Standard Socket LED Bulbs with Red/Blue?

[mess7777]

Has anyone ever tried these?

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/PAR38-42-SMD-LED-Red-Blue-Hydroponic-Plant-Grow-Light-/110649065674?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19c332c0ca

There are simliar versions with 1 watt LEDs as well. I am very curious about them, especially the not having to change it out frequently and not having to build a new LED board to have LED lighting on my ATS.

[rleahaines]

many of these grow lights on the market don't really put out that much light intensity or PAR. If you look at what people are using for UAS or waterfall ATS, most are 3 Watt LEDs.

This one looks like it is a bunch of less than one watt. This may not put out enough to work.

[Ace25]

Should work fine for a smaller screen (5"x5" or so). It is 11w total, which is equal to us DIYers running 4x 660nm + 1 453nm LEDs at 2w ea. SM uses less than that on his UAS he sells. Most people that use 3w LEDs only run them in the 2w area anyway, so don't get hung up on the wattage of the individual LEDs, it is the sum of all the LEDs (and spectrum of coarse) that is important.

[Garf]

Ace - this has confused me for a while. It's touted that you need 3 watt LEDS, but say a 10 watt is just a cluster of 9 x 1 watters.

[Ace25]

Actually 1w LEDs would be much better to use than 3w LEDs, but if you use 1w LEDs, it is either MUCH harder to build a light, or if you buy 1w LEDs mounted on stars, you end up paying 3x as much overall than if you went with 3w LEDs, so economically it doesn't make much sense in the DIY area to use 1w LEDs... but if you find a nice fixture that seems to fit your needs perfectly for size and is in your price range, it should work just as well.

When you get into 'multichip' LEDs, it is exactly as you state, a 10w Multichip is 10x 1w LEDs in series in a single die. There is no way they could make a large multichip LED with 3w LEDs, it would get so hot in a small area that you would need something like liquid nitrogen to keep it cool. I have some red 3w 'multichips' but they are 2x 1.5w LEDs inside the die (1 640nm-650nm and 1 650nm-660nm LED), and with just 2 AA batteries to test it, it will literally burn your hand within 10 seconds.

3w Multichip Red LED vs Cree Neutral White LED
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8465/8103888829_d2c38e553c.jpg

Santa Monica and Floyd tested the eshine LED grow lights that used 1w, and they perform very well.

We are getting to the point with lighting that we are going overboard in many cases now (on scrubbers and displays). I think 'we', reef hobbyist that have been in the hobby for a while, saw the same thing happen about 10 years ago with filtration. We got to the point we started doing things like Zeovit, which to me is severely over filtering the water to the point you are starving the tank (which I think is terrible to do, starve animals because you don't want to deal with excess nutrients/algae). If a normal 23/26w CFL bulb works fine on most ATS screens, then the light the OP linked to should at least be 2x better than a CFL if not more.

This is a "Lime in the Sky" acropora I got from a 'Zeovit' user.. on the left was when I first received it, on the right is 2 months later in my tank. Tell me that coral wasn't starving. ;)
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3613/3324366716_cf7066b680_z.jpg?zz=1

[RkyRickstr]

Absolutely agree.. great post.

[mess7777]

Ace, appreciate the insight. I am not getting green growth after a few months, I almost end up with brown sheets of this algae that just peels off. If this 11 x 1 watt bulb should be twice the 23 watt CFL I am all in. At $30 it can't hurt to try on one side. That said it is more spotlight than the CFL so the reflector will probably be useless other than a splash guard.

If I got ahead I will surely post the results.

[WannaRace]

http://www.amazon.com/LEDwholesalers-1325RB-PAR38-Remote-Control/dp/B004KW8SK8/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1350943302&sr=8-12&keywords=LED+red+and+blue+grow+light

What about this light? I have a one cube per day, 3 x 4 screen. Would one of these on each side be more than enough?

[RkyRickstr]

Both lights look good to me.

[WannaRace]

Does this one have too many red:blue ratio? Very big price difference. Would be great if it worked.
http://www.amazon.com/Miracle-LED-605020-Grow-Bulb/dp/B002NGKITW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1350944926&sr=8-2&keywords=led+grow+light

[Ace25]

No on that last link, that light is only 2w, not enough power for anything beyond hatching seedling plants.

[angusmitch]

http://www.fastlight.co.uk/acatalog/LED_Grow_Spot_Lights.html

Is this bulb any good ?

[Ace25]

I would have to say no on that one.. link doesn't have any info on wattage, and the spectrum is wrong in both the blue and red. You want 450nm and 660nm, not 465nm and 650nm.

[angusmitch]

Thanks for the quick reply :)