20 gal tall, soon to be planted (all low-light plants) with (for now) a work lamp over the tank with a 9 (actual) watt light bulb I am new to lighting, so bear with me, please. As I've been reading along, members refer to LED lights in terms of watts and K. I understand the K part, but when I look at LED bulbs, it has a number in watts (actual) and Replacement watts. Am I correct that when LED watts are mentioned in this forum, we are talking about actual watts? TIA
The watts that you are referring to on the LED fixtures is referring to power consumption of the LEDs. Back in the day, light measurement for aquarium plant growth was approximated by watts per gallon with fluorescent light fixtures, but now we use the photo-synthetically active radiation (PAR) measurement. I have acquired a link for you that may explain it for you. You may have to read this over a few times before it sinks in. Lighting an Aquarium with PAR instead of Watts - The Planted Tank Forum
Thanks! That's more info than I can process, at least for a while! Wow! I guess I just need someone to help me pick out a light since all I have now is a 9 watt LED Bulb and I'm getting a bunch of plants next week.
Unfortunately, until manufacturers advertise PAR, or cheap accurate PAR meters become widely available then wattage or even lumens is really the only practical option. I'd love to be able to measure the PAR of my DIY leds, but that's not happening any time soon. I can however tell you exactly how many watts it's drawing.
If I may, I would like to recommend the Finnex 24/7 SE. Finnex makes a quality light fixture and has good customer service. The light is also dimmable to suit your plant needs. https://www.amazon.com/Finnex-Plant...501931794&sr=8-2&keywords=24+inch+Finnex+24/7
Well, since you built your own light maybe you can build your own PAR meter: Assembling a DIY PAR Meter - The Planted Tank Forum or DIY PAR meter, Yeah you heard me - The Planted Tank Forum
Thanks for the link. It looks great, but I'm going to have to go with a cheaper hood with fluorescent tubes.
So, what is your budget? I guess I should have asked that question first. Here is a Beamswork Pent that will work at about 1/2 of the price: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LFF07BU/ref=twister_B01LFF08QO?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
$40-45 would be my budget, however this light would be too bright. I want to do a low-tech with low-light plants.
Finnex Stingray $40. https://www.amazon.com/Finnex-Sting...1501972789&sr=1-1&keywords=finnex+stingray+24
That looks good! Just because I'm curious, are there particular benefits to leds/disadvantages of traditional fluorescent tubes?
Led lights provide much brighter light at a fraction of the power usage will last 10-20 times longer than fluorescent will before replacing and take up way less space per watt of light produced
