LED lights produce less heat?

[Raiden]

Alright, so I have a 10 gallon fishtank that I'm rebuilding with the intent of keeping a pair of C. orientalis in it.

The tank was originally for fish, and without any supplemental heat, the temperature was approximately 74-76 degrees during the day and about 68-72 degrees at night.'

It had an Aqueon-brand flourescent light on it for some aquatic plants, but I think that was where much of the heat came from, so I was thinking about using LED lights instead, since they produce less heat.

The room where the newts would be is a reptile room with some heating equipment in it, but some of the reptiles have been moved out of the room, so the residual heat has probably dropped quite a bit.

I was wondering if using LED lighting would result in additional reduction of residual heat in the room, since they produce less heat but also provide enough photosynthetically-active radiation for the plants to grow. I've never used them before, and they're kind of expensive, so I wanted to know what other people thought before I plunk down my cash.

 

[Coastal Groovin]

For a saltwater tank I would say they are totally worth it. For growing freshwater plants in a newt tank stick with flourescent sunlight bulbs from Home Depot.

 

[trailsofslime]

I have also thought of going to LED lighting, not only for heat reduction, but for energy savings, the length of time the diodes last, the technology is advancing rapidly and prices are starting to drop. If you can afford a quality fixture for growing plants you won't have to replace anything for probably 5 years plus. You should further research the type and quality of LED available, some are passively cooled and others are actively cooled. Operating in a cool environment they will last longer.

 

[Raiden]

For a saltwater tank I would say they are totally worth it. For growing freshwater plants in a newt tank stick with flourescent sunlight bulbs from Home Depot.

How much do those cost?

The main thing here is avoiding too much heat, especially in summer. The temp. in the tank right now is around 68 at night and 72-ish during the day, and I don't want it to go too much higher than that.

If the home depot alternative doesn't produce as much heat as the aqueon-brand bulbs, I might consider it, but this is a ten gallon tank, so I don't have that much water to dissipate the heat with.

 

[nhaislip]

Try superbrightleds.com

I have bought some waterproof fixtures for my 120H fish aquarium and they are pretty bright and don't give off that much heat compared to flourescents. I really like them.

 

[otolith]

I bought an 18" Marineland ML Doublebright LED light last year and absolutely love it. I got it on closeout for $60 plus shipping, MSRP is something like $200.

The light quality is amazing compared to fluorescent strip lights, it really brings out the colors of everything in the tank without looking blown out or unnatural. All the plants in the tank are growing well too. The LED definitely runs cooler than a normal strip light too.