispaly tank I have the lights on for 16 hours a day. But I have an extended low intensity period in the morning and evening. I use green light for this as it seems to be best for avoiding algae or CB which can be caused by too much blue or red light.

 

[anewbie]

Typically I find that white LEDs work best because the spectrum is constant, even when individual lights fail. I don't measure PAR but if I am getting too much algae I reduce the intensity using a dimmer. If I need stuff to grow faster I turn it up. The intensity in my tanks is much lower than you would expect but the plants seem to do fine.

Interestingly in my dispaly tank I have the lights on for 16 hours a day. But I have an extended low intensity period in the morning and evening. I use green light for this as it seems to be best for avoiding algae or CB which can be caused by too much blue or red light.

i've found algae more of a different matter. If a plant fails or converts forms algae will rapidly grow as veggie matter fails (this is string algae); if the light is too intense i'm more likely to get spot algae (though i think i read lack of nitrate also helps there) - i find it can take up to a year for tanks to stablize. I do have a couple of tanks with strongs lights (read 60 par near the bottom). One weird thing that happen is when i coverted the tank from tap water to blackwater bba covered everything - but after 14 or 16 months the bba died and now all the bba is gone (though it created a massive mess with the filttration as that stuff is thick). Now the tank is both bba and algae free.

The bba thing is a really bizzare thing i don't understand - but the dying of such a thick farm of bba is also more mysterious.