Lighting an Aquarium with LED's

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oingbingboing

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Jul 1, 2003
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Ive been thinking about doing this.

Why?

LED's are inexpensive, durable, dimmable, bright, and low power.

Has anyone out there tried this?

I was thinking about using High Output Jumbo White/Red, and Green LED's instead od Flouresent lighting.
 
I know where I can get White, 10mm Jumbo, High Brightness (9000 mcd) LED's for 1.00 a piece. Im thinking I could probably light a 75 gallon tank with 30 of them. 3 rows of 10 each. Heck even If I went with 60, it would still be cheap.
 
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This "one" LED costs $22. It's a high output type...
 
You could do it. It would work. I might now be cost effective tho. You cannot get a good spectrum rating on them.

I say if you have the money and the knowledge to do it go for it. It sounds like a fun project. You could maybe add a few blue LEDs in there and turn them on at night.
 
Not sure how much light you are looking for but I found some 12v blue incandescent lamps at Radioshack(in the same area as the leds) for $2 a pair, hooked them up to a 12v dc power supply and it worked fairly well.

Alex
 
80gJoe That looks like some kind of special purpose LED maybe Infra Red. Or its an LED thats part of some system and they are overcharging for it. Im planning on getting your general purpose off the shelf jumbo LED.

I was thinking that

My soon to be Plantless African tank wont have any "Lighting" requirements so, as long as I can see the fish, Ive got enough light.

I could connect the LEDS to a microcontroller, and do some interesting things.

In the long run LEDS consume much less electricity than any other light source.

They come in different colors (Red,Yellow,Orange,Green,Blue) so I can get some cool effects going.
 
Originally posted by oingbingboing
80gJoe That looks like some kind of special purpose LED maybe Infra Red. Or its an LED thats part of some system and they are overcharging for it. ......
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This is something "new" that Custom SeaLife has. One LED per foot across the top of your tank (or 2, I forgot), is supposed to simulate a full moon night. So, if your tank is 48" long, then you would need 2 of these for the full moon at night look....
 
This is something "new" that Custom SeaLife has. One LED per foot across the top of your tank (or 2, I forgot), is supposed to simulate a full moon night. So, if your tank is 48" long, then you would need 2 of these for the full moon at night look....
Click to expand...

AHA!

No wonder they are charging you so much. I bet they are just jumbo Blue LEDS, in a fancy package, with a small power supply attached.

Actually if you by new Jumbo Blue LEDS they are a bit pricey...

as in 3.00 each in 1's and 2s

But then there are surplus places.
 
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let us know how this goes....I'm interested as well...I have a plantless 55g and would kind like options of different colors and a full moon and stuff!......plus LEDS are alot cheaper to run!

great idea man!
 
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