LED for freshwater planted

HMarcks

Large Fish
Aug 20, 2007
138
0
0
Palm Springs
#1
Tank: 125gal, 72" wide x 24" tall x 18" deep(front to back)
Plants: nothing too demanding

Long story short I will soon have:
1-36" TrueLumen Pro Series LED Strip Light, Marine Fusion 12K White/453nm Actinic 23 watts 44 Whites + 72 Blues
2-36" TrueLumen Pro Series LED Strip Light, 12000K Diamond White 23 watts
2-36" TrueLumen Pro Series LED Strip Light, 8000K Sun White 23 watts(NOT WORKING, but hoping I can fix them)
TrueLumen Pro Series LED StripLights | Current-USA (they have discontinued the 8k)

I am hoping I can use some combination of these to make my plants and fish happy, healthy and looking good. But if not any recommendations on what I need to add to make it work?
 

HMarcks

Large Fish
Aug 20, 2007
138
0
0
Palm Springs
#3
It's an existing community tank. 4 Angels of different colors, cardinal tetras, small loaches, plecos, Corys, some rummy noses, and other random things. I wanted to focus on the angels with school of cardinals and another of rummies but things are a bit of a mess right now.
 

HMarcks

Large Fish
Aug 20, 2007
138
0
0
Palm Springs
#5
Java fern, Anubis, I think some money wort and rotala that are none too happy right now due to lights not working properly and some other stuff I'm not sure of.
Whole tanks looking pretty shabby due to broken lights but currently with 1-12K on the right and 1-12K/actinic on the left image.jpg
Really though I'll probably end up redoing a lot of this once I get these lights figured out. I imagine having some kind of short grass like plant on the ground in large patches, red leaved plants of some sort for a little variation and love the way some cambomba looks.
Would using 1-12K and 1-8K (assuming I can get the saucer joints fixed) on each side would work or still not give me enough in the red spectrum. May even be too bright.
Or should I try to find some kind of red grown light from someone and mix that with some of my existing.
Worse case scenario I can try to sell these 12Ks and buy something else all together.
 

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MdngtRain

Large Fish
Jan 9, 2011
288
0
0
New England
#8
I don't know too much about the light situation, but I am currently having a lot of success with 2 old 10k bulbs (one actinic), and a blue LED. From what everyone has been saying, this should be burning my plants, so I have doubts that the bulbs are working correctly (they came with a nano tank I found on the side of the road, so no idea how old they actually are, just know they are physically giving off light). My supposedly low-light plants are growing like crazy. The one I don't have an ID on is growing at about 1/2"-1" a day on the new shoots, and even my java fern is getting really bushy and full in a matter of 2 weeks. This may also have a lot to do with CO2 levels in my tank, but I'm not sure how to measure that. I don't use any added ferts or CO2, but have very little surface tension.

I might sugegst trimming the more spindly plants back. It looks like all the mass at the top is taking light away from the bottom of the plants. I find when I keep mine trimmed, the bottom fills out better (more access to light).
 

Newman

Elite Fish
Sep 22, 2009
4,668
0
0
Northern NJ
#9
i think a good way to improve your planted tank would be to get a whole lot more driftwood and lots more anubias, java ferns and some crypts too and just make it into a low light tank. it may even work with your current light. I mean really pack that tank.
4c2b300f32e2a.jpg
 

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HMarcks

Large Fish
Aug 20, 2007
138
0
0
Palm Springs
#11
Thanks guys but I am really just asking about the lighting. I don't want to explain everything but this is not how the tank normally looks and I know how to trim my plants. I have just had a lot of trouble with certain LED manufacturers and trying to convert my tank from compact fluorescents to LEDs. I want to make sure my lighting will work before I go in there and start redoing everything.
So what combination of my existing lights do you think I should start with?
What lights (manufacturers, spectrums, etc), if any, do you think I will have to buy for supplemental lighting?
 

exhumed07

Superstar Fish
Apr 30, 2006
1,774
0
36
Illinois
#12
LEDs are weird. it's not so much the temp of them or wattage like with florecents. there is a system people have developed called the PAR system for figuring out how many at what wattage and color temp to use for a tank to be the same as florecent lighting. I found it to complicated and have stayed simple with florecents myself. But my recomendation would to be look into that system.
 

HMarcks

Large Fish
Aug 20, 2007
138
0
0
Palm Springs
#15
Ok I guess I'll just throw a 12,000K and a 8,000K on each side and see what happens. These are dimmable and I have a pulse width modulation two channel dimmer from TMC AquaRey on my 12gal salt tank that I guess I can move over if it's too bright.
Experimentation phase begins.
 

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FreshyFresh

Superstar Fish
Jan 11, 2013
1,337
23
38
East Aurora, NY
#16
HM- If it works for you, by all means continue! It just sounds like your setup is a little more complicated than it needs to be. Lots of options these days. My ~$59 Odyssea 48" T5HO, 6500K does excellent with lower light plants. I have it about a year now. They say you need to replace T5 lamps yearly, or you'll have algae and/or growth problems. I say if it keeps working.. Continue on.

LED fixtures are coming down in price as well. I just purchased a Beamswork 6500K 48" LED fixture for my new 75g for $69 shipped. I'm living it so far.
 

HMarcks

Large Fish
Aug 20, 2007
138
0
0
Palm Springs
#17
I know it's crazy. It wasn't supposed to be. I was just going to replace the bulbs with the 8,000K LEDS. I did half the tank awhile back but due to manufacturing problems the LEDs never worked right image.jpg . My bulbs on the other half of the tank went bad a couple weeks ago so I was just going to get more 8Ks and get the company to replace my old ones as I heard they had a better design now. But since they discontinued them they were just going to send me 12,000Ks instead, then they accidentally shipped me a 12/actinic mix and told me to keep it.
So basically I was given a bunch of LED strips for free that I don't know what exactly to do with and I still have my old ones which I read you can fix.