# LEDs vs Fluorescent fixtures



## Steve (Mar 27, 2013)

So I'm thinking of changing my lighting on my 90 gal mbuna tank. I currently have a dual 36" t8 light but 1 of the sides of the fixture doesn't work when the other side is working and I have no idea why (both sides work if only 1 bulb is hooked up, but if both bulbs are hooked up only 1 will work). The tank is mostly rockwork but I would ideally like to grow some low light plants like anubias/java fern since I believe they both attach to rock. Anyway.. I'm wondering - are LEDs better than fluorescent? The price points on both vary from "affordable" to "are you kidding me you want how much for a light!?". It'd be nice if I could find a fluorescent t8 fixture so I could use the bulbs I already purchased but as far as I know no where sells any 36" dual t8 fixtures that can house 2 30 watt bulbs. If that's the case - should I go with a dual t5 fluorescent or some sort of freshwater LED fixture?


----------



## Sidius (Mar 25, 2012)

I think it really comes down to personal preference on the type of lighting. I personally prefer T5HO fixtures with LED moonlights, but there are some bad ass LED fixtures out there. I guess it depends on what look you're going for and which one YOU like the best. LED cost less to run and don't require bulbs, which is nice.


----------



## tony1928 (Apr 22, 2010)

Another big difference between the two is that T5 kick off quite a lot of heat. Used to make my already warm room in summer even warmer. Also Led create a neat shimmer effect similar to halides 

Sent from my gigantic Samsung Note 2


----------



## pdoutaz (May 13, 2010)

I switched all 3 (90 / 65 / 20G) tanks over to LED last year - and have no regrets. Have low light plants on all tanks - still growing well. Only issue - I do not like my beamswork brand fixture - not very durable ( 36" starting to kind of fold in the center)
Just my 2 cents


----------



## Vancitycam (Oct 23, 2012)

I'd say led I went with kessil and still am 100% satisfied, although they may fall under "you want how much of a light" end of price scale but nothing still compared to mh. Really is like sidius said comes down to preference and budget and how you rationalize the expenses. Led pros-run cooler (no tank temp swings major plus!, no hot rooms either from lights) -no bulbs to replace -nice shimmer -colour on my Africans just pops like never before - low cost to run. Led cons - purchase price for sure - growing some plants (not really but depends on your spectrum) - mounting them can be tricky. T5 or t8 as you said, pros- cheaper to buy t5 or t8 cons - bulb replacement - run hot - more electricity - no shimmer. I'm sure there's more points for both pros and cons all I can say is do your research and just crunch the numbers both ways including yearly bulb replacements and go from there after you decided what you really like. Fish don't need much light anyhow, you ever seen how hoaky some breeders are setup.


----------



## tony1928 (Apr 22, 2010)

Ah yes, as others have said T5 bulb replacement can be very costly. My old fixture took 6 tubes at 30 bucks per. The tubes probably should be replaced once a year to maintain their output and light quality. 

Sent from my gigantic Samsung Note 2


----------



## NODES (Jun 21, 2012)

I am using 4x 12 inch USB lights for the computer powered by an Iphone charger.

Cheap and they work great for my Mbuna's


----------



## hi-revs (Nov 3, 2010)

Buy my brandnew 48" beamswork led for freshwater!!!


----------



## Vancitycam (Oct 23, 2012)

Just do some research and compare product reviews, there is also lots on youtube about deferent light setups people give their .02


----------



## liquid_krystale (Dec 13, 2011)

I'm in kinda the same situation as you. Currently looking for an LED light 36" to 48", able to fit my 48" long x 23" deep 77 gallon, and powerful enough to grow med-light plants. 
I've narrowed my choices down to 2 fixtures, the Finnex Ray II or Current USA plant+. Depending on tank depth, I've read that they should be able to handle medium light plants, and if strategically placed, higher light ones as well. I love the sleek profile on both, though Finnex is slightly more powerful and has a higher price point. The current one, however, has a whack load of special effects lighting does moonlights as well, if you're into that sort of thing. I was like  when I saw the programmable sunrise/sunset vid of it on youtube.
Anyone have either and want to given their 2 cents?


----------



## Steve (Mar 27, 2013)

Yeah I guess it really comes down to how much I want to pay and what size I want to go. 36" is what I currently have and covers the tank well so that would save me some cash vs the 48" and I don't think I'll be upgrading to a 5-8' tank within the next few years. My other thought is whether I should invest in a marine light instead of a freshwater light even though I have freshwater fish in case I ever decide to leap on over to the dark side. Anyone know if marine lights can grow freshwater plants and what not?


----------



## Vancitycam (Oct 23, 2012)

Funny you say that, I use three Kessil one amazon sun 6700k centred and two ocean blues 14000k on either side. The amazon sun is a fesh water light and ocean blues are salty lights. I don't want to push kessil LEDs over other brands but the variety of lights available freshwater,salt,regular grow lights plus they have dicon led technology and a quality built housing with all the important fixings. One last point ill make is look at narrow led light strips and then look ad how it lights the tank? like a strip dark either in the back or front not really full coverage, some people like that say it looks better then a fully lighted tank. IMO that's a cover for a low quality led fixture the way the kessil led cup send light into your tank it doesn't go in a strip it's a 2 foot radius thus giving a more natural light coverage front back and side to side. With the amount of money they cost I feel any led unit should light the whole tank not just one end or the front with shadows in the back. Any how if you ever are in delta surrey area you are welcome to stop by and check out my light rack I setup. It's genius if I may say. Some other bca members have seen my lights and decided to save for kessil on thier own african tank instead of cheating out on other units (cough plastic) lol sorry I had to

http://www.diconlighting.com/about/dense_matrix_led.php

There you can read about the technology in the kessil led and I think that you can link to the kessil site from there.


----------



## bonsai dave (Apr 21, 2010)

liquid_krystale said:


> I'm in kinda the same situation as you. Currently looking for an LED light 36" to 48", able to fit my 48" long x 23" deep 77 gallon, and powerful enough to grow med-light plants.
> I've narrowed my choices down to 2 fixtures, the Finnex Ray II or Current USA plant+. Depending on tank depth, I've read that they should be able to handle medium light plants, and if strategically placed, higher light ones as well. I love the sleek profile on both, though Finnex is slightly more powerful and has a higher price point. The current one, however, has a whack load of special effects lighting does moonlights as well, if you're into that sort of thing. I was like  when I saw the programmable sunrise/sunset vid of it on youtube.
> Anyone have either and want to given their 2 cents?


I would recommend the current usa led + . They are great fixtures. I'm currently running 2 fixtures a 48-60 " and 36-48" on my 210 and I happy with the results .


----------



## tony1928 (Apr 22, 2010)

Yeah if you are going to give led a try the most important things in my opinion are coverage and colour temperature. 

Sent from my gigantic Samsung Note 2


----------



## liquid_krystale (Dec 13, 2011)

@ Steve - The price difference btw 36" and 48" LED fixtures is usually not significant. The Current USA LED 36" and 48" differ by only $13. You should be careful with marine light if you want to grow plants, as the colour temp is not ideal for plant growth (ideal is approx 7000K). Researching, I've never come across anyone who's used marine to grow plants.

@ Bonsai dave-Good to know. What type of plants do you have in your 210 and what is the depth of the tank? How is the pace of the growth and are you injecting CO2?


----------



## Steve (Mar 27, 2013)

Hmm interesting reads so far.. I've decided to go the LED route. Now I have to decide which one. I'm kinda looking at around $100-150 if possible so that definitely takes kessil out of the picture. Anyone used the Marineland Double Bright LED fixture before? It uses 6700k bulbs which would be better for growing plants than some other fixtures. The Current USA satellite Freshwater fixture also looks pretty good. I also see the beamswork led fixture hi-revs is selling but it's 10000k LEDs which would be better for my cichlids (i think?) but may not be able to grow low light plants? Looking for any insight!


----------



## charles (Apr 21, 2010)

steve, if you are coming over for the cichlids, you can see how the LED lights I am selling will work for cichlid tank, also good for planted tank.


----------



## hp10BII (Apr 23, 2010)

I have a Marineland Double Bright fixture I bought a few years ago - overpriced and a row of lights are now dead. At least I bought it on sale. Low light plants were fine with it though. I just picked a Current USA FW+ several months ago, the plus means more led's and a cool remote that you can change the colour spectrums - focus on fish colours or plants or a little bit of both - you choose! Only the FW+ have those features, otherwise the standard version has fixed led's. It's also brighter than the Marineland fixture, so growing plants shouldn't be a problem.


----------



## dino (Aug 29, 2011)

Id stay away from marineland led I think youll be disappointed. For me personally I love my led but I did alot of research and spent some money. For me kessel pendant style just doesn't cut it but to each there own. My two biggest reason for switching was heat and bulb replacement


----------



## Vancitycam (Oct 23, 2012)

dino said:


> Id stay away from marineland led I think youll be disappointed. For me personally I love my led but I did alot of research and spent some money. For me kessel pendant style just doesn't cut it but to each there own. My two biggest reason for switching was heat and bulb replacement


What kind led you buy ?


----------



## mikebike (Sep 8, 2010)

I see submersable LED's being advertised on line.

Has anyone tried submersing lights to get them closer to the bottom/plants


----------



## pdoutaz (May 13, 2010)

Steve said:


> Hmm interesting reads so far.. I've decided to go the LED route. Now I have to decide which one. I'm kinda looking at around $100-150 if possible so that definitely takes kessil out of the picture. Anyone used the Marineland Double Bright LED fixture before? It uses 6700k bulbs which would be better for growing plants than some other fixtures. The Current USA satellite Freshwater fixture also looks pretty good. I also see the beamswork led fixture hi-revs is selling but it's 10000k LEDs which would be better for my cichlids (i think?) but may not be able to grow low light plants? Looking for any insight!


I have the 36" Marineland Double on my 65G and still have to trim plants far too often


----------



## Vancitycam (Oct 23, 2012)

dino said:


> Id stay away from marineland led I think youll be disappointed. For me personally I love my led but I did alot of research and spent some money. For me kessel pendant style just doesn't cut it but to each there own. My two biggest reason for switching was heat and bulb replacement


Dino, I'm still waiting to hear what LEDs you found to be better then kessil and bought?? Any links to a company site or tech info? Not that I really care whats best but a got a buddy looking to light his six foot so if there was some better option it may be worth researching.


----------



## Steve (Mar 27, 2013)

Ended up grabbing a 48" 72x1W 10000k/452nm marine bright fixture from Charles!

I'll post in a while about how much I like the light


----------

