# LED for planted tank



## aQ.LED (Nov 13, 2012)

So I have been talking with few companies and try to have them provide me the best option for planted tank. I finally got one of them provide me with this unit, can you guys tell me if the color and spec looks fine?
I would love to hear from you guys as I don't really have a lot of exp in freshwater compare to Reef tank
The LED is the one on the right btw in the first picture


































20 x 3w CREE cool white 4x 3w CREE Netual White

Total Lumens 9000 to 130000 depend on the setting
Color Temperature is 5000K to 7500K depend on setting.


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## CRS Fan (Apr 21, 2010)

I like the look of it. It looks really natural.

Best Regards,

Stuart


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## Sploosh (Nov 19, 2012)

I like how that looks, quite bright for being that high above the tank, looks like even dispersion too. 
The plants look similar to what mine do under a glo 2x24w t5 (life-glo, power-glo bulbs - 15G tank) (I have most of the same plants in my tank)

Where do I get one?


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## aQ.LED (Nov 13, 2012)

I am talking to the supplier for sample soon, I want to test them before release for sale, but yes most likely I will carry them in my online store

and thank you guys for the comments


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

The light spectrum looks perfect and natural. What's the wattage and number of LED's. Looks like even more like than my AquaRay, so it looks like without CO2, you can't use this unit. It looks bright even at that height, but that could be a digital camera white balance thing.


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## aQ.LED (Nov 13, 2012)

Well this light should be good for a 24 to 36" tank if you hang it high enough. It is very bright, total 75W
It has 24 xCREE LEDs and some are 5W chip which can deliver the light for tall tank also. I saw someone use 2 of these on a 4 ft tank and still able to light up the whole tank. It was 4ft long and about 3 ft tall tank.
As I mentioned it can be adjusted the intensity with the controller so the lumens is between 9000 to 130000lm per unit


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Holy smokes that's a lot of light. I'm lighting a 125 gallon right now that's 6 foot long with 72 w right now. I'd be interested if these modules are cheaper with lower lighting, say about 35 W each. I know you can dial them down, but it seems a waste to pay for all that lighting power to use only 40% of the maximum 99% of the time.


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## aQ.LED (Nov 13, 2012)

not sure about the amount of light, for 6 ft I would think 3 of these units? How much is the aquaray you have?
usually what I heard was the more light the better for plant as they don't bleach like coral if too much light.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

More light means more CO2 and more algae. And tons more work. Pruning 2x a week, that sort of thing. Most of the planted guys who have been around a while limit the lighting in the tanks. They don't bleach, but they run out of nutrients and they end up with pin holes or wilted edges or other problems. You end up with a runaway freight train of more CO2, more ferts, more algae, more of everything.

I have 2 AquaRay that are 12 w each and 3 Panorama FW modules at 12w each (so I misrepresented, I am only using 60 w, but it's all low light plants).

Here's the tank:









For contrast, here is my 12 w AquaRay mini tile...both tanks are injected with CO2, but this one has ADA AS and carpet plants. I'm struggling with putting in enough CO2 for the plants because of the lighting, and not killing my livestock:








It looks more like this today as I've change the diffuser and also some of the plants. I have a lot of surface agitation to try and keep my livestock alive.









For further contrast, here's 96w of T5HO in my discus tank with no CO2:









I think you see my point in this. If I can grow those plants with 96 w of T5HO (only on for 5 hours, the other 3 hours are with only 1/2 of the 2 banks, alternating), I don't think I would need 75w of LED to grow plants in non-CO2 environments. I'm very interested in this light for my discus tank as a matter of fact, since that's one of 2 tanks that I don't run LED's at the moment, but not if it's going to create an algae mess.


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## aQ.LED (Nov 13, 2012)

I think for each of this unit, you are looking at around 370.00 USD no tax on top. Not sure how much is the 12w Aquaray tho, is that the one selling for 379.95 in JL?


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

This is the AquaRay unit. But I got it used. GroBeam 500 LED Light Strip (2-12W Natural Daylight)

Here's the mini-tile: AquaRay AquaHabitats Mini LED (Model 400)

And here are the Panorama units I have (I have 3): Panorama Module Freshwater LED Kit - Modular LED.ca

So you see, even if I paid full retail, it would have been <$600 to light my 125 gallon. Since I got the AquaRay used, total cost was just over $400. If I had found the Panoramas at modularled.ca before I bought the AquaRay's it still would have been only $500...so lower wattage and lower cost. One of the main reasons I went LED is to reduce heat and power since I have 5 tanks. At 150 watts fully light, that would have been more light using 2 of those units then I had when I have 4 banks of T5NO so the only savings would be in bulbs.


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## aQ.LED (Nov 13, 2012)

um...i see, of course I can't really use the used rate to compare to the new fixture rate for these units. And also the light does come with dimmer and timer on them and capable to connect to wireless controller to the simulate sunrise and sunset as well. I understand all those are kind of gimmick but that really is what is seperate MH and LED is the control and the energy saving. I think a 75W unit is about 140W in MH. As of the price, I am only guessing it would be 370 at this moment, again as I mentioned there will be no tax on top. I think I can work with the company to get a better deal if I get more at the same time. So I would say the range would be $300 to $370 , can't comfirn that until actual deal is done. This light is for sure way too much for a low tech low light tank. I will see if they can make a smaller version of the light for a better price. I will keep you guys posted


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## trout (Mar 21, 2012)

Out of curiousity, what version of cree's XPG or XMLs? Looks like a great spectrum both visually and for plant growth. I've been running the same mix of cool white to neutral whites on a 40ish gallon for several months with good results. Granted mine run at 1/6 of their potential. My blend is 2:1 cools to nuetral, and I kind of wish I used some warms in there. Don't know too much about it, but they lack some spectrum to best promote the colors in red plants, I know that was an issue with LEDs early on. I recall someone mentioning the warm whites have the best CRI rating of them all.....

If that rig could incorporate a controller I think you'd have a great little unit. Like 2wheels said though, def a high light high tech rig that would require co2.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

trout said:


> If that rig could incorporate a controller I think you'd have a great little unit.


Yep, if it included the controller it would be a great price. Only problem for me personally is that I already run DA controllers and 2 of my tanks and will be adding a third. That's part of why I didn't buy the AquaRay controller. But if it were cheap enough I'd suck it up and do it.

Do keep us posted as I see more and more LED's coming on the market. I see that Aqueon is marketing LED tubes now. Aqueon Modular LED 36 Inch Light Fixture


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## aQ.LED (Nov 13, 2012)

They use XPE chip, I know someone is doing LED T5tube but I am not sure how well those are, they are really cheap too.


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## trout (Mar 21, 2012)

2wheelsx2 said:


> Yep, if it included the controller it would be a great price. Only problem for me personally is that I already run DA controllers and 2 of my tanks and will be adding a third. That's part of why I didn't buy the AquaRay controller. But if it were cheap enough I'd suck it up and do it.


Ah good point. .....

Is it only possible to control it from a specific controller?


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## aQ.LED (Nov 13, 2012)

I would assume so I don't have a sample unit yet so can't test it.
but here is the remote


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

Just in case you are looking for more sources, here is a compendium of what people have found other market units to be like :

LED Lighting Compendium

I too am in the same boat as 2wheels, i limit my light, right down to the threshold low light (30-40 par using height charts), with co2 to allow high light plants to grow fine in these light limited conditions. I long ago learnt my lesson of too much light creating a system that you are bound to not keep up with and then clean up or scrap the tank. So perhaps you can get a unit not so over powered, say something like 100 par at substrate level mounted at a height that gives a decent light spread. this will reduce unit cost and still appeal to all light threshold preferences.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Haha...thanks Neven. I found that same link a couple weeks ago and meant to post it here but forgot about it.


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## aQ.LED (Nov 13, 2012)

I have already talked to the supplier, they don't have any other version so I guess the best bet for me is wait for the sample and try play around with its dimming option.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

If for $300 it included the controller which will allow dimming and brightening so that one can utilize it to 50 - 60% it would be a very good option.


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## aQ.LED (Nov 13, 2012)

The $300 to $370 range doesn't come with the wireless controller, however, there is a build-in controller still can dim the light with timer.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

aQ.LED said:


> The $300 to $370 range doesn't come with the wireless controller, however, there is a build-in controller still can dim the light with timer.


That's perfect and makes that light priced in the appropriate range. If you bring them in, I'd love to see a demo.


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## aQ.LED (Nov 13, 2012)

I just order the Reef Version of the light and it is already in transit over here, I am waiting till next week to purchase couple freshwater one and want to place on my friend's new planted tank, they are still setting up at this moment, a 6ft tank, gonna take a while to fill that baby up


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Awesome, post up the pics when it's done.


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## aQ.LED (Nov 13, 2012)

will do for sure


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## aQ.LED (Nov 13, 2012)

I got the Reef version of the light in, you can see it is really small fixture overall.
http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/aq-led-90/looking-feed-back-possible-new-fixture-34387/#post278997


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