# LED Flood lights



## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

They are certainly usable as planted tank lights, but you have to use a PAR meter to find out how much light they give you. They are not standardized, so one can say that a certain wattage will giver a certain PAR. If you can duplicate what someone else is using successfully, that will work, too.


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

i've used 10 and 20 watt LED floods over a 10g to grow erios and other more challenging plants. you'll need to test the par to ensure the correct levels of light at the surface is reached. The light is rather focused and a few inches of elevation quickly dissipates the intensity of the light below. If given the option, choose Cool over Warm white as this will be closer to the 7000k spectrum. 

I'd like to try the RGB LED Floods but they come at a cost of lower PAR in favor of full spectrum coverage.


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## babox2 (Apr 27, 2013)

Well the idea is to save a couple bucks. I don't have a par meter and they're all look fairly pricey. Did you have the lights on the top the lids of the tank or elevated and how high up?


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## Matsnork (Jun 3, 2013)

I have taken apart two 10w floodlights and can conclude that they are not all the same. The ground cable was not connected to the housing on my lights and that is really bad. 

The light of a 10w led floodlight is visually about the same as a 15w fluorescent (I used a dymax) with reflector, but the led carries a bit more punch, at least visually to the naked eye. I´ve got some comparison pics somewhere, I´ll post them later. 

If you are not a total hack at soldering or using your hands I´d suggest buying a 10-50w cold white multichip, driver and heatsink of ebay and building your own light. Google it and you´ll see how easy its done. Check out my 150w light cannon build to se a beginner at work 

Edit: Found my old pics. Copy paste from another forum. You can see that the led penetrates a bit more. Will be lighting an upcoming 30l nano cube with one of those 10w chips in month or so. 

Both lights lit









Led only


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

my setup was on top of glass versatop lids.

Fair warning that the light intensity from the flood lights are quite strong. Either elevation or moderation on photo period will be things to consider. I ran two 10w LEDs to provide proper light coverage across the entire tank where a single provided severe shading in the corners.


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## John Simpson (Mar 14, 2013)

I got this 55W led flood light off fleabay it was less than $60 w/ shipping, it works pretty well, I'm not using it for a submersed set up though just a dry start holding tank.

on the sellers listing it said it was 5000 Lumens and 6500K but on the manufacturers site it says is 3000 Lumens and 5500K so I just use it for emersed because I'm not sure and I don't quite trust it, it is still cheap $/Lumens wise


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## babox2 (Apr 27, 2013)

Well I think I'm just going with 10 w floodlights. I'm going to plant a 40 gallon long. Looking at the pictures I think I'm going to get 4 for of them and place them on the versa tops or maybe hang them close if its too much light. I'll let people know how it goes.


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## terran2k (Feb 24, 2009)

Im using 4 x 20w cool white flood lights on my 55 gallon, I would say it's probably medium light. There is a post on this forum where a guy did take the Par reading at difference heights and distance from center with the flood lights to give a general idea.
wish there was another to compare.


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## Matsnork (Jun 3, 2013)

If I lived in the US I´d buy a rapid led heatsink and bolt a bunch of 10w chips on it. The shipping costs ruined that project for me.


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## AirstoND (Jun 17, 2011)

Could someone post some model #s that are being referenced/illustrated in this post? I'd like to know if there are reviews or locally found at HM, Lowes, WallyWOrld?


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## babox2 (Apr 27, 2013)

I've only found them on ebay and amazon. I haven't tried to look for them anywhere else really so I don't know if they can be found locally.

I just search on ebay 6500k Led flood light and they should pop up.


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## ukigumo11 (Sep 26, 2010)

My experience has been unfavorable. They seem to initially produce a good amount of light, but out of five lights I've purchased, two have failed within a year.


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## xmas_one (Feb 5, 2010)

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=477345


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## willzy (Aug 28, 2011)

xmas_one said:


> http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=477345


They definitely work for planted tanks.

The flood lights linked are 20watts each with Cree LED chips that offer 2000 lumens per light. These are non RGB and offer a kelvin rating of 5500k-6500k

It is approximately 42 cm above the substrate.


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## babox2 (Apr 27, 2013)

I've been running these lights for a while now and all I can say is that they work. I have the money and feel like buying a legit lighting source. I have mild algae problems but I don't mind it. I bought 6 oto's and they seem to be pretty happy in there.


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## MattyMay (Aug 21, 2019)

Going to give it a try with two of the hyper giant 60 watt rgbw foods at 6000k on a 40 breeder. Not going high tech just some hygrowphila and black mangroves. Will be mounting them about a foot to foot and a half novel the water line. Need the rgbw because this will be a glofish tank. It’s either going to be over kill at a combined 120 watts or just about right. The good news if it’s over kill they are dim-able, all controlled via a smart phone app. And if it’s not enough I’ll just get a third


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