Went all out and got led's

[pnavarro170]

HAHA, sorry guys not really all out, needed a light for my medium sized cpr HOB refugium. and didnt want to pay $50 or more for their light. went by lowes and picked up this 18" strip of 22 led's for $25 !! ill let you know how it works out if you guys care, should be interesting and could serve other purposes ??

 

[psuedopimp]

how bright is it? might work really well for the sump/fudge light. instead of the old flood light. lot less heat also.

 

[pnavarro170]

its pretty bright, im sure they are 1 watt each, but it would work great i think. plus they can be mounted easily and you can get a couple of them for a sump if one is not enough. lot less heat and less energy for something that runs 24/7. im still wouldnt spend $1600+ to try and light my aquarium with LEDs, im sure costs will come down in the future. or they will get better you know.

 

[ryan_paskadi]

Im ready for the costs to come down now. Why wait?

 

[pnavarro170]

heres a neat trick. since i got the strip i was wondering about how to mount it or what. so i remembered i had an old flourescent light that didnt work. i gutted the thing. and mounted the led strip inside of it. this should sit perfectly over my hob refugium and make it dissapear almost.

 

[jmait769]

Hey, great idea and DIY project!! :thumbsup: Will have to look into doing something similar on my build as well.

Jay

 

[strayvoltage]

Good thinking! I done the same thing with a couple of 24W CF lights and ballasts to use over my 12G aquapod for actinic light when the 150W mh hang on light was not on.

 

[pnavarro170]

well after a couple of months, the LED works well enought to keep the plants alive, but are not really growing the way i would like, soo im gonna end up going to a flourescent light again. and see how it works. damn.

 

[stvguerrero]

Can I make a diy project using the xmas led lights? Will they work the same?

 

[jtinoco]

Can I make a diy project using the xmas led lights? Will they work the same?

I don't think that they will work to sustain coral. You need more powerful LED's. I'm sure you can use them to just provide light. Like make a moonlights.

 

[pnavarro170]

yeah this didnt work even for the rufugium, curius to how jays is working out for his fuge ??? jay were you at???

 

[jmait769]

I thought I had some before pics of the chaeto but so far so good on the light. It is a 7watt light so low on power consumption but it is pretty blue in color. I run it 24/7.

Jay