# LED Aquarium lights



## firemouth (Nov 10, 2007)

i am looking to build a lighting setup for my Aquarium.

having done a quick search of the forum, however i wish to come at the problem from a different angle.

lets deal with me first. i have no electrical qualifications, my experience being restricted to a few years of wiring and rewiring houses. i do learn very quickly. and providing the instructions are in English, not electricalese, i will follow most things. i can solder, am reasonably good at maths and have a good portion of common sense.

why LED lighting for my tank? space, economy and perhaps most of all, apart from some vastly expensive setups there is very little out there.

for my tank the colour balance of the lights is of little import. i do not grow plants and deal only with freshwater fish. even so, the addition of controllable leds the colour balance of any system can be changed( i have many years of photographic experience, so mixing light is almost second nature).

the initial idea is to make a light setup for my 4 foot 50 gallon tank, however the final unit will be for a 6 foot 135 gallon tank. i wish to include some blue "moonlights" in the design. it will be running at a colour temperature of around 4000K, this will avoid the dreaded Algae problem, and still look pleasing to the eye. in the end i would like to add a fade control to ensure a smooth transition from on to of to moonlight.

i have yet to decide if i will use a small number of high output leds, or many lower.

so that's my plan, for the rest i am hoping to pick your brains.


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## VidPro (Nov 10, 2007)

other than economy, RGB leds would be awesome for an aquarium. colors on everything would just jump out, but its much more complex, and less efficient.
on the other hand there are fully finished Acrylic "Washes" with multi 5mm leds in RGB that are finished, would make "hoods" and would only need to be sealed a bit for moisture. "washes" are for color lighting up a backdrop like in theatre lighting. and can have complex lighting control ability.

like http://item.express.ebay.com/Chauve...250169364895QQihZ015QQtrZexpQQcmdZExpressItem
and
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=110190591676
the links for the Examples of and pictures of the items.
also LCK lighting a advertiser here has some similar stuff.

and not to do disco lighting in an aquarium, i mean just to get full color spectrum, or to be able to change coloration to anything that suits you.

i got One big "tip" for you when you assemble, dont leave the led legs exposed around water, tried that in a fountain where the leds were basically dry, but the metal and the voltage going through and a ultrasonic fogger completly ate away the leds legs.
i found that silicoln calking or hot glue around the exposed metal completly stopped the eroding of the metal.
that could be really important to longevity around water, specially salt water.

of course dont gass the fish with calk untill its good and dried. but the item might need to be sealed more than if it was not over a tank.

some guy said Blue helps coral growth?
and isnt it Red, that is going to help the algie grow? arent there fish that love algie?
then they are saying that the animals would like to have natural lighting and night and day, and all that other good stuff they get outside.

the "white" leds have little to no red, so that might help on the algie groth, but what about all the colors in the tank, they would just bloom under RGB lighting, it would be awesome.

4000k so like warm white leds, then blue leds, and probably lots more white leds to simulate Day, and a few blue leds for this moonlight thing. 
is everything in the hood, or would you ever put lighting behind with a difusion pannel for backlighting?

when you do blue, did you want the very deep blue that is little light output but loads of deep ritch color, or moonlight type blue which heads more twards cyan , and is visably brighter for the ammount of items and power?

how many watts of florescent would you have shoved into the same item to get the same effects your after now?

small 5mm white leds dont have a good lifetime, nichita leds in 5mm have a good life, but basically other than colored leds you really want to get the "high power" leds to have very long led life.


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## firemouth (Nov 10, 2007)

VidPro said:


> other than economy, RGB leds would be awesome for an aquarium. colors on everything would just jump out, but its much more complex, and less efficient.
> on the other hand there are fully finished Acrylic "Washes" with multi 5mm leds in RGB that are finished, would make "hoods" and would only need to be sealed a bit for moisture. "washes" are for color lighting up a backdrop like in theatre lighting. and can have complex lighting control ability.
> 
> like http://item.express.ebay.com/Chauve...250169364895QQihZ015QQtrZexpQQcmdZExpressItem
> ...



thanks for your reply:twothumbs:twothumbs

you need high k numbers for algae, its a plant of sorts so the colder the colour temp the better. some specialist plant lights claim to be over 12000k!!!

truth is the colour of the light, on an aquarium, is of little consequence to the fish. even the red blocking effect of the water is minimal, as the mid point of even the 6 foot tank will never be more than 12 inches from a lit surface.

lol yes many fish do like to eat algae, but not all. too much light at say 5500k "noon daylight" can cause green water, requiring a UV filter, or drastic action in the form of tank cleaning and water changing.

both ice blue and the deeper blue leds do a fine job, for moonlights. its all for us not the fish, though keeping the intensity low does make the fish rest and the nocturnal fish active.

putting the led's behind a diffuser panel, was one thing i was keen to do. hopefully to provide good water protection and to even out the light spread but they will be in, or on the hood. on this i have lots of good ideas for using, led powered, optic fibre decorations, within the tank.

for the 4 foot, prototype, i wish to match the 42watt tube i have atm, quite enough for me and the fish. though looking at the recommended watts per gallon that would seem to be too little. all i can say is they are wrong. this amount of light allows me to take pictures of my fish with no flash and no tripod. well exposed shake free pictures indicant enough light to me.


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## laserblue (Nov 27, 2007)

I think thats cool and you can run the LED aquarium lights 24/7 without too much power consumption and heat on the aquarium.


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## W-c.Scenario (Nov 27, 2007)

Hi,
in case you decide not to build it yourself ...
www.fenix-store.com has a fixed lighting product called the LightBar
Dimmable, remote controlled, 180 Lumens.. see this thread 
http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?t=169322


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