• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up

6,500k, 1120 lm, 10.6 w ok for 80cm w, 45cm high tank?

ojustaboo

Member
Joined
15 Mar 2011
Messages
200
Hi all

New Eheim Vivaline LED 126, the LED it comes with is a daylight bulb with 6,500k, 1120 lm, 10.6 w

Still in the process of setting up, hardscape arriving Tuesday. Plants about another week away.

Just set the LED up to test it, it's a simple on off one. I notice in the Eheim manual a special one for plants is available,
that one is a whopping £180 and is 8,350 k, 840 lm, 10.6 w , so it's lower Lumen but higher Kelvin.

No way on this planet I would pay that price for LED at the same time it's made me wonder whether mine is up to the job.
Will be a CO2 system, cant say which plants I will have yet (Aquarium Gardens making me up a suggested list based on stock etc)

Slightly irked, the advert for my tank said

EHEIM vivalineLED is the new freshwater aquarium combination in four different sizes and countless colour combinations, consisting of aquarium with –EHEIM LED lighting, cabinet, filter, heater and biological filter media. You only have to think about fish and plants.

I took that as presuming the LED was suitable for plants

Many thanks
 
Looking at it on paper the light seems way underpowered for a planted aquarium of that size at 10.6 watts .

Fluval Plant 3.0 for example is 32w in the 60cm version, so 3X the energy.

For an 80cm long x 45cm deep aquarium with added co2 you would need a minimum of 30 watts to see any real benefit from the co2, and many would go much higher. Many 60cm aquascaping lights are over 50 watts and that's shorter than you tank. The Eheim light may be suitable for growing low light plants in non co2 environment but would not be suitable in a high tech tank.
 
Watts, Lumens and PAR are three ways to compare the light output.

Watts is very inaccurate as it doesnt account for the lights efficiency and LED also change very fast so last months model may be more efficient as this weeks.
Lumens is better than watts as it measures the light output but plants only use Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR),
PAR is the true units of comparison for light output for plants and light manufactures should really give PAR outputs esp when its for plants - but few do.
 
Fluval Plant 3.0 for example is 32w in the 60cm version, so 3X the energy.
But, at 2350 lm, only twice the light output. One reason why watts/gallon is not very useful.


I would see how your plants get on with the supplied light before spending any money on extra lights. And look at cheaper options than the Eheim one if you do find you need to upgrade.
 
Hi all

New Eheim Vivaline LED 126, the LED it comes with is a daylight bulb with 6,500k, 1120 lm, 10.6 w

Still in the process of setting up, hardscape arriving Tuesday. Plants about another week away.

Just set the LED up to test it, it's a simple on off one. I notice in the Eheim manual a special one for plants is available,
that one is a whopping £180 and is 8,350 k, 840 lm, 10.6 w , so it's lower Lumen but higher Kelvin.

No way on this planet I would pay that price for LED at the same time it's made me wonder whether mine is up to the job.
Will be a CO2 system, cant say which plants I will have yet (Aquarium Gardens making me up a suggested list based on stock etc)

Slightly irked, the advert for my tank said



I took that as presuming the LED was suitable for plants

Many thanks
Hi,
I have the tank 80cm long and 35cm tall. Originally it came with 60cm 9w LED strip. Plants were growing OK but very slow, then I added CO2 but plants still grew at the same pace. Started dosing EI but again plants were growing slow. And after a year I have finally upgraded my light to Superfish Slim 74 which is 46watt, 7300k, 2984lumen and 230par. The difference it made was WOW! Also I don’t regret even buying the controller for sunrise and sunset despite that it is slightly overpriced for so basic functionality.. The lights it self are £60-£70 depending on the shop selling it. Also it comes with 2 years warranty.
cheers,
Dan
 
But, at 2350 lm, only twice the light output. One reason why watts/gallon is not very useful.


I would see how your plants get on with the supplied light before spending any money on extra lights. And look at cheaper options than the Eheim one if you do find you need to upgrade.
Simple "why lumens break down" w/ certain lights:
Composite, black curve is what a lumen (or lux) meter measures, or should measure:
Colored is the Fluval spectrum of course. Rough estimate.
Simple calculator:
Notice 10 lumens of pure blue light is 1.16 PAR
10 lumens of poor cri 6500k led is 0.13 PAR
Green curve is night vision sensitivity or why a 4500k moon looks blue /white.
To be fair cheap 6500k leds also have a lot of blue.
Between the 2 posted lights the actual PAR may be the same since 8500K light is cooler (more blue) so more missed photons.
Not sure what makes their plant light soo special as to cost so much more.
found this one but it's 9200k 9.8W 970 lumens but a row of 450nm blue diodes maybe. It's implied but not really stated.
100%-ish PAR and low "lumens" if measured on it's own.


fluvlumens.JPG
 
Last edited:
I've just put the supplied Eheim light on, and with an empty tank I can see there's no way that will be good enough.

About to order the Superfish Slim 74 that MrClockOff suggested
 
Hi,
I have the tank 80cm long and 35cm tall. Originally it came with 60cm 9w LED strip. Plants were growing OK but very slow, then I added CO2 but plants still grew at the same pace. Started dosing EI but again plants were growing slow. And after a year I have finally upgraded my light to Superfish Slim 74 which is 46watt, 7300k, 2984lumen and 230par. The difference it made was WOW! Also I don’t regret even buying the controller for sunrise and sunset despite that it is slightly overpriced for so basic functionality.. The lights it self are £60-£70 depending on the shop selling it. Also it comes with 2 years warranty.
cheers,
Dan

Watching the Superfish vid, the way it fits a lidded tank is by using brackets either side of the center support glass.

p2.JPG









p1.JPG



Mine doesn't have any center support, so I suppose I would have to knock something up to make it fit properly?

The Eheim one fits either end like

eheim-variluxled-120-beleuchtungsabdeckung-mit-classic-led.jpg
 

Attachments

  • eheim-variluxled-120-beleuchtungsabdeckung-mit-classic-led.jpg
    eheim-variluxled-120-beleuchtungsabdeckung-mit-classic-led.jpg
    10.5 KB · Views: 142
Watching the Superfish vid, the way it fits a lidded tank is by using brackets either side of the center support glass.

View attachment 160420








View attachment 160421


Mine doesn't have any center support, so I suppose I would have to knock something up to make it fit properly?

The Eheim one fits either end like

View attachment 160422
The light also has extendable brackets which may work in your case. Otherwise DIY something more suitable.
My original LED strip was attached to the lid with four screws. I have measured the distance between the holes in the lid and drilled two holes in each plastic bracket (which came with the light too) at the same distance. Attached the brackets with screws to the lid where the original light was fixed. Clicked in the new light in to the brackets and job done!

My plan B was to use Velcro heavy duty hook and loop straps if plan A would fail :)
 
Hi,
Thanks for your thread and congratulations, nice tank.
I am thinking about buying an Eheim Vivaline 126 like yours. Would you be so kind and tell me what is the glass thickness of the aquarium? On their official website it says something like 6/8mm
So I am lost.. is it 6mm or 8mm. For a 80x40x45 tank I would feel better if it was 8mm
Really appreciate if you could confirm. Thanks
 
Back
Top