Mood Lighting

[Aquascaper]

Hi ppl,

I don't know about the US but in the UK you can get an LED kit or single LED's from Maplins

www.maplin.co.uk (Code:RS37S)

They cost from 10p upwards or £7.99 for a kit (40ish assorted LED's) and with a bit of wire, a soldering iron, some silicone sealant and a power source you can create some cool lighting effects which can be fitted into any tank hood.

This is a project i'm working on and will post the results when done. Maplins do various LED's which can be used i just bought the LED kit as it was intended for making a toy for my son.

This will work out a heck of a lot cheaper than buying ready made ones and shouldn't be too difficult.

Here goes.......

 

[FloridaFishGuy]

Cool keep me posted cuz I was thinking of doing the same for my 55g tank when i get it.

 

[Aquascaper]

Well that was a fun project but not for the novice

It's all a bit fiddly just to save a few £'s. I'm well pleased with the outcome though
There's not enough light to disturb the fish but enough to see them by. I have 5 LED's pointing at each of the rocks of my centrepiece and the effect when a tetra swims by is fantastic (like little electric flashes in the tank )

I've had to mount the LED's in little waterproof pods as they needed to be underwater otherwise the light wasn't bright enough. This looks a little funny when the main light is on (like little stage lights hanging from the surface) but with a bit of re-thinking i could hide them.

Hope you like

 

[Aquascaper]

Picture always helps )

 

[jiffy]

I think the only thing difficult about it may be using the waterproof pods. I made a moonlight for my tank that stays in my strip light and it came out great. I had 0 experience soldering or with anything electrical whatsoever and I still managed a nice job.

I am a moderate "handy man" in the sense that I learn fast. So if you have the ambition to do it, by all means try. Just read up on it before you take on the task and you should do fine.

I also had a space ac/dc adapter lying around. If you don't have you expect to spend about 15 bucks on one which may or may not still make the project worth it.

 

[Max]

you can buy some leds too... you need 470-75 nm (nanometers...) just string them up and make sure no water can get to them, a battery and you set... (i think or just buy a kit on ebay, either way...)

 

[Zenn]

Hey Aquascaper that sorta looks like my tank at night, i would take a picture, but my camera aint that good, but i bought a LED light from a large local fish store, costing me 8 quid and man does it give that nice soft touch to the tank at night, the fish love it too, because during the day they are like slacking off, but at night their fins are raised as high as they go and constantly they swim in front of the light, so when i am asleep in my room, they swim infront of the light casting shadows across my room making me wake thinking someone has broken in, DAM fish, i swear they know what they are doing and do it on purpose