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Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)

Hi,

John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.

I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.

With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.

I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.

If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.

I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.

I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.

Thank you
Darragh Sherwin

LED Lighting

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03 Jul 2007 05:05 #1 by Daragh_Owens (Daragh Owens)
Bought one of these cgi.ebay.co.uk/Wide-8-blue-white-LED-Bar...QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem a few days ago, it arrived today and is perfect, looks well made, although it says it is submersible I would not try it, it appears to be a sealed unit ok, but still I would not risk it. I mounted it in the hood of the Zebra tank, so I can spy on them at night. The power unit has the typical two flat prongs so an international adaptor is needed, otherwise perfect.

Might get a longer one for the community tank now. He has a huge range of LED lights, just look for the ones with Aquarium in the title.


Daragh

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03 Jul 2007 05:46 #2 by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Replied by apistodiscus (apistodiscus) on topic Re: LED Lighting
Hi Daragh,
can you just conect this unit to our plug our do you need to get a voltage converter first since the voltage is 110V in the US but 240V in Europe?

looks pretty cool. personally I would prefer to have only blue LED rather than the blue/white mix they offer. But that personal taste only.

By the way you can also use cold light cathodes for the same effect

Holger

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03 Jul 2007 05:47 #3 by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Replied by apistodiscus (apistodiscus) on topic Re: LED Lighting
Better answer my question myself. It says in the description that you can use it with 240V...

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03 Jul 2007 05:52 #4 by Daragh_Owens (Daragh Owens)
Yeap it's working on 240v. I wondered about blue only too. However I thought by getting a blue and white mix I might be able to get a photo, however I think that is unlikely because even with the white it would still not be bright enough, maybe if I got another unit...

I had heard about cold cathode before and even found them on ebay, but they were never very clear on how to install, power etc. This seller said everything I needed to know. Waterproof, 240v, Power supply included and mentioned aquarium in description. So I went with him.

Fast delivery, but shipping is a bit pricey.


Daragh

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03 Jul 2007 06:29 #5 by KenS (Ken Simpson)
Replied by KenS (Ken Simpson) on topic Re: LED Lighting
Says the adapter works from 110v to 220v so you should be ok. I might invest in one for my community tank.

Regards,

Ken.

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03 Jul 2007 06:29 #6 by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Replied by apistodiscus (apistodiscus) on topic Re: LED Lighting
Shipping isn't that bad considering it's shipped from the US. Order anything from ebay in Europe and they tend to really screw you for the shipping. Cold light cathodes are easy to install. All you need is a 12 V transformer, the connections for the cathode are generally already installed.
There are discussion what is better LEDS or cold light cathodes. Some people are claiming that LEDs are too focused and stress the fish and on the other hand some argue that cold light cathodes will cuase you algae problems.

I have blue LEDs over my tank and none of my fish seem stressed. Sunlight is a lot brighter than a couple of LEDs after all... A friend of mine uses cathodes and has no algae problems.
I think there is a lot of rubbish written about both methods. I couldn't find any scientific research on either.
If you leave your moonlight on all night you might run the risk of running into either problem.

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03 Jul 2007 08:07 #7 by Didihno (Didihno)
Replied by Didihno (Didihno) on topic Re: LED Lighting
Oooo...nice.
The light unit on my Aqua-El tank started to smoke the other day so I unplugged it. :shock:

I was going to just take it back but this could be a fun alternative......

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03 Jul 2007 08:56 #8 by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Replied by apistodiscus (apistodiscus) on topic Re: LED Lighting
@Didihno,
unfortunately LED lights are no good to use as the main lights on your tank. The colour is wrong and they are not strong enough to get plants to grow.

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03 Jul 2007 14:33 #9 by Didihno (Didihno)
Replied by Didihno (Didihno) on topic Re: LED Lighting

@Didihno,
unfortunately LED lights are no good to use as the main lights on your tank. The colour is wrong and they are not strong enough to get plants to grow.

Thanks Holger but I'm thinking of using it in the small 45l tank.
No real plants in there as they kept dieing on me (not surprised when I found out a 15w bulb wasn't good enough for plants!!!).

Blue LED's might make nice soft lighting in there no?

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04 Jul 2007 03:22 #10 by ChrisM (ChrisM)
Replied by ChrisM (ChrisM) on topic Re: LED Lighting

@Didihno,
unfortunately LED lights are no good to use as the main lights on your tank. The colour is wrong and they are not strong enough to get plants to grow.


There are High Intensity LEDS that can privide the correct wavelengths and intensities to encourage plant growth.

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04 Jul 2007 04:14 #11 by Didihno (Didihno)
Replied by Didihno (Didihno) on topic Re: LED Lighting

@Didihno,
unfortunately LED lights are no good to use as the main lights on your tank. The colour is wrong and they are not strong enough to get plants to grow.


There are High Intensity LEDS that can privide the correct wavelengths and intensities to encourage plant growth.

Really?
Well for this tank in particular its going to be a fry tank so I'm not too fussed. Ordinary led's will do me. Think I'll try them out.

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04 Jul 2007 04:28 #12 by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Replied by apistodiscus (apistodiscus) on topic Re: LED Lighting
Chris is right. There are suitable LEDs out there but they still cost a fortune. And they would be OK for any tank up to 40cm in height. Any higher than that and they are just not strong enough (yet).
I'd save a small fortune in electricity if I could replace my flourescent bulbs with LEDs. I would imagine that reefkeepers could save even more if they could replace there HQI bulbs with LEDs.

@Chris

do you now where to get daylight-LED spots (about 6400K) in this country? I have seen them on ebay but you get screwed on postage

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09 Jul 2007 13:39 #13 by koinonia (koinonia)
here is a 20" one
cgi.ebay.co.uk/20-Blue-LED-Beam-Bar-Floo...ZphotoQQcmdZViewItem


I got individual leds for my tank, am only sorry I didnt see this one :wink:

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09 Jul 2007 13:54 #14 by Daragh_Owens (Daragh Owens)
I am definitely going to get more of these, would love one in both community tanks, will just have to stop spending money on fish for a while first. The 8 LED one I got canbe seen briefly in the video I posted, about half way through, it is just before the Zebras appear, I show the tank with just LED light then swith on the main lights.

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10 Jul 2007 02:08 #15 by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Replied by apistodiscus (apistodiscus) on topic Re: LED Lighting
@Daragh,

I agree, an hour or so with moonlight after the main lights have gone off lookspretty cool. You get to see your nocturnal fish :D

@Didihno

I'd use cold cathode tubes. Just as cheap to run as LEDs but whereas a LED gives you a spot of light a cold cathode tube will light up a bigger area.
PM ChrisM, he has one installed above one of his fry tanks. He posted it on the forum a while back

Holger

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10 Jul 2007 13:22 #16 by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Replied by apistodiscus (apistodiscus) on topic Re:LED Lighting
here is one of those cold cathode lights I was talking about in my last post. A lot cheaper than LEDs. All you need is a 12V transformer, one from on old mobile phone will do

cgi.ebay.ie/DUAL-12-inch-COLD-CATHODE-BL...QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

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