# eLive LED



## Johnseye (Mar 25, 2014)

Has anyone ever used eLive modular LED lighting? If so what are your thoughts on it's performance for plant growth?

I'm considering it or a Current LED+. Obviously the Current has nice bells and whistles. The eLive allows for customized kelvin temps through the use of pods.

Thanks for the help. Just getting back into the hobby and glad I found this forum.


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## Johnseye (Mar 25, 2014)

Given that a lot of people have read this post but no one responded it looks like this isn't a well known manufacturer.

Would any resident light experts know by looking at the specs whether this is a good plant growing light?

http://elivepet.com/fish/lighting/led-module-track-light/

Thanks


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## jeffkrol (Jun 5, 2013)

Johnseye said:


> Given that a lot of people have read this post but no one responded it looks like this isn't a well known manufacturer.
> 
> Would any resident light experts know by looking at the specs whether this is a good plant growing light?
> 
> ...


Well each pod is 4 LED's @ 1W total so low "output" w/out a high density of pods..
No "deep red" option.. Their red is 630.. ideally it should be 660nm.........


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## Steve001 (Feb 26, 2011)

Johnseye said:


> Given that a lot of people have read this post but no one responded it looks like this isn't a well known manufacturer.
> 
> Would any resident light experts know by looking at the specs whether this is a good plant growing light?
> 
> ...



Too much blue light and little red light. Read the lighting sticky and just peruse other led threads. In short read more


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## Johnseye (Mar 25, 2014)

Thank you both for your help. Exactly what I needed to know.


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

For a fish only, I hear these are wonderful units (with additional pods for those with deeper tanks).

For running a stock Elive over a planted tank, even with shallow depth and low light would be a rather dicey proposition. 

I would be interested, however for any owner of these lights to step up and let us know. Information is rather scarce on the Internet, which worries me.

Agree, the RED LED PODs (I love how that flows when you say it) would be more suited at 660nm as opposed to 630nm. I believe the original intention of these units were for FO systems, but soon expanded outwards into Planted and SW.

Gary


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## SinisterSheltie (May 28, 2013)

Elive is a new company which only really hit the ground last year. Their pod units were originally used for our cichlid display tank at work when they only carried the Cool White, the Color Enhancing, and the Lunar Blue pods. Some of my saltwater customers have had great success growing soft and LPS corals in smaller tanks(x<20" deep) with fully stocked pods. 

This month Elive has released HiDef Color, Plant Growth, and Infrared pods so I just converted my 10gal from the Aqueon Floramax to the 20" modular unit with a configuration of one lunar, two cool white, two plant growth, and two HiDef. I love the color of my fish. They look fantastic, the plants(Rotala wallichii, Rotala indicata, and Ludwigia repens "red" and "Rubin") are finally getting the red on them. 

The only drawbacks to this unit is that it lacks the bells and whistles that other units possess. No sunrise, sunset feature, no dimmability on Channel 1, etc. But the ability to mod the unit to any tank need is really nice. I have seven pods on a unit that fits twelve and I'm seeing more growth and color finally emerge than I have since I started the tank in February. And for the price point? I'm happy.


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## fearsome (Feb 16, 2013)

It seems to me for the lumens it outputs it is not particularly impressive. A loaded 20 inch has 960 max lumens which is lower than a $20 screw in down facing LED but cost much more as you would need to buy the base unit and then add $4-8 pods to fill it up. So ultimately it would come down to form factor and if you are willing to pay for it. I could see these being cool in a scenario where you want to concentrate more light or light of different color in certain parts of a tank.


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## Crazygar (Nov 16, 2006)

My curiosity (as always) got the best of me and I ended up purchasing the 48" version for my Cichlid Display tank. Out of the box I am impressed. With some moving of the pods I managed to get a look I so desired.

Downfall is that I had to purchase at least 3 more PODS at $6 each to get the full lighting effect I want. I have a good portion of the lights over my rock work and the ease of adding/moving makes this fixture great for displays. 

Loading them up with PODS would almost certainly put you in the Low/Med light area in a deeper tank, as for shallower tanks (under 21"), these would be a good alternate and fun!

I am curious to see the HiDef version as stated by SinisterSheltie. Overall, I am impressed. 

Gary


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## CoryWM (Dec 7, 2010)

I looked at these lights to sell in my store. I had them side by side comparison with Finnex planted plus that I use on my selling tank.

a 24 inch with full pods was roughly half the light visually than the planted plus. I think for a fish only tank there is some uses for it. But even for a low light planted tank. By the time you guy the fixture and all the pods, it costs more than a planted plus 24 inch. I returned all the pods and fixture to my wholesaler and notified him I wouldn't be carrying the line.

My hopes for the line was that I would be low light out of the box growing things, then people upgrade to finnex light levels when full. But it's not even close, so even though it comes out more expensive than the finnex, the modular option was appealing but still fell short.

Also they made it so the pods only fit in the track one way. so ONLY the blue leds can be dimmed. I was hoping I could flip other pods around and be able to dim those if I wanted.

Also beware, the "plant" pod is a mix of red/blue leds and produces 1/4th of the lumens as stated on the package. While these aren't par reads, it's really weak. The daylight one that is supposed to be like 10k worked best for plants.


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## bhazard451 (Jan 24, 2013)

Output is way too low to grow anything other than low light plants.


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