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Post by fishfever on Jun 7, 2009 11:30:46 GMT -5
Has anyone tried replacing their florescent lamp(s) with white LED replacement tube(s)? They are starting to get cheap and it's very tempting. I can get a T8 (2 ft) for my small tank in an equivalent wattage for about $50 including shipping now. They are supposed to last at least 50,000 hours. You remove the starter/ballast from your fixture and just plug it in normally. Was wondering about the light intensity, color, heat or any other things you might have noticed. One of the main motivations for doing this is so I can easily dim the lighting to simulate cloudy days and sunrise/sunsets using automated controls. The fish seem to be startled now when the lights are turned on/off suddenly.
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Post by fishfever on Jun 7, 2009 11:36:55 GMT -5
I think I misquoted the price. That was for a 4' bulb. The 2' bulb is about $25, making it even more tempting.
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Post by Carl on Jun 7, 2009 15:54:26 GMT -5
We have had many of these T8 lamps with the LED embeds offered to us, but so far I have not seen any that have the correct kelvin rating for fish yet (this kind of temperature control is much more expensive at this time, but that said, maybe someone has one now. Currently there are more an more proven daylight kelvin LED entering the market, but not in these low end/price T8 bulbs that I have seen as yet. The least expensive is the Rio clamp on light, other wise most are running about $200 (a new one for less is currently being tested, but I cannot say much about it for now). T2s are an inexpensive alternative as are the many 6500 K CFL. I would recommend this article for further information: "AQUARIUM LIGHTING, Kelvin, Nanometers, PAR, Reef, FW Plant and more. Complete and current information"Carl |
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Post by fishfever on Jun 7, 2009 20:07:38 GMT -5
Wow, lots of good info in that article Carl. I'll have to spend an afternoon sometime reading it thoroughly. I'm in no hurry so if the technology isn't quite there, I'm willing to wait. OTOH, my application (small FW with artificial plants only) is less demanding so there may be something out there. I looked at the lamp I have and it's only a F15-T8. It measures 17 3/4" from end to end including pins. I could probably pull the whole lamp assembly including starter/ballast out and just use the hood to cover up a new LED array if I find something suitable.
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