DIY lights

Good morning everyone,

I want to get into making some sort of DIY light for my 3ft tank that will support plant growth. It doesn’t have to be high tech. I’ve looked into LED floodlights and the LED eco bulbs. Ive also seen people use LED strip lights and even lights made for reptiles that give off UVB. I’ve never found anything that gave a conclusion on how these lights actually work or supports plant growth.

Has anyone tried any of the above mentioned forms of lights or have any alternative ideas to great lights thats not as expensive as I am a student.

Thanks

 

With regards to LED Lights, one has to get the right spectrum for plant growth, plant grow leds mainly consist of white 6500K - 8000K,red 660nm - 730nm as well as blue 460nm-470nm. These are based on 3w Bridgelux and epistar chips, too much red with created excessive algae growth, some greens chips will also assist in covering the required spectrum.

As for cost, try either order via Aliexpress in bulk and include led drivers as leds have a constant current requirement. I use Meanwell drivers which are constant current, even thou the voltage can be anything from 9V to 56V, depending on how many leds are placed in series. eg 6 x 3w leds = 19.2V, 8 x 3w = 25.6V, one also needs to consider that driver voltage input may be eg 24v but output is 22v as the driver requires 2v to operate.

Have a look at this:

https://www.tc420.net/choosing-LEDs-for-your-aquarium.php

Regards

 

I used 6 50cm LED strip lights for my tank. Plants are thriving. Got them at a hardware store sale for a throwaway price, just had to wire them up (so not the prettiest arrangement).
I just siliconed the strips to the canopy.


I'm also a student so had to make do.
I know you can also get RGB strip lights that can be controlled with a remote and have night and sunset modes etc.

 

HI, take a look at the light i put together in my low tech 54l thread
https://www.tropicalaquarium.co.za/threads/54l-planted-low-tech-tank.33216/page-6#post-417749
have recently found the baton lights even cheaper at R40 from a place calle the general store, jhb has a few branches it seems.
have done the same mod to a 1.2m for @Reafer . looks to be doing decently for low tech easy going plants with my half 6500k half rgb setup currently

 

bare in mind that the rgb strip spectrum is muddled at best,a pure 6500k diode and an rgb strip will not put ot the same quality of light generally.
i use rgb for spectrum enhancement and dimming/sunrise sunset and keep main 6500k strip for actual plant growth

 

so you’re suggesting buying the LED chips in the combination that I want and building the light from scratch rather that getting something like a strip or bulb?

 

that appears to be the diy way for reef tanks as i understand it. speaking general plant growth if i look at where commercial led grow light applications are moving to the single diode and lense configuration has fallen to the lower end behind cob and quantum board style smd chips.the red blue focus has moved more to a general full spectrum with far red being used supplementary to trigger additional/early photosynthesis before or just after main cycle(emmerson effect).
you can potentially have a much greater level of spectrum and dimming control available with single 3w diodes but i think overall broad spectrum is better for plant growth and a higher efficiency

 

Thanks! I will look around online and see what LEDs I can get my hands on

 

Google growopz for less and they specialise for plant growth, great service from them