hunter001
Fish Fanatic
Here is the project build write up on my site:
<a href="http/www.greenneedle.co.uk/LED1.html" target="_blank">http
/www.greenneedle.co.uk/LED1.html</a>
This picture shows basically one series of 3 from the connector to driver to 3 x LED (red line = 1 x series of 3). The connector on the right goes to the 12V 700ma+ adaptor:
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However remember that if you are testing you need a PAR meter and a 'target'!!!
What I mean is that if you setup an LED unit and a flourescent lamp of equal W next to you of the same K rating then you will only see the human perception and not actual light. We see greens and whites and the other colours don't look as bright.
If you test the Lumens or Lux you will get the 'official' human perception of the output of the light. In this hobby the output is of no consequence. It is where the light is received which is important. It is the PAR mesurement of the relevant Nm range that is 'apparently' important. LEDs produce light in a narrow range within these parameters whereas MH and Flouro produce light outside of this range too like UV and InfraRed. Therefore some of the light from Flouro and MH is unusable by the tank whereas virtually all of the LED light is
If you do test then you need a tank of water. Ability to have the flourescent and LEDs at an equal height in the same position and then measure the light 'received' at the same point on the bottom of the tank of water. You also need to experiment with overlapping too as I explained in my previous post. With the LEDs in a line they don't seem to perform as well as a flouro (or at least not any better) in terms of plant growth. With them spread out they work much better than flouro so this shows it is the overlap/spread of light which is key![]()
Therefore if I had a PAR meterI would do 2 tests. Firstly I would do a single T5HO versus a line of LEDs of the same total wattage. I think the T5HO will win or draw.
Then I would do 2 x T5HO versus spread out LEDs of the same total wattage. I think the LEDs will win.
You also have to remember that with flourescent lighting they are not as bright at the inch or so near the end caps!!! Therefore the shorter the tube the more light is lost at these ends!!! Longer tubes will have less light lost at the ends.
Good luck
AC
Thanks for that, when i say testing i mean just basic testing for myself. Just wanted to get a rough idea of plant growth between my t8's and these. Ive got a T5 luminaire coming this week as well so id like to see how it stacks up against that as well. Ive hated the lighting on my tank ever since i saw the T5HO's on my dads tank, the t8's just seem...... well rubbish. Also do you think these from deal extreme would be suitable? http

Oh and mixmaster jay, the reason for the fans is these produce a LOT of heat. There not like your average 5mm led, touch one of these when there on and youre getting burnt fingers lol
