low light = how many hours of LED light?

[vespers]

Several of my ferns and my "petite" spathyiphyllum have grown quite large and none of the plants are elongated.

Spathiphyllum "Petite" isn't really very small, despite its name...its just petite relative to a lot of other Spathiphyllum cultivars. It will fill and outgrow a 20 gallon tank by itself.

 

[ErinM31]

Spathiphyllum "Petite" isn't really very small, despite its name...its just petite relative to a lot of other Spathiphyllum cultivars. It will fill and outgrow a 20 gallon tank by itself.

Heheh, hence the "petite" in quotes! I will just have to prune everything as needed until someday I have a large place (and more money, but that is a necessary prerequisite, lol) and a 100+ gallon installation for my dart frogs with a tall waterfall creating a shallow stream through a jungle of plants, emptying into a pool with small freshwater fish.

 

[The Snark]

Sounds like you have it figured pretty good. Abundant healthy foliage and short stems seems to work. I have a friend who owns a hydroponics business and he's going frantic working out the light spectrum and intensity of the new LEDs. They sure beat the crap out of 10 to 20 pounds of ballast and fixture for conventional lighting but it seems every LED manufacturer has it's own way of measuring and labeling light capability.

 

[AndrewBiddar]

LED is nice at close ranges but the penetration abilities is very limited.

 

[vespers]

LED is nice at close ranges but the penetration abilities is very limited.

Not at all, with the right LED set-up. One of my tanks is 36" tall, and I have excellent plant growth. Some contemporary LED units also have lenses mounted on them to increase the range and angle/spread of light.