Aquarium LED Lighting Suggestions/help

Hey all, I've searched the forum and have gotten a fair amount of information on this subject, but still have a few questions.

I have two 55g tanks, one salt and one fresh. I am looking to light up the freshwater tank with only LEDs.

For the standard daytime lighting, I would like to put some strips of LEDs along the top to create a very even spread. I know that I could do some of the superflux single LEDs, etc, but I think I will be going with strips.

I would also like to wire in some colored lights submerged in the tank, to give a glow from the back bottom, most likely blue or million so that I can change the color, to give a cool look at night, but not keep on all of the time because them fishes gotta sleep.

Anyway, I'm looking for recommendations on which strips to use for the top and for the lights inside the tank. The Silicone Encased LED strips, waterproof SMD bar, waterproof ribbon LEDs, and the thin LED strips all seem like good options.

I'm looking for expandability, so that I can string several together along the bottom of the tank. If soldering is required its no big deal since I can just cover it up with some silicon.

Which do you think would be best for each application? I'm looking for an even spread, so the ability to wire strips together or to have one very long strip would be great.

Your help is sincerely appreciated. I'm not completely inexperienced with LEDs as I have plenty in my car and in my room, but this is a bit of a different application...

One word of caution... This is where i started with LED lights. I looked at blue moonlights for my tanks, but the expensive price made me think I could build a set way cheaper. Now I have LED lights stuck everywhere (computer, fish tanks, ATV, trucks) and I keep finding more places for them

If you want to use white LED for day lights... use very bright LED (superflux or greater than 0.5 watt bulbs)

For night led, use a wide spread pattern (like superflux) for an even light across the tank, narrow viewing angle will create spot light effect.

Here is a DIY thread on a fish forum for my last LED moonlight build for my 90 and 60 gallon. I used 8 mm 60 degree LED, but that was before I found the superflux lights. If I did it again, I would use the super flux bulbs.

http://albertaaquatica.com/index.php?showforum=99

I read your thread on here with your build. It looks really great! I'm going for something a bit simpler and aiming to not have to wire individual LEDs and rather just use strips. 40" or so of any of the oznium strips should be more than bright enough.

Any input on which strips would work best?

I have only used the led modules from here and they are very bright in a truck.

http://www.oznium.com/led-modules

If you use individual led's seal them up good!

the leads off of the led's are actually tin plated steel and will rust within days in the humid tank enviroment. trust me i know.

Thanks everyone for the advice. I'm definitely not going with individual LEDs.

Any advice on the strips?

Ive never used the strips but im pretty sure they are or can be easily sealed up to keep out moisture.

well i had used some flexible led strips at the top of my tank and in the tank, they are pretty bright but i dont know if they are going to be bright enough to light up the whole tank for day lighting, as for expanding them the flex strips u could like u said solder the connections together and make em waterproof as far as putting them in the tank i would either buy one long strip to lay across the tank or buy different color strips run the lines through the tank and just connect em outside the tank
I have a 4 in RGB flex strip inside the gators mouth and (1) 9in Blue,(1) 9in Orange, and(1) 9in Green strip sitting at the top of the tank

Hey man, very cool looking colors in the tank.

I think the white LEDs will be bright enough to light the whole tank if I put 40+ inches across the top, right? Are the superflux LEDs significantly brighter? Would it be worth my while to make a custom mount on the top and wire in a bunch of superluxes? Id definitely rather not do it, but if 40" of LED stripping wont be bright enough...I might have to.

Which strips did you use for underwater? They look great.

I'd probably do maybe 36" of blue under the water. That should be enough to provide a lot of light in the whole tank. What do you all think about the million LEDs? Worth the investment? It would be nice to be able to switch it up, but if they are not as bright it may not be worth it...

What type of lighting do you have on the 55 freshwater now? I used to run 200 watts of light on my 55, but I grow plants. Even a cheap hood will have 40 watts or so. There was/is a company called Solarius? that was building LED lights for aquariums, but they were $3000.00 and had many leds (200 or so)...

the million color strips are worth it if you want to be able to change the colors. They sell a controller so you can switch the colors as you please. But going that route is more money as well. I know you want to use strips but if i were you, i would use flood lights for the above water lighting, and the waterproof SMD bar if you dont need it to flex or the flexible led strips if you do.

Flood lights:http://www.oznium.com/high-intensity-led-floodlight
these things are very bright and if you put one in each corner it will definatly light up the entire tank. You shouldnt have too many spotty areas either

waterproof SMD Bar:http://www.oznium.com/smd-bar
easy to use if you dont need it to bend. It can be cut but would need to be re waterproofed then.

Flex Stripes:http://www.oznium.com/led-flex-strips
easy, flexible and are bright.

the smd bar and the flexible strips are almost the same brightness


Thats my opinion, take what you wish

also, the SMD bar takes up alot less space

You guys think that just two flood lights would sufficiently light up the entire tank? Moreso than a 40+" long strip of Waterproof Ribbon LEDs or the waterproof SMD bar?
As I've said, I'd really rather not have to make a custom mount, so flood lights are < optimal. I guess I can stick them right onto the top glass, and if 3 of them would definitely light up the tank more than a 40+" long strip..it would be worth doing.

I'm trying to find information on luminous output compared to a 48" long fluorescent 40W tube, but I can't find any reliable information.

Thanks again

Final answer? A few superflux floodlights vs. a 40" strip in terms of brightness?

Sorry to be a pain, but anyone?

i believe the floods would be alot brighter than a strip.

I'm going to be working on ours sometime soon... we have a volcano that has bubbles coming out of it that I'm going to rig up a red LED in the bottom of pointing straight up, so the bubbles light up red, and 2 blue LEDs on the top for moonlight.

Okay I have a question. I have the wiring hooked up to the volcano, and it looks great (wish I could hide the wires better though). It's not hooked up to a switch yet, just a direct connection to the p/s. My question is this... how/where can I put the switch so that the lid of the tank can still be removed? I realized this morning if I mounted the switch to the lid, every time we take it off, the volcano will go with it.

The moonlight part isn't a problem as those LEDs will be part of the lid.

use a timer to control them instead of a switch. You can buy house lamp switches that clamp onto a cord. Or another quick way to attach wires together are these... http://www.oznium.com/screw-on-wire-connector
then you can just un-twist the wires to seperate the two sets of lights.

If I had just the volcano light to deal with, I'd just use an in-line switch instead of a mounted one... but we're wanting the moonlight and volcano lights to have separate switches, and I'd like both switches to be in the same place. The only thing I can think of is to have some sort of external switchboard/box, so the wiring for the volcano is in no way attached to the tank lid.

I recently bought 4 piranha bars and Im looking to add some light to my saltwater fish tank but I am at a loss when it comes to lighting. I bought an adapter that runs from 1.5v to 12v. I am a total newbie when it comes to lighting and wiring. I just want to add some extra light to my tank. What am I doing wrong???? Please advise on what I should do.

biggyal66 wrote:

I recently bought 4 piranha bars and Im looking to add some light to my saltwater fish tank but I am at a loss when it comes to lighting. I bought an adapter that runs from 1.5v to 12v. I am a total newbie when it comes to lighting and wiring. I just want to add some extra light to my tank. What am I doing wrong???? Please advise on what I should do.

You told us what you have, but not what you've done, so we can't help you correct anything...

Your power adapter should be set to 12v. You'll need to cut the tip off of it, separate the two wires, and find which one is the positive (if it's one of the walmart adapters, it'll be the one with the white stripe on it), and hook that to the positive of your lights, and the same for the negative. If you want a switch, just add it inline on either side of the wire, wherever you want the switch to be.

I set the adapter on 12volts and I played with the (+) and (-). Once I figured out what is what the whole thing lit up light christmas time. Thanks for all of your help.

Glad to help! Let us know if you need anything else... and be sure to post up some pics when you're done!

I will post the pics tomorrow. I added them to my lights already on the tank, and wow they bring out the greens and blues and pinks of my stuff in the tank already. Now I'm hooked!!!! I am already planning on buying 7 more of each color and using them as my main lights all of the time. My question is With 18 total piranha strips, would I need another power supply to run them all? or would my 12v converter run them all at once? Please advise. Thanks

biggyal66 wrote:

I will post the pics tomorrow. I added them to my lights already on the tank, and wow they bring out the greens and blues and pinks of my stuff in the tank already. Now I'm hooked!!!! I am already planning on buying 7 more of each color and using them as my main lights all of the time. My question is With 18 total piranha strips, would I need another power supply to run them all? or would my 12v converter run them all at once? Please advise. Thanks

Go to the product page and find out the total draw of all your LEDs, then look at power supply for a amp rating...

EDIT: NO TECH SPECS on the piranha strips...

I figured it and I would need a 3.25 amp AC Adapter. THanks this is all new to me and I cant wait to get it all done. THanks