DIY Blue LED lighting?

[Inglorious]

Blue LED christmas lights are an easy option if you just want moonlights, but I like the diy lighting for the full tank you did trick

 

[trick1441]

Have you considered blue led's that are used to light underneath auto's, they are water proof and only need to run on a 12 vdc transformer. the lighting is not as bright as pictured above.

I did but these are cheaper and also run on 12 volt dc led driver. I don't actually have them this bright they are on a dimmer this is the only picture I have as the tank is at my house and I'm at school I'll try and get one of what the blue actually looks like not on full power.


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[trick1441]

View attachment 769154View attachment 769156this is what it looks like

I like that. That's about how bright mine are I guess I just adjust it to what I feel. I'm going to have my brother send some pics when he gets home. Another reason I did mine with the higher powered LEDs and a dimmer is because I only run them st about a 1/4 of the full power so I'm saving a tremendous amount of energy and the light will last way past the suggested 50,000 hours


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[oneyedfish]

Thanks for the pics Trick. I just gotta figure out how to do something similar with my limited electrical ability and without a canopy. I'd like to gut a 48" fluorescent strip light when I come across a cheap one. Any idea what I can expect to pay for the LED conversion?

 

[trick1441]

You can defiantly convert a fluorescent fixture I've done that for a couple people. The 50 what won't fit in it but I would suggest using more 10,20,30 Watts then 50 w one.

For prices I guess it depends on how big and how many LEDs you want mine was really cheap because somehow the seller on eBay let me ship all my items together for one price but now they make you pay for shipping for each item.

Mine costed roughly 40 bucks half of that was for the 50 w but it would cost more now cuz of the shipping scam. But still way cheaper than the lights they sell at stores.


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[Kaiden]

Yeah you can use LEDs for plants as long as they are the right color temperature. I got all of my lights off of eBay as they were the cheapest.
This is where you will have to decide how bright you want your tank.
What kind of fish do you have?
What are the dimensions of your tank is it a 6 footer?
Do you want to incorporate your lights into your current light fixtures or make something to hold them?

Sorry for all the questions just trying to figure out what would be best for your tank. I'll put the two pictures I have of my tank (they are old and my tank is a lot cleaner and nothing looks the same now) on the right side I have 1 50w high powered cool white led and 1 10w blue high powered led.
And on the left I have 2 10W high powered cool white LEDs and 1 10w blue. The right is a bit brighter than the left.
View attachment 769132
The right side isn't as bright as it looks it just my phone made it look that way.

View attachment 769133
This is the moonlight I don't have it set this bright anymore but you can have it as bright as you want.

Does this seem like you would want to do something like this?


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Np about the questions. I am grateful for your help!

As for the tank, it's a 72 x 20 x 24 - 150g tank. It currently has 1 Red Oscar, 3 SDs and 1 Featherfin catfish. I'm growing out 1 BGK and 2 more SDs to add to the tank in a couple of months. I'd like to leave my florescent fixtures intact just as a backup in case of one of the lights in either of my 3 tanks go down so I'd like to create something to hold the LEDs.

View attachment 769154View attachment 769156this is what it looks like

This is exactly what I was looking for a moonlight effect! It looks great!
As for the white light, I guess anything that is strong/bright enough to keep my plants alive is good for me. I'm not sure what's the brightest it can get but I wouldn't mind a bright white lights.

I don't have a canopy to hide the fixtures though. Is that okay?

 

[trick1441]

Yeah that's okay you really don't need a canopy I just have one to hide the lights and other things and I had wood laying around and thought why not make one. I also made the canopy so I could get the lights up higher do the would have a wider angle. But you could deffinatly make something to hold the lights.


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[trick1441]

Alright I got some new pictures still not the greatest but better.

With the dimmer you can have it as blue as you want it. Couldn't get the medium light blue to come clear damn iPhone.


The different levels of blue lights while the white lights are on can have a different effect as well. I guess I just like to have the option to dim the lights as need be and to be able to kind of customize the light. I guess it could just be me.



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[rotccapt]

check out http://www.aquastyleonline.com/ they sell kits that come with everything you need to build LED light fixtures for aquariums. the kits come with 3 watt leds, divers, heat-sink epoxy, and optics for the leds. they are not too badly priced either. if you look at some of the reef sites you will see that a lot of people are using them to grow corals so you should have no problem growing plants with them. although the reef guys put way more lights in their tanks than i think is really necessary for freshwater

 

[Kaiden]

Alright I got some new pictures still not the greatest but better.
View attachment 769248View attachment 769249View attachment 769250
With the dimmer you can have it as blue as you want it. Couldn't get the medium light blue to come clear damn iPhone.
View attachment 769252View attachment 769256View attachment 769254View attachment 769253View attachment 769251
View attachment 769258
The different levels of blue lights while the white lights are on can have a different effect as well. I guess I just like to have the option to dim the lights as need be and to be able to kind of customize the light. I guess it could just be me.



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Your lights look awesome! Being able to adjust the lights as you wanted is a great feature too.

I would really love to know how you made your LEDs. They look far better than those you can buy pre-made.