LEDs and Anubias Plants

bigbird

bigbird

Pleco Profiles Moderator - RIP FRIEND
Sep 9, 2010
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Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Hello All,

Am looking at saving costs, as electricity prices have increased 30% in Sydney and am planning a new rack with 4 x 3ft x 14H x 14D.
Went to the local hardward and bought some led light strip and it looks good. it is slimmer, has no heat and is much cheaper. Now in all of my tanks I just have Anubias on driftwood. lighting is on for 8hours.
Are LEDs ok to use for Anubias or any hints from you who use these LEDs ?
cheers jk :thumbup:
 
Lornek8

Lornek8

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Apr 21, 2009
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Light is light irregardless of how its produced. So long as the spectrum is correct & the intensity sufficient plants should grow no problem. I know a hobbyist that lights a 500gallon marine reef with LEDs. The hiccup would be translating flourescent tube wattages into LED euqivalents though I think there are some sites that have that info.
 
FF MkII

FF MkII

Retired Staff
Apr 28, 2009
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I have LEDS and Anubias in one tank. I couldn't tell you how effective they are but the Anubias hasn't died lol
 
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dw1305

Global Moderators
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May 5, 2009
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Hi all, Lorne wrote:
The hiccup would be translating flourescent tube wattages into LED euqivalents though I think there are some sites that have that info.
Click to expand...
I've spent a lot of time on this question doing my "day job". The problem is that you can't really measure how much Photosynthetically Active Radiation the LEDs are producing with a light meter, unless they are "natural daylight".

To measure any of the Red or Blue LEDs you need a PAR meter, and these are relatively expensive and not something you can buy off the shelf.

I've had a bit of a muck about with a couple of LED luminaires, one is a red and blue tile that I bought as a grow-light for £25. The other is a fitting I constructed from 2 x GU10 lamps.

&

These both work OK.

You can now buy 3W MR11/MR16 lamps pretty cheaply, and If I was going to DIY a fitting I'd use these as the low voltage would make them safer and more efficient than the 230V GU10's.

In the UK, you can buy 4W day-light MR11 (35mm diameter) bulbs for about £15, and a waterproof IP67 LED driver (that will do 30W) for another £15. I reckon one of them per linear foot should provide plenty of light, so for a 4' it would be £60 of bulbs, £15 for the driver and 16W of electricity used.

If you use MR16 (50mm diameter) you could possibly get away with 4 x 3W, and these are only about £8 each, so £32 + £15 and 12W used.

cheers Darrel
 
lcrazy

lcrazy

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Oct 11, 2009
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camden
it will depend on colour spectrum, anubias are a hardy plant and dont require as much light as other plant species, have you tried putting the system near a window, use natural light for health and growth then use the LED for looks at night.
 
bigbird

bigbird

Pleco Profiles Moderator - RIP FRIEND
Sep 9, 2010
6,306
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36
Sydney, AUSTRALIA
my plan for now and the new rack is, placing rack near window. light go on one hour after sunrise and light with timer go off 1 hour before sunset. Cheers jk :thumbup:
 
D

dbosman

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Dec 5, 2010
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East Lansing, Michigan, USA
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