Stealth Posted February 16, 2013 Report Share Posted February 16, 2013 Hi there team, Does anyone know how to calculate how many LED's to use on a planted tank? Cheers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueether Posted February 16, 2013 Report Share Posted February 16, 2013 do you know of a calculator that will tell me how long a bit of string I'll need to reach from 'here to there'? You will need to tell the good folks around here what sort of plants, how deep is the water, what the surface area is, what type of LED, what the wattage of each are, the wavelengths the LED produce... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stealth Posted February 16, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2013 do you know of a calculator that will tell me how long a bit of string I'll need to reach from 'here to there'? You will need to tell the good folks around here what sort of plants, how deep is the water, what the surface area is, what type of LED, what the wattage of each are, the wavelengths the LED produce... My tank is 80cmL x 85cmH x 47cmW, thinking of using 3w Cree led's or 1w Epistar, 6500K white with a few Red 660nm, Green 515nm, Blue 660nm, mixture of plants just the general ones you get from the pet store. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted February 16, 2013 Report Share Posted February 16, 2013 I'd like a calculator too. However, I think using LEDs is still in the experimentation phase and everyone has different ideas. It also depends on optics, height above the water line etc too. What I've done (for a marine tank) is to take the specs and look at the design of commercial fixtures that have some good reviews and used that as my base. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted February 16, 2013 Report Share Posted February 16, 2013 I'd make a wild approximation that 25-35 3W LEDs would probably do for low to moderate light plants in a tank that deep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim r Posted February 16, 2013 Report Share Posted February 16, 2013 My 240cm x 60cm x (35cm high) has 6 individual 5 watt led spots and my riccia is growing really well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaSa Posted February 16, 2013 Report Share Posted February 16, 2013 Rule of thumb: 8000 Lumen per m² Watt is no good as it doesn't tell you the light output - only the power consumption of a light source. Kind of the same thing as asking for the fuel consumption of a car per 100km and getting told it got a 70l tank... If your tank is higher then 35cm you need more then that - for your tank I would say ~10000 Lumen. All that light (10000 Lumen / m²) has to get to the bottom of the tank so make sure you got the right angle of your LEDs sorted otherwise you are putting light through the sides of the tank instead of getting it down where the plants are. But yeah, it is more religion as science with LEDs these days.... Cheers, JaSa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim r Posted February 16, 2013 Report Share Posted February 16, 2013 I also have a 180cmx75cm high tank with 3 ordinary 20watt 1200 lumin, 2700 kelvin energy bulbs and their is more than enough light reaching the bottom of the tank which is also planted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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