Anyone tried newer LED grow lights?

[kdodds]

Aug 14, 2010 4:34:49 GMT taz6122 said:

Aug 11, 2010 0:23:18 GMT biglight said:

We like active LED from Ringdale. These are real LED's, mft in Georgetown Texas, not Japan or China. 90% less energy than traditional lighting with more luminosity. No brain'er. We consult with the military and grower around the world on the subject.

I would like to know what Carnivorous plants you grow under these lights.
At the price it would take me over 10 years of energy savings to pay for these lights. Will they last 20?

Exactly the reason they've never really "taken off" in reef aquaria. LED full systems have been available for what, maybe a decade now. I can remember at least seeing them displayed heavily back in maybe 2005 at a MACNA conference. They've not come down in price as they were "supposed to" and don't offer ENOUGH of a benefit for reef aquarium keepers familiar with MH (and now heavily T5) lighting to risk the switch. I know of quite a few pretty long term coral set-ups that are using them, so they CAN work for at least some organisms that are accustomed to full bright sun in equatorial ranges. Myself, I think the T5 solutions I currently have for all aquaria/terraria more than satisfy my needs, especially since the T5 bulbs (goood ones anyway) have a pretty good practical lifespan of a year or more (PCs and MHs aren't nearly as long-lived). Still, I wouldn't scoff at LEDs ability to maintain CPs since I have seen them in use, long term, over reef tanks containing Acropora corals.

[bonglim72]

hi i'm bong lim, a newby with cp, i was successfull with succulents and orchids indoor, using a self built
LED system (52 led per unit 1r:1b ratio with 4 high bright white). i was so challenged with cp, all because it needs the two requirements of both orchids and succulent (light and humidity). i'm now using my 3 unitts of LED combined with 2 high bright LED bulb to replace 8watths t5. i also grow them near my self built aquaphonic system to maintain humidity, else together with my other plant and succulents. my pitcher plant was growing well alongside my orchids using cocodust, perlite, charcoal, and cococube bark.

[bluemax]

'Sounds interesting, bong lim. How many watts do your leds consume each and how much area do they light? If you can post any photographs that might help to visualize your system as well.

- Mark

[bonglim72]

hi, i'm bong a newby, i'm trying my luck with my newly acquired cp, i'm using my home made LED light X3 unit (52 LED per Unit = 1R:1B + 7bright white) combine with LED bulb 25w incandecent replacement that only run on 2watts. I've been using the same light with my succulents and orchids with an acceptable success. I also developed my own aquaphonic system to sprout seeds, all my cp are near this system for humidity.. i'd like to post pictures, i tried but unluckily i can't... I'm still trying to know how, will somebody guide me..i really love to show you my pics..






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[bouncingwatermelon]

are LEDs really useful for cp cultivation, or for plant cultivation?

I thought they only produce a very narrow bandwidth of light, whereas plants benefit from a variety of them.
So even if an LED light is bright to our eyes, it might not be of much use for plants when it comes to photosynthesis.

If I am saying something wrong, please let me know.

[bonglim72]

narrow bandwith with LED is on the advantage side, since photosynthesis are at its peak on the upper blue and red respectively, although limited with the amount of brightness for the human eye, (human eyes see more clearly on the green and yellow band) it is quite different with plants. sometimes we thought of red and blue as dark no matter how many LED you put but actually it is already very bright for plants.

although in some points you are quite right, YES plants also needs some other color aside from red and blue, its like food suppliments for plant growth (its vitamins and minerals for humans) which are also vital for their healthy development, thats why i'm also using a high bright LED bulb, it is diffused white in color that will suppliment the spectra that blue and red LED doesn't provide.

i hope this somehow enlighthened you..

[JimHouse]

Love this thread, thanks for starting it!

I don't have much to add, but I'll tell you, I've used regular white light in both t-12 units, and compac flouro units, and then switched to half actinic. what I found was slightly faster growth, but both times, the plants immediately bloomed because of the reds. this happened to me with both CP's and orchids as well. plus it's a bit counter-intuitive because the actinic lights seem to put off less (visible) light. I focus my inside stuff on mostly seed germination, so I focus on the blues, even when I have to overwinter my Neps.

also, I've been very interested in the high output LEDS for a long time. it's nice to hear that the little ones have as much candle power as you report. I too have read the "other guy's" reviews of them, and never really trusted them due to the fact that maybe they were -something else- first, and plant guys second.

those other guys all talk about a company called "hid hut," who offer ridiculously expensive lights that are apparently as bright as the sun. I never thought they ever had any application for us because they have a huge red spectrum, and little blue spectrum, which is useful for their application, not so much ours. for the most part, I'd rather NOT have my plants focus on flowering! I'll move them outside when I'm ready for that.

I'm glad to hear the tri-colored ones work well. I may be ready for an upgrade soon.

Jim

[walberg]

I always had 2 x 80 watt 5400 kelvin Dulux fluoresence lamps but since december 2011 i have a led system with 13 x 4 2 watt powerleds. The system got 3 little fans from above 1 va (watt) cooling powerleds is very important. The system have a mixture of red, blue infrared and ultravioled leds. The spectrum is more dense to the spectrum of what is needed for plants (chorophyl) Before i had 2 x 80 watt of Dulux lamps 16 hours in my terrarium 50 x 100 cm and 60 cm high (i live in Holland and 2,54 cm is one inch) nowadays i god 104 watt 12 hours instead of the 160 watt 16 hours with the fluoresence lamps but my heli's are more colored (vivid) than before and there is less temperature (Temperature is a big problem insite the house in Spring and summer
I surely recommend led lamps but you should look at the spectra of the lamps.

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[nepenthes99]

I keep a reef aquarium, and LEDs are all the rage in keeping hard corals that need very high light. I am sure Reef LEDs are more than suitable for plants except they are quite expensive, most going for $200+. Somewhat less expensive plant LEDs might not be suitable for CPs.