Tank Revival

[McCool]

Haven't been on here in a while! I tore down the last of my tanks nearly... a year ago I think? Well, I bought a 20 gallon last night, since I can never stand to stay away from tanks for long. Not sure on what specific plants I plan on doing yet, but won't be doing anything that needs real high light. Any recommendations for good LED fixtures? I have been looking into the Current USA LED+ model, anyone have any experience with them? http/www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=26107 
 
Thanks! 

 

[Ch4rlie]

Not actually had any experience with that LED light fitting, but having had a look at that Dr Fosters unit, have to say it looks pretty good.
 
Especially considering it has RGB & 6500K White LEDs, am assuming your 20 gal is about 24 - 30 " long so the unit that would fit that has 18w of LED light as well as having a par reading, which is not bad tbh.
 
Would say thats certainly worth a go for low to med tech set ups

 
Just to add another into the mix, i have T5's lights on my 20 gal tank, that works pretty good for a moderate planted tank and prices are not so bad either if not a little cheaper.
 
Just keeping your options open

 

[RCA]

+1 re: T5s. I did a lot of research before replacing a T8 unit on my Juwel Vision (link in sig., which I will update with new pics), and through all the reading I did, came to the conclusion that a T5 unit was the way to go. Some of the issues with LEDs is that they fade after time, and you cannot replace them! They are expensive for what they are. Unless going for very high light intensive plants, the T5s with reflectors do a good job and are a lot cheaper to replace the tubes when needed.

 

[McCool]

Not actually had any experience with that LED light fitting, but having had a look at that Dr Fosters unit, have to say it looks pretty good.
 
Especially considering it has RGB & 6500K White LEDs, am assuming your 20 gal is about 24 - 30 " long so the unit that would fit that has 18w of LED light as well as having a par reading, which is not bad tbh.
 
Would say thats certainly worth a go for low to med tech set ups

 
Just to add another into the mix, i have T5's lights on my 20 gal tank, that works pretty good for a moderate planted tank and prices are not so bad either if not a little cheaper.
 
Just keeping your options open

 
Thanks! And yes, it's a 30" long tank. I'll certainly be keeping the LED light saved, but might take another look into T5s. Any brand fixture you would recommend? I've heard negative things about Aqueon, although I don't have any actual experience with them. 
 

+1 re: T5s. I did a lot of research before replacing a T8 unit on my Juwel Vision (link in sig., which I will update with new pics), and through all the reading I did, came to the conclusion that a T5 unit was the way to go. Some of the issues with LEDs is that they fade after time, and you cannot replace them! They are expensive for what they are. Unless going for very high light intensive plants, the T5s with reflectors do a good job and are a lot cheaper to replace the tubes when needed

 
T5s are actually what I had on my last planted tank, although I never quite had enough light for the growth I wanted. Are there any fixtures you'd suggest? I'd definitely be willing to give them another shot, just want to make sure I get the right thing! 

 

[RCA]

+1 re: T5s. I did a lot of research before replacing a T8 unit on my Juwel Vision (link in sig., which I will update with new pics), and through all the reading I did, came to the conclusion that a T5 unit was the way to go. Some of the issues with LEDs is that they fade after time, and you cannot replace them! They are expensive for what they are. Unless going for very high light intensive plants, the T5s with reflectors do a good job and are a lot cheaper to replace the tubes when needed

 
T5s are actually what I had on my last planted tank, although I never quite had enough light for the growth I wanted. Are there any fixtures you'd suggest? I'd definitely be willing to give them another shot, just want to make sure I get the right thing!

TBH I cannot recommend anything within the US, as what I eventually did was buy a replacement Juwel unit, despite its mixed reviews there were more fors than against. Suggest you look at the planting specific forums and websites as that is where I did some of my research. Good Luck.

 

[StevenF]

Some of the issues with LEDs is that they fade after time, and you cannot  replace them!
 

 
all florescent lights as well as LED light fade over time.  LEDs historically have faded at a fare higher rate than LEDs  However advancements in florescent lighting have reduced that gap.  As to replacements, you can replace the fluorescent ulb  but the head created  by the bulb will over time degrade the ballast and lamp sockets so eventually you have to fixtures as well .  With LEDs the ballast (actually a constant current power supply ) and LED are replaced at the same time.  
 
Now if your LED is one designed to fit in a standard home screw socket  replacement is easy.  Just go to the store buy a new LED bulb (currently about $10) and  and screw it  in.  The issue with specialty LED lights like the  "Satelite freshwater led+ fixture"  mentioned at the start of the post is that it basically has a computer in it to do all the light mode and communicate with the remote.  So the high cost of that light is not in the leds or its ballast but in computer running it.  If it didn't have all the color or special effects modes or the remote it woullb probably cost about $20 (maybe even less).
 
As to  "Satelite freshwater led+ fixture"  I don't have and never seen it.  however looking at the specs the PAR rating is rather low and probably only adequate for low light plants only.  The wattages list also are constant with my low light setup.   Also RGB lights only produce a narrow spectrum of red blue and green.  So the colors of the fish  and plants would probably not look as good as they would under a full spectrum white LED with a fixed color temperature.  Also one reviewer of that product stated that the remote failed and as a result they could not turn it on (no power switch on the light, only on the remote).  Also the one feature I would like to see is a slow brightening of the light when turned on and a slow dimming when it is turned off.  My observation is that fish don't like it when the light suddenly comes on at full brightness.

 

 

[McCool]

Some of the issues with LEDs is that they fade after time, and you cannot  replace them!
 

 
all florescent lights as well as LED light fade over time.  LEDs historically have faded at a fare higher rate than LEDs  However advancements in florescent lighting have reduced that gap.  As to replacements, you can replace the fluorescent ulb  but the head created  by the bulb will over time degrade the ballast and lamp sockets so eventually you have to fixtures as well .  With LEDs the ballast (actually a constant current power supply ) and LED are replaced at the same time.  
 
Now if your LED is one designed to fit in a standard home screw socket  replacement is easy.  Just go to the store buy a new LED bulb (currently about $10) and  and screw it  in.  The issue with specialty LED lights like the  "Satelite freshwater led+ fixture"  mentioned at the start of the post is that it basically has a computer in it to do all the light mode and communicate with the remote.  So the high cost of that light is not in the leds or its ballast but in computer running it.  If it didn't have all the color or special effects modes or the remote it woullb probably cost about $20 (maybe even less).
 
As to  "Satelite freshwater led+ fixture"  I don't have and never seen it.  however looking at the specs the PAR rating is rather low and probably only adequate for low light plants only.  The wattages list also are constant with my low light setup.   Also RGB lights only produce a narrow spectrum of red blue and green.  So the colors of the fish  and plants would probably not look as good as they would under a full spectrum white LED with a fixed color temperature.  Also one reviewer of that product stated that the remote failed and as a result they could not turn it on (no power switch on the light, only on the remote).  Also the one feature I would like to see is a slow brightening of the light when turned on and a slow dimming when it is turned off.  My observation is that fish don't like it when the light suddenly comes on at full brightness.  

Thanks! This was very helpful! Are there any fixtures you'd suggest instead? Ideally I'd like to be able to grow low to medium light plants fairly easily. It is a 20 gallon long, so not much depth on the tank.

 

[StevenF]

Thanks! This was very helpful! Are there any fixtures you'd suggest instead? Ideally I'd like to be able to grow low to medium light plants fairly easily. It is a 20 gallon long, so not much depth on the tank. 
 

 
Sorry I don't have any recommendations for lights strictly designed for Aquariums.  In my current aquarium a used on I simply adapted the hood to accept CFLs and then later replaced those with standard screw in LED lamps.  For Medium light you need about 20 to 25 lumens per square inch of surface area.