Nano Lighting

I have seen a few nano tanks that are using LED lights for the main source of lighting. I would like to know if the LED's would be an better option for my 5 gallon nano vs. the 24w PC I have now? any thoughts....or know where I might look for them? I am not sure what the difference might be between a normal LED and a LED light that is used over a Reek.

 

colour temp of the LED would be one major difference between LEDs used over reef tanks and LEDs used domestically for feature lighting etc
most LEDs used in household are what they call warm white - 3500K - 4500K
you do get some 6000 - 7000K cool white LEDS but in house holds and offices etc, these are often considered sterile and not as good for human eyes

those colour temps, if they where the main lighting of your reef tank , may not be ideal for the tanks inhabitants either

so if you do go the LED route, I believe you need to look for higher colour temp LEDS
they are available in 10k and even 15k options (which is a very blue white IMO)

to sum up, household use PC lamps or T5 lamps on their own would not be an ideal source of light for a reef tank ( sure you could have some but you would want other higher kelvin lamps to compensate) its the same situation with LEDs

Steve

 

I'm doing LED lighting over my new 25 gallon. Cree XRE Q5's come in 6500K and are super white, coupled with an equal amount of some royal blues and you would be set for like 11 years of not having to worry about replacing any bulbs.

you could probably do a single buck puck driver, 3 blue, 3 white LED's attatched to a small heatsink from heatsinkusa.com. I am about to order a bunch of stuff from nanotuners.com after I get a few details hammered out regarding my planned array.

~Will.

 

nice I would like to see your progress on this. I would really like to do some LED's if possible but again will need much more research. Not sure how well I could do a DIY project but worth a look. any idea what your cost will be?

 

Probably around $300 for 24 LED's, 2 dimmable drivers, 18" x 7.3" heatsink, thermal paste, etc. I havent ordered anything yet, still waiting to get the dimming thing figured out, and also since I'm a super nerd I want to make the LED's have a soft on and off period where they will slowly turn on (20-30 secs) to full power and slowly go off for both the blues and the whites.

~Will.

 

Check nano custom .com out. They have some very unique lighting that you might fine interesting.

 

i cant find nanocustom.com

 

what about this

Current USA PowerBrite LED Lighting System Aquarium Light Fixtures

soft corals should be fine under this right....do you think it is enough for lps or anything else? it would only be going on a 5 gallon tank or there is also this:

nanocustoms

do you think either of these would be better than my CPR 24w 50/50 PC light?

 

I think powerbrites are made for actinic supplementation, not a main lighting source. that pico light only has 5 1w LED's . . . it might be OK, but that sounds very underpowered to me.

~Will.

 

do you think my current light is fine then? so me it seems underpowered