DIY underwater chamber macro grow light

B

barderer

New member
Ok we all know the cheap LED kits for sale on ebay etc. are not powerful enough for coral growth. However, I want to make chamber one in my biocube a cheato/macro grow chamber. Right now all that is in there is my heater. So the space is being wasted. The chamber is too narrow for a top mounted light, and the old scrape the back and mount a vertical light is a TOTAL pain. I was wondering. If I get a submersible LED strip light like this. http://www.oceanus-l...ceanusled.html. I could put the light vertically in the chamber and the macro could grow right up next to it. Getting the most bang for the buck in terms of surface area and distance from light! All it would require is an occasional cleaning of the strip.What do you guys think? Alternative suggestions? Does anyone know of any other submersible light options?

Nick
 
By occasional cleaning, do you mean pretty much daily? I would guess that that is the rate some of the microalgaes would accumulate against the surface. You might be better off simply mounting the LED fixture just above the water line, maybe putting it on some sort of bracket that it flips up easily.

PS link isn't working for me...
 
status update

Ok light came in today. Not bad for 5 bucks I must say! Here are the pics
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Talk about turn key! Looks like plenty of light to grow my ball of cheato. Its running fully submerged. If you do this you might want to consider buying 4 of these guys and you can mount the lights on all 4 sides of the chamber. I will update after a few weeks and report growth.
 

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Good idea trying to use LED's for growing chaeto ...

This has been done with halogen bulbs with great success from these guys. I ordered two of these to grow my chaeto without an over-tank light. I think it will work fine. Something about the yellower color temp of halogen that grows the algae better. You might have to try warm white LED's if they are available if you don't get good growth.

I couldn't get your link to work, BTW ...
 
Not trying to slam your LED idea, I was actually looking into a submersible light but couldn't find one local, so I did this:

5th post down:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=16249667#post16249667

going to HD and putting this together, as well as removing the backing (2 straight lines down the back with a razor blade and peel it right off) only took maybe 30mins total. I use a "zip-tie" to hang it from the cord retainer near the top ledge on the back on the tank. Chamber 2

It would be nice to just have the submersible (only need to set the cord into the slot in the hood).

Whats the K rating on the LED's?
 
Last edited:
Let me know how your Chaeto grows with them. My DIY light was easy, and it's pretty much out of the way, but I'd rather just have something in the chamber, out of sight.
 
barderer,

I looked at the oceanus website and it does not specifically show that light.

Do they guarantee that it is submersible?

Also, is that an AC power cord going into it or is there a driver out of the picture?

Stu
 
stugray said:
barderer,

I looked at the oceanus website and it does not specifically show that light.

Do they guarantee that it is submersible?

Also, is that an AC power cord going into it or is there a driver out of the picture?

Stu
Click to expand...

AMDphenomx4 said:
Is it sealed 100%? Looks very cool though. Does it run on DC? i would be worried if it was AC.
Click to expand...


If you guys click on the ebay link the OP provided, you would see that it is a DC powered light and you have to provide your own power source. Any typical small wall wart 12V DC would do just fine.
 
Daimyo68 said:
Not trying to slam your LED idea, I was actually looking into a submersible light but couldn't find one local, so I did this:

5th post down:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=16249667#post16249667

going to HD and putting this together, as well as removing the backing (2 straight lines down the back with a razor blade and peel it right off) only took maybe 30mins total. I use a "zip-tie" to hang it from the cord retainer near the top ledge on the back on the tank. Chamber 2

It would be nice to just have the submersible (only need to set the cord into the slot in the hood).

Whats the K rating on the LED's?
Click to expand...

Just curious if this DIY light would work well with an AC-70 Fuge mod? I plan to keep the cover, so I'm just wondering if the light will pass through the cover (It's somewhat tinted). Or will I have to DIY a new cover out of plexi?

-RYknow
 
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