Thunderstorm (sound+lights) simulation in freshwater aquarium questions

Projects General Guidance
1

Hello, this is my first post here so excuse me if any of this is rudimentary or in the wrong forum.

I recently pulled out an old 50 (maybe 45) gallon aquarium from the attic and want to get it going again.

I'm completely new to this kind of stuff, but from online research lately I've found that Arduino is the way to go. Here's what I'm thinking (if its even possible):

Front and side view of the trapezoidal tank

The tank already has a roughly 23" fluorescent bulb as its main light, which I'm fine with. Inside of the tank however, I would like to have various spots of white LED lighting reflecting on plants and objects, etc. I would also like to have small speakers mounted and wired inside of the cabinet, with the sound of a thunderstorm (something like this) being played when the program is running

Now, whenever thunder strikes in the soundtrack, I want the various underwater white LED's to flash, as if it were lightning. Would this be possible?

I apologize for my crude and childish way of trying to explain my thought process.

Thanks for any help!

2

Yes, all easily doable, with a MP3 shield for the sound.
I'd replace the flourescent with a strip of LED lights, maybe 3 - warm white, cool white, natural white, then you can mix the white intensity.
These guys have a lot of choices
https://www.superbrightleds.com/
Easy to use MP3 modules, need an amplifier for speakers.
Use simple Serial.write (0x01); to 0x0c7 to command a file to be played.

3

Awesome, thanks.

Which arduino unit would you recommend? I plan on pushing only a couple of small speakers (something I can velcro or sticky strip onto the cabinet to avoid drilling/screwing). What size/wattage of speakers (only need 2) and amp should I get? Thanks again.