# Marineland Doublebright LED's feedback



## areuben (Jul 17, 2003)

I'm looking for some info from anyone using these LED's. I am looking to light a six foot tank, 29" depth - inhabitants are catfish and deepwater tanganyikans. I am not looking for really bright light and would ideally like some darker areas, but where there is light I would like some good color rendition not the greenish coloring on 6700K fluorescents. My questions are:
is there spotting or visible columns of light with your Marinelands led's. If you have the led's on a large 6 footer and your tank has today's cheap plastic bracing, how do you position the lights over the bracing to not block out the led's - are the led's spaced apart enough to fit over the bracing? I currently run Hagen Glo T5 HO on my other tanks, 2-36" doubles and you could do surgery with those on. If you are running these Marineland led's what do you think the effect would be by me running an 18 or 24 inch in the center of the tank - would it look like a spotlight effect or would I get some nice washing out of light on the sides.
Thanks for your comments.


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## areuben (Jul 17, 2003)

Can anyone running LED's "shed some light" on this issue?


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

I recently bought 2 Marineland LED double bright fixtures (the 36" - 48" size) for my 72"L x 24"H tank. My tank has the plastic trim with two center braces. I had to offset the fixtures so the LED's weren't blocked by the center braces. One fixture ended up being 1" - 2" off the end of the tank; the other is 1" - 2" shy of the end of the tank.

I am pleased with the way the lights look on the tank. It is very white and I don't notice the spot light effect. I haven't had time to take pics but I will try to get some up this weekend.


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## areuben (Jul 17, 2003)

Kind of frustrating that the lights can't be set normally on the tank, especially with one being off the end. That was exactly my concern - but in my case I am only looking to use one light so it would be less of an issue. I'm still wondering about the light dispersion if I use the one light only. Deeda, I know this question is subjective, when you say very white, do you mean a surgical white or is it like a high sun, daylight white. Thanks for the comments.


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## jrf (Nov 10, 2009)

IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢m running the 36Ã¢â‚¬Â


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## jrf (Nov 10, 2009)

areuben said:


> when you say very white, do you mean a surgical white or is it like a high sun, daylight white.


To me, I would say surgical white. I don't see any yellow in the spectrum at all. In an unmodified unit (blue LEDs on), it may be a bit different.


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## djoneser (Mar 20, 2008)

I wrote a review on it in the reviews section.


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## katytropheus (Jul 13, 2008)

See a thread under my name on this topic further down. I have a 30" deep FW tank which is 8' long. Big interest on my part on having a "bright tank". The feedback I got on LED's were current variety would not penetrate enough on that depth. Saw a setup in person on a 6' and wasn't what I was looking for. Shimmer is pretty cool but I want the light bouncing off colorful Africans, white boulders and white pool sand. 3W in the future on LED's?


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## fatcat660 (Nov 29, 2005)

I know this thread is old but I just got this light for my 55. The light does fall off a bit on the sides but I like that look. It does give a great shimmer effect and there are no spot light effects for the most part. It will show sediment that is in your water more than standard lights.


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## newcichlidiot (Jul 7, 2010)

Why not install a dimmer in line somewhere and you could have the lights at any level you wish. I am not sure but I believe a dimmer will work with LED's, it's those ridiculous CFL's that can't be dimmed. .02


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## fatcat660 (Nov 29, 2005)

never thought about a dimmer with LED lights I have to look at that it would be cool to have it adjustable. :fish:


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## larry.beck (Jul 31, 2009)

You can do dimmers on LED's, but the controller has to do the dimming. I don't think you can add it on the high voltage side (ie before the transformer).


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## Hanafuda (Mar 31, 2010)

Deeda said:


> I recently bought 2 Marineland LED double bright fixtures (the 36" - 48" size) for my 72"L x 24"H tank. My tank has the plastic trim with two center braces. I had to offset the fixtures so the LED's weren't blocked by the center braces. One fixture ended up being 1" - 2" off the end of the tank; the other is 1" - 2" shy of the end of the tank.


So that would mean on a double-braced 72" tank (e.g. 125, 150, 180, 210), the way to go if you wanted it to 'look right' would be to get three of the smaller fixtures (either the 18-24 inch, or the 24-36 inch) instead of two of the 36-48's. I'm thinking 3 of the 18-24 would probably look good, providing a little intensity variance across the tank. And 3 of the 18-24 is actually cheaper than two of the 36-48's.


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## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

Add a review, good or bad if you own these lights, there are a couple there already if you're looking for product feedback.


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## larry.beck (Jul 31, 2009)

On my 125g I actually only run 1 of these units, the 36-48" size. I like the ends of the tank to be darker than the middle.


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## jetnet22 (Jan 28, 2011)

Thanks for the comments.


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## Narwhal72 (Sep 26, 2006)

That comparison chart is useful but it has some faults. The only light measurement taken was Lux. Lux is scaled to match the light output visible to the human eye. It measures light pretty much in the green-red scale and does not measure light in the blue and violet wavelengths as they are close to the limits of human vision.

While lux is important as it tells how bright the light makes the tank look, it puts all lights that have a lot of blue wavelengths and/or use actinic lamps at a severe disadvantage. To give a better comparison PAR should also be incorporated. A light can have a low lux but have a high PAR value if it is using actinic lamps or white lights with actinic phosphors.

Light Spread should also be taken into consideration. Light measurements should be taken directly below the fixture, and at distances 3" and 6" from either side of the center. LED fixtures have highly focused light and can have high readings directly below but drop off dramatically as you move from the center. While fluorescent fixtures will have greater light spread and may not be as high directly below but will be brighter out to the sides. When the entire illuminated area is averaged the Fluorescent fixtures are usually much higher.

If you have a narrow tank the LED fixture may work pretty well. But if your tank is 18 or 24 inches wide you may need two or three of them to light up the tank to the same degree that one fluorescent fixture would.

Andy


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## ridley25 (Jan 5, 2008)

Great post Andy - I just learned a bunch of things I never knew!

kevin


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## fatcat660 (Nov 29, 2005)

I guess it depends on personal tast unless you are using lights for a planted tank or reef setup. When you take in consideration the cost of new bulbs every year at over 20 bucks a piece for a T5 regular output and the fact that you have to replace them every year or so it was a no brainer for me as this should last 5 to 6 years for me. Plus the bennifit of lower utility bills. The reef capable light that marineland just came out with is even brighter and I would think more expensive than the double bright that I bought. My LFS was kind enough to say if I did not like it they would take it back so I had nothing to loose. If your LFS is like that then might as well try it. I am attaching some pics keep in mind I had all the lights out in the basement. Isint it great all the choices we have now cant wait to see what the future holds :fish: 









with moonlights









close up of fish


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## toubabokoomi (Jan 26, 2011)

-Edited to remove vendor.
GTZ


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## kingston123 (Feb 1, 2011)

i always like to read some good and informative
blogs and this blog is also so good and helpful.
thanks for taking time to discus this topic..


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## PhillyFish (Jan 25, 2010)

I just purchased a 36-48in model a few weeks ago for my 75gal. These lights are amazing! It really brings out the color in the fish a lot better then any other fixture I have owned. In my opinion between the overall look and less energy consumption it makes so much more sense to purchase one of these. The only suggestion I would have for Marineland would be to have a seperate plug/switch for the blue LEDS. I have mine on a timer and it would be nice to switch from the whites over to the blues later at night. Overall I would recommend the Marineland Double Bright LED over anything I have seen on the market today.


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