LED lighting question for a new step

[AlexT]

Hi All,

Back in the hobby after a 10 year absence. Have just done an intro thread. My question please......

I am planning on purchasing this tank later today
https://www.fishkeeper.co.uk/aquatropic-160-aquarium (50cm / 20" height)

My concern is the LED wattage output of 10.8W
I've tried reading online but I am confused about wattage and lumens etc. I want to keep vallisneria spiralis, crinum thaianum, and moss balls. I know these are not demanding plants, but I plan on having my tank really lush with easy to grow plants, not just a few stragglers here and there. Is the LED output just too low in this tank?

If it helps, I am in North London so my tap water is quite hard and alkaline. My substrate of choice is fine sand, but I am open to advice on the substrate as well please. I'll be keeping Corydoras, so for me, it's very important the catfish have a substrate they like, as well as the plants.

 

[Wills]

Hi All,

Back in the hobby after a 10 year absence. Have just done an intro thread. My question please......

I am planning on purchasing this tank later today
https://www.fishkeeper.co.uk/aquatropic-160-aquarium (50cm / 20" height)

My concern is the LED wattage output of 10.8W
I've tried reading online but I am confused about wattage and lumens etc. I want to keep vallisneria spiralis, crinum thaianum, and moss balls. I know these are not demanding plants, but I plan on having my tank really lush with easy to grow plants, not just a few stragglers here and there. Is the LED output just too low in this tank?

If it helps, I am in North London so my tap water is quite hard and alkaline. My substrate of choice is fine sand, but I am open to advice on the substrate as well please. I'll be keeping Corydoras, so for me, it's very important the catfish have a substrate they like, as well as the plants.

10 watts will likely do well for 160 litres - the bigger issue is that this light has 10,000K light rating and 6,500 is better for growing plants. You might be able to get an alternative fitting as a few brands do the LED kits that look like this these days - though that might mean a different tank might work out cheaper - like one of the Fluval kits?

For substrate with corydoras you want to use a very fine sand - something like Wio Heaven would be perfect but you can also use playsand - the one from Argos thats about £8 per bag is the most commonly used.

I mentioned it in your other post about being careful with which fish you choose to go in your hard London water - I'm the same up in East Yorkshire and it can sometimes be an uphill battle keeping fish from soft water habitats in hard tap water tanks. If you're keep for a catfish tank how do you feel about some of the small black and white Synodontis from Lake Tanganyika? Like Synodontis Lucipinnis or Synodontis Petricola instead?

Wills

 

[Colin_T]

I'm not sure 10 watts will be adequate considering the tank is 20 inches high. The best aquatic plant LED light currently is the Fluval 3.0 and it has about 40 watts for that size tank. That is a high intensity light that is fully programmable. For an average plant tank in the size you want, 20-30 watts would be good.

LED lights produce more light than fluorescent. Depending on the LED globes, they can be 2-10 times brighter than fluoros. Unfortunately every LED manufacturer has different amounts of light coming out of the units so it's a pain in the butt to try and work out.

--------------------

Lumens is the amount of visible light humans see. The more lumens, generally the brighter the light. However, plants mostly use red and blue light and the amount of light they use is called PAR. You can have a lot of lumens but the light can have the wrong colour spectrum for plants and they won't do well.

The colour spectrum of light is represented with a number and the letter K (eg: 3000K, 6500K, 10,000K). The letter K stands for Kelvin. Sunlight has a Kelvin rating around 5500-6500K. It has blue, red, yellow, green and UV light that appears white to us.

If you have a lower Kelvin rating (say 3000K), the light is mostly red and yellow with little to no blue in it. These lights are often called warm white lights and have a yellow tinge to them.

Globes with a 6500K rating are often called cool white lights and have a bright white light. They usually have a nice balance of red and blue light and are the closest colour rating to natural sunlight. If possible get a light unit with a 6500K rating.

If you have a high Kelvin rating (say 10,000K), the light will have a lot of blue in it and this can make the light appear very white or slightly blue. Depending on the type of light, a 10,000K globe might not have a lot of red or yellow light in and will usually have too much blue for plants.

If you go to 20,000K lights, they sometimes have a small amount of UV as well as huge amounts of blue light and make everything look blue. These are unsuitable for fish or plants unless you have some lower Kelvin rated globes (around 3000-4000K) to balance it out.

 

[AlexT]

Hi All,

Back in the hobby after a 10 year absence. Have just done an intro thread. My question please......

I am planning on purchasing this tank later today
https://www.fishkeeper.co.uk/aquatropic-160-aquarium (50cm / 20" height)

My concern is the LED wattage output of 10.8W
I've tried reading online but I am confused about wattage and lumens etc. I want to keep vallisneria spiralis, crinum thaianum, and moss balls. I know these are not demanding plants, but I plan on having my tank really lush with easy to grow plants, not just a few stragglers here and there. Is the LED output just too low in this tank?

If it helps, I am in North London so my tap water is quite hard and alkaline. My substrate of choice is fine sand, but I am open to advice on the substrate as well please. I'll be keeping Corydoras, so for me, it's very important the catfish have a substrate they like, as well as the plants.

10 watts will likely do well for 160 litres - the bigger issue is that this light has 10,000K light rating and 6,500 is better for growing plants. You might be able to get an alternative fitting as a few brands do the LED kits that look like this these days - though that might mean a different tank might work out cheaper - like one of the Fluval kits?

For substrate with corydoras you want to use a very fine sand - something like Wio Heaven would be perfect but you can also use playsand - the one from Argos thats about £8 per bag is the most commonly used.

I mentioned it in your other post about being careful with which fish you choose to go in your hard London water - I'm the same up in East Yorkshire and it can sometimes be an uphill battle keeping fish from soft water habitats in hard tap water tanks. If you're keep for a catfish tank how do you feel about some of the small black and white Synodontis from Lake Tanganyika? Like Synodontis Lucipinnis or Synodontis Petricola instead?

Wills

Thanks loads Wills. I will reply about the fish in my intro post that you replied to. How did you find out the 10,000K light rating by the way? I could not find those specs at all !!!

 

[AlexT]

I'm not sure 10 watts will be adequate considering the tank is 20 inches high. The best aquatic plant LED light currently is the Fluval 3.0 and it has about 40 watts for that size tank. That is a high intensity light that is fully programmable. For an average plant tank in the size you want, 20-30 watts would be good.

LED lights produce more light than fluorescent. Depending on the LED globes, they can be 2-10 times brighter than fluoros. Unfortunately every LED manufacturer has different amounts of light coming out of the units so it's a pain in the butt to try and work out.

--------------------

Lumens is the amount of visible light humans see. The more lumens, generally the brighter the light. However, plants mostly use red and blue light and the amount of light they use is called PAR. You can have a lot of lumens but the light can have the wrong colour spectrum for plants and they won't do well.

The colour spectrum of light is represented with a number and the letter K (eg: 3000K, 6500K, 10,000K). The letter K stands for Kelvin. Sunlight has a Kelvin rating around 5500-6500K. It has blue, red, yellow, green and UV light that appears white to us.

If you have a lower Kelvin rating (say 3000K), the light is mostly red and yellow with little to no blue in it. These lights are often called warm white lights and have a yellow tinge to them.

Globes with a 6500K rating are often called cool white lights and have a bright white light. They usually have a nice balance of red and blue light and are the closest colour rating to natural sunlight. If possible get a light unit with a 6500K rating.

If you have a high Kelvin rating (say 10,000K), the light will have a lot of blue in it and this can make the light appear very white or slightly blue. Depending on the type of light, a 10,000K globe might not have a lot of red or yellow light in and will usually have too much blue for plants.

If you go to 20,000K lights, they sometimes have a small amount of UV as well as huge amounts of blue light and make everything look blue. These are unsuitable for fish or plants unless you have some lower Kelvin rated globes (around 3000-4000K) to balance it out.

Colin, amazing reply, thanks for taking the time to explain that.

Colin/Wills/All

I have the option to buy a Fluval Roma 125. It's 31" wide, 13.5" depth and 19.5" height. It's in brand new condition, still in the box, but it is an old model with x2 T8 tubes. The tubes it comes with are no good for me in a heavily planted set up I think? The Aqua Glo is 18000K and the Power Glo I think is also 18000K or 14000K ??? I see that this brand of T8 also comes as Sun Glo which i think is 4500K and also one T8 that is marketed for planted set ups and is 6500K. Can't find it now on Google.

But the wattage for each bulb regardless of K rating is 20W. So that only gives me 40W of T8 power for 125 litres. About 0.32W per litre.

 

[Colin_T]

Don't waste your time using T5 or T8 fluorescent globes. They are obsolete, use more power, produce less light, and release more heat than LEDs.

The lights with 14,000K and 18,000K are marine lights. Don't touch them. look for something around 5500-6500K.

I don't know anything about the Fluval Roma so will leave others to answer that. Personally I refer a bland old boring rectangular tank rather than a boxed u ready to go tank.

-------------------
re the lighting specs.
your link https://www.fishkeeper.co.uk/aquatropic-160-aquarium
scroll down and click description
scroll down to LED Lighting for Optimal Plant Growth
there's a link called Aquatropic Twin LED Lighting bar,
scroll down to technical specifications.

Aquatropic Twin LED Aquarium Lighting System

Don't let your aquarium sit in the dark, bring it to life with the Aquatropic twin blue & white LED lights. These LED lights give your aquarium the correct balance of light with an inline switch to blue LED only for nighttime viewing.

www.fishkeeper.co.uk

 

[AlexT]

Don't waste your time using T5 or T8 fluorescent globes. They are obsolete, use more power, produce less light, and release more heat than LEDs.

The lights with 14,000K and 18,000K are marine lights. Don't touch them. look for something around 5500-6500K.

I don't know anything about the Fluval Roma so will leave others to answer that. Personally I refer a bland old boring rectangular tank rather than a boxed u ready to go tank.

-------------------
re the lighting specs.
your link https://www.fishkeeper.co.uk/aquatropic-160-aquarium
scroll down and click description
scroll down to LED Lighting for Optimal Plant Growth
there's a link called Aquatropic Twin LED Lighting bar,
scroll down to technical specifications.

Aquatropic Twin LED Aquarium Lighting System

Don't let your aquarium sit in the dark, bring it to life with the Aquatropic twin blue & white LED lights. These LED lights give your aquarium the correct balance of light with an inline switch to blue LED only for nighttime viewing.

www.fishkeeper.co.uk

Good points, thanks.

I've seen this. A bit less litres than I want, but being out of the hobby for 10 years, I need to be sensible. I've got my eye on a Jewel 110 litre tank, brand new. 17.5" height, but the good thing for me is check the light unit here, because I can add up to 2 new tubes to upgrade if I need. the light rating is 6500K

Juwel Novolux Led 80 10.5W White (Fits Primo 110)

Juwel Novolux Led 80 10.5W White, Fits Primo 110, 680mm, 10.5W

www.completeaquatics.co.uk

Being 10w, perhaps I should go for x2 of these strips as a minimum (fits x3 tubes) LED.

 

[Byron]

Agree with Colin on using LED. I have T8 fluorescent lighting from the 1990's, and it works very well when you get the balance right (applies to any light) but the problem is finding replacement tubes. They are being phased out. Find a good LED for planted tanks.

As for the spectrum, this is very important. Light at 10000K will cause problem algae,, and plants will struggle. You want light in the Kelvin range of 5000K to 6500K. With LED, this means white diodes that have this rating. The lower the number the warmer (more red, less blue), the higher the number, the more blue and less red. Plants need red (especially) and blue. Much of the LED is for some reason geared to blue, but you need a balance. The 6000K range is comparable to sunlight, high in the red, blue and green. This promotes good plant growth.

Wattage is no guide to intensity in LED. I have no experience with good LED, but other members have. Just ensure the spectrum is in that range and it should be OK. The duration you can twiddle with to gt the balance of nutrients/light.