Display Fuge LEDs?

[mrkalel]

Hey guys...I have a 72Gal Bow Front AGA Display Fuge in my basement...

I currently have compact fluorescent that have served me well with growth and overall look...but I def want/need to transition to LED's.

I am looking for some cheaper LED's, but that still look good... I know there are a ton of options out there...but if anyone has some suggestions i would really appreciate it...

Cheap Amazon / Chinese fixtures are probably what I'm looking for...since I still want a decent looking body...preferably something ceiling mountable...

Thanks again guys...

 

[zachts]

If you want cheap and decent, look at Reef Breeders or Ocean Revive. If you want something a little higher quality and very sleek you might look at buildmyled.com. Reef Breeders and BML are fully customize-able for the leds you want included. Main differences are form, passive vs. active cooling, and quality of the LED chips used.

There is also DIY depending on your skill set, using the makers led heatsink looks very nice and the LED build could be very simple with minimal chips and soldering, or no soldering if you wanted to go that route. Cost would come out somewhere in between the Reef Breeder and BML, but you'd get a more powerful light for the money and have the fun of building it!

 

[greaps]

Buildmyled is much more expensive option, maybe it works for planted tanks, but you definitely need multiple fixtures for coverage and par.

 

[mrkalel]

Yeah..I mean I guess even a 36" model or 2 ~ 16" models would be perfect...though I need something more geared towards the 6500k spectrum...

Anyone checked these types out from Amazon?

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_pg_1...s=led+floodlight+6500k&ie=UTF8&qid=1407631081

 

[zachts]

BML has sump specific spectrums and anything else you want. they are a bit more but they can tell you exactly how much par you will get from the light you chose given the optics you pick and depth of the thank/placement of the light. All around better IMHO, but for the cheap the Reef breeders or Ocean revive are very nice also! Just depends on what you need/want.

they have a daylight spectrum under the horticulture tab if full spectrum sunlight is what you are after. It is quite close to real sunlight compared to a fluorescent equivalent.

 

[zachts]

Yeah..I mean I guess even a 36" model or 2 ~ 16" models would be perfect...though I need something more geared towards the 6500k spectrum...

Anyone checked these types out from Amazon?

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_pg_1...s=led+floodlight+6500k&ie=UTF8&qid=1407631081

garbage don't wast your money, I've heard of those starting fires.

 

[mrkalel]

Good to know guys...thanks for all the help so far...on a related topic.... I'm in the process of figuring out my Display's LED requirements. Oceanic 144gal Half Circle....

I already have an ulcer thinking about it....

 

[slief]

For my under tank fuge which consists of a 38"x30" deep sand bed, a couple mangroves and a massive mass of chaeto, I use four 10w 6500k LED flood lights like these which grow chaeto and mangroves like crazy. I have a cover over my under tank fuge and these lights sit right on top of the cover. The have a fairly wide spread so they would light up a room if mounted too high over your display fuge.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/10W-Outdoor...054?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c4020d606

For my display fuge which has some soft coral, several mangroves as well as some other macro algae, I run a maxspect razor which does just fine and looks decent as well.

 

[d2mini]

Ya, my mangroves like my full spectrum grow light best which is very yellow, around 6500k. But my display refugium macros didn't like it at all and did much better under more of a 10k light. An old gen 1 Radion worked pretty decently for this. Next time I'm going to have the mangroves under one fixture and the other macros under a different fixture.

 

[zachts]

Ya, my mangroves like my full spectrum grow light best which is very yellow, around 6500k. But my display refugium macros didn't like it at all and did much better under more of a 10k light. An old gen 1 Radion worked pretty decently for this. Next time I'm going to have the mangroves under one fixture and the other macros under a different fixture.

Mangroves will grow just as well, even perhaps better (four our purposes) under a more blue light. Blue light will cause them to grow more compact and have shorter stems, conversely red light and yellow will make them stretch more. They may not look like they are growing as much but they are putting more energy into plant tissue under bluer lights. 6500k LEDs work well since they have a ton of blue in them, the mangroves would prefer this to be augmented by some 660 and 730nm though in a perfect world.

 

[slief]

Interestingly, my mangroves have grown several inches over the last few months under the 16K maxspect Razor.. I've read that mangroves are slow growing but I've found that to not be the case. They are growing like weeds in my display fuge.

 

[mrkalel]

Every time I contemplate doing mangroves... I remember how much I loved having a snowflake and ribbon eel in my Fuge.
Still thinking about doing that again...

 

[zachts]

Interestingly, my mangroves have grown several inches over the last few months under the 16K maxspect Razor.. I've read that mangroves are slow growing but I've found that to not be the case. They are growing like weeds in my display fuge.

Lots of blue light equals lots of photosynthesis and more compact growth. They are considered slow growing because they rarely recieve enough light in a fuge. They'd like to have 300 to 600+ PAR for an 8hr photoperiod, but that rarely happens.