LED lights

[esoxlucius]

I'm just doing a bit of planning on how to light my fibreglass tank when it arrives. I plan on making a wooden framework cover for it, waterproofing the cover and then affixing tri wall polycarbonate roofing sheets in the framework.

In the past i've always had aquarium lights incorporated into the hood, the tube set up, but this time I want to go with the more modern LED lights. But I know nothing about them at all.

My preference, if possible, is to just sit the lights on top of the polycarbonate cover, as easy as that. Now i've saw some LED lights on line in a self contained box. They come with hangers so you can hang them from the ceiling over the tank if you want but I was wondering if it would be OK to just sit the box on top of the cover. The ones i'm referring to are the viparspectre type.

My main concern would be the heat generated, do LED lights get very very warm? Is it essential that I hang them? Does anyone have any experience with the viparspectre brand? I know they are expensive considering you can diy LEDs for pennies but i've saved a fortune by going fibreglass instead of acrylic so i'm not penny pinching on these lights. Are there other better LEDs that come in the box type set up similar to the viparspectre which are a lot better than viparspectre?

 

[islandguy11]

Besides saving a bit on electricity bills one of the other main benefits of LED's is that yes, they don't run nowhere near as hot compared to other types of lighting. I've placed them directly on top of polycarbonate lids before and heat wasn't an issue at all (though splashing water could be depending on quality/style of build).

Also quite a few aquarium LED's come with those little 'rods' that stick out the ends, which helps lift them about a bit off the surface they're sitting on. But not sure about viparspectre, never used them (only cheap Chinese LED's lol; they work fine but probably won't hold up as long as higher quality ones like you're looking at).

 

[Tobiassorensen]

I think that viparspectre has integrated fans in them if not misunderstood by me. Havnt used them myself but have heard good about them. Same goes with dsuny wich i have three of myself and marsaqua is supposed to be alright to.

 

[Rollokola]

LED lights do not generate a lot of heat so it probably won’t be important that you hang them, heatwise. My 30W LED ramp gets pretty hot, but I would guess maybe 40C tops? you can hold it with your hand swueezed against the ramp just fine, and I also have it mounted on plastic legs. definitely not melting anything there.

 

[Rollokola]

also, i forgot to ask. where did you get your fiberglass tank, and how big is it? curious about it since I’m on the lookout for one myself.

 

[PYRU]

I have the viparspectra 165w. They have fans, are remote programmable, and have a cable hanger.

The better ones are the reefbreeders.

These are more tailored to oceanic viewing and run hotter than your average led. Nowhere near t5 hot though. You have channel 1 which is blue and channel 2 for whites. Awesome for sw but not for fw viewing from what I'm seeing. I like to run my whites around half of what my blues are at whatever intensity. My blues come on an hour before the white and stay on an hour after.

Viewing on freshwater I'd just run some viva grow or aqua neat 10k full specs. If I was doing planted I would do something with the correct par for that

 

[PYRU]

Oh to answer the other question you can't sit the canopy on top of the vipars the cooling fans are on top. They need space to breath. You can suspend them from the top but thats all you can really do. I think 12" off the top of your tank is whats recommended. They have a 24 x 24 coverage area.

 

[esoxlucius]

Oh to answer the other question you can't sit the canopy on top of the vipars the cooling fans are on top. They need space to breath. You can suspend them from the top but thats all you can really do. I think 12" off the top of your tank is whats recommended. They have a 24 x 24 coverage area.

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No, I don't mean sitting the canopy on top of the LED unit, I want to sit the LED unit on top of my polycarbonate lid. If the fans are on top of the unit then they'll be able to breathe. But then the bulb area of the unit will be touching the polycarbonate. That's why I was enquiring whether they generate a lot of heat. I can hang them at a push, it would be easier just to have them sat on top of my polycarbonate lid though.

 

[PYRU]

Oh I gotcha. Polycarbonate has a high heat tolerance from what I just looked up. I still think the lights wouldnt breathe enough for my liking and would warm the tank up like a green house would be my guest. The 165w is 3w per led which can create some noticeable heat. My .5 -1w per led lights don't make a difference heat wise at point blank range. Also sitting on top wouldnt give great coverage id imagine and would be like a big spotlight

They're designed to hover 12" above your reef tank which is typically open top or netted.

 

[esoxlucius]

Oh I gotcha. Polycarbonate has a high heat tolerance from what I just looked up. I still think the lights wouldnt breathe enough for my liking and would warm the tank up like a green house would be my guest. The 165w is 3w per led which can create some noticeable heat. My .5 -1w per led lights don't make a difference heat wise at point blank range. Also sitting on top wouldnt give great coverage id imagine and would be like a big spotlight

They're designed to hover 12" above your reef tank which is typically open top or netted.

I'm taking it that for best lighting effect the LED's have to be above the water level with nothing in between, other than a net maybe like you said. If I did sit mine on top of a polycarbonate lid would the effect of the light be hampered to such an extent that it looked awful, even if the polycarbonate was extremely clear?