# Standard Lightbulb Base (E27) LED Light Bars



## dshuld (Dec 4, 2013)

What swords and other plants are you wanting in there? @jeffkrol may be able to help you have an idea with the led bulbs you're looking at but an idea of the plants may help too.


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## Maryland Guppy (Dec 6, 2014)

Olskule said:


> I saw these on Amazon and bought a couple of the 6000K 13 watt ones to try in my vintage stainless steel incandescent-style light fixtures
> 
> or advice regarding these LEDs?


You owe us a picture of vintage SS hood with LED light on.:grin2:

Makes me want to buy one and check the PAR.
I'm sure this light will work and grow plants. @180 degree it wastes a lot of light going everywhere instead of down.


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## jeffkrol (Jun 5, 2013)

Only personal preference.. don't "do" power conversion on bulb ( too many old failures though note.. old..think early CFL's) or smaller than .5W emitters..
No real objection though .. 

Personally had a lot of failures w/ small cadelabra based light bulbs of these types.. AFAICT most had ind. LED failures in series strings rendering them "burnt out"..
Granted these were small, and in ceiling fan fixtures..but out of 6 only 1 lasted longer than a few months..
If they last over 1 year I'd be surprised (It would be a nice surprise though)

YMMV..


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## Olskule (Jan 28, 2010)

jeffkrol said:


> Only personal preference.. don't "do" power conversion on bulb ( too many old failures though note.. old..think early CFL's) or smaller than .5W emitters..
> No real objection though ..
> 
> Personally had a lot of failures w/ small cadelabra based light bulbs of these types.. AFAICT most had ind. LED failures in series strings rendering them "burnt out"..
> ...


Yeah, if I'm doing the math right, these would be .2W emitters? Is it that they're not powerful enough for their light to reach a good depth, even in large numbers? The light is very bright (to my eyes, anyway) and lights up the bottom of the 55g pretty well (I guess that would be the effect in lumens?), but I have no idea what the actual PAR is. They do put out enough heat to burn your fingers a little if you don't let them cool down, but they have a small-finned aluminum heat-sink for a "shell", and the top of the SS fixture doesn't get very hot, so I'm not sure how that ranks with an LED fixture with good heat dissipation (which as I understand it, is linked to longer life for the LEDs; the sides of the fixture itself are elevated above the glass by the brackets on each end, so there is some ventilation of the LEDs, the heat is not all trapped under the fixture.) Plus, I also recognize that a much less than 180 degree spread would be more desirable, but it is what it is, and these are in a "re-purposed due to economics" situation. 

Dshuld, I would _like_ to grow any swords I choose, plus some low growing "ground covers" for the foreground, but I realize that this is much easier in a high-tech tank, and I'm wanting to stay low-tech.

Maryland Guppy, I'll post a picture when I get a chance. I'm not happy with the way the heavy LED bulbs "sag" in the SS incandescent fixture, but the SS is thin and was only meant to hold up under the weight of lighter incandescent bulbs, not LEDs with heavy heat-sinks and electronics, but as I said before, I wouldn't use them without a glass lid, anyway, and that supports them well enough.

Apparently, I am the first to try these LED bulbs with planted aquariums (?), so I will try to keep this thread informed about the success or failure with these bulbs, and let y'all know if they prematurely fizzle out, as Jeffkrol mentioned may be likely. But if anyone else tries them or finds some PAR data on them (or investigates it themselves), please let me know. I still have no idea as to what wattage should work best (in theory) with small tanks that are not as deep, so any suggestions would be appreciated. I know that These are relatively new and it seems no one else has used them like this yet, but any general guidelines from experience with LED wattages and tank sizes would be appreciated.

Also, along these lines, I have my eye on some LED E27-based spot lights, some of which are specifically geared toward plant growth. These could be good, especially narrow-beamed ones, for dramatic lighting effects as well.

Olskule


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## dshuld (Dec 4, 2013)

I'll give you my experience with that light on a 55 then. It will grow swords but, very slowly as one would expect in low light situations. The 3 types I had in mine were amazon, ozelot and marble queen. The ozelot and marble were ok until they started getting shaded then they started to decline. The amazons I had in mine were daughter plants of my original 4 and came from medium light in the same 55 before the rescape/ light change. They seemed to handle the change pretty well. 
As far as ground cover, I think I tried dwarf sag and pulled it but the few pic I can find don't confirm one way or the other. I know I tried m. minuta which lived but didn't spread and after 2 months I bought a sunblaster to drive more light down. Left that on the tank for a month with no visible difference so I pulled that out also and just let my crypts take over filling in. 

Not really show quality pic since they are maintenance time pics but two different stages in the tanks life with that light.

This is when I pulled a massive amount xmas moss on drift wood out of the center to trim the moss back down. If you look in the center you'll see one of the ozelots that got over shaded and was declining. I ended up pulling it out and moving it to my 75. Back left corner was the marble which was pulled at the same time.









This was the scape that I had m. Minuta in before just letting the crypts take over.










Olskule said:


> Yeah, if I'm doing the math right, these would be .2W emitters? Is it that they're not powerful enough for their light to reach a good depth, even in large numbers? The light is very bright (to my eyes, anyway) and lights up the bottom of the 55g pretty well (I guess that would be the effect in lumens?), but I have no idea what the actual PAR is. They do put out enough heat to burn your fingers a little if you don't let them cool down, but they have a small-finned aluminum heat-sink for a "shell", and the top of the SS fixture doesn't get very hot, so I'm not sure how that ranks with an LED fixture with good heat dissipation (which as I understand it, is linked to longer life for the LEDs; the sides of the fixture itself are elevated above the glass by the brackets on each end, so there is some ventilation of the LEDs, the heat is not all trapped under the fixture.) Plus, I also recognize that a much less than 180 degree spread would be more desirable, but it is what it is, and these are in a "re-purposed due to economics" situation.
> 
> Dshuld, I would _like_ to grow any swords I choose, plus some low growing "ground covers" for the foreground, but I realize that this is much easier in a high-tech tank, and I'm wanting to stay low-tech.
> 
> ...


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## Olskule (Jan 28, 2010)

dshuld said:


> I'll give you my experience with that light on a 55 then...


Thanks for responding. When you say "that light", do you mean you used the same13 watt E27 LED bulbs, or what, exactly?

Olskule


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## dshuld (Dec 4, 2013)

Olskule said:


> Thanks for responding. When you say "that light", do you mean you used the same13 watt E27 LED bulbs, or what, exactly?
> 
> Olskule


The sat+, sorry. Other then the month I had the sunblaster on there I ran just the sat+ for about a year on that tank by itself. Before swapping to that light I ran the 3 bulb hd diamond plate light on it for about 6 months like this. There was definitely a difference in light but the swords managed with sat+, until the ozelot and queen got to shaded anyway. Was mainly just trying to say it will grow swords, just slowly really though


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## Olskule (Jan 28, 2010)

dshuld said:


> The sat+, sorry. Other then the month I had the sunblaster on there I ran just the sat+ for about a year on that tank by itself. Before swapping to that light I ran the 3 bulb hd diamond plate light on it for about 6 months like this. There was definitely a difference in light but the swords managed with sat+, until the ozelot and queen got to shaded anyway. Was mainly just trying to say it will grow swords, just slowly really though.


Thanks for the info. It's nice to know the Sat'+ will grow swords, at least minimally, and that lets me know where my starting point is, so anything more is "gravy". As requested, I'm posting a few pics of the tank and the vintage fixture. This first one is of the tank with just the Satellite + on by itself: I know it is somewhat "taboo" here, but the tank is in transition and I still have some fake plants, just the large ones in the back and sides. The swords and other mid- and foreground plants are real. I have some other stems and swords I am growing out in a different tank and will be moving them to the 55 when they look good enough. Notice on this photo, how the background plants look fairly bright.




This next one is with the Satellite + and the new LEDs and CFLs on. These were taken with my phone camera, which automatically adjusts to different lighting. Notice how the background plants look a little darker here? Nothing has changed except the additional light toward the front of the tank, which makes the rear plants look darker by comparison. Think in terms of the background plants being as bright as in the first photo, and in the second photo, the foreground plants have just that much more light relatively speaking (which makes the rear plants _look_ darker), so you can tell the difference it makes. Of course--the way I understand it--what we and the camera see is in terms of lumens, but the plants "see" it in terms of PAR, so the comparison may not exactly correlate, but since the new LEDs (and the CFLs) are 6000K and 6500K respectively, I think the light we're seeing _should_ be at least closely relative to PAR.



The next three photos are a closeup of the vintage fixture with the LEDs on, the way the LEDs fit in the fixture, and the last is a closeup of one of the LEDs. (In the last photo, notice the reflection of the LED heat-sink/case in the mirror finish of the stainless steel fixture. This is similar to the reflective surface on the 20" vintage fixture I'm using with two 6500K 13 watt CFLs on the 20 gallon, so the reflected light should be pretty abundant, despite the bulbs being mounted horizontally.)






Olskule


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## dshuld (Dec 4, 2013)

Can you take a pic of just the e27 leds? Have a thought but curious on just them on by themselves.


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## doug105! (Aug 2, 2016)

Hey! Those are really interesting looking. Should work
well as a single light over a nano tank. Can you measure the length
Of the bulb? That one is 13watts right?

Thanks,

DougN


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## Olskule (Jan 28, 2010)

dshuld said:


> Can you take a pic of just the e27 leds? Have a thought but curious on just them on by themselves.


Basically it just lights up the center, front and back since they have a 180 degree spread. Remember, the fixture itself is only 24" long, so that leaves 12" on each side that the fixture doesn't cover. That said, the bulbs are mounted from each end and they droop a bit in the middle of the fixture, so the bulbs rest in an unlevel, very flattened "V" position, slightly angled toward the outside ends, but still leaving the right and left ends of the tank relatively dark. That's why I have the CFLs on the ends and on the same timer with the LEDs.



doug105! said:


> Hey! Those are really interesting looking. Should work
> well as a single light over a nano tank. Can you measure the length
> Of the bulb? That one is 13watts right?
> 
> ...


Yes, I suspect they will work best with smaller, more shallow tanks since they are only 0.2 watt LEDs (especially the lower wattage ones for nano tanks) but that is just speculation on my part--they may work equally as well with deeper tanks, we'll see. The different measurements for each wattage is shown in a pic on the Amazon link, but this size (13W) is 200mm X 35mm; the lower wattages are shorter because the wattage is determined by how many single 0.2 watt LEDs are on the flat panel. (65 LEDs X 0.2 watts = 13 watts for this one, 45 LEDs for the 9 watt, etc.).

BTW, this tank is just one I "threw together" in a hurry when I learned I would be receiving three large plecos with the secondhand 125 I bought, and I needed a tank to put them in. It was intended to be a temporary holding tank, but I couldn't wait to get some other fish (I had no tanks at all set up), so this one became my focus for now. I will likely gradually keep adding real plants and removing the plastic ones until they are all removed. Of course, by then I _should_ have the stand made for the 125, so I'll probably end up putting all the good plants in it permanently, since I will take my time and set _it_ up right, then re-do this 55 "correctly" as well.

Olskule


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## jeffkrol (Jun 5, 2013)

Alternative w/ .5W LED's...
https://www.superbrightleds.com/mor...gleBaseChild&gclid=CLy4kL3WgdECFcSCfgodzyIKxA




> 20 x High power 5730 SMD LEDs
> 120 Degree beam pattern
> Base: E26/E27 (Medium)
> 510 Lumen


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## dshuld (Dec 4, 2013)

My thought was 3" wide roof flashing reflectors to get more over the tank and concentrate the light down a little better but that doesn't solve the using old strip lights part of the problem. Also approaches the price vs performance line for me there too though is why I was curious about the light they put out by themselves.


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## Olskule (Jan 28, 2010)

jeffkrol said:


> Alternative w/ .5W LED's...
> https://www.superbrightleds.com/mor...gleBaseChild&gclid=CLy4kL3WgdECFcSCfgodzyIKxA


Yeah, better LEDs, but their search engine didn't produce any other choices except this one, which is only available in 10 watts and "warm white" (2800K), with the "Cool White" discontinued (which they list as 5000K, lower than desirable, anyway). But thanks for the link, I'll be looking at their spots and see if they have anything that will work well.:thumbsup: I hope all of their "Cool White" LEDs are not 5000K; at least 6000K would be nice, and 6500K/6700K would be great!

While all the new LED aquarium fixtures are cool, and I do like all the "bells and whistles" (and yes, I want them all!), I've always been on the lookout for economical ways to achieve the same goals and benefits as the newest products. Plus, I especially enjoy being able to use my mom's 50 year-old aquarium equipment in ways that match and meet modern aquarium trends and methodology. It just adds to the hobby for me.

Olskule


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Jun 15, 2008)

Hi Olskule,

Thank you for pointing these out; I purchased two of them last week for my 10 gallon. They are on a slow boat from China to the US and hopefully will arrive around the first of the year.

Last summer GSAS upgraded their Apogee Instruments PAR Meter from the MQ-200 to the MQ-500 with the full spectrum sensor and new software. When the bulbs arrive I will install them and provide PAR readings in this thread.


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## Olskule (Jan 28, 2010)

Seattle_Aquarist said:


> Hi Olskule,
> 
> Thank you for pointing these out; I purchased two of them last week for my 10 gallon. They are on a slow boat from China to the US and hopefully wi
> ll arrive around the first of the year.
> ...


Happy to help, Seattle_A, glad you liked them. I'm looking forward to seeing some hard data on these, but unless your 10 gallon is a high-tech tank with CO2 injection, I hope you got a lower wattage than the 13 watts, because they put out a LOT of light! I got the larger ones because I figured I could always dim them down with screens if I needed to, but I couldn't very well make lower wattage LEDs brighter. Turned out they were WAY too bright for even my 20 gallon. Just from a human eye visual observation, they seem to put out about twice the light of the CFL bulbs (mounted horizontally) of the same wattage (13 watts), so I'm thinking this _may_ be a general rule, but then, that would be to the eye, and measured in lumens, as we see light, not necessarily in PAR, as plants "see" it. Depending upon the particular choice of light, actual PAR is likely different for a 5000K, 6000K, 6500K or a 6700K (the latter of which--if I'm not mistaken--is the best light choice for promoting plant growth), even though the measurement in lumens or the apparent brightness to us may appear to be the same for all four bulbs.

Regardless of actual lumens, comparisons, etc., I am anxious to see what data you derive from measuring actual PAR for these "bulbs"; that's where it _really_ counts. I'm also curious if there is a difference between the light penetration through the water depth (actual PAR) between a "bulb" with 0.2 watt emitters and a "bulb" with 0.5 watt emitters, if both have the same total wattage (like 20 X 0.5 watt vs 50 X 0.2 watt, both totaling 10 watts) Of course, you would have to have one of each type to make this comparison, which might be difficult to find in 6000k to 6700K LEDs. Jeffkrol indicated that 0.5 watt LEDs are better, but I'm not sure why, and I'm wondering if it is that the strength of the higher-watt individual emitters is more pertinent than the total wattage of all the emitters collectively. (Jeffkrol, is this what you are saying?)

Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing some real-world scientific testing of these "bulbs", so please be sure to let us know what you find. If they throw a good amount of PAR and they have a decent lifespan, then they look like a very promising, economical solution for upgrading cheap lights and for tailoring the lights to individual needs.

Olskule


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Jun 15, 2008)

Hi @Olskule,

Well my LED Corncob Spotlight lamps arrived today from China; they were well packaged although in a padded shipping bag...not a box. The seller shipped within 24 hours of ordering and it took almost exactly 31 days for standard shipping. I purchased the highest output model, the 16 watt, for two reasons 1) to see what the maximum PAR for this design is and 2) to try the higher light level on a low tech 10 gallon. I figure I can always shorten the photo-period to minimize algae issues. Note: although not pictured the 'typical' incandescent lamp is about 5-1/4" long.

Here is a photo of the 16 watt Corncob Spotlight lamp compared with the Bonlux 10W LED Display and Cabinet Corncob lamp and at the bottom a Walmart Lights of America Compact Florescent Aquarium Lamp. I need to clean my 10 gallon anyway so I will do a break-down this week and then take PAR readings with the Apogee MQ-510 Full Spectrum PAR Meter with all three lamp types and post the results.


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Jun 15, 2008)

Hi @Olskule,

I took some PAR readings of the three lamps shown above and started a new thread here. You are correct, the 16 watt version of the corncob spotlight design is likely too much light for a 10 gallon tank; good thing they are available in 5-16 watt versions.


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