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Anyone using these without trouble?

Reuben

Member
Joined
17 Feb 2013
Messages
179
Hi

TMC Grobeam 600.

I have a hi tech 125L with these over and a controller so I can dim them. They seem to be very powerful as far as I can tell. I find that I have to run them at 25% max output or I get diatoms -lots of them.

Just interested to know if anyone has done PAR readings on these, or is using them without dimming them or raising them to the ceiling!

Thanks
 
I have one over an 80 litre breeding tank, but it is about 6-8" above the tank. I have a PAR meter I can check tomorrow, but I dont think it was that high.

Brilliant! That would be very handy if you could. I initially thought they had similar output to T5 tubes, but I seem to have trouble (diatoms) that is usually associated with high level lighting.

Can you test them at 100%, 50% and 25% output or do you not have a controller?
 
George Farmer Founder Offline Message Count: 6,903 New Ian Holdich used two over an 80cm I believe - and with great results. I've long term success with 1500 tiles, which use the same LEDs; just more of them.

Thanks George, though I think Ian was using the 500's (not sure how much difference that makes though). Yes maybe they're not that powerful, but then I'm none the wiser as to why I get such full on diatom problems.

I'm beginning to feel like a broken record with my posts about diatoms:oops:, and would like to be contributing something more interesting to the forum! I think I'm close to getting the hang of this High tech set-up but cannot get good growth from stem plants P. Stellatus for example I'm on my third try with it and it still hasn't got going.

For the record my set-up is:

Fluval 125L tank
Ehiem Pro 3 350T filter
Koralia 900 -circulation pump
Up inline atomizer from FE Co2 -on a solenoid
2x TMC grobeam 600's @ 25% for 8 hrs (about an inch above the water- in a lid)
6ml easycarbo each day
Dosing EI
2 x 80% water change per week
Tank very clean filter serviced once a week (just the top bit)
drop checker is yellow - fish are fine though!

I won't blether on too much :rolleyes: but I have tried all sorts to get back on track. I re-scaped in August and all was good for the first 6 weeks when I then had a problem with Co2 (check valve faulty) took me about a week to correct it and I think this is what inducted the diatoms. Wasn't too worried, reduced the lighting to 10% and did 70% water changes every other day for out 6 weeks. This did not improve things and plant growth stalled or stopped for most species.

I'm sort of at the point of giving up! I'm thinking of increasing the light to 100% - the theory being I'll get faster plant growth and less static surfaces for the diatoms to grow on (I know, don't shoot me down in flames just yet though!). I've absolutely no other algae at all. If this all goes wrong and the plants melt then I'm thinking I might go low tech instead lots of Crypts, Anubias and Echinodorus and Vallis type plants.

Arrgghhh
 
Brilliant! That would be very handy if you could. I initially thought they had similar output to T5 tubes, but I seem to have trouble (diatoms) that is usually associated with high level lighting. Can you test them at 100%, 50% and 25% output or do you not have a controller?

Reuben, do you mean brown diatoms? if so I would say that is more associated with cycling aquariums and low light.

I have many breeding tanks many using different led lighting. The one I mentioned has one single grobeam 600. It lights a 76cm x 30cm x 38cm high tank. The PAR readings:

  • Normal position 58cm from substrate: 16-18 micromols
  • 40 cm from substrate: 35 micromols
They are not that powerful, but 35 is a good level for most plants. I grow some plants fine, but slowly in low tech mode at <20 micromols at substrate, which is fine for my breeding tanks.

Sorry i dont have a dimmer on this tank.

I had brown diatioms on some of the tanks, but I added ottos and this went away overnight.
 
Argh sorry, just saw this was from your enquiry originally. Didn't mean to rub salt into the wound!
:oops:I know. Now you know what I mean about sounding like a broken record....

Sanj - thanks for the readings, it would seem to confirm that my lighting is low then.

, do you mean brown diatoms? if so I would say that is more associated with cycling aquariums and low light.

Well I do think they are diatoms, yes brown, they scrub off rocks but are a bit tricky to remove from plants without damaging them. I do have 4 Otto's in there (because I like them as fish) but they don't seem to make much of a dent in the algae coverage.

At the moment things are not too bad, I can control and limit the diatom spread, I have cleared most of it on the Bolbitus, and most off of the Anubias. Stauro repens is infected and sickly looking, and even old leaves on G. Spilanthodies are affected.
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If you look at the photo of the Pogostemon Stellatus, that is pretty much as good as mine gets and what tends to happen from here in is the old leaves get damaged - or more likely diatom covered- and new growth is so slow that the plant diminishes over time. What I'm after is lush health stems that are fast growing:rolleyes:

I really don't see that I can increase/improve my Co2 level/flow/distribution any more, and don't forget I'm putting 6ml of easy carbo in 125L every day, I mean how much Co2 are they wanting!!!

So what should I try next? Increase my light output to 100% and hope growth (of plants!) kicks in? Or is that just asking for a meltdown and diatom takeover?
Reuben
 
wap it out for some limnophilia aromatica similar stem bit easier once it gets going.

Hi Tim, actually I did try limnophilia aromatica, the first time round it grew very very slowly and eventually stalled, on my second attempt it melted the day after I added it:eek:

I couldn't even get Rotala rotundifolia to work for me! It took about three weeks to change it's leaf structure to the submerged type, then -yep you guessed it- grew so slowly it gradually declined over a couple of months:oops:.

I have had some success honest! Crypts though fairly slow growing do very well and are always in the best of health:) , the anubias grew like mad and flowered and are still growing fairly quick, but are a bit affected by the brown coating.
 
Maybe up your intensity but cut a couple of hours off the photoperiod, make sure co2 is optimum at lights on, Ian holdich recommended purigen to keep diatoms at bay which I have to agree saw mine off, could also be a distribution of flow issue as much as I like spray bars i find with lots of plant mass and hard scape centrally sometimes works better to run single filter outlet across the front of the tank with power head across the back preferably facing the same direction.
 
Anyone else got any advice/opinion? Given the above should I increase the lighting or not?
Thanks
 
This is very helpful! Finally some actual PAR readings for the GroBeam 600! Now everything makes sense!

If at 40 cm you get 35 micromols then if I have it at 45 cm above substrate with a glass lid full of condensation in between, then surely I will have less than 35 micromols which does explain the fact that plants are not growing and that the plants were melting at 30% intensity and 50 cm above substrate which I had it at the beginning.

Do you have a glass lid sanj? What plants do you have? Any information on the tank would be helpful.

Thanks

Reuben, do you mean brown diatoms? if so I would say that is more associated with cycling aquariums and low light.

I have many breeding tanks many using different led lighting. The one I mentioned has one single grobeam 600. It lights a 76cm x 30cm x 38cm high tank. The PAR readings:

  • Normal position 58cm from substrate: 16-18 micromols
  • 40 cm from substrate: 35 micromols
They are not that powerful, but 35 is a good level for most plants. I grow some plants fine, but slowly in low tech mode at <20 micromols at substrate, which is fine for my breeding tanks.

Sorry i dont have a dimmer on this tank.

I had brown diatioms on some of the tanks, but I added ottos and this went away overnight.
 
Sorry to resurrect an old thread...... But Reuben did you sort out your lighting issue with the tmc's? The passed 4 months I am having a very similar issue to you. I lowered intensity to 20% whilst sorting co2 dissolution and distribution. This resulted in no growth and plants eventually fading away. In the passed fortnight I have increased intensity from 20% to 40% and I'm wondering how high to go. These last batch of plants have been in just over a week so conscious that I don't want to nuke them. However I'm also aware that based on others posts that 40% may actually be too low.

My tank is 200l with jbl cristal profi1501 filter with spray bar. Additional 2000lph eheim powerhead. So flow is good.
I have a good level of co2 1 unit ph drop by lights on and I'm using ei (including Magnesium sulphate)....
 
Sorry to resurrect an old thread...... But Reuben did you sort out your lighting issue with the tmc's? The passed 4 months I am having a very similar issue to you. I lowered intensity to 20% whilst sorting co2 dissolution and distribution. This resulted in no growth and plants eventually fading away. In the passed fortnight I have increased intensity from 20% to 40% and I'm wondering how high to go. These last batch of plants have been in just over a week so conscious that I don't want to nuke them. However I'm also aware that based on others posts that 40% may actually be too low.

My tank is 200l with jbl cristal profi1501 filter with spray bar. Additional 2000lph eheim powerhead. So flow is good.
I have a good level of co2 1 unit ph drop by lights on and I'm using ei (including Magnesium sulphate)....


There is a thread where some of us having been discussing this more recently:

http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/par-readings-for-tmc-mini-led-400-and-tmc-grobeam-600.33192/

I'm up to 80% on my 1500 ultima tile, suspended 30cm above the surface and the tank is 45 high, so its around 70 cm from the substrate. I also have a plexiglas cover which gets covered in condensation and diffuses light further. I spent ages with this thing on low intensity last year and stuggled to grow anything other than plants that dont need much light. Most plants were just dormant or died. I had some CO2 equipment problems over Christmas and New Year, but I am getting things going again now and 70% for a week gave me some new growth, upped it to 80% last weekend and my Ech. Rose that has never put out a new leaf since November has put out two this week!

Some people insist that these need to be run on a low intensity, but it really depends how high they are, is there a cover etc. I'm rescaping in a few weeks, so trying to test the limits of the light and see where I get algae. I'm planning on going to 90% this weekend and maybe 100% the week after.
 
I use one Grobeam 600 over my 65g tank, mixed with 2 other leds fixtures from other companies. The Grobeam 600 is the latest addition. It is 22" from the substrate and running 4 hours on full (one other fixture 4 hours and another 6 hours) I have no controller. CO2 must be 12-15ppm, and ferts.

The first month i had an algae rush, but it did finish after cleanup and water changes.

I really like it.

Michel.
 
Interesting. Mine sit on top of the condensation glass within a hood, so I'm not able to raise them. They are probably 50cm or so from the substrate. I am having no problem whatsoever with java fern, crypts and anubias.

I think my plan at the moment is to see if having them at 40% has any adverse effects over the next few days. If not then I may raise them another 2% each day and see what happens.
 
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