Ebay LED Panel

[Nicholas89]

Hello, I am currently shopping around for lighting options for my new 65 gallon tank.

it's 48''x15''x20'' tall (its a flat back hex)


I found an interesting item on ebay for 225 led panels, 12''x12''.

Problem is, I have no idea what kind of lumens something like this could produce at only 13 some odd watts.

Do you guys think if I placed two of these, one over each opening in the aquarium, it would provide ample lighting for some at least basic coral?

Link: http://cgi.ebay.com/225-Blue-WHITE-LED-Aquarium-Plant-Grow-Light-Panel_W0QQitemZ390113870433QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item5ad4994261

Thanks

 

[mech0522]

i saw the same thinking of geting it for frag tank

 

[Jersey Bounce]

I just ordered one of those (not through ebay) and plan to try it out on a refugium first. It seems they're also made with all white, all blue, all red, and various combinations of the three colors.

 

[Tang Salad]

Based on the price, I'd guess those probably won't be bright/intense enough to grow much of anything.

 

[Alojzy]

I've seen those. I actually was contemplating buying several of those. I've seen a doctor use those panels on his tank to apparently good effect.

 

[Jersey Bounce]

Based on the price, I'd guess those probably won't be bright/intense enough to grow much of anything.

That was my initial speculation; they have mixed review on Amazon regarding usage for terrestrial plants. I figured no one will really know for 'sure' how effective they are for photosynthetic marine life until someone actually tries.

 

[mech0522]

ive seen the blue over a fish only and it was bright

 

[Nicholas89]

I've seen those. I actually was contemplating buying several of those. I've seen a doctor use those panels on his tank to apparently good effect.

Was it a fish only tank, or did it have coral?

 

[XtremeFromHell]

hmm, im thinking this would be good for a 10 gallon im building.. would it work??

 

[areze]

their wattage gives them away EVERY time.

If we presume they are right, 13.8 watts, and give them every benefit of the doubt and say they put out a ground breaking 200lumens/watt, they will compete with about 30watts of metal halide. start adding em up to see how many youd need for a 65gallon tank, Id conservatively say 10. putting you up to 400$, and you could get a nice proven MH or T5 setup for that price.

Now in reality, the most efficient LEDs Ive heard of are more in the neighboorhood of 120lumens/watt, and they are not low quality chinamade 5mm that you see in the auction. infact 5mm LEDs are lucky to get 20-50lumens per watt unless that ebayer has some real special source(lol he doesnt, cheapest thing smoking I bet...)

so if you go with realistic numbers, your needing more like 50-100 of the panels to match a MH, and your far less efficient on energy use to boot.

wont even get into weatherproofing, chances are the leads and solder for the LEDs will be rusted by the end of the week if its not designed for maring(and since I suspect this is straight adopted from their terrestrial plants to a different ebay description, Im sure it isnt designed for a marine enviroment.

 

[Pufferlips]

I have used them before... Tried them on a 15x15x15... Okay for lowlight items. I put two in a custom frame that I was able to seal on a 40 gallon fish only system and it looked really good.

 

[XtremeFromHell]

would these be suitable on a 10 gallon tank maybe one or 2 of these to hold small corals such as mushrooms and ricordeas and things like that, what do you guys think? im pretty interested if its worth it

 

[areze]

80bucks to keep mushrooms in a 10g tank seems like alot of dough, and still left needing to make them waterproof.

theyd probably work as far as output, but so would a 10$ double 24" flourescent from home depot...

 

[iamwrasseman]

i have a friend that bought three of the 12"x12" panels four months ago approx . one does not work at all anymore the other two have multiple leds that have burned out . they were never very bright at all so beware that they are junk IMO . they are cheap enough if you want to try them but from first hand experience they are garbage at best . i wish they were high quality because they really are pretty neat in concept . they are not going to be bright enough to grow corals in any way . very low quality and no bang for the buck ............sorry .

 

[Majority_Rules]

I'm with areze on the power cosumption, 13.8 watts won't support much of anything.

6000-7000k won't get you anywhere near the color you want anyways. I've got half 10,000k and half 460nm on my 90 watt led fixture and it's good, but I wouldn't mind it being a touch more blue.