I don't know anything about LED

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That One Guy
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way back in the incandescent era is where I hail from. Still like them. Fluorescent I like and have had good results in the one planted tank I set up. That was nearly 15 years ago. I used a double strip and a single strip with 3 different tubes. Now upon re-entering this wonderful hobby I find LED. Here's my thing with LED. I'm an older guy entering the stage of almost can't drive at night because of the glare. These newer cars with those bright LED headlights kill me. I have to wonder if the fish hate that annoying blue color too. And can the manufacturers reasonably recreate sunlight with a diode? Are all the bugs worked out? Are they the real deal? Will my plants and fish thrive under these things?
 
Yes.....LED lights are good for fish. If you really think about it fish see more form side to side. Than up and down. I agree, when you are driving you are blinded by the LED headlights, because you are looking straight at them. Fish on the other hand, have no problem with it, because they see side to side. If they where able to look up, they would be blinded, but because of the fact that their eyes are positioned differently than ours, they will be fine. That is just my opinion, hopefully someone will be able to clarify more? Also, LED lights are really good for plants. :)
 
way back in the incandescent era is where I hail from. Still like them. Fluorescent I like and have had good results in the one planted tank I set up. That was nearly 15 years ago. I used a double strip and a single strip with 3 different tubes. Now upon re-entering this wonderful hobby I find LED. Here's my thing with LED. I'm an older guy entering the stage of almost can't drive at night because of the glare. These newer cars with those bright LED headlights kill me. I have to wonder if the fish hate that annoying blue color too. And can the manufacturers reasonably recreate sunlight with a diode? Are all the bugs worked out? Are they the real deal? Will my plants and fish thrive under these things?

I'm much the same. I tried five LED fixtures, all went back within the week. There are good LED planted tank units, but they are quite expensive. The cheaper ones will not usually work as the spectrum is wrong and the intensity may be insufficient.

I use T8 fluorescent tubes because, like you, I have used them for years, they work, and I understand them inside out. They provide low to moderate lighting (unless you want several tubes over a tank which can get bothersome) so the aim is to find plants suited to whatever light you intend providing them. And this brings me to the fish.

Fish do react to light significantly, and it is often detrimental. Most of our aquarium fish come from rather dimly lit waters, and they will be more stressed and often less colourful under bright light. The sort of light intensity one needs for high-tech planted tanks does negatively affect the fish. Even with my moderate lighting, I have floating plants in all my tanks, and in experiments there is not the slightest doubt that the fish do prefer this.

So back to the LED--if you know what you are getting, and it meets the needs of the plants in intensity and spectrum, thee operating cost will be much lower than non-LED while the initial cost of acquisition will be much higher. Most LED s high in the blue, and this is a major failing over freshwater planted tanks. Plants need red and blue light to photosynthesize and of the two colours red is the more important. Adding green to the mix does improve plant growth. This mix opf light is generally referred to as daylight or some similar name, and has a Kelvin rating between 5000K and 7000K. Around 6500K is just about ideal; with two tubes or with some good LED, one can havee a tad more red (warm) and on dual tube tanks I like to use one 5000K and one 6500K. Photos below show these, using T8 tubes.
 

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Byron, are those your planted tanks? Beautiful!
 
Byron, are those your planted tanks? Beautiful!
Thank you. Yes, those are three of my tanks at some stage of their life. The dates are in the file name. The two largest are torn down now and other aquarists have the tanks and equipment as I moved this past week and wanted to downsize the fish room so I kept only four or five of the smaller tanks.

My tanks always have the same lighting (some have single T8 tubes, two have a dual T8 tube), and similar plants as these do well with my low-moderate light and for the sake of the fish I will not increase lighting. All have floating plants of some sort to shade the light and for water quality.
 
I'm much the same. I tried five LED fixtures, all went back within the week. There are good LED planted tank units, but they are quite expensive. The cheaper ones will not usually work as the spectrum is wrong and the intensity may be insufficient.

I use T8 fluorescent tubes because, like you, I have used them for years, they work, and I understand them inside out. They provide low to moderate lighting (unless you want several tubes over a tank which can get bothersome) so the aim is to find plants suited to whatever light you intend providing them. And this brings me to the fish.

Fish do react to light significantly, and it is often detrimental. Most of our aquarium fish come from rather dimly lit waters, and they will be more stressed and often less colourful under bright light. The sort of light intensity one needs for high-tech planted tanks does negatively affect the fish. Even with my moderate lighting, I have floating plants in all my tanks, and in experiments there is not the slightest doubt that the fish do prefer this.

So back to the LED--if you know what you are getting, and it meets the needs of the plants in intensity and spectrum, thee operating cost will be much lower than non-LED while the initial cost of acquisition will be much higher. Most LED s high in the blue, and this is a major failing over freshwater planted tanks. Plants need red and blue light to photosynthesize and of the two colours red is the more important. Adding green to the mix does improve plant growth. This mix opf light is generally referred to as daylight or some similar name, and has a Kelvin rating between 5000K and 7000K. Around 6500K is just about ideal; with two tubes or with some good LED, one can havee a tad more red (warm) and on dual tube tanks I like to use one 5000K and one 6500K. Photos below show these, using T8 tubes.
I agree with Deanasue.

Your tanks are absolutely beautiful! What a work of art.

You should be really proud.
 
Thank you. Yes, those are three of my tanks at some stage of their life. The dates are in the file name. The two largest are torn down now and other aquarists have the tanks and equipment as I moved this past week and wanted to downsize the fish room so I kept only four or five of the smaller tanks.

My tanks always have the same lighting (some have single T8 tubes, two have a dual T8 tube), and similar plants as these do well with my low-moderate light and for the sake of the fish I will not increase lighting. All have floating plants of some sort to shade the light and for water quality.
Wish I knew more about planted tanks. Great job!
 

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