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Re: [APD] re light fixture






Pardon the double post, but I forgot to change the subject line. By the way, I don't think the archiving of the posts is working yet.
 
Erik
 
One of the members of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club has built at least two Cree LED fixtures and documented the build on his website. I have seen these lights personally and can say they really look great and his plants are thriving. The Crypts he has in the tank were growing horizontally along the bottom of the tank when they weren't shaded by his now overgrown sword. The LED light gives such a strong light it reminds me of a metal halide with the way the light ripples along the bottom of the tank. (I hope that makes sense). Here's a link to his site, the article is in 5 parts: http://aquariums.seaspraydesigns.biz/diy-projects/diy-high-power-led-aquarium-lighting-part-i/ Ken uses aluminum extrusions as heat sinks to cool his fixtures. Plus fans. Heat sinks: http://www.heatsinkusa.com/ Fans: http://www.coolerguys.com/ Cree: http://www.cree.com/products/xlamp_xml.asp 
 
Here is a link for a company that makes LED fixtures for use in horticulture: http://www.stealthgrow.com/facts.htm
 
Here is a link for a company called Inda-Gro that makes inductive fluorescent light fixtures. http://www.inda-gro.com/ These have no openings in the glass so no air can get inside and cut the life of the lamp down. Water proof too. This has interested me, but they look too big for my tanks. Nikola Tesla first patented these lights in 1891. http://www.inda-gro.com/tesla.html 
 
I recently bought a drop in replacement Earth LED for a T-8 Fluorescent lamp. You run it off of 110-240 V, 50-60 Hz directly. It was $30.00 plus $10.00 shipping. No ballast. The color temperature is 6000K, Cool White, if I remember correctly. I have one on a 10 gallon tank with a few Crypts. It is mainly a Lamprologus multifasciatus colony. I took two photo's and have them up in a folder on Photobucket. The captions there explain the before and after shots. http://s178.photobucket.com/albums/w277/jerrytheplater/Earth%20LED%20vs%20Zoo%20Med%20Ultra%20Sun%20Fluorescent/ Here's a link to the Earth LED site. I called them and ordered what I wanted. They make them up to 8 feet long!!  http://www.earthled.com/DirectLED-t8-fluorescent-led-tube-replacement.html  
 
Jerry Smith
Bloomingdale, NJ
 


 > Message: 4
> Date: Wed, 25 Jan 2012 11:19:36 -0800 (PST)
> From: Erik Olson <erik at thekrib_com>
> Subject: Re: [APD] re light fixture
> To: aquatic plants digest <aquatic-plants at actwin_com>
> 
> On Wed, 25 Jan 2012, Jerry Baker wrote:
> 
> > On 1/25/2012 9:25 AM, RMGTBTS at aol_com wrote:
> >> but I cant wait to hear about the LED's and their ratings as to life of
> >> unit and plant growth.
> >
> > Some of Cree's new LED emitters have efficiencies over 100 lumens per watt 
> > and emit fairly strongly in the blue portion of the spectrum, which is good 
> > for plants. They even come in high-CRI color bins which means the fish and 
> > plants will show off their true colors. The expense isn't too bad when you 
> > consider that these LEDs should have a useful life of over 10 years on a 
> > 12-hour cycle. You could achieve the same lighting levels as an AH Supply 55W 
> > kit using only 45 watts or so. The issue seems to be that nobody is really 
> > manufacturing aquarium lights using these emitters yet.
> 
> I'm building an 8emitter setup of Cree XM-L's for a 95-gallon Tanganyika 
> tank. Trying to dream up a way to cool it with tank water by passing 
> tubing up from the tank and across the top of an aluminum channel or 
> inside an aluminum tube & running a circulation pump. The hangup is 
> finding a tubing material that doesn't insulate too much yet is also inert 
> & won't leach into the tank. For instance, copper? I don't think so. 
> Maybe a thin-wall vinyl tube against the channel?
> 
> Anyway, it's a bit of a fun experiment. I may abandon the water cooling 
> entirely. Planning to run it at 1.7 amps = 40 watts total, which should 
> be great for a non-planted aquarium. But because the XM-L's can be pushed 
> to 3+ amps, one could imagine doubling the power on this little rig and 
> getting enough lighting for a medium-level 55 or a high-light 29. But 
> expensive. Think $200 just for all the parts.
> 
> - Erik
> 
> -- 
> Erik Olson
> Sent from my spiffy new Linux box
 		 	   		  
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