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growbeam tiles

andyhorne28

Member
Joined
27 Oct 2010
Messages
35
Hi all, can anyone tell me how many growbeam tiles i would need for a 900x450x450 tank? i cant seem to find any info on how much area one tile covers or how deep they go??? also how high do you need to suspend them from the water surface?
andy :crazy:
 
From the experience I have had with the grow beam tiles. You would need two for a tank this size. Either that, or one tile and two LED stips.

I think they also suggest you position the LED's quite close to the water. I however would mount them around 30cm's or play around with the heights and power output ratings on the control unit.

I found them very good for initial control over light levels when growing in after planting. I would set the hight, in my case around 30cms, and then set the power output to 50% and ramped it up over the days and weeks by 10% until I was happy with the level and length of light.

Very good units, a little bit plastic'y but can still look classy on the right mounting and expensive too.

Heres how mine looked.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us
 
Can't offer any advice, but Greame that scape looks great did you ever journal it?
 
Are you no longer at TGM?
I was certain your big scape was in PFK about floating plants, it did look sorry for itself. :(
That's a real shame, at least the ADA cubes are cheaper than Aquariums LTD!
 
I agree with Graeme (great to see you on here pal!) :thumbup:

2 x TMC GroBeam 1000 ND LED tiles will be sufficient, mounted around 30cm above water surface.

They have a very high PAR. Not as bright to our eye as 150w halide, but better for plant growth, so you'll need to play with the power settings (controllable from 0 - 100%). You can ramp up and down also between 0 - 100%, or whatever you wish upto a max of 4 hours ramps up/down transition. They even have a storm mode!

Here's an aquascape I did for PFK Editor, Jeremy Gay, using 2 of these units on his super shallow Iwagumi - 80 x 30 x 60cm. Three weeks to grow a full glosso carpet!

5376421026_f60cbfbdf9_z.jpg
 
thanks for the info, i think i will go for them, i know they are a bit expensive but don't you get that back in the running costs over the years and they should last quite a while too?.. i need to find a good way of suspending them over the tank keeping the look as clean as possible
cheers
andy
 
They last 50,000hrs - about 10 years.

They use 30w max each, so 60w is pretty good for a high-energy 180 litre tank.

TMC do a hanging kit too.

Hopefully your tank is positioned appropriately underneath a couple of roof joists so you can screw directly into them. I positioned the lighting rig, then moved the tank left/right so it was directly central underneath.
 
I need advice how to mount them. I am not keen to drill holes in to ceiling. Are there any support pendants on legs available on the cheap? Something as seen on George photo above? Thanks
 
yep that one. I was googling half day using various names how to build that on the cheap or buy for normal price but I am not English native so my google results been 0 :)
 
tyrophagus yr lights seem very high in the pic glad you dropped them down. do you find that the light from the L.E.D is blinding when yr viewing the tank? I'm currently running two Tmc 500 marine whites on my 60L planted and i had to put a blinker type panel to block out the glare from them as i felt it spoils the view. hc and dwarf hair grass growing well too...
 
radik i was thinking about using 25mm box section aluminum from these guys:

http://www.esedirect.co.uk/s-32-square-tube.aspx

you can even buy plastic elbow joints etc...i've also found it in smaller 20mm sections on the web, i was thinking about running all the power inside the the boxing to keep everything clean and tidy.
hope this helps
andy
 
Andy they were a problem at 30cm above the surface, detracted from the scape and I've been thinking about making panel to go around the edges, perhaps just an inch or 2. Ideally it would be nice to source an aluminum shade that would fit over the lights - they are a bit to industrial in appearance for me.

Nice thing about them is there lifespan, low wattage, low heat, environmentally friendly, intensity and duration control as well as the shimmer effect. I'm very happy with them.
 
Hey guys, I was looking to hang 3 GroBeam 1000 tiles but I am not sure how the hanging system that TMC supplies as its not clear, is the rail system compatible with the tiles and how easy are they to cut?
I am looking to cover the 3 tiles with a long shade type thing as already suggested above but I am concerned that the electrical wire from the tiles may be a bit sort and I will end up ugly wire everywhere, does anyone have any idea how long the wires are? I am going to hook up the tiles to a Multi controller as its recommended on the TMC site. Any way here is a pic of my vision so you guys get a better understanding of what im rambling on about.
tankf.png
 
how can i upload a picture from a smart phone on here as i made a light system from kitchen ducting sprayed black with tmc 500's? (on loan). please note this is a low budget tank running cat litter capped under sand and yeast co2 etc... hc and hair grass with dragon stone hardscape...my 1st attempt at a planted so please be nice :?
smart phone but not so smart user lol :oops:
Andy
 
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