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what led

gareth

gareth

Seedling
Joined
15 Oct 2014
Messages
18
hi can anyone help im looking for some led lighting for my 8ft tank i have a budget of around 600 for the lights they have to be programable etc. im getting completly confused with what type i should have it will be a fully planted tank.
ive been looking at the evergrow it2080 range does anyone know if they are good for FW they are used alot on marine tanks and have heard of them on FW.
any help would be greatly appreciated or any recommendations on any other lights.

thanks in advance.
 
When on a budget some T5's will do the job, lots of DIY possibilities. I feel the LED market is still murky waters, some will work great, others will be overpiced and some will be totally overpriced rubbish.
 
Hi all,
If you don't mind T5s you can get <"4' 54W Horticultural "lightwave" fittings"> cheaply. They don't have the aesthetic appeal of a specialist aquarium light but I've been pleased with the ones I bought for our glasshouse.

The 8 light unit can be run with all 8 tubes, or the inner 4, or the outer 4 and is about £150, so two of them to cover the 8' will leave you with plenty of cash in hand.

cheers Darrel
 
dw1305 said:
That looks very promising, which LED driver would you recommend to go with it?
Click to expand...
No driver need just apply 9-30V

However....
- No power supply. You will need to source 9-30V DC at suitable current.
- No brightness control. So will need to be careful to prevent vaporising all plant life.
- You need to be 100% convinced these really are Cree LED's at that price. And not "Chinese R... E...E.. can't remember exact name, but initials were CREE . Our LED spot light at work, after it got dim and failed was found to be "Cree equivalents" LED's, as it said on the box, but not Ebay listing :confused:. Replacement "proper LED job" cost £100 for 50W light and that is still going.
 
Personally and as an engineer who has designed LED fixtures and taken apart numerous failed cheap LED fixtures (all failed as built to a too low price) I would buy proper "big boy" named LED units to guarantee a known light level and respectable lifetime

For example in your 8 foot tank, two of these 120cm units would do it. The main important point of these, as far as I am concerned is PAR values at various depth is given. Absolutely essential for planted tank.The controller has timer and brightness control, essential as these are decent lights. Also range of fittings so can be professionally fitted above the tank.
http://www.arcadia-aquatic.com/classica-otl-led/

Only minor niggle, completely outweighed of course by the fact that it is a known manufacturer, has brightness control and has stated PAR values is in the link below.
http://www.swelluk.com/aquarium/fis...ica-otl-led-light-unit-freshwater-540727.html
 
Hi all,
Edvet said:
Enlighten me, i am a noob regarding this. Why would you need a driver, aren't these "plug and play"??
Click to expand...
Sorry, I didn't really phrase the question very well. I should have said "which transformer....".

The lights are sold for pick-up trucks, so they run on 12V DC (or the range from 9V - 30V).

The fitting is rated at 18W, so hopefully "ian_m" can suggest the amperage range for a constant voltage LED transformer/driver?

I assume it is about 2A? but I don't know much about LEDs.

cheers Darrel
 
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Sorry to hijack your thread Gareth, but Ian don't you agree the LED market is very muddy? I believe prices are overhyped at the moment, it's a new technology, not many people know all in and outs, it's hard to gauge the output of a unit (no easily available cheap PAR meters) it's hard to tell quality from the outside and traditionaly marketing is good at blowing smoke/hot air and claim that aal is beautifull..................
I would love some down to earth, easy and widely accepted thruths about LED's. There must be good cheaper alternatives compared to the high priced aquarium units. I understand desing, early availability and low volume production costs money, but some are charging prices which surely must lead to ridiculous profits.
 
Edvet said:
but Ian don't you agree the LED market is very muddy?
Click to expand...
Probably.

Genuine Cree/Osram LED's cost money, a proper 3W Cree LED will cost £2 odd and a 10W £4 odd, lens £2 odd maybe all cheaper in quantity. Even worse a proper power supply, that will last, is not cheap for example a genuine Cree LED power supply to drive 10 off 3W Cree LED's £30.

This is why your Acardia lights, TMC tiles etc and their power supplies cost so much. They use genuine Cree/Osram quality parts & quality power supplies/controllers.

Cree LED's are the most faked, have a quick google to see all about it.
http://www.ledwarehouse.com/pages/led-tech

Cree LED's
ledtech1_grande.png

Not Cree LED's.
ledtech2.png


My first hit Ebay for 3W CREE LED, Chinese Republic Element Emitters or what ever, clearly not the American LED company CREE parts.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CREE-3W-5...t=LH_DefaultDomain_3&var=&hash=item43d14882fd

When I designed some LED power supplies I couldn't really do them properly for under £10 for just the parts, probably end sale price of over £30. One of the high temperature essential capacitors was £1.50 even in bulk, though a lower quality would fail in a year replacement was 11pence !!!. Could have cut corners used cheaper lower quality, low temperature rated parts but then power supply lifetime will suffer and be significantly less than the LED !!!
 
I did a cree xbd led fixture this summer: http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/diy-move-from-t5-to-led.33917/#post-363110 star board mounted cree leds / driver etc are pretty cheap to be honest, and that's even for a consumer buying not in quantity. All said the mini floodlights above would do a tidy job and come in even cheaper than diy!

Going DIY, you do have to do a few sums about output power, but a dimmable ballast / potentiometer only adds an extra £20 or so and a bit more electronic savvy, but if you are designing for your own need then you can run a circuit that will equate to TMC 600 run at say 50 - 70% etc.

Love the lights and the low heat output above the water (was an issue over the hot summer with the T5s)
 
Don't worry guys you havnt hijack the thread it's still on subject.lol I appreciate all the help I have been looking at the arcadia lights and I know like some say brands like that are over priced for what they actually are. but me and electrics don't mix and not sure I would be confident enough to try something as big as I would need. But I think I will give it a go on a sump light start small..
What my main problem is I understand plants need light obvious! But what type what colour and what is par?
I keep reading it online but it gets too technical do you know off sites or links where it starts simple and stays simple so I can build my knowledge or if anyone can explain it.
 
Forget about color. No need to worrie about that, plants can grow with all colours, despite of what the marketing departments of lighting firms say. Par is the amount of lightparticles/energy plants can use to grow, this is the new (and correct as it seems ) value to use to ascertain wether you have low, medium or high light. There are PAR meters you can use, but these are quite expensive yet. So there are other ways to gauge them.
15856286766_76585730dd_o.jpgPARforVariousBulbs by Edvet, on Flickr
Without CO2 stay in the low light values, with high light you'll need super good CO2 values and distribution.
 
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