Someone mentioned an LED aquarium light. Any recommendations.

[rgG]

I am thinking of replacing my fluorescent aquarium light with an LED, but I have not bought one before and no nothing about them. Does anyone have a recommendation for one they like and a place to buy?

I have a 55 gallon "long" style tank. I think it is an Oceanic. It has a 48" one light hood.

[Jimmypoo]

Depends on what you have in the tank.

From what you mentioned above, I'll assume it's not a reef tank and probably not even a salt tank, so that
opens up your options quite a bit - and if you're willing to spend a little money, it will pay for itself on
short order (in energy savings) - if you were to do the same upgrade via fluorescent.

It's been a number of years since I have had my reef tank - but I pick up a copy of the magazine for salt
heads every now and then. There are a few places that I always look to for general supplies and a few
brands I always look to for reference (even though I may have mediocre opinions of their stuff).

Marineland is probably the foremost for general products. Take a look at this as a starting point, and
be sure to read the user comments. They are typical for Marineland goods - a good product with some
obvious fault designs, that you'd end up being the writer if you were the first buyer.

http://www.amazon.com/Marineland-Double-...B0032536R4

I learned that from their first canister filter in 1981 or so -- went through many of them because the
polycarbonate wasn't thick enough - and it flexed, and I went back to Eheim and tossed the idea of portability.

In college I used to do some high end restaurant maintenance on their aquariums and bought a few of the
Marineland Magnums - set up in different modes, because there was nothing like them out at the time
and they were cheap ($65 each) and one had diatom powder, one had a megaload of ChemiPure in it, and
I could create artwork with those two elements once the glass was cleaned. Nothing like a canister blowing
a gasket at 300 gallons per hour though... or a lid.. or cracking. For all their faults, if I had just let them
run under the cabinet, they probably would have been fine, despite their claims of portability.

Here's their latest in lights as a place to start. I'd use mail order prices in Aquarium Magazine to decide
how much you're willing to pay for lighting.

http://www.marineland.com/MLCatalog.aspx?taxid=1903473


http://www.ledgrowlightsoutlet.com/led-a...ights.html

http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/LEDLights.html

[OWC Jamie]

If money is no object and you are anal about providing your finny friends with just the right amount of light :
http://www.ocreef.com/ocreef_xp-e_and_re...nsity_leds


I would have to modify that with automatic dimmers to simulate sunrise and sunset. :-)

[rgG]

More info. It is a fresh water tank that is recessed into a wall. Only have 3 fish right now. I just want to light the tank and hopefully cut down a little on the algae growth. Not looking to break the bank on this.

Thanks for the links. I will check them out.

[Jimmypoo]

That's the problem with light. You can have a well lit environment, but you'll have to add a little effort for algae.

Sunlight is a problem - but if you use live plants in your tank, they will be absorbing the excess phosphates
in the tank, and that helps reduce algae potential. Cycling your lights off will aid as well. Making sure you
only use aquarium temperature colors is a big plus (compared to standard fluorescents, for example).

Mechanically you can get some phosphate pads, but doing a simple 10% water change every 7-10 days (and
vacuum your gravel) will go along way toward reducing phosphate and nitrogen levels. So, too, is making
absolutely sure that your prisoners are only getting enough food to eat, and no more. That excess food
just creates too much protein in the water, promotes algae growth, and without a protein skimmer, requires
more work (more water changes and gravel vacuuming - even with a good under-gravel filtration system)
to reduce the excess --- the gravel becomes a composting pile, and that promotes algae.

Grab yourself a few snails -- (though know ahead of time that a few means a LOT in a few months, so
plan on selling or flushing or something...). They do a great job of cleaning the glass of algae, but they and
Ghost Shrimp are not really the way to address the issue - the stuff you HATE about having an aquarium IS.
The bigger the snails, the more cleaning they will do (and the shrimp are really good at hairy algae).

I am not one to jump on the copper bandwagon to kill algae -- (and you can't use copper in a salt tank at
all or you kill everything in it but the fish...) - but remember, that algae in the water means that the water
is in good shape, generally speaking. It's promoting "life" -- it's the excess that you need to control.

A few dollars a week in distilled water might save you a lot of time in clean-up and refill, and give you
water that is going to be low in phosphates (and is already chlorine free).

In the salt realm, there are liquid packages that you buy that contain algae in them, and fertilizers, in order
to PROMOTE it -- because so many of the popular fish eat it - and it helps keep them from nipping at your corals...

If you want great looking lighting - I'd definitely add some -- but cycle your night/day to shorter periods,
and be sure to test your water for nitrates and phosphates. Add the 10% change (5 gallons) using distilled,
if you start to see a bloom, and watch closely how much you feed just 3 fish - even if they are large.

Here's some pics of various algae - bookmark it so you'll know which kind is good and bad.
If you have the budget, you can always add a UV sterilizer. That will get waterborne algae and kill it,
but remember, that it's "death" in the water, so you'll need to be filtering as well to be able to handle it.

To me, keeping an aquarium was like rebuilding a car or similar. It requires so much time and work, and
the challenge of using the right technology to keep it all functioning optimally, that it's not just a hobby,
it is a challenge to you creating your own "planet." Forget SimCity or Farmville -- you've got one right there
enmeshed in glass/plexiglass.

When it's PERFECT is when you're doing the LEAST amount of work... which is probably an hour a day, not
counting weekends and water changes!

When you have that much water - it's like having an acre of lawn. Stuff is going to grow whether you planned
for it or not -- and then out comes the Round-Up, the Weed-Killer, the Image, the water, the walking
sprinklers, the lawn tractor, the drag behind tools, etc. No matter what you choose, if you want it to be
a real centerpiece, (and you have it in a wall) - I assume you've got an array of tools behind that wall that
include water and a sink, and a stepstool! So get your magnet pairs and start cleaning the glass!



edit-----

Here's a good link on fresh water algae control. The experiment was sorta scientific, maybe, but the results are worth noting, done in a 40 and 125g tank. http://www.freshwateraquariumplants.com/...algae.html

[Jem]

Great info, Jimmypoo!

I would add to this that it is often worth it to invest in an undercounter reverse osmosis deionization (RO/DI) system. Can get them online at ebay for $150-250.

We use it for both our drinking water and aquarium water. When you are doing alot of water changes it is convenient and can save over the long run on buying distilled water.