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A Quick Guide to Choosing LED Bulbs

OllieNZ

Member
Joined
11 Nov 2009
Messages
990
Location
Witney, UK
Hi All,
After seeing quite a few threads asking for help with LEDs I thought I'd share my experiences with them.
Not all LEDs are created eaqually so buyer beware
What to look for when buying?
-Chip manufacturer: Cree are the best but any branded bulb phillips,orsam etc should be using decent chips
-Chip wattage: You should use bulbs whose chips are a minimum of 1w. Bulbs with loads of small LEDs may have the same final wattage but wont produce the same light intensity.
-Light output: Check the lumen value of the bulb as I have recently seen a 3x1w rated at 480lm and a 3x3w rated at 480lm aswell and the 3x3w were triple the cost o_O
-Lens angle: This is quite Important, the lower the angle the tighter the beam.
-Lifespan: Most bulbs will have a life in excess of 30,000 hrs any less may mean the bulb has issues with heat dissipation
-Bulb fitting: pick a fitting that is easy to get holders for, I use gu10 as there are loads of nice off the shelf fittings for them.
Placing them over the tank.
I personally am using 2 3w gu10 fitting bulbs over my 60x35x35cm tank. They are suspended approx 30cm above the tank to get the light spread. I consider this tank to be very low light and have chosen plants that reflect this.
0172.jpg

This shows how tight the beams are quite well. It almost looks like I've got a couple of ufos hovering over the tank.
 
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