Importance of LED's

[Tyler_Fishman]

About a week ago I went to Home Depot to Pick up a few things, I had no luck growing my plants to their full potential, and creating a nice soothing white light that that is visually appealing in the day time. At home depot I picked up a Philodendron plant to go into my HOB filter and a set of LED lights, and have I noticed a change in my tank, I only have have one clamp lamp, but these 13.5 watt LED bulbs can light up the whole tank, And provide excellent plant growth, they were only about 6.00$ and have a 22 year life expaecntany, It reads 5000k for each bulb. My Amazon sword has been pumping out leaves, my argentine sword's leaves are broader and fuller, my Ozelot sword (which was not growing any new leaves)is now currently growing new huge leaves. And my very slow growing cryptocorne paravas are producing leaves too. And my java ferns that I bought a few days ago are already attaching themselves to drift wood. What are your thoughts on LED lights, I would like the high tech LED's but this seems to grow my plants like a charm

 

[to whom it may concern]

can you post some pics of your setup?

 

[Tyler_Fishman]

The first two pictures I took when the tank was first set up, I was using a tetra light bulb at the time, now I only use it for nighttime use, here the third picture is my tank now, mind the cloudy water, it's from veggies

 

[StevenF]

When comparing bulbs it is best to compare the readings, watts, lumens, Kelvin temperature, CRI. Often the difference in plant growth can be attributed to mainly to the lest three (lumens, K , CRI). Without knowing the old bulb ratings and the new bulb ratings I cannot say what happened. However looking at your pictures the new bulb looks brighter, and looks like it has a warmer color (lower kelvin temperature and is brighter (higher lumen ratings. OT is an energy star rated product which are required to have a CRI of at least 80 All three were probably higher than the old bulb. You probably can fiind flouresent and incandescent bulbs with similar ratings as the LED. These would probably due just as well as the LED bulb at growing plants.