LED Colour Rendition a la James' Cheap T5s

[Tim Harrison]

I think that it is high time that we had an LED version of James' brilliant post Cheap HO T5 fluorescent tubes - Update with photos | UK Aquatic Plant Society

There is no doubt that LED lighting is the future but so far I've been underwhelmed by its colour rendition.

At the very least are there any affordable units out there that give a similar colour rendition to this for instance?

Sylvania Grolux + Philips de Luxe Pro 965

 

[foxfish]

GU10 bulbs come in quite a few colours, I have used blue, red, white & cool white.
You can even buy colour changing bulbs but they are not very bright.

 

[Simon jones]

Definitely!!!!!!!

 

[flygja]

One LED fixture is already expensive enough, I don't know how you'd test multiple LED fixtures on the same tank LOL. LED colour rendition index (CRI) is still not quite to fluorescent standards. I use Cree XR-E and XM-L LEDs (can't remember what bin, but they're neutral white) and red plants definitely don't look good.

Viktor's tanks that run the ADA Aquasky unit look pretty good in photos though, even if a touch warmish. Some pics from his Flickr page. Viktor I hope you don't mind, I'll take them down if you do:


Green Aqua Showroom by viktorlantos, on Flickr


Green Aqua Showroom by viktorlantos, on Flickr

I think if you wanted amazing colour rendition on LEDs, you'll need to use multiple coloured LEDs with individual dimmers for each colour group to tune it to your liking. Definitely a big DIY job and commercial units will be seriously expensive.

 

[Tim Harrison]

Thanks, that's kinda what I thought, but was hoping that I was wrong. Better start saving

 

[flygja]

I think I just answered my own question - we'll need Viktor and George's help for this since they have the capability to experiment with different units