LED lighting options for coral tank

[tdwright1971]

yeah they are only 13 watts. they look cool over my fish only 180 but not as bright as a 26watt compact fluorescent. I used it for about a year over a 29 gallon set up for garter snakes and they loved it.

 

[abdhalim2]

Excellent links, I learned alot about par and pur. These lights have the potential but I;m at a loss on how to mount them.

Would buying a cheapo ebay t5 light and gutting it and installing the strips work does anyone think? The pictures showed for example that you could just place the bars across the top of the tank. BUT the lights are only 18" and my tank is 24".

I don't wanna drill any holes on the new tank, I would prefer something that sits on top of the frame. If I could envision it, I could mount a 2 by 4 an attach the lights strips to that and then somehow mount that to the tank. ??? Looks ugly in my head though as I try to picture what the result would be.

I havent seen any commercially made "mounts": for these light strips, most if not all are recommended for a canopy where I can easily understand the setup, but alas, no canopy for me and I wanna be able to see the cool rimless feature of my tank.

Also, it appears from reading those articles that my PAR38 bulbs need to be higher off my water, right now they are about 6 inches tops off the water edge.

I would mount a small shelf behind the tank BUT theres a window there so no back wall. Can't ceiling mount cause its a good 10 feet tall and slopes. :-(

see the more I learn the more questions I have. lol

I appreciate the links guys, if you know of anymore please tell me. I'm still gonna keep researching. But I;m almost leaning towards jimmy rigging a light fixture to put the tubes in OR getting another nanotuners PAR38 bulb and attaching it to the back wall. Just will look cluttered in my opinion. Kinda why I like the marineland fixtures, nice and pretty and very sleek. Maybe I can get the single bright models and then attach the light strips to them? LOL Just a thought, probably not a very good one though I betcha. lol

i dont see any problem with 24" tank...u can used a t5 with all single reflector...and its shud be enough coz my frenz tank was at these 24" depth...he mounted it on top of tank with a stainless steel DIY stand...this shud be enough...if u can DIY, i DIY my stand using a pipe...

 

[Dbrown4u]

Oh nice haha maybe I'll get one for my California king, so no good for a 30"x12"x12" 30g mostly reef?

 

[gljvd]

i posted in your other thread about a nice 120w semi 3w led set up which was $160 a person has one over his 56g tank and is very happy with the anemone tank. Another user reports that you can change out the fans and leds . The fans are simple pc fans so are much easier to replace than other units .

I might grab one when i'm ready to build

 

[carey]

Yep, I saw it in that thread, thanks. I posted there that while the strip lights are ideal it seems, I have no real way of mounting them over the tank.

I'm actually thinking the PAR38 bulbs I have now are too much light for the tank, while soem corals look really good some arent opening up as much and they are on the sandbed.

The only thing close to what I need is this
Aquatic Life Expandable LED Fixtures | LED | PetSolutions

But they are running .5 watt leds. if you can find a fixture like that and the power I need I would be forever grateful.

I;m still tossing the idea of adding a straight blue PAR38 for the back wall of the tank and leaving the the two bubs I have in operation. OR the dreaded marineland reef ready lights, 2 fixtures I figured. Nice and clean look.

I think alot of people buy the marineland for different applications, such as a deeper tank and then are disappointed. I am dealing with only 12 inches of water to penetrate so I'm thinking the marineland might work for me.

ANyone have the marineland reef lights and what did you want it for? Ie: your tank specs and the corals you wanted and how well they performed.

 

[gljvd]

How about something like this to hold lights ?

Simply Pet Supplies. Prevue Quad Pod 4Leg Stand White

you can try some of these

Hanging Kits for Aquarium Light Fixtures

The Aquatic Life stand light fixture hanger will screw into your stand and its $95

The current usa hanging arm system does the same for $80

 

[carey]

Thw current one I don't think will work, I was looking at it for my 125g fixture, it needs holes in a fixture to attach to.

BUT the birdcage holder one has potential. If I could jimmy righ a peice of metal and run my lights to that and then hang them it might work. But on another thought, I don't have the behind the tank room for the birdcage holder one. I have like 6 inches.

Ihate to shoot down every suggestion makes me feel terrible but I'm kinda looking for a simple plug and play option. I'm not very diy or creative. LOL

 

[tdwright1971]

Oh nice haha maybe I'll get one for my California king, so no good for a 30"x12"x12" 30g mostly reef?

I dont think your going to grow much with a 13 watt fixture. Not to mention the thing is big and bulky. That being said it does make colors really pop and seems to put out more light than a single 14 watt t5.

 

[carey]

I am growing chaeto in my refugium with a 25 watt light. lol

On topic though, between me and MR X and i think I may have a diy idea for my leds mounting.

Might not look real pretty but I think I have what I need to do down.

Gonna use a two by 4 and bolt it to the stand in back the anothe shorter two by 4 attached to the end that hangs over the tank. Will use a metal shelf bracket to keep them together and strong. I was gonna sand the wood down really nice and paint it black.

This is the fixture I have in mind for now, thanks for whoever linked it

Amazon.com: Aquarium Coral Reef Tank White Blue LED Lamb Grow Light 120W-provide light that have the same effect as natural sunlight and hence offers a very good growing habitat for green aquatic seaweeds corals fish etc: Sunvalleytek

And in the mean time I can mount my par38 bulbs from it too.

Sound like a good plan guys? It will be my first DIY project. Other than assembling my newest stand, had to do that myself. lol

 

[Gti_Leo]

carey check out www.rapidled.com they are DIY cree LED kits. they are pretty simple to put together and they can be extremely powerful. for a 20g you could probably get away with 24 LEDs and you can get a dimable kit with a daylight controller to give the system a more natural look

what people don't know is that LEDs get hot also, they just don't radiat the heat like MH do. i've installed PAR38 LED lamps in potlights at work and the LEDs would always set off the thermo sensor which would turn the lights on and off constantly