# LED flood lights for 125 gallon tank



## nicholz (May 5, 2012)

Hi - 
I am in process of setting up led lighting for my 125. I have the right side lit with one 20w cool 6000k flood and one 10w RGB led with remote, and the center and left sides with two t8 bulbs for comparison. I have three more 20W led and two more 10W RGB on the way to cover the center and left sides. I would appreciate any thoughts or suggestions on this setup. I plan to have one 20w cool and one 10w rgb on both the right and left sides of the tank , and two 20w cool and one 10w rgb in the center. They will be directly in the center from front to back sitting on the glass lid. 

In the video the RGB flood is first on "white" setting then I cycle thru the various buttons on the remote
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acpCCZ2oq9I&feature=youtube_gdata_player


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## nicholz (May 5, 2012)

Hi

I ended up going with (6) 20 watt 6000K LED floodlights - 2 per section - and (3) RGB LED floodlights situated in between the 2 white lights per section. Not sure what the PAR or even loose approximate PAR is - any thoughts on that would be appreciated. I have been keeping the RGB's on a mix of red and blue - no green whatsoever. It looks good - similar to mixing day white and rosette fluorescents. Any thoughts on most beneficial combination for plants would also be appreciated. The RGB lights do have scrolling function and flashing and fading functions in addition to a four stage dimming capability for the 16 solid color options. All in all it provides a fairly customizable led lighting system for a 6 foot tank for under $200. I did have to solder power cords to each light but that was kind of fun in a DIY way. 



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmwIXmwvPKk&feature=youtube_gdata_player

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## nicholz (May 5, 2012)

Here are some stills with different colors on the RGB's








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## nicholz (May 5, 2012)

Just the six white floods - no rgb

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## nicholz (May 5, 2012)

Turned off half the white floods so 3 white floods and 3 RGB set to white

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## nicholz (May 5, 2012)

3 white floods and the RGBs on red

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## Bluek24a4 (Mar 16, 2010)

I think you made the right choice. Nice tank.


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## nicholz (May 5, 2012)

3 white flood and RGBs set to blue

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## nicholz (May 5, 2012)

3 white and RGBs set to blue/red 

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## nicholz (May 5, 2012)

Bluek24a4 said:


> I think you made the right choice. Nice tank.


Thanks I am certainly happy - I did have to return one of the white floods - I got them mostly through amazon so returning and replacing was easy - keep that in mind if you are considering these style lights - may be a little cheaper on eBay or direct from China but it can be a hassle to resolve any potential problem. 

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## nicholz (May 5, 2012)

Just the RGBs set to white 

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## nicholz (May 5, 2012)

Just RGBs on blue/red

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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

I love your setup!


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## nicholz (May 5, 2012)

acitydweller said:


> I love your setup!


Thanks - if I am not mistaken I believe you were among the early adopters who showed the way so thank you - lighting muse of sorts

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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

no problem. i just wanted to contribute my findings in case anyone else considered doing what i already had in hand. 

I have been dabbling more into the RGB lamps and find them way more versatile than the fixed flood lamps. I have varied the light intensity over my tanks to see where i breach the fine line between high light/co2/fish and algae... it seems the 20w flood tips the scales so i had to revert to using (2) 10 watt floods over my 10 gallon. its been working great every since.

also, running multiple lamps is the way to go as the beam coverage is too narrow and contrary to the "flood" in the name. i'd say its more of a narrow flood...

i'd be curious to see your results running blue/red lamps versus full flood. I've been seeing some really interesting moss and plant growth running alternating reds/blues but be warned that your crypts may melt if you have any... they dont take to kindly to environmental swings.


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## thelub (Jan 4, 2013)

I like the look of the RGB and white bulbs working together. The only negative I can see is the distinct color bands that are showing (red beams of light etc) but they really make the tank colors pop!


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## nikonD70s (Apr 6, 2008)

u should try to hang the leds if you can, the dark spots from putting the led right above the tank is distracting. i too use these leds. but i only have 3 instead of 6.


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## Johnny Tang (Nov 12, 2012)

nikonD70s said:


> u should try to hang the leds if you can, the dark spots from putting the led right above the tank is distracting. i too use these leds. but i only have 3 instead of 6.


What size tank do you have? I am setting up a 40B and am trying to figure out how many to use.


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## Soup12 (Nov 10, 2012)

The led flood lights seem cool, but I heard that the drivers break down consistenly within a year so it wont last 50,000 hours.....

Im curious, Where are finnex leds made? and are the parts from China?


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## starfire12 (Aug 13, 2009)

Where did you get the bulbs from, I was think of doing something like that with the gu10 led bulbs.


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## flight50 (Apr 17, 2012)

I love the look with RGB set to white. Looks very clean and natural. I agree on raising it though. That would spread out the overall coverage and light up the whole tank. Nice tank though. I don't think your intent is to make it look actually look like you have flood lights shining down.


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## nicholz (May 5, 2012)

Just a little update - these light work quite well. With snails and shrimp and flag fish I have had very minimal algae but very strong growth of plants. Stems do especially well but also crypts, anubias, swords, dwarf sag, hornwort, even microsword and everything else besides some vals and a lace plant that got overgrown.


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## nicholz (May 5, 2012)

Here are some random pics from last couple months- I removed all of the cabomba as it was completely taking over


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## dzega (Apr 22, 2013)

remote RGB led strips works flawless for correcting tank color temperature. i use them too for that purpous. cheep as dirt on ebay


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## micheljq (Oct 24, 2012)

Well plants seem to like them  interesting.


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## dzega (Apr 22, 2013)

doublepost


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## scapegoat (Jun 3, 2010)

very nice... very tempting.


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## the_deeb (Mar 19, 2009)

That looks great! You've definitely provided some ideas for my upcoming build.

Is the "white" setting on the RGB flood created from a combination of red green and blue LEDs or are there separate white LEDs in the lamp? What do you think about lighting a tank using only RGB floods set to a white setting - would that provide a more complete spectrum of light for plants than using just regular white floods?

Also, do the 20W floodlights provide a better spread of light than the 10W or is it just deeper penetration into the water column?


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## hobo717 (Apr 11, 2013)

looks amazing.


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## nicholz (May 5, 2012)

I recommend some mix of dedicated white bulbs and then augment with RGB s to get your preferred color. The rgb does produce white by mixing the three colors equally but they are less bright than the white only bulbs


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## kathy82 (Jul 13, 2013)

I'm using 1 50w and 2 20w LED flood lights for my big tank and for each of my 55 gallon tanks I'm using 2 10w's. I have been running them for about 4 months and I haven't had any trouble. If you want it bright for a 180 gallon tank I would use 2 or 3 20w lights or the equivalent wattage in 10 watts. Here is a link to a gallery I made showing several different pictures of different LED Flood Lights Watts by them selves.


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## MichaelKelley (Jun 24, 2013)

I prefer 2 20w floodlights on my 125 and they have been shining for years, now without issue they do take a second or so before they turn on after hitting the switch, found no complaints about mine. Can't speak for a smaller tank, but I'm sure a 10w would be plenty. As for light spread, be sure to hang them above the tank and it will spread nicely.
As you have done in the posted pictures.


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## nicholz (May 5, 2012)

Video update here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pu4Ap2GdLSM&feature=youtube_gdata_player


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## nicholz (May 5, 2012)

Update - 8 months later almost half of the lights have failed - I do not recommend these anymore


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## terran2k (Feb 24, 2009)

thanks for the update, I better start saving for some upgrades then.


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## Karan's Hortus Display (Sep 7, 2012)

*T5 vs LED FLOODLIGHT*



nicholz said:


> Hi -
> I am in process of setting up led lighting for my 125. I have the right side lit with one 20w cool 6000k flood and one 10w RGB led with remote, and the center and left sides with two t8 bulbs for comparison. I have three more 20W led and two more 10W RGB on the way to cover the center and left sides. I would appreciate any thoughts or suggestions on this setup. I plan to have one 20w cool and one 10w rgb on both the right and left sides of the tank , and two 20w cool and one 10w rgb in the center. They will be directly in the center from front to back sitting on the glass lid.
> 
> In the video the RGB flood is first on "white" setting then I cycle thru the various buttons on the remote
> ...


 this is what exactly I was looking for...


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