iisfaq:
I know you can buy "grow lamps" for "indoor gardens" but I want to make this myself.
I suspect that the benefit of the light will depend on the frequencies being transmitted, and what looks fine to the naked eye may not be what's best for the plants. I suggest you seek out communities developing indoor gardens/hydroponics and see whether there are any issues to consider when choosing your light source, and which types work best.
I'm in the planning/designing stage of rebuilding my aquarium, wich stands empty in the living room for now. From what i understand you want a Led Lighting solution, i'm allso looking for Led lighting for mine.
on the following sites you see examples allthough some of these things cost several hundred dollars.
http://arduino-aquarium.blogspot.com This a weblog about a guy that built an arduino controlled aquarium, allso with LED lighting, maybe you can ask him where he got his, all there is to see are a few pics of his LED array.... Very interesting site, if you want to controll everything through the arduino and your own PC I will probably do the same with my aquarium and will be adding more options along the way
As i am looking around for a LED solution for myself i'll add links i find for you here... I am always looking for automated aquarium applications controlled via arduino and the pc or a webapp. But first i'm designing my cabinet and housing for it all...
I came across some more videos on YouTube and this one (source included) looks interesting...
Main Features:
•5 separate LED Channels for White, Blues, Royal Blues, UV, and Red
•6th Channel for a Sump/Refugium LED Light
•7th Channel devoted to a Real Time Lunar Cycle
•Advanced LED testing features
•Water & Heatsink Temperature Sensors
•Control of a Heater and Chiller
•Audible & Visual Alarm Notices for Defined Temperature Variances
•LED Heatsink Temperature Sensor
•Dynamic Speed Control for Heatsink Fans (Display & Sump Lights)
•Wave Maker / Powerhead control
•Automatic Fish Feeder
•24HR & 12HR Time Formats AND Month DD, YYYY & DD/MM/YYYY Date Formats
•Settings & Preferences stored in EEPROM (Arduino Memory)
Although mine is fresh water - most of this could be really good for me to play around with.
I allso have a fresh-tropical water aquarium, but the link you showed is indeed very interesting, i'm certainly going to look into it as it fullfills my needs too, thx for posting the url
Hey, I was faced with a similar project a few months ago, but I opted to go with a out of the box timer solution, just for day/night cycles. I used 2 of these http://dx.com/p/36-led-612-lumen-string-light-with-aluminum-alloy-shell-white-light-12v-47301 and a computer power supply to create an even light distribution similar to the tubes. DX also sells a warmer temp strip and many colored strips too.
That video has me envious! I'm tempted to revisit my project...
Water absorbs red light a lot more than blue light. So blue LEDs should penetrate deeper than red LEDs of the same power. I would guess aquatic plants are adapted to make use of blue light. It would definitely be worth trying to find out for certain what wavelengths the plants like and then making sure the LEDs emit those.