priv_sim;47305 said:I guess reflectors is the "problem", it looks darker with 2 24w and no reflectors than 3 15w with reflectors on 2 of those lamps. Anyway now growth is fantastic, HC after allmost 1 week is sending new shooters like crazy, and bubbles like Sprite.
Tom Barr;47820 said:I'm considering some for a reef tank, but I can still test and try them on a 60 gallon cube of mine for a few days first, measure etc.
Too blue though, not any choice with color temps, either no blues, all whites, or both or all blue.
I'd rather have all whites, then maybe a few blues/reds for color.
I'd also like something like a dimmer switch, this would make it much easier to dial in the right amount of light with less energy(they use less energy to adjust the light).
Instead, I have to adjust the distance/height of the fixture and cannot adjust the power now using T5's and PC lights.
I no longer use HQI/MH's.
Still, LED's will eventually provide the ideal low power use for planted tanks no matter what type of set up you might have.
Regards,
Tom Barr
jonny_ftm;47085 said:Here's my 12gal, 0.9wpg tank, full of CO2 mist, 185gph filter, 3ppm PO4/week, 15ppm NO3/week, 6.5ml TPN/week and soon some DTPA. I'm lean on NO3 but it works well to manage less waterchanges.
P. Helferi was recently completely rearranged in more spaced plantlets. They should soon evolve as a large flower better looking then when densely planted. Glosso on the right is carpetting slowly but securely and without any melting despite its very dark situation, far from light. Glosso is also getting tons of CO2 mist and it perls nicely. Rotala Wallichii is dense, red and with many side shoots. I never retop it, only trim and throw away the tops.
Here's how it looked before trimming the P. Helferi, really dense. That's 0.9wpg, no PAR meter though, but should be very low PAR
When P. Helferi grows again and the glosso finishes carpetting, it should look much better
SuperColey1;47838 said:Tom you can buy LEDs in any K you want wthin reason. there are warm whites (3000Kish) then the bright whites (5500K) there are also reds, greens, yellow, blues etc.
There are also ones that have the spectrum of red green and blue on one star. Most of the current controllers are dimmable so if you know a bit about electronics then thats an option. I'm not however. lol mine was my first soldering attempt. lol
AC
feh;65465 said:With all this said about lower light lets say you want a slow grower such as a moss or something near the top of the tank and to maintain a reasonable amount of light in the entire tank with a single bulb or 2 bulbs it would need to be placed on top of the tank or say 4 inches from the top. Would it be better to raise the lights to 12 inches and run more bulbs to maintain the same amount of light to prevent algae growing in plants near the top of the tank since the intensity would be greater closer to the light?