Building your own LED array for a planted aquarium
- Thread starter Cory Keeper
- Start date
The great thing about this is that you can do it in like 10 minute sections 
10 mins each night before you go to bed, should have it up and running in about the same time frame as me. Remember it took me months just to get light over the tank, but I didn't sit down for 5 hours in one sitting to do it. well, cept for the new drivers, but ehh.
10 mins each night before you go to bed, should have it up and running in about the same time frame as me. Remember it took me months just to get light over the tank, but I didn't sit down for 5 hours in one sitting to do it. well, cept for the new drivers, but ehh.
by the way... the pic I posted was general purpose diode... LEDs are diodes nonetheless but each diode has its own curve... I would test but I don't have a variable voltage supply
This and the other Cory LED thread is really interesting to me.
I think that I have read thru all the posts. As a compromise between time
and cost, have you looked at the LED drivers (constant current) they sell at Deal Extreme?
For example, there is an AC (85-265V) powered 650mA driver for US$3.23. Almost double what it costs to make it out of parts,
but much less than a Buck Puck.
My interest is to mod my stock Waterhome fluorescent hood (on a 10G tank). The only plant in my tank is Taiwan moss attached to one rock. I can position the LEDs so that most of the incident light goes to the moss. The rest of the light should be adequate to light up the rest of the tank for viewing. I have Cardinal Tetras so they will probably appreciate overall lower lighting.
I'm thinking another advantage of LED's is that you
don't need help from reflectors to get the light to where you want it.
It might even cut down on algae if the intense part of the lighting never shines
directly on the tank glass.
Hoping that 3 watts of Cree with the light directed at my moss may replace the stock 18W tube with the crappy stock reflector.
Comments?
I think that I have read thru all the posts. As a compromise between time
and cost, have you looked at the LED drivers (constant current) they sell at Deal Extreme?
For example, there is an AC (85-265V) powered 650mA driver for US$3.23. Almost double what it costs to make it out of parts,
but much less than a Buck Puck.
My interest is to mod my stock Waterhome fluorescent hood (on a 10G tank). The only plant in my tank is Taiwan moss attached to one rock. I can position the LEDs so that most of the incident light goes to the moss. The rest of the light should be adequate to light up the rest of the tank for viewing. I have Cardinal Tetras so they will probably appreciate overall lower lighting.
I'm thinking another advantage of LED's is that you
don't need help from reflectors to get the light to where you want it.
It might even cut down on algae if the intense part of the lighting never shines
directly on the tank glass.
Hoping that 3 watts of Cree with the light directed at my moss may replace the stock 18W tube with the crappy stock reflector.
Comments?
