Help with LED lights

Oct 17, 2013
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#1
Are LED lights good for plants? I have a Current USA Satillite full spectrum 24" light on my 25 gallon 24" long by 18" tall tank. Some people at my LFS say it's great for plants others say it isn't. So far all my plants are low to moderate light plants and are doing fine.There is no new plant that I want that requires high light I just want to know exactly what I have so I can keep my options open just incase I see something that I decided I want to add.

Thank You in advance
 

Newman

Elite Fish
Sep 22, 2009
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Northern NJ
#2
Yes they are. LEDs output more PAR than other types of light per watt i think. You will want the daylight effect from the LEDs you buy, so get LEDS around 5,000-7,000K. I have a Ray 2 LED fixture that i used for FW plants and am now using to overwinter some houseplants like hibiscus. its a 7000K fixture and it is good for plants. check your box to see what K rating the LEDs have. you have just shy of 1 wpg right now on your tank. its good for low-medium light plants, but not enough for high light plants. even certain high maintenance medium light plants may have trouble.
why is 1 wpg of LED good for low and medium light plants? This is because like i said LEDs are more intense, and they will be equivalent to more than 1 pwg of other light types.

That's just what i think.
Have a read:
Lighting an Aquarium with PAR instead of Watts
 

FreshyFresh

Superstar Fish
Jan 11, 2013
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East Aurora, NY
#3
Yes they are. LEDs output more PAR than other types of light per watt i think.
Not necessarily true. Most of the low cost, pet store LED aquarium lighting puts out little/no PAR. They light up the tank beautifully, but do nothing to sustain plants. I tried it first hand.

LEDs intended to plants are a different animal. They're much more expensive than the above, but will grow plants with far less power consumption and heat output than T5HO or metal halide.
 

Newman

Elite Fish
Sep 22, 2009
4,668
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Northern NJ
#4
well yeah that's what i meant. LEDs do output more light than other fixtures. i never tried the pet store LEDs so idk about them. LEDs are not cheap!
I usually like to build my LED fixtures, so i got 3 Cree LEDs (all cool white) and DIY'd them with a dimmable driver for my 40gal tank. i am able to grow plants in the spotlight, but wouldn't even attempt to grow stuff in the dim corners of the tank. I have only 0.225 wpg with my LEDs but they supply my plants with enough par for growth.
 

Newman

Elite Fish
Sep 22, 2009
4,668
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Northern NJ
#6
well what is the most expensive part is the driver which is about $30 or more a piece. if you're building a reef setup, you'll want two drives to run your whites and blues separately so that you can effectively turn off the whites and view the tank only under actinic lighting. so thats $60+ right there just for the drivers. dimmable drives are slightly more but they are also the coolest.

and LEDs run $3-$6 a piece, so it gets expensive. a simple build will set you back just slightly over $100.00
 

Oct 17, 2013
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#9
Oh my that article was a lot to comprehend. According to the chart I should be somewhere around there. I wish my actual light was listed so I would know for sure. Thank you for the help.
 

FreshyFresh

Superstar Fish
Jan 11, 2013
1,337
23
38
East Aurora, NY
#10
Oh my that article was a lot to comprehend. According to the chart I should be somewhere around there. I wish my actual light was listed so I would know for sure. Thank you for the help.
The fact that is has the specs you stated is a GREAT thing IMO. You should be good to go with low/med light required aquatic plants once you find your lighting and carbon source balance. Lighting is just part of the fun!