LED light for plants
- Thread starter Dantarius
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SonTigerPantherCham
New Member
I do, in addition I use my basking, uv, 6500k. at nite heat emitters(its cold)
my plants look awesome, the lighting brightens everything up, my chams are active and healthy
anne
my plants look awesome, the lighting brightens everything up, my chams are active and healthy
anne
There are several things to consider:
1) AQUARIUM lighting is usually 10000K which will result in drab plants. You want full spectrum daylight usually at 6500K. This has to do with several things; partly the fact that red wavelengths don't penetrate water as deep and so aquatic life has become more dependent on blue light, and secondly, because chlorophyll a and b production requires the red spectrum.
2) Hydroponic LED will usually have an overly RED tint to the lights (or BLUE, depending on the type of lighting you buy for foliage/flowering). They will work fine for your plants, but make your tank look funny visually.
If you are interested, you can DIY LEDs or purchase 6500K units (but most GOOD LED units run upwards of $1400 and care must be taken not to get a blue-heavy [actinic] light). Hit me up if you are interested in a more affordable unit or want info on DIY Kits. Alternatively, you can just buy some of the "screw-in" style LED bulbs (LightYourReptiles has some I believe).
Since LED does not generate heat nor uv, you will still need both your UVB and Basking bulb still. The LED would only benefit your plants.
HOWEVER, care must be taken not to make it too bright as chameleons can be bothered by too much light, especially if your setup is not densely planted.
1) AQUARIUM lighting is usually 10000K which will result in drab plants. You want full spectrum daylight usually at 6500K. This has to do with several things; partly the fact that red wavelengths don't penetrate water as deep and so aquatic life has become more dependent on blue light, and secondly, because chlorophyll a and b production requires the red spectrum.
2) Hydroponic LED will usually have an overly RED tint to the lights (or BLUE, depending on the type of lighting you buy for foliage/flowering). They will work fine for your plants, but make your tank look funny visually.
If you are interested, you can DIY LEDs or purchase 6500K units (but most GOOD LED units run upwards of $1400 and care must be taken not to get a blue-heavy [actinic] light). Hit me up if you are interested in a more affordable unit or want info on DIY Kits. Alternatively, you can just buy some of the "screw-in" style LED bulbs (LightYourReptiles has some I believe).
Since LED does not generate heat nor uv, you will still need both your UVB and Basking bulb still. The LED would only benefit your plants.
HOWEVER, care must be taken not to make it too bright as chameleons can be bothered by too much light, especially if your setup is not densely planted.
monkeymeleon
New Member
Hi, first post, I've been lurking a while and decided to chime in here. I keep freshwater planted aquariums, which require a lot of light to properly grow plants. There are many options out there for planted tank lighting, led obviously the newest to the market. I'm no expert, but I'm sure these lights would grow your plants, as that's exactly what they're designed for. Just like florescents, you can find them in the 6500k - 10000k range. It's important to remember that K ratings are just how the light appears to our eyes. Lights designed for planted aquariums have spikes in the red and blue spectral ranges, good for plants and pleasing to the eye. Here's a link to the planted tank forum I frequent. While you're there, be sure to check out some of the amazing things we do with our tanks, there are some beautiful setups there.
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=160396
This thread is all about readily available and more reasonably priced LED lighting for planted tanks. Has PAR readings, spectral graphs, and other useful info. Check out the lighting section for more brain mushing info than you could possibly want. Let me know what you guys think.
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=160396
This thread is all about readily available and more reasonably priced LED lighting for planted tanks. Has PAR readings, spectral graphs, and other useful info. Check out the lighting section for more brain mushing info than you could possibly want. Let me know what you guys think.
Dantarius
New Member
Thanks for the info guys ! I was looking around and research says that most plants can survive with mainly blue wavelengths, but require more red wavelengths to flower/fruit. I am currently setting up my Cham cage with a marineland single bright LED system. The box says that yes it is 1000k, but 1000k is our visual spectrum, not the types used for plants, which is usually measured with PAR. Otherwise, the spectrum on the side of the box is more strongly blue, with some (albeit somewhat minimal) red waves. So I think it should work well with keeping most plants alive. I will give more info once I get some more plants into the enclosure. Also, I have not gotten a Cham yet, but am slowly setting up and working on it. I will post. More info as it comes along I guess.
Both PAR and Color temperature are ways of measuring light.
A "PAR" reading is a reading that adds up the photosynthetic values of light. In other words, a PAR reading only counts the wavelengths used in photosynthesis (ie it does not count greens, etc).
the "1000K" lighting scale is based on the "visual spectrum" yes, but lower color means more reds and higher K ratings means more blues. unfortunately, as you mentioned, this number is only a representation of the sum of the values and does not actually tell us if the desired wavelengths are in the light (for that we must look at the spectral graph of the light). however, as a "strong approximation" 6500K is good enough for almost all instances here.
if you see the spectral graph, make sure there are good reds and blues; that is what really matters....PAR, color temperature, etc are all various measures of this, but the core spectral distribution is what really matters
AQUATIC plants need more blue wavelenghts because that is whaat penetrates deeper into the water (and so they don't get as much red in nature and have evolved away from using reds). ABOVE-water plants WILL want much more reds, especially for "coloring up"
You can use a blue heavy light (10000K) and will have drab colored, but well-growing (vegetation will grow) plants.
Using a 1000K light means it is very red and will not lead to good plant growth at all (i'm guessing you meant 10000K as I have not seen anyone make a 1000K light)
if you need details feel free to PM me
if you are expecting flowers or any kind of coloration from your plants, you need the red wavelengths. this is due to chlorophyll a and b production (wikipedia has a good basic article on this)
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Dantarius
New Member
Haha, sorry I read my box wrong... It is saying it has blue and white 60mW LEDs and are running about 300 lumens. And the 60mW spectrums was shown on thei box having a large blue spike (1.0% light intensity) and a 0.5% light intensity roughly at 560nm while tapering off through the red wavelengths (about 600- 680nm.) so I'm doing a trial run on the plants to see if they survive, first off, and later see if they have enough red wavelength to flower. Sorry, I'll try to post the wavelength chart from the box sometime soon.
But i was wondering, if I were to place a small strip of red Saran wrap, would that increase some red wavelength? Has anyone had any experience with this? Or have any recommendations for color films that I can apply over the lights?
But i was wondering, if I were to place a small strip of red Saran wrap, would that increase some red wavelength? Has anyone had any experience with this? Or have any recommendations for color films that I can apply over the lights?
TheFabricator
New Member
What LED light are you using exactly?
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