mattrox Posted November 12, 2010 Author Share Posted November 12, 2010 Thanks for the feedback Cichlabxr. In these days of high energy prices and envrionmental consiousness we need less costly and more efficient ways to do things. Plus there was no way on God's green earth that I was going to fork out for any sort of light fixture to light all tanks. The biggest bonus is the space it saves as I don't have much room to work with above the tanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToobadyanOOb Posted November 13, 2010 Share Posted November 13, 2010 2 part question, how much juice do you think the lights pull a month, and what sort of racking do you use is that uni-strut??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattrox Posted November 13, 2010 Author Share Posted November 13, 2010 4 watts per strip, so 64W in the room so far. So it takes 15.63 hours to make a full KWH (or $0.17 or so). The racks are Dexion shelving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToobadyanOOb Posted November 13, 2010 Share Posted November 13, 2010 4 watts per strip, so 64W in the room so far. So it takes 15.63 hours to make a full KWH (or $0.17 or so). The racks are Dexion shelving. How many Kg's per shelf???? Cheers mate, i love your set-up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CThompson Posted November 13, 2010 Share Posted November 13, 2010 4 watts per strip, so 64W in the room so far. So it takes 15.63 hours to make a full KWH (or $0.17 or so). The racks are Dexion shelving. How many Kg's per shelf???? Cheers mate, i love your set-up. I have used dexion shelving as well, I used it because I got it for free. Over the years nothing has broken, but it ha bowed (used thick poly fortunately), and I wouldn't recommend it. Mattrox did better than me in using that thin plywood, from my experience it may have saved him. Mattrox, good idea with the LEDs. Did you know you could get them in a version that sees them set in a heavy rubbery/flexible clear plastic (water proofing)? Your shots show quite a bit of light being produced, and I like the idea for the cost of running and the fact it unclutters the tank tops that will no longer need to support a light/hood. I might suggest putting a small screen, for want of a better word, in front of the LED strips (a bit of angle plastic used on the corner of fish tanks for example) so you don't look directly at he lighting source. It's a pet hate of mine, especially when I see it in shops - trying to look at the fish and getting light blinded by the uncovered light source... Please inform me how much it would cost to run a four foot LED strip, that'll be a good yard-stick to compare with a 4' flouro. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noddy65 Posted November 13, 2010 Share Posted November 13, 2010 Id like to know how it compares to 3' flouro in light output? Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattrox Posted November 14, 2010 Author Share Posted November 14, 2010 two 4 ft strips are more light than 1 old 4ft flouro..... Like I say, use 3 strips and you will have apmle light to see your fish. The wave length is great to show their colours off. You wouldn't be able to grow plants, but less algae is a benefit too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattrox Posted November 14, 2010 Author Share Posted November 14, 2010 Please inform me how much it would cost to run a four foot LED strip, that'll be a good yard-stick to compare with a 4' flouro. These are the ones covered in flexible clear pvc. They are awesome. 1 4ft strip of LED is 4 W compared to 1 4ft tube is 36 W. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CThompson Posted November 14, 2010 Share Posted November 14, 2010 but less algae is a benefit too What is their spectrum, do you know? BTW algae is usually caused by an nutrient imbalance, and while this can often be caused by too much light, too little light won't necessarily be the death of algae. It certainly can't hurt, and wouldn't argue about your conclusions That's a big price difference by the way, thanks for the information, it is food for thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattrox Posted November 14, 2010 Author Share Posted November 14, 2010 but less algae is a benefit too What is their spectrum, do you know? Don't know about spectrum. But the light is has a blueish tinge "cool white". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CThompson Posted November 14, 2010 Share Posted November 14, 2010 but less algae is a benefit too What is their spectrum, do you know? Don't know about spectrum. But the light is has a blueish tinge "cool white". plants need equal parts of the blue and red parts of the spectrum, you can't see this for looking at the light. I expect you are right regarding their suitability for plant growth (or lack thereof). Algae are opportunistic and can get by when higher plant forms cannot. If you want to find out, hunting around on the LED manufactures web site (should they have one) or a lighting store that specialises in the brand of LED you use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noddy65 Posted November 14, 2010 Share Posted November 14, 2010 but less algae is a benefit too What is their spectrum, do you know? Don't know about spectrum. But the light is has a blueish tinge "cool white". plants need equal parts of the blue and red parts of the spectrum, you can't see this for looking at the light. I expect you are right regarding their suitability for plant growth (or lack thereof). Algae are opportunistic and can get by when higher plant forms cannot. If you want to find out, hunting around on the LED manufactures web site (should they have one) or a lighting store that specialises in the brand of LED you use. Theres also a thread on aquariumlife.com.au on the subject...some of the plant geeks are changing over to LED and getting terrific results Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattrox Posted November 14, 2010 Author Share Posted November 14, 2010 The high intensity LEDs are the go for plants. The Cree brand are good from what I hear. But expensive to set up. Also more work to DIY than these. Since it is just for the fish room and not display tanks, and I'm not growing plants, this was ideal, easy to set up, cheap to buy and cheap to run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToobadyanOOb Posted November 14, 2010 Share Posted November 14, 2010 the last couple of posts have been very informative, i'd like to find some LED's that are plant friendly and now i know what to look for thanks guys!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CThompson Posted November 14, 2010 Share Posted November 14, 2010 the last couple of posts have been very informative, i'd like to find some LED's that are plant friendly and now i know what to look for thanks guys!!! You have to do what I said above; google the brand and wattage ( with LED) to find a site that informs about the colour spectrum produced by the brand of LED strips you want to use. As a first step, follow Noddy65's advice and look at the thread on the site he mentions. May make things a lot easier for you. edit Had a quick look at the site mentioned and they seemed to be using a different LED, from the strips (what ever they are called) that mattox is using. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattrox Posted November 14, 2010 Author Share Posted November 14, 2010 Yep, my LEDs are el-cheapo.... For plants you need to set up these. The XR-E I believe. This site has all the info about the Super bright LEDs http://www.cutter.com.au/proddetail.php?prod=cut651 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbo2232 Posted November 15, 2010 Share Posted November 15, 2010 if you have some spare cash to burn, http://www.atlanticreefstore.com/store1/in...at&catId=37 you can set Sunrise, Daylight, Cloud Cover, Sunset, and the lunar cycle. but you need a lot of spare cash to burn!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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