Marineland Double Led Fixture

[Biulu]

I am currently shopping around for a lighting fixture for my 20 gallon long, which is around 30 inches or 86 cm. I have come across the following which I like, but today somebody in a shop told me they are no good for growing plants. Does annybody have experience with this fixture or would it be better to have a double T5 one?

The lumen at about 30 cm depth for both fixtures is the same, around 40.

Here is the product specification

Or this one

 

[TrainRek77]

I would ditch the LED idea. LED grow lights are red and green. Although you may get some growth from them they don't do well. I have these lights on a 30 inch long aquarium and have very good plant growth, but I needed to add a co2 system.
http/www.aquatraders.com/24-inch-4x24W-T5-Aquarium-Light-Fixture-p/52303p.htm

 

[SuperColey1]

I would ditch the LED idea. LED grow lights are red and green. Although you may get some growth from them they don't do well. I have these lights on a 30 inch long aquarium and have very good plant growth, but I needed to add a co2 system.
http/www.aquatraders.com/24-inch-4x24W-T5-Aquarium-Light-Fixture-p/52303p.htm

You've been reading too much out of date info. These days people use whatever colouration they want for their tastes and grow plants well.

i.e. This is 5500K white LEDs. The blue cathodes are moonlights with minimal penetration so don't affect anything:

As you can see below they struggle to grow plants very well @ 1.12WPG (low light. pfff !!! :

I also have a small 23 litre Nano with 1.22WPG same 5500K and full on growth plus a mini 8 litre with ?W of LED. No idea how powerful it is as it came with the tank and the wattage of the LEDs is vague to say the least.

People should really do a bit more research before making such bold statements!!!! Ther are very few retail units that are using red LEDs. All the ones that people are using (TMC tiles, aquaray etc)over planted tanks are white!!! and you don't see many problems with the aquascapes that are using them other than rampant out of control growth.

Andy

 

[TrainRek77]

well the ones I've used to grow weed were red and blue. They kicked #17#####. It's 60 bucks for 96 watt 30 inch light. Better deal then any L.E.D. I think people should attempt to not sound so condescending when "correcting" others.

 

[SuperColey1]

Not condescending, just covering old ground. There is a massive difference between terrestrial plants and submersed plants and light is affected also by water.

As for the weed statement. Deary me. You should be proud of that. lol. People that grow weed are after the fastest productive growth possible and the energy they consume is at a level we do not need.

As for better deal. That 96 watt light is using 3x the amount of equivalent output LED to start with. Add to that a light will use more than it's rated wattage simply with inefficiencies. LED is much better efficiency wise and doesn't waste so much so where a 96W lamp may actually consume 110W (estimate) from the power outlet a 96W LED may consume 100W. Those aren't accurate figures, just to show what I am meaning.

So when you talk about 'better deals' try to research first.

a good efficient 30W LED will equal 90-120W of halide lighting and between 40 and 60W of flourescent. This in terms of measuring actual light output PAR. I would guess most weed growers still assess light output by using Lumens which is not how much light a lamp puts out. It is how bright a light appears to the human eye. Something we see as bright does not mean it is more light, just that it is emitting a colouration that our eyes can see much better, namely in the green region.

Yes it wil cost 2-3x the amount in initial outlay but will consume half to a quarter of the energy the equivalents will. Then added to that the LED will last 2-3x the length of an MH or flouro unit before it needs replacing.

As a bonus for people like yourselves in the UK at least when the police helicopters travel around their thermal cameras pick up the houses using much higher than expected energy. Cannabis farms are traced this way in many cases in the UK, so if you can cut that energy use down then that can only be a good thing for that purpose

Check out all the top scapers and those who want to get to that level, look at their lush tanks, great growth and lovely character and condition of the plants. then look at the first posts in their journals where they detail the technical spec of the setup. Pretty rare that people use pink lights these days. Most of us are using lights that please us aesthetically. i.e. a more natural light to the human eye which is in the white daylight region of 500 - 8000K. There are some that persist with the 'pink' theories however they are few and far between these days.

If it pleases you to believe that reds and blue are important, I am currently trialling a prototype product LED which uses RGB LEDs and you can select any colour variation you ant via remote control. It's quite a cool item and able to please people with my preference by letting us use solely white while another consumer can select solely red, pink or any mix of blues and reds, yellow and greens etc. The LED manufacturers evn pander to the weed growers by making red/blue LED tiles for 'hydroponic' purposes. Many manufacturers will go along with what the consumer believes rightly or wrongly because it means that they will buy their product.

Either way LED is already known to way ahead of other forms of lighting that are currently affordable and available. That is assuming that plasma lighting becomes the Betamax of lighting. Even better than LED but very very pricey still and I suspect by the time it comes down in price it will have been surpassed and therefore never make the mainstream.

The reality is that most people 'in the know' in this hobby have pretty much agreed for 4,5,6 years that plants adapt to light and that so called 'full spectrum' statements on lighting are a marketing myth. There is no such thing in reality as a 'full spectrum light', just a light that mixes slightly different colours. If you don't believe me check out UKaps, the Barrreport, APC and here. You will find some that still insist that plants need pink lights but the majority of forward thinking people and those who research heavily are pretty much agreed that plants adapt to the light available and it doesn't really matter to anyone who isn't wanting to grow huge productive buds as fast as they can on their plantmass.

 

[TrainRek77]

I'm not sure how you can type an essay in rebuttal to a few sentences. I grew weed for a medicinal clinic southern California so I'm not worried about police or helicopters. Your arrogance is prevalent in your reply. I also worked under an electrical engine for many years as a diagnostician for transit buses. I do not need an education on how L.E.D.'s work. Here's the meaning behind the original post. Don't spend lots of money on lighting until you're sure you like taking care of aquatic plants. Buy the 60 dollar light, it will grow plants. If you don't like it then all you're out is 60 bucks. So tell me again how you don't sound condescending?

 

[SuperColey1]

I'm not sure how you can type an essay in rebuttal to a few sentences. I grew weed for a medicinal clinic southern California so I'm not worried about police or helicopters. Your arrogance is prevalent in your reply. I also worked under an electrical engine for many years as a diagnostician for transit buses. I do not need an education on how L.E.D.'s work. Here's the meaning behind the original post. Don't spend lots of money on lighting until you're sure you like taking care of aquatic plants. Buy the 60 dollar light, it will grow plants. If you don't like it then all you're out is 60 bucks. So tell me again how you don't sound condescending?

I'll try and stay within a paragraph or 2

Firstly you did not say anything about trying out the cheaper initial outlay before spending more on the LED. You simply said that the 96W was a better deal than any LED, which it isn't.

Secondly Biulu has been growing plants for a long time so she already knows that her existing lights work but is looking specifically into researching LEDs and the possibility of using them. Posts like yours taking simply the initial outlay as enough to say that they are a bad deal in comparison to the 96W light are not very useful in that respect.

Apologies for assuming you were some skunk grower in an apartment but you should have cleared that up. If I were in your shoes I would know that everyone would think by the way you wrote it that your cupboard had an illumination coming from it or had a silver zip tent in it.

Then you went onto the red/blue statements which if you read through any forums are pretty much done away with these days for all but the die-hard unbelievers. Most of them are still in the categories of hobbyists that either believe to grow red plants in a true red you add extra iron or that you have to limit nitrates or some other old school belief. For me I can make a red plant look red or a cherry shrimp look like a top grade. How?......ermm funnily enough by putting a pink or yellow or red light above them. lol. correlations madea lot of poor assumptions.

As for my condescending tone, we have worked hard on many forums to try and help educate and expel all the myths surrounding light, nutrients, CO2 and all sorts of other things trying to expel the false correlations so maybe I did go overboard a little but it is a little frustrating for people to come on stating as fact something we know is not true.

SO whilst I undertsand your last post and can agree with a first timer checking out the hobby before going for hi tec stuff and possibly wasting money I know Biulu is way past that stage and whilst you may have knowledge of years working with LEDs we are talking the high power ones that have become part of the mainstream over the past 5-6 years and not the standard 3mm - 5mm ones.

I would agree with anyone that they are nigh on useless for growth unless you are using thousands and thus in their case would end up costing similar energy as other forms of lighting as well as having many more chances of failure.

So if it sounds condescending , have to apologise but if you are going to state something as fact it needs to be up to date and if you are going to proudly state you grow weed (hence the knowledge of lightin) then you need to explain it a bit better rather than looking like an apartment farm grower.

Sorry more than 2 paragraphs but a little shorter than my normals posts all the same

Andy