Aquarium Lighting - LED - 86cm deep

I am interested in updating my aquarium lighting - currently two florescent tubes that sometimes flicker when they start.

They are not great but OK.

I would be interested in changing this to LED - I need the LED to:

  1. Make my fish Look Good
  2. Grow Plants
  3. Grow Plants better than my florescent tubes.

I have seen some projects but they are not related to growing plants.

Aquarium Model:
UFO 880

Dimensions Tank:
135W x 74H x 77D cm

Dimensions Cabinet:
135W x 76H x 86D cm

Capacity:
305 L

Lighting:
2x30w PL + 1x20w Flourescent (Note; NEW SPEC - not MINE)

The tank is quite deep 86cm so it is important for light to reach the bottom of the tank for plants to grow down there.

At this time just interested in ideas on LED - I know you can buy "grow lamps" for "indoor gardens" but I want to make this myself.

I know you can get 1W and 2W and 3W leds.

If you have some thoughts or web urls' I would appreciate it

chris

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.

Hi iisfaq,

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.

https://www.sites.google.com/site/saltydogaquariums/products/complete-lighting-systems/165w-lighting-system this one is expensive. But on the other hand you get much in return

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

practicalmaker.com - This website is for sale! - practicalmaker Resources and Information. this guy is doing something similar, the project is not finished yet but he can controll everything trough a webapp, i think he wants LED lighting too, you can allways ask him?

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...

Thanks for the links - really useful.

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.

Chris

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 :wink:

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.