Anyone have ideas for some DIY LEDs to replace my tubes?

[dm76]

I have a 50 gallon tank (36" wide) with a stand and hood I built for it. For the last several years, I have installed two 36" fluorescent tubes to underside of the lid running off of a ballast mounted in the back. I want to convert to LED and was wondering if anyone had any ideas of some DIY LED lights I can install the same way. This is a low light planted tank so it has been fine off of the 2 - 25 watt tubes it has been running. I only have 3 inches of clearance between the underside of the hood and the glass at the top of the tank.

[mkm0310]

Originally Posted by dm76

I have a 50 gallon tank (36" wide) with a stand and hood I built for it. For the last several years, I have installed two 36" fluorescent tubes to underside of the lid running off of a ballast mounted in the back. I want to convert to LED and was wondering if anyone had any ideas of some DIY LED lights I can install the same way. This is a low light planted tank so it has been fine off of the 2 - 25 watt tubes it has been running. I only have 3 inches of clearance between the underside of the hood and the glass at the top of the tank.

I bought these lights: https://www.amazon.com/your-orders/p...ntId=D7yLygt6b
And this timer: https://www.amazon.com/your-orders/p...ntId=DBlzsM1Vy
I put in 8 feet of this roll of lights in my 10 gallon. It outputs 164 lumens per linear foot. I use the timer with low light 20-50% for All but 4-5 hours each day, when I have it at 100%.
It works well for my couple of java ferns.
Disclaimer: I'm still new at aquarium living.

[dm76]

Can you post those links again? It looks like those links direct to the orders page. Thanks.

Originally Posted by mkm0310

I bought these lights: https://www.amazon.com/your-orders/p...ntId=D7yLygt6b
And this timer: https://www.amazon.com/your-orders/p...ntId=DBlzsM1Vy
I put in 8 feet of this roll of lights in my 10 gallon. It outputs 164 lumens per linear foot. I use the timer with low light 20-50% for All but 4-5 hours each day, when I have it at 100%.
It works well for my couple of java ferns.
Disclaimer: I'm still new at aquarium living.

[mkm0310]

Originally Posted by dm76

Can you post those links again? It looks like those links direct to the orders page. Thanks.

Sorry about that. Try these.
Lights: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00CU...op_mb_pd_title

Timer: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07F8...op_mb_pd_title

[goatnad]

If you aren't into soldering and all the technical stuff that goes into making an led light then I would recommend just getting a prebuilt light like a finnex planted plus or one of the beamworks lights. If you want to build it then there are several sites that sell complete kits like rapidled.com. here is a how to build a cree led light.
https://www.instructables.com/id/A-C...ED-Light-Unit/

[mkm0310]

Oh, and this power supply: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B007M...op_mb_pd_title

Note that you the power supply is at the slightly underrated if you use the whole string led string.

Here are photos:

[mkm0310]

Here are photos.

[mkm0310]

I reposted the links but it didn't seem to post... Here they are again. This require soldering some wires to the strips, but I think they even make connectors for these strips that eleminate even that small amount of soldering.
Note that the power supply is slightly under rated if you use all 16.4 feet of lights. I only used 8 or so. It would probably work okay, but the safe thing to do is get a slightly larger power supply.
Timer: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07F8...op_mb_pd_title
Power supply: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B007M...op_mb_pd_title
Lights: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00CU...op_mb_pd_title

[mkm0310]

The only negative feedback I have about these products is that the timer is very unintuitive to set up and loses it's setting if it loses power. Other than that, this is a great set up for me.

[King Fisher]

That will work for low light plants. I have something similar with less LEDs than you on one of my tanks. The time on my timer also resets with a power outage just like all of my digital clocks that are plug in's.

[mkm0310]

Originally Posted by King Fisher

That will work for low light plants. I have something similar with less LEDs than you on one of my tanks. The time on my timer also resets with a power outage just like all of my digital clocks that are plug in's.

Hey Fisher, what method do you use to determine lighting conditions for "low light" plants vs non-low light plants? I've seen various tables but not sure I've found one that I trust. I assume you'd have to compare in lumens since LEDs and and tube lights have different electro-optical conversion efficiencies.

[King Fisher]

I don't keep high light/tech tanks and only moderate to lightly planted low light tanks. Honestly, my gauge was to stick a cheap LED strip under the hood of my tank and see if the low light plants lived or not. Lol. Plus I dose liquid fertilizer.

[dm76]

Originally Posted by King Fisher

I don't keep high light/tech tanks and only moderate to lightly planted low light tanks. Honestly, my gauge was to stick a cheap LED strip under the hood of my tank and see if the low light plants lived or not. Lol. Plus I dose liquid fertilizer.

It sounds like we have similar tanks as I have low light plants and does Excel. So are you thinking just get some LED strip lights and attach them to the underside of the hood? I have since done some research and see where people wrap strips around PVC pipe and place them in a gutter so it resembles a tube.

[King Fisher]

I would think the LED strips are perfectly fine.

[mkm0310]

Yeah, mine work fine. My plants aren't exploding, but I don't even fertilize... Just occasional root tabs. I would like them to grow faster, but I am probably nutrient/co2 limited.

[goatnad]

Those strip LEDs do work good for small tanks like 10g but they just don't output enough for deeper tanks like your 50g. I say give it a go and see how it works out as long as its not to expensive.

[King Fisher]

I use just two LED strips under the hood of my 29g. I use Thrive liquid fertilizer once a week and dose per instructions. My plants are fine and they put off new growth. No need for C02 in my opinion.