tropical fish tank led vs tube

[gun12b]

has anybody gone down this path tube light for LED,
ive got 2 tubes in my 180ltr tank at the mo, thinking about buying leds off ebay ?
what led watts have you got in your tank ?

[Oakey]

Me, I replaced the tubes on my Rio 180 with the Juwel Helialux led's, mostly because they use less power. I also added the day and night controller so the lights operate automatically.

[Nimby]

Oakey said:

Me, I replaced the tubes on my Rio 180 with the Juwel Helialux led's, mostly because they use less power.

I also have a Rio 180 and toyed with switching to LEDs. But surely the heater would be on more as you need a fixed amount of energy to heat the tank above ambient, and it doesn't matter whether the heat comes from the heater or T5 fluorescent tubes.

I have to say your plants are thriving.

[Oakey]

I've been thinking the same, the heater has been on a fair bit since the weather turned colder. But then the led's run about half the wattage so it's swings and roundabouts.

I also replaced the 200w Juwel heater because it's terrible.

Here's how it looked back in October

Edited by Oakey on Thursday 1st March 21:59

[gun12b]

your tank looks nice with the plants, roughly how long do you have your lights on for ?
mine about 3hrs at night time,

what's the best plant you've got in your tank for spreading ?

[Oakey]

Lights are on for about 12hrs a day but the controller creates a day / night cycle.

So from about 9am-10am is the dawn period, then 10am-1pm is sunrise, 5pm - 8pm is sunset, 8pm -10.30pm dusk.

I have had zero luck with carpetting plants. When I set it up I planted dwarf hair grass and monte carlo but the Platys just ripped it all up.