LED lighting

[wolfiewill]

I've had several conversations with OVAS members lately about LED lighting and I am always referring to an article which discusses several of the brand names and compares their relative abilities. So, perhaps it's time to start a thread on this topic by offering the link. I read this article some time ago and acted on it by purchasing the TMC Grobeam 500 and 600s for fresh water aquariums. I'm very pleased with the performance and since these lights are now available in Canada, I will purchasing them exclusively for all my tanks as the need arises. I prefer metal halides but the energy costs and heat produced are problematic. I also like the shimmering effect from both, and although I have no problems with the results of CFs and HO-T5s, will continue to replace lights with LEDs, and for deep tanks, metal halides supplemented with LEDS. Enjoy the read. If you are considering a lighting purchase in the next while, this should be helpful. Cheers.

http://aquarium-digest.com/2010/06/30/led-light-review-tmc-xg-1500-maxspect-more/

[exv152]

Sent you a PM.

[wolfiewill]

The Canadian supplier is http://www.jlaquatics.com

Sorry, should have added that.

[exv152]

What size tanks have you been using the 500s and 600s on (in terms of depth in inches)?

[Al]

Gotta love advertising and biased reports. Not saying TMC doesn't make good stuff but when I contacted jlaquatics last year they were discontinuing TMC because of quality issues That was according to them Lots of led options today and I found, several brands at better prices with more flexibility

[exv152]

Please share the names of those other name brands. I agree there are tons of LED options available today, but few of them are capable of producing more than low-med PAR values for decent plant growth, in a non-marine colour spectrum.

[daworldisblack]

I think from personal experience, I really like the Current Satellites for a lower light option - they are working on another model that provides higher PAR values. For higher light, I've heard great things about the Finnex lights - they just released one with red leds as well for that red spectrum for planted tanks (debatable as to whether its necessary to some). Finnex also has an option for low-medium light fixture. As far as cost effective solutions, those seem the best. I have also tried the marine double bright fixture and you can tell that LEDs have come a long way since they were first introduced.

[Dxpert]

I'm a fan of buildmyled.com. I have had good luck with their 10000k led.

[wolfiewill]

What size tanks have you been using the 500s and 600s on (in terms of depth in inches)?

I am using them on shallow tanks only: up to 12". Tried two 500s on an 18" deep tank several years ago but they didn't do well. Technology has improved since then and I intend to try a single 600 on a 16" tank early next year. My experience is consistent with the general consensus from the Hydroponics people I've talked with. They maintain that LED lights don't penetrate dense foliage well enough yet to be considered over MH and HO-T5s.

[charlie]

I have been following the progress of the Finnex Ray 11 for a bit now, there have not been too many complaints about them, the biggest peeve I have come across is the build quality of the legs.
I will admit I have not done a ton of research on other affordable options, but I'm sold on the Finnex, the price point is right for me & the end result is they do the job they are intended for, I hope Santa remembers to pack the one for my 15 gallon tank so I can have first hand experience with it.
Errol

[wolfiewill]

Gotta love advertising and biased reports. Not saying TMC doesn't make good stuff but when I contacted jlaquatics last year they were discontinuing TMC because of quality issues That was according to them Lots of led options today and I found, several brands at better prices with more flexibility

I have been buying my LEDs from jlaquatics and have spoken to them on the phone in the last couple of weeks and they've said nothing about discontinuing. In fact I am waiting for a single power supply they have ordered for me, and have told them that when it arrives, I want them to ship it with another Grobeam 600. And yes, scepticism is important and so are options. I've tried Marineland and TMCs only. The Marineland were not good enough for plant growth, but may also have improved over the last couple of years. I would like to test out other lights but they are expensive and I've decided to go with what works for me. I mainly want to have good plant growth and enjoy the shimmering effect of MH, which only LEDs replicate. I've done a ton of on-line research and am comfortable that what I have read about the TMC emitor quality. As for the design, reliability, and the workmanship of the TMC hoods I cannot comment beyond my own 2 plus years of experience.

[wolfiewill]

I have been following the progress of the Finnex Ray 11 for a bit now, there have not been too many complaints about them, the biggest peeve I have come across is the build quality of the legs.
I will admit I have not done a ton of research on other affordable options, but I'm sold on the Finnex, the price point is right for me & the end result is they do the job they are intended for, I hope Santa remembers to pack the one for my 15 gallon tank so I can have first hand experience with it.
Errol

Are there any Canadian suppliers of Finnex? Sounds interesting, though.

[charlie]

Yes there is ,a sole Canadian distributer
http://finnex.ca/

[exv152]

I did find this compendium on LED lighting, comparing PAR values, and the grobeam TMC 1000 & 1500 have incredible PAR values even at greater depths. Apparently even better than the finnex ray2. The trade off is the TMC light is an eight by eight inch tile, and the finnex is a longer more narrow fixture.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=160396

[wolfiewill]

I found this one the J & L Aquatics web site that I hadn't seen before. These are the spectrum charts for the TMC Grobeam 1000 'ColorPlus, and the TMC Grobeam 1500 'Natural Daylight' LED tiles. I would like to see spectrums for the other LEDs on the market. Does anyone know if there are any posted? From the compendium of the PAR values on the planted tank forum, Kessil looks to be good comparison wrt PAR at distance (except they only provide PAR values through air only).

The spectrum for the TMC 1000 has less green and yellow than the 1500. This would seem to be an advantage to reduce algae, yes?

[exv152]

Hey Greg, Here is a link i found on J&L's site showing the colour temperature of the grobeam 1500. You'll notice tons of blue, some green and yellow, and virtually no red. This is the issue I've noticed with all LEDs. Even the ones strong enough to grow plants, they have great intensity but poor red colour temp. You'll notice too that most planted tank pics with LEDs tend to only contain green leafed plants, not many reds or yellows.
http://www.jlaquatics.com/manuals/aquaray/grobeam1500_spectrum.pdf

[wolfiewill]

OMG. I just realized that I hadn't included the links for the pages I wrote about. Eric, you got one of them. And the other one for the 1000 is here: http://www.jlaquatics.com/manuals/aquaray/grobeam_colorplus_spectrum.pdf

Notice there is red in the 1000. And the colour temperature is near 9000 degrees v the 1500 which is listed as 6500. The PAR and Lux readings listed are at 15.7 inches (400 mm = 15.7"). I'm so close to purchasing one of the 1000s. I'm trying to be frugal, but......

[exv152]

Yes, the red LEDs are nice but the two cree green LEDs are virtually useless for planted tanks. So you're really only getting the benefit of eight emitters, rather than ten (like on the 1500). Plus the PAR readings are better on the 1500. The link up top to the LED compendium suggests the 1500 is closer to high intensity, whereas the 1000 is medium intensity. This article describes the grobeam 1500 as the best planted tank LED bar none. Scroll down near the bottom 3rd of the page.http://aap.atrixnet.com/?p=338

[Bees]

Just received a Finnex Ray 2 light and I'd like to confirm the comment about the legs.  The included plastic mounting legs are flimsy and slip very loosely through the mounting rails/tracks.  So much so that if you happened to bump the light (which is extremely lightweight) I'm concerned it could shift right off the legs and plop into the tank.  The legs are also composed of a very brittle plastic.

Another problem is that my tank is 39" wide so I ordered the 36" light.  The 36" Coralife compact fluorescent setup I have now has fully adjustable legs and was no problem to mount, accommodating 1.5" easily on either end.  The Finnex casing is actually 35.5" long (the LED strip is 33") and the legs barely extend 1 inch from either end.  Any further and they risk falling out of the mounting rails on the body of the light.  Plop.

All this means is that I'll have to rig up a hanging bracket or get a glass top, which I hadn't anticipated.

Although the Finnex has better light quality, I would say both the Current USA Satellite LED+ and the Fluval Aqualight seem to be better build quality.

[exv152]

The ray2 may be flimsy but it's far superior in performance. What really matters more for plants is the PAR values.  Current satellite LED+ only puts out 28 at 18", and not sure about the fluval, but the ray2 puts out a PAR of 55 at 18". Everything I've read about the fluvals is that it puts out low light. The ray2 are an excellent option for anything under 18 inches in height.