DIY LED Main Lights

[supremo]

I was thinking of using LED lights to light up my nano tank. Use the white ones with some blue ones. And since it's DC, would be easier to come up with switches which will give me options of having which light to on at which time or combintation there of. I know it'll take a lot of LEDs but I only have 1x1 square foot to illuminate.

Queston is, would this type of light be able to sustain simple corals like Mushies and Zoos?

Any comments bros?

[Dazza]

frankly dont think LED alone is suitable for corals. Purely for lighting up viewing purpose shd be fine. Think cud suit a fish only tank

[aquarix]

leds is best if u going 2 use it as moonlight have a diagram of a moolight...

[aquarix]

Parts:

R1_____________10K 1/4W Resistor

R2,R9,R10_____100K 1/4W Resistors

R3-R8,R11-R16__10R 1/4W Resistors

R17___________150R 1/4W Resistor

C1______________1?F 63V Polyester Capacitor

C2_____________10nF 63V Polyester Capacitor

C3____________100?F 25V Electrolytic Capacitor

D1-D13_____Red LEDs 5mm. or bigger, high efficiency

IC1,IC2________7555 or TS555CN CMos Timer IC

SW1____________SPST Slider Switch

B1_______________3V Battery (2 AA 1.5V Cells in series)

[aquarix]

using one for my tank for moonlight... its up 2 u whether u wanna use blue led or red led.... sorry no pic coz no camera.... hehehe....

[supremo]

thanks for the diagram bro.

any other ideas however regarding using it as main lights? the tanks only a foot deep so was thinking that penetration may not be a problem. probably more on the spectrum issue.

[aquarix]

i think 4 main light is not that strong unless u make 4 or more circuit... bro btw i pm u bout yr skimmer...

[Oceandeep]

Led oni good as viewing light. No good enug for coral. I

using Led (100 white n blue)in my nano tank as main light. the cost is more expensive that a normal PL or t5.

[cdckjn]

But I guess that the high cost is offset with the fact that you may never have to replace blown bulbs and what-not - with LEDs practically no wear-and-tear issues. LEDs last a very long time.

[supremo]

100 LEDs? wow, that's a lot. does a hundred LEDs produce much heat? Is you nano also 1x1x1? Mind if I come take a look at your setup?

T5 would be nice but as far as I know, the shortest T5 is 2ft

[supremo]

is there a 1ft T5?

[chrisyew]

Why don't you try DAMA? They have shorter version but T4 light. Think it's around 1ft. Inbuilt electronic ballast and can link tube to tube. Not expensive too. But I don't know how many K is that.

[supremo]

bro, i apologize for my ignorance, but what is DAMA? is it an LFS, a brand?

[YzF]

I think Dama is a shop dealing with plastic material

[chrisyew]

Yep it's a shop in Ubi Road 3 selling acrylic sheet. Actually the light tubes and light set are meant for their signage customers. But it's worth checking it out and find out whether it's suitable for use.. I really don't know.

[cci[RR]us]

I DIYed a set of blue LEDs for my tank last time but I didn't do a good job and the LED pins rusted.

Here are some pictures if you're interested.

[supremo]

hi bros, thanks for the diagrams and tips. actually, i've done the DIY Moonlight already, quite a while back actually. So in terms of putting them together won;t be my problem. My concern is more on the intensity and/or spectrum of the LEDs as compared to FL/PL/T5. Cause for FL, not enough power if to fit in a 1ft cube, PL nice and bright in the beginning but yellows quite fast. T5 doesn't come in 1ft tubes. So just exploring on the possibility of it. Tried searching on the net but it always points me to Moonlights instead

one of the cool things about LEDs is that I am able to design a simple program on PIC (done someting like this before for a diff application) and control which light to go on at an electronic level. Was thinking of putting several strips such that morning light up the eastern strip first, then slowly add more strips until all strips are lit by "noon" and then slowly switch off the eastern strip until only the west will be left snd then fade out, then switch on night light sounds like a fun project, but more worried about the effect on softies which i plan to buy.