# Can LED lightbulbs grow plants?



## ChunksofNature (Mar 25, 2016)

Hello, just started on Dendroboard and knew this was the best place to get help. I have a 12x18x12 viv that i just planted. Instead of using a exoterra CFL bulb(done before, great plant growth) i wanted to try a daylight(5000k) led bulb from homedepot. Philips 60W Equivalent Daylight A19 LED Light Bulb-455955 - The Home Depot its 60w. I was curious to see if anyone has tried this before and how well/if at all it worked. There are broms in this viv so i know i need at least 5000k. Any info would be greatly appreciated.


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## jturner (Nov 26, 2014)

That light may be ok for lower light plants but its probably not bright enough especially if you want to have your broms color up nicely. That is actually only an 8watt bulb it is just a 60 watt equivalent. 5000K doesn't tell anything about brightness that just tells you the color but you are correct that 5000K is what you would need to be closest to daylight spectrum. 

Philips 100W Equivalent Daylight (5000K) PAR38 Dimmable LED Flood Light Bulb-435016 - The Home Depot
This light or something like it would be better if you want to use one of these home depot bulbs

otherwise you could use a small beamswork fixture like this for that size tank Clip On LED Aquarium Lighting 6x 3W LED $34.95


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## r.mickaels (May 17, 2015)

I agree that beam works makes some good output lights at a fair price. The Jungle Dawn LEDs also work nicely in the Exo fixtures for deeper depths IMO. 


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## Pubfiction (Feb 3, 2013)

frogsandthings said:


> Hello, just started on Dendroboard and knew this was the best place to get help. I have a 12x18x12 viv that i just planted. Instead of using a exoterra CFL bulb(done before, great plant growth) i wanted to try a daylight(5000k) led bulb from homedepot. Philips 60W Equivalent Daylight A19 LED Light Bulb-455955 - The Home Depot its 60w. I was curious to see if anyone has tried this before and how well/if at all it worked. There are broms in this viv so i know i need at least 5000k. Any info would be greatly appreciated.


You can certainly use those A19 lights but you will want to use them with reflectors. They are going to put out about 800 lumens, half of which will be going in the wrong direction. The problem is this if you want higher light to color up bromeliads once you throw a reflector on that you wont have much room or light going down, probably 650 lumens. You can solve that by bumping up to higher light but then the price will probably go up near $20. Once you end up spending $20 you might as well pay a little more to get a beamswork light. THis light will give you high light for $ 30. EVO Clip 3W 6500K Aquarium Nano Pico Light Freshwater Plant Tetra Betta 6X 3W | eBay


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