# LED Lights, tank progress and a few notes!



## clep.berry (Mar 4, 2012)

Hey folks,
I'm still new to all this, 6 months in but it's time I posted a little update.
I was pondering throughout the last 6 months where to go in the fish hobby, going through the stages of wanting every fish out there, overstocking, experimenting and killing the odd fish here and there. 

What I do know is that I will go bigger, but maybe focus on detail rather than size.

I just received a quad of grobeam 500s from TMC and I must say that CREE LEDs are certainly the bees knees. My 15g tank was supplied with a 15W T8 fitting to which I added a reflector. Just placing one of the 4 grobeams above the feeding hatch makes the tank look 4x brighter - and that's 12W of LEDs. I hope to have suspended 2 of them above my tank in the next week but compared to T8s and T5s, these babies are brilliant. Your T5 HOs typically pump out 60-70 lumens per watt, CREE LEDs hit 100-120! - so typically 50% more light than their stated power consumption would have you believe! 24W would be comparable to 36W of T5 lighting!

I'm excited about these lights. In just a day or so, there's been a remarkable difference. It also seems that the fish are sunbathing in this light!

I need to post a picture sometime soon but I must say that of the 12 or so varieties in my tank, under low light 4-5 stand out: Hygro varieties, Java fern, Vallis and Limnophylla sesiflora. The last one is a BRILLIANT plant for beginners and I've had to give away 9 cuttings today alone - 3 weeks on from getting a single cutting..

All's well in the world.
cb


----------



## clep.berry (Mar 4, 2012)

Short Update:
Was out for about 6 hours and left 1 12W LED strip on with the 15W T8 - DIY CO2 running and a good dose of ferts.
I'm experiencing PEARLING (Note the LED is very much on one side of the tank) on the following species:
Limnophylla Sesiflora
Willow Hygro
Java Fern
Riccia.

Am I Impressed? WOW!
cb

And Edited to include a photo of what my tank now looks like:


----------



## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

Good job with the LEDs and such. Pearling is a major feather in the cap of most of us planted junkies. I remember how happy I was when I got my riccia to pearl. Haven't seen it since then though, sadly.


----------

