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[Complexity]

No, I haven't added any fans. Don't want the noise. My tanks aren't too hot; it would just be nice to have a little less heat. Part of the heat is because I'm using very long photoperiods of 12 hours which allows the heat to build up. It's been that way for years with no ill effects. Still, as a cooler light source develops, I'll consider switching so I can let the tanks run just a big cooler. It helps that I keep my house pretty cool most of the time.

The double brights just might work for a 75g. It depends on the depth penetration of the light and whether you'd want a bright light foreground. I'm not running my CO2 or dosing ferts right now so the double brights would probably work on my 75 as a "low tech" planted. The real question is whether they can handle a full "high tech" planted tank that large.

[plantman65]

Yes and thats my next experiment. Thats will be my Christmas Present to myself lol.

[Crude]

Might be a silly question, but if the wavelength is right, and the lumens are equal, why would LED be worse for a plant than the other options?

[Complexity]

Shouldn't be. The main issue, as I understand it, is that the LEDs don't throw the light in all directions like fluorescent bulbs do. A T5 bulb puts out light in all directions which is then bounced back toward the tank via reflectors. This maximizes the amount of light thrown from the bulbs. However, LEDs tend to throw light in a narrow beam. So there's less overlap of light which means there's less light overall. Some bulbs have wider angles which are preferred, but they still don't compare to a full fluorescent bulb.

So the question with LEDs has always been, as best as I've understood it, an issue of not giving sufficient light intensity. Early light fixtures were cost prohibitive. Now light fixtures are starting to come out with reasonable pricing so people are testing them out to determine just how well they work to actually grow the plants and whether the lights promises on paper actually pan out in reality.

[SunnyHouTX]

Might be a silly question, but if the wavelength is right, and the lumens are equal, why would LED be worse for a plant than the other options?

That's a good question. I'd like to know this too.

BTW, the only tank that gives me an algae problem is my grow out tank which has a double bright 18" fixture. My BNP is very happy about that.

[plantman65]

Good question. I dont see any reason it would be, but before I spent the money I wanted to test the theory on a smaller scale and so far nothing but good results.The growth in 17 days has been pretty good as you can see here.

[Complexity]

Yup, bright light – (CO2, ferts, and lots of plants) = algae. You can try decreasing your photoperiod or raising your lights higher away from the tank to help.

[plantman65]

oops thats the pic when i was first setting it up on 11-2-11

[plantman65]

the one i took today.11-19-11.jpg

[plantman65]

Sunny or you using tap water?

[Complexity]

Growth looks good! How big is that tank?

[plantman65]

Its 5 gal acrylic.

[SunnyHouTX]

Sunny or you using tap water?

Yes. To clarify, what I consider an algae problem is very minor: a very very small amount of growth that shouldn't have occurred in the first place . Tanks are not planted, just fish and hardscape.

[plantman65]

i was under the asumption that it was very bad and the tank was planted lol. In my planted tanks I very seldom use tap water. Sometimes if I am in a hurry are just being lazy I will use tap. I know there are peeps out there who will say its ok to use tap in a planted tank I'm just saying when I do, I grow way to much algae or get the dreaded green water.

[SunnyHouTX]

Lol, that's why I thought I'd clarify. Based on what you're saying about LEDs and planted tanks, I'm inching that much closer to doing my first planted tank... One day