Substituting T5 HO's for LED

[nicklassandager]

Hi there

I'm considering changing out my current 4 x 80w HO T5 lamp setup (360 watt in all) for Fluval Plant 3.0 Leds. The price to performance ratio seems really nice. I'm looking for advice on how many of the LED lamps i should setup in order to obtain an equivalent level of light and coverage in the aquarium. The aquarium is 530 liter, with the dimensions of 160 cm wide, 60 tall and 55 back to front. Its heavily planted (dutch layout inspired) and has high levels of co2 injection. I would guess my current lighting setup can be described as at the higher end of medium lighting level.

The Fluval Plant 3.0 has these characteristics sited on their website:

MODEL Item #	PLANT SPECTRUM LED 14520	PLANT SPECTRUM LED 14521	PLANT SPECTRUM LED 14522	PLANT SPECTRUM LED 14523
UPC	015561145209	015561145213	015561145220	015561145237
Size Range	15- 24" (38 - 61 cm)	24 - 34" (61 - 85 cm)	36 - 48" (91 - 122 cm)	48 - 60" (122 - 153 cm)
LEDs	99	168	252	336
Wattage	22 W	32 W	46 W	59 W
Lumens	1450 lm	2350 lm	3300 lm	4250 lm
Color Temp.	6500 K	6500 K	6500 K	6500 K
Lifetime	50 000 hrs	50 000 hrs	50 000 hrs	50 000 hrs

Does anyone have any advice on configuration and number of LED lamps?

 

[oreo57]

OK first a simple "rule if thumb" that historically has been fairly accurate:
1)2 watt LED per 1 watt tubes.
Now PAR measurements of even lux is much better.
W/ dimming and shooting for the safe side 2:3
A bigger issue is in butting led's together. Depending on the distance from last diode to first diode it may work well or may not.
Farther the distance the more light falloff between them
It's not always visible to the eye but it is there.
Raising the light helps but you lose oar at depth.
So 4 14522's would be a start .
184 watts
though the size is wrong
4 14521'sare too low in output.

Fluvals aren't quite designed to accommodate a tank of that size really.

A 14521/214522 pair fits better but even with 2 sets your power is low. 156w

Then you need to worry about braces and where they are.

As a comparison.. 6 AI Prime freshwaters would overall work better but that is like 1200 US if you can get them here.

 

[nicklassandager]

Thanks @oreo57. I do agree with regard to PAR vs. Lumen. Unfortunatly Fluval apparently doesn't state that information on their website (in the interests of us as consumers they really should).

 

[oreo57]

This is for a "2" but 3 is similar.
Fluval 2 par

Post # 78