LED Panel

[ottoman]

I found there are LED panels for aquarium at ebay selling at $60 included shipping. What do you think? Very similar to those LED strip available on the market. I am intested to try them to set up a small 30G tank / frag tank.

Any comment or suggestion?

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Blue-Hydroponic-L...item53e02e216e

[Crytone]

That panel is using very low power LEDs. Don't expect to get much par with them. Especially near the bottom of the tank. I'd say this panel MAYBE (big maybe) OK to use on something like a 5gallon nano but for anything bigger it'd likely just be a waste.

[Dolf]

Ouch- I don't even know if I would run it over a 5 gal. 13W total output... I think that your $$$ would be better spent on other toys. If you were to put it over a refugium on the other hand...

[Ron99]

Those types of LEDs put out virtually no PAR. Okay if you are going fish only but useless for any coral etc.

You need at minimum 1 watt high power LEDs for low light corals and 3 watt high power LEDs for SPS or clams etc. Also, depending on the depth of the tank, you may need optics on them.

These panels are cheap but of no use on reef tanks. Decent LEDs that produce sufficient PAR for photosynthetic organisms are not cheap and neither are the constant current drivers needed to power them. It's getting better and more affordable options will be coming but avoid anything that is inexpensive as it just won't work.

[monocus]

i bought one for my refugium in white-does an ok job-as a test i tried it on my 220 -fairly bright-but i wouldnt trust it

[ottoman]

It claimed electric usage is 13W but you will get 195W out of the LED. This is more than one of my 150W MH.

Ron, I guess Watt is not equal PAR, so what do you think the LED strip avalible at OC, as it said PAR rating double of ATI Blue Plus T5 Lamp w/Reflector.

Is there any good research or reading that you will suggest?

[Dolf]

It is not only the PAR, the ad actually says in the specs: "13W : approximately equal to the blue ray of a 195W incandescent light"
By that statement I assume that they are measuring the blue spectrum of the output against a "warm" white incadescent and not the actual light output.

Anyhow, as an example of just how far off of useful this light would be for growing coral I would point you towards http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_viewit...TFILDTN-UU1111 which is a LED fixture with almost the same measurements as the one on ebay. It uses 90 Watts worth of LED's (Likely the fixture would draw more) instead of the 13W.

As another comparison http://cgi.ebay.ca/High-Intensity-10...item563a9a1174 is a flashlight that takes 3 AAA batteries and draws 10W for the LED output. It would be difficult to hang a flashlight over an aquarium and expect anything to grow... (Yes, not a perfect comparison- but it gives you the idea.)

I think that if you research the DIY fixtures on these boards you will get a much better idea of the kinds of power and the types of light (including spectrum) that is necessary for a fixture to be usable and it will make it easier for you to form your own conclusion about light fixtures.

Good luck.