Need Lightning Ideas

[Travis L. Stevens]

I'm looking to resurrect some old projects of mine. I'm looking to retrofit my 2 gallon cubes with something different besides a Quad Bulb PC. Is there a way to retrofit something like LEDs? I'm just looking to grow some basic corals like kenya tree, mushroom, green star polyp, etc. I only have about a 7"x7" footprint to work with.

 

[ghellin]

Yeah you could run 4 or 5 LEDs on a single driver. What color combo are you looking for 1:1 royal blue to neutral white would give you a 12000k look 2:1 RB to NW would be more of a 15000k look. Do you have a hood to work with or are you wanting to build one?

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

Well, I got out of the mainstream aquarium scene right about the time LEDs were starting to poke their head out. I remember small setups costing $1000+. So, in short, it's all Greek to me for the most part. I'm open to a variety of colors though. Probably something a little more blue to make the colors pop out.

I have a hood that I'll be working inside of.

 

[Lytehouse]

Hey Travis,

I remember that build back when.

Several guys on the forum here have tons of info on the leds on a DIY basis.

If your hood was open on top a PAR 38 bulb would be great, but you should have plenty of room to house a DIY led project in that hood.

 

[Lytehouse]

What about this:

http://www.modularled.ca/

 

[ghellin]

Rapid led has a few small heatsinks and XP-Es are 3.40 each, XP-Gs are 5.00 for NW, the lpc 35 700 which is $17, and the heatsink would be about $10. So fairly cheap and very energy efficient.

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

Sounds pretty cool, guys. Can you help link me to some starter DIY LED threads? Also, that modular led link was pretty awesome, Lynn.

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

And, Lynn? There were two reasons why this project went down: 1) the pump wasn't waterproof, so recirculation wasn't an option. I'll build a tiny sump for it and a tiny overflow this time around. 2) The heat from the PC was insanely high for such a small aquarium. Not only did it raise the water temperature, it also heated the wood that it was mounted to and caused an insane evaporation rate.

 

[Lytehouse]

I have a 60gph pump, a bit bigger than your thumb I used on a 5 gallon.
Used for small fountains.
Should work on your tank.

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

I was going to use a MaxiJet 600 on it. It would work fine then. I think that's what I used to have on it anyways