LED Aquarium Light by Marineland

[ry783]

I was wondering if anyone in the club is using LED Aquarium Lights by Marineland? I wanted to know how they are on a reef tank.

Thanks
Ryan

 

[niftyjosh]

From everything I've seen and heard, they are practically garbage.

 

[Spaceman]

WOW garbage really??? They are a good introduction light... They easy to use and the new design is worked out the kinks.... i Just got a silver MACNA reef ready Marineland that will be perfect for my 14 biocube for most coral... Starting to question light requirements some company's say... largest piece of red planet is growing under vhos.... i mean the marineland is going to throw 100par at my sand bed its the best fit ever for par ever.....

 

[cps68500]

i mean the marineland is going to throw 100par at my sand bed its the best fit ever for par ever.....

Problem is the PAR measures the brightness of light where LED's should be measured by a spectrometer as it's the invisible light thrown by an LED that is most beneficial.

 

[KSC]

Invisible light? You mean this?
"Exploring invisible light
At either end of the rainbow there is light we can't see. Below the red end is near infrared light, shorter in wavelength than the infrared we feel as heat. Above the violet end of the rainbow is near ultraviolet, longer in wavelength than the ultraviolet light that causes sunburn."

I think you have it backwards. Right now, most LED fixtures contain no UV or infrared light.

U.S. Department of Energy - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Solid-State Lighting
Comparison of Power Conversion of White Light Sources
All light sources convert electric power into radiant energy and heat in various proportions. Incandescent lamps emit primarily infrared (IR), with a small amount of visible light. Fluorescent and metal halide sources convert a higher proportion of the energy into visible light, but also emit IR, ultraviolet (UV), and heat. LEDs generate little or no IR or UV, but convert only 15%-25% of the power into visible light; the remainder is converted to heat that must be conducted from the LED die to the underlying circuit board and heat sinks, housings, or luminaire frame elements. The table below shows the approximate proportions in which each watt of input power is converted to heat and radiant energy (including visible light) for various white light sources.

Power Conversion for "White" Light Sources Incandescent†
(60W) Fluorescent†
(Typical linear CW) Metal Halide‡ LED*
Visible Light 8% 21% 27% 15-25%
IR 73% 37% 17% ~0%
UV 0% 0% 19% 0%
Total Radiant Energy 81% 58% 63% 15-25%
Heat
(Conduction + Convection) 19% 42% 37% 75-85%
Total 100% 100% 100% 100%

† IESNA Handbook ‡ Osram Sylvania

 

[KSC]

And the reason that people claim that the Apogee par meter doesn't measure led's very well is because the meter underestimates blue light. It doesn't matter if you are measuring t5, mh, or led, the "bluer" it is, the larger the error. Add 10% if you are running a windex tank and the meter should be pretty accurate.

 

[cps68500]

What I mean is the LED Aquarium Light by Marineland running at .11w PER LED (as per what I've read on their site) is junk. It can't reach the correct wavelength.

 

[KSC]

I wouldn't call it junk. It might just be the perfect light for that 14 gal nano tank. Personally, I think there are better options out there for the money, but I'd pop that over a 14g if I had it. It looks like they are putting out 1watt/bulb, so with careful placement most corals would thrive under that fixture.

"◦18 - 24” - (18) 10,000K White & (3) 460 nm Blue 1W LEDs – 1305 Lumens"

 

[pallobi]

almost anything Marineland sells is garbage... no sense in wasting your money on lights that arent gonna do much of anything... you'll jus end up replacing them soon... not worth it... stay away from Marineland products, except maybe their tanks... and ESPECIALLY their leds, pumps, and heaters...

 

[cps68500]

I wouldn't call it junk. It might just be the perfect light for that 14 gal nano tank. Personally, I think there are better options out there for the money, but I'd pop that over a 14g if I had it. It looks like they are putting out 1watt/bulb, so with careful placement most corals would thrive under that fixture.

"◦18 - 24” - (18) 10,000K White & (3) 460 nm Blue 1W LEDs – 1305 Lumens"

I didn't see the 1W LED. I saw a product from them that said it had .11W LED's... even still you should still have a mixture of 440~470nm AND 640~660nm for growth.

and there is no reason to have 1W LED's when their penetration is said to be ~4-6 inches...

I'd love to see someone take a tank, split it in two via a piece of black plexi full of holes (for water flow) and put a MH light on one side, and an LED light on the other... then take two frag's from the same mother and take pictures daily.

PS, I don't run MH. I run LED.

 

[dlux5life]

I know that a local reef shop set them up over about 10 of their tanks with the intention of having a large reef display. Those 10 or so tanks are now FOWLR.