How to build an LED aquarium light that is fully customizable, cost effective and looks great!
Original video: https://goo.gl/m1T09v
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Buy the lights on amazon or eBay. I have bought from both places.
Search for this and choose the seller of your choice:
16.4ft 5M Waterproof Rope Lights 300 LED 5050 SMD Color Changing RGB Flexible LED Strip Light + 12V 6A Power Supply + Remote + IR Controller
I DO NOT POST LINKS TO WHERE TO BUY IT. This is why:
Due to the shear volume of viewers that buy what I mention in my videos, odds are that not everyone will have a great experience with the seller I post. When this happens, I sometimes get blamed or asked to help resolve any issues. So please do not ask me to post links. i will not.
Search the terms posted and you will find what you are looking for.
Price:
Aqua Culture Aquarium, 10 gallon
(563)
Price: $140.81
Tetra Aquarium 20 Gallon Fish Tank Kit, Includes LED Lighting and Decor
(510)
Price: $40.83
GloFish Crescent Aquarium Kit 5 Gallons, Includes Hidden Blue LED Light And Internal Filter
(971)
Price: $69.98
Marineland Contour 3 aquarium Kit 3 Gallons, Rounded Glass Corners, Includes LED Lighting
(1167)
I would like to try this build but on ebay there are tons of these led strip lights. Can you give me the link to the specific one you ordered for this build? Thanks.
I really love your diy videos… u should really think of selling the stuff you make…
This is a great idea!
I set up the normal 11 gal. “starter tank” for my two sons a couple of years ago, since I wasn’t sure they’d really want to stick with having an aquarium.
They’ve really liked it, so now I’m upgrading to a 30 gal. that a friend gave to me. It’s an older tank, with a fluorescent tube light, and I was trying to figure out a cost effective way to convert it to LED. It’s already got a nice hood around the tube light, so I’ll pull that entire assembly out, and replace it with two rows of LED’s, like you showed here. Being only 25″ long, it should be very bright with only one role of LED’s.
Thanks a bunch for making this video!
Just wondering how well this light has held up. Any issues with overheating? Thanks!
Great video! My only caution to folks who have real plants. The ability to have an LED light with a built in timer AND the ability to ramp up and ramp down can NOT be overstated. I have a ‘cheap’ LED light on a small tank and it’s giving me algae issues because I can’t set the intensity. High end LED lights normally have an intensity setting where they slowly ramp up to full power over a few weeks to avoid this type of issue.
Joey, you make this stuff look easy. Heck, it’s not even easy to make a video like this. Great camera work. 🙂
WAIT? I can’t use this for plants except “low-lightlevel-plants”?
Thanks for this video…my 5 feet light has saved me a fair packet
will this be good for soft corals and some lps corals?
Hi,
Won’t the LED light generate heat on pvc ?? Shouldn’t you need to add an exhaust or something?
DIY King, thanks for sharing all the knowledge and experiences. They are a real blessing for us all. In reference to this light, my only concern is the heat factor. I’ve watched similar project videos and heat was the root of their demise. As of this day, have you had any melting or heat associated problems w/ you new creation? Merry Christmas!!!
I love watching your videos even though I may never build these things. It’s refreshing to see someone apply themself like you do.
Hello , great videos btw, how do you change and control two different colors with the same remote?
What remote do
you buy
Absolutely brilliant.
Great vid joey!!
You always do a great job showing and describing without wasting a bunch of time. My question is why didnt you just put the strips flat (like your first build) side by side (~4strips in paralel) and solder the ends to connect each pair?
You would not have as much light loss. all the leds would be facing down you would not have to reflect the light from the leds facing up or to the side.
This method would eliminate the cost of the pipe, the pipe end caps, the bolts and the worry about the pvc pipe sagging.
just a thought
keep up the good work!
how can you hang these on an aquarium to have them hovering above?
great video. btw nice cross back arowana.
hot! m gonna try this on my lil 24gal. bowfront.. lol.. thx
Hi Joey, I was just wondering if these lights would be strong enough to row plants that need a lot of light? It would be really nice if you got back to me!
-Luke
thanks for your vids. i spray painted the inside of my gutter silver and it worked great.
any strips for plants ?
Joey, I’m going to try and make one strong enough to grow plants. Do you know how long a piece of PVC pipe would be needed if I wrap the strip on so that the edges are touching (no PVC showing), rather than the helix you used?
move like jagger
You could use this same technique on a fluorescent light set-up (the ones supplied with most tanks) by wrapping the actual tube bulbs with the LEDs and using the housing instead of just tossing it.
Absolutely Dope!!
If I put these on a timer at the plug, will they turn on how they were set or go back to a default setting?
add more light stripes to the gap left over, times width of the tank equals plenty of growth power for corals etc.
I had a quick question, sorry if has been covered already. I was wondering if LED lights will stop the growth of brown algae or even make it harder for it grow. My 3D background in my tank is now growing algae and I can’t scrub it off for multiple reasons, so I am looking for an alternative fix. Thank you!
I have two 55 gallon tanks I want to make 2 of them for my two 55 gallon tanks.can you pls.give the measurements and all materials you used.thank you and more power to you!
Well done.
Just did this over the weekend. Love it… but I notice it’s not nearly as bright as my old setup. I had two white LED strips in a serpentine pattern on a flat piece of wood about 5″ above the top of the tank. I reused the same LED strips to do this… noticing that the top & back of the top of the tank aren’t being lit… the fish are pretty dark. I do like this setup a lot more, but I’m considering ways to mod this or redo it.
One option is to raise it up above the tank but that’s still not providing a lot of surface area to reach the front & back. The other option is to figure out a way to make this twice as deep.
Still… can’t beat a new LED strip for a 120 gallon 5′ long tank for under $50!
don’t have drills, so im just gonna super glue pvc circle end caps
How many of those light things do you think I’ll need for a light EXACTLY like this but only 20 inches each.
I made this with the same LEDs, but I think mine overheated because both of them stopped working after a few weeks 🙁
i did this for my tank and all the waterproof sealer split and chunks came off. making it usless and not waterproof
I went ahead and tried this diy. everything was great until I noticed the power supply that was given was only 12v 5a. 5050 leds are .24a per led. so the power supply that was given was only good for 20 leds. you would need a 12v 80a power supply to power all 300 leds correctly add another 70 bucks to the cost.
Cool shot at 7:01 🙂
What IP rating do you use for the LEDs? Is IP 44 sufficient of should I go for a higher waterproof rating?
I really like this, you’ve given me a great way to start a high powered grow light version possibly… I never thought about gutter before, thanks.
You can get the lights a minards to
Fantastic and e z. Thxs for sharing.
Hey Joey. I just completed this build and it works as expected, but after letting it run for a couple hours I noticed one of the PVC pipes it’s bending because the lights made it too hot. what can I do from here?
how did you connect two led strips together did it require a strip to strip jumper?