LED lighting has made it’s way into our homes and our technology over the past decade, providing low wattage lighting with minimal heat loss and an impressive output along with a smaller scale. LEDs have surpassed conventional bulbs as the go-to option for light.

When it comes down to aquarium lighting, the options have historically been restricted.

On the other hand, we are now seeing tanks constructed with LED lights in mind.

Although this is a great step forward, some older aquariums may still be burning flourescent tubes to keep the water column lit.

Flourescent tubes usually have high wattage rating, waste a substantial amount of energy through heat and will be likely replaced on a yearly or bi-yearly basis.

So therefore we need an alternative system that is:

• Full LED
• Low Wattage
• Low Heat Output
• High Light Output

But most importantly, it should fit seamlessly into a pre-existing lighting rig. Thereby reducing the cost and effort of buying and installing a brand new lid or fitting.

The Solution?

Last year Aquael unveiled the Leddy Tube Retrofit to great reception. This elegant solution provides LED lighting to any fitting that would’ve otherwise held a classic T5 or T8 rounded Flourescent tube.

The genius is in the connection, as the Leddy Retrofit comes with an holster on either end on which you push on a T5 or T8 connector. This is also adjustable to accommodate for unusual length fittings.

 

As the LED tube is independently powered, it utilises these dummy plugs along with your existing (unpowered) T5/T8 sockets as the entire fitting.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfTZIV2aBe0&w=560&h=315]

This means that you don’t have to mess about buying and setting up a cumbersome new lighting rig, just use the one you have! Even if you don’t have a T5 or T8 fitting, the retrofit also allows attachment via screws or cable ties straight onto fixed hoods or other systems that would not otherwise usually support lighting.

Here is a picture from one of our tanks in the shop. The top image was with an old yellowing Flourescent, the bottom is with a Retrofit LED. As you can see, the lighting is softer, fuller and more natural.

The Technical Stuff

Leddy tubes output the same colour temperatures as flourescents with 50% of the consumption costs.

Sunny – 6,500k – Similiar to natural sunlight

Plant – 8,000k – To enhance the growth of aquatic plants

Marine – 10,000k – To enhance the growth of corals

Actinic – 20,000k – To enhance the colour of corals

Innovation – Self Repair

Flourescent tubes begin to fade during the first year of use and will eventually need to be replaced. LEDs by their very nature last much longer due to lower consumption rates.

In order to make their service life even longer, the latest generation of the RetroFit lamps are equipped with an innovative self-repair system. In the course of time, some of the LEDs installed in a lamp may fail. Aquael has developed a self-repair system to provide an effective solution to this problem.

In the Sunny version of LED lamps, if a diode stops working, its functions are taken over by the neighbouring diodes, which start emitting light with an increased power. Thanks to this, even after the failure of individual LEDs, the lamp continues to operate properly, and the light power and parameters remain unchanged.

In the Plant version of LED lamps, the self-repair system is based on the presence of additional LEDs that out of operation in a new lamp. This is normal and by design. The additional LEDs are only activated if one of the primary diodes stops working. In this way, the lamp continues to operate properly, and the light power and parameters remain unchanged.

Thanks to the new self-repair system, the Leddy Tube Retro Fit lamps will serve even longer, providing the ideal lighting conditions for observing the aquarium and for the growth of plants.