LED Aquarium Lights ??
- Thread starter aussieman57
- Start date
I've been pretty happy with the Hygger 24/7 lights. They have a nice 24/7 feature where they gradually ramp up and down throughout the day and night and have a full off for ~5 hours. Only thing I don't like is if they lose power they don't remember the current brightness and reset to the beginning of the day.
For a couple of built-in tanks I have done for friends, we just used a couple of simple round dish reflectors of the type that are sold for reptile tanks or photography studio lighting. They just sit on the top glass, and accept old-fashioned screw-in incandescent light bulbs...remember those? Then just buy LED "bulbs" designed to retrofit into old fixtures like this, available in various wattages and colours and quite inexpensive.
These can be had as either floodlights (wide beam) or spotlights (narrow) and they highlight a chosen area in the tank, and can be moved around to achieve the effect you like; with spotlights especially, they can produce some very dramatic lighting. They work nicely with specimen plants like Amazon Swords without encouraging algae growth on glass fronts. They run cool and cheap; they last practically forever, and best of all they produce that lovely "shimmer" in the tank because they are essentially point sources rather than full-width strips.
Cons? Well, they don't "forget" their programmed settings because they haven't got any! You turn them on and off yourself. If you want automatic operation, you buy yourself a simple or not-so-simple timer. They don't have variable dimming unless you provide it with your own dimmer control. They don't change colour or simulate lightning storms or moonlight, and they don't communicate with you via your cell phone when you are at work or on vacation...unless you buy the equipment that this requires.
They look awful, so they really need to be built in, either into a wall or within a fairly tall hood/cabinet unit.
These can be had as either floodlights (wide beam) or spotlights (narrow) and they highlight a chosen area in the tank, and can be moved around to achieve the effect you like; with spotlights especially, they can produce some very dramatic lighting. They work nicely with specimen plants like Amazon Swords without encouraging algae growth on glass fronts. They run cool and cheap; they last practically forever, and best of all they produce that lovely "shimmer" in the tank because they are essentially point sources rather than full-width strips.
Cons? Well, they don't "forget" their programmed settings because they haven't got any! You turn them on and off yourself. If you want automatic operation, you buy yourself a simple or not-so-simple timer. They don't have variable dimming unless you provide it with your own dimmer control. They don't change colour or simulate lightning storms or moonlight, and they don't communicate with you via your cell phone when you are at work or on vacation...unless you buy the equipment that this requires.
They look awful, so they really need to be built in, either into a wall or within a fairly tall hood/cabinet unit.
I have a 36" full spectrum for about a month. So far so good. A friend has one for lil over a year and still going well. I had other cheap ones before and imo these are the best so far. They are wider and have more leds than other brands so the spread is better. Build is made of metal and not plastic I think. Overall I'm pleased with it. I would buy these for future tanks.
Check on youtube for more details reviews before u buy so it fits your needs.
I just got the hygger 48” on black friday at amazon and they were $46 each look great on my 300
