aotealotl Posted January 2, 2013 Report Share Posted January 2, 2013 I have no experience at all with LED lights for the Aquarium but I need a light source so the plants in my Axolotle tank are happy. the Axolotle like it darkish but the plants need some light. I found this one on ebay.com, could that be something for my plants ? or what do I have to look for in a LED light which will support the plants ? thank you... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaSa Posted January 2, 2013 Report Share Posted January 2, 2013 Hi there. I build my own lights for my breeding unit using cold-white 5050 LED Strips with 60 LEDs per meter. It gives me enough light for javafern, javamoos, duckweed and vallisneria spiralis - but the two last ones are growing slow. Have two strips (2x1m) 20cm above the 25cm deep tanks. That gives me 1600 lumen in total for 70L of water and uses 29 Watt which gives me a light yield of 55 Lumen/Watt. In comparison a 18 Watt T5 (which would put out ~ the same amount of Lumen) gives between 45 and 100 Lumen/Watt - but only lasts 16000 hours compared to 50000 for the LED. Another point is that the T5 puts light out 360° (up & sides = need reflector or hugh wast) but the LED only 120° down into the tank. I hope these numbers (lumen, distance to ground, tanksize and plants) give you an idea what works and you will be able to adjust it to your needs. The panel you linked got 112 blue LEDs. Their light yield is low compared to the white ones. It might work but there will be better (more lm per W) panels out there. Check out TM for Aquarium LED lights... Hope that helps, JaSa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aotealotl Posted January 2, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2013 Hope that helps, JaSa yes, thanks a lot... :thup: something like this ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaSa Posted January 3, 2013 Report Share Posted January 3, 2013 Yeah, that's the type I used. Cut it to length, bit of soldering, silicone, a old notebook power adapter - all done... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dattofish Posted January 3, 2013 Report Share Posted January 3, 2013 im looking at getting led lights for my new tank.. i dont have any real plants an if i do get them they only last a week or two before the big fish mess it up or eat them so dont really bother, but just wondering how to go bout it.. would like the led light to be 2metre. as the tanks 2.1m an yea just been googling diffrent sites an for the real deal their pretty expensive. so how do you make them you were saying Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaSa Posted January 3, 2013 Report Share Posted January 3, 2013 I personally have them mounted under the shelving - so no housing needed: or used a old cable duct as housing for the top row: Since you can cut them every third LED it is pretty easy to get it to the length you need. If you want them in a double row to have it brighter just adds a bit of more soldering to the whole installation but no big deal: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dattofish Posted January 3, 2013 Report Share Posted January 3, 2013 ok.. so how would i go about doing it do you reakon iv been searching sites with diffrent threads an ebay etc.. just not to sure. is their a site that has them pretty well ready to go Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaSa Posted January 3, 2013 Report Share Posted January 3, 2013 LED strips are what they are, just strips. You have to make them fit for your needs. Dunno about a place that sells them per meter and all setup, sorry. Pretty sure HFF have LED hoods for sale + there are a few clearance sales of LED light hoods on TM which look pretty good... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dattofish Posted January 3, 2013 Report Share Posted January 3, 2013 so you guys are alot more experinced than me about all this.. i need some led light for my 940litre aquarium. whats the best an not so expensive way to do it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaSa Posted January 3, 2013 Report Share Posted January 3, 2013 Have a look on the net. Heaps of examples for every taste out there... I personally like that one: Click Two LED strips cut to length and glued in a aluminium profile that hangs from the ceiling. Very simple + looks great. If you use google translate it will give you lot's of information and technical details... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rabid Posted January 4, 2013 Report Share Posted January 4, 2013 Do the led strips need a driver or can you just wire them to a dc voltage source? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aotealotl Posted January 4, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2013 Do the led strips need a driver or can you just wire them to a dc voltage source? the ones in my link are 12V, no driver needed, just a simple 12V DC power supply Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted January 4, 2013 Report Share Posted January 4, 2013 I wonder how well these would work? On das verboten site 2X15watt units, 60° beams for $116. Need a 12-24v power supply too though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dattofish Posted January 7, 2013 Report Share Posted January 7, 2013 think i mite go with these.. has 120leds/meter as per most of them 60/meter. http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing ... =548592975 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaSa Posted January 7, 2013 Report Share Posted January 7, 2013 think i mite go with these.. has 120leds/meter as per most of them 60/meter. http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing ... =548592975 I just asked them a few more questions for you. 5050 are better (brighter) then 3528 and even if they have double the LED number per meter without the Lumen (lm) to compare "double" doesn't mean anything. And looking at the watt/m I have a feeling it is the 3528 LED... Example for numbers you can buy out there: 300x 3528 LEDs in 5m strip (60/m) = 1500lm (~ a standard 100w light bulb) 600x 3528 LEDs in 5m strip (120/m) = 3000lm 300x 5050 LEDs in 5m strip (60/m) = 2400lm 600x 5050 LEDs in 5m strip (120/m) = 4800lm JaSa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aotealotl Posted January 7, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2013 think i mite go with these.. has 120leds/meter as per most of them 60/meter. http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing ... =548592975 and beside what JaSa already said, why pay NZ $145 plus shipping cost for something that you can get it for US $16.95 (NZ $20.50) including shipping (ok, you have to wait for 2 weeks to receive it). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dattofish Posted January 8, 2013 Report Share Posted January 8, 2013 alright thanks guys, so ill look for the 5050 leds then?.. yea iv looked on ebay but its all to confusing. i dont mind waiting 2weeks just dont know what ones to chouse... i checked that trademe one an doesnt look like their going to awnser them questions it closes soon.. if anyone has some spare time they could look up some decent ones on ebay for me i really dont have a clue what ones to get. all i know is my tanks going to be 2.1m by 750mm an want to light it up real good in leds also iv been looking at the led bubble walls out their can they be joint to make longer for a larger tank. i have asked the question to one but havent replied. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dattofish Posted January 8, 2013 Report Share Posted January 8, 2013 http://www.ebay.com/itm/5M-300-LED-Stri ... 42&vxp=mtr think this is the best iv found so far? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaSa Posted January 8, 2013 Report Share Posted January 8, 2013 Looks good to me - if you are confident to buy some aluminium U profiles from Bunnings + a power source and solder it all together... Good luck, JaSa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aotealotl Posted January 8, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2013 http://www.ebay.com/itm/5M-300-LED-Strip-Strips-Light-5630-Brightest-SMD-Cool-White-IP65-Waterproof-12V-/330824112194?pt=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item4d06a75842&vxp=mtr think this is the best iv found so far? yes, looking good, with dimmer and shipped from OZ, probably faster than 2 weeks... I ordered these yesterday and will let you know when they arrive here. I will use an aluminium profile from Bunnings (as suggested from JaSa) and will post a picture or two when done. I will also include some blue LEDs as some sort of a moonshine light (as seen on the german axo forum) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheepsnana Posted January 19, 2013 Report Share Posted January 19, 2013 I hate to be negative, but in my experience, these great LEDs lasted a month. I got the 5m strip, 5050 RGB LEDs. If I'm lucky, 2 of them work when I turn it on. Red only. Long gone are the wonderful white and blue colours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godly3vil Posted January 19, 2013 Report Share Posted January 19, 2013 From what I understand about leds is you get what you pay for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef Posted January 19, 2013 Report Share Posted January 19, 2013 From what I understand about leds is you get what you pay for. Pretty much so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaSa Posted January 19, 2013 Report Share Posted January 19, 2013 Get a good, stabilised (!) DC (!) power adapter - makes a difference My 5m (cut in 4 pieces & connected to the same adapter) of 5050 cold white is running since ~8 month and I will never ever go back to another light source for my breeding tanks... JaSa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aotealotl Posted January 21, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2013 got mine today from HongKong (the NZ $20.50 ones), looking good, sealed and waterproof, nice bright light. strange thing, they were sent from HongKong to Switzerland first to the big post despatch center near Zurich and from there to NZ. now I need to go to Bunnings to get an aluminum profile to build the tank light. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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