Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => Fish Tanks and Equipment => Topic started by: Zo75 on August 07, 2013, 04:10:09 PM
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We've given up with the broken light, not the fuse, probably the ballast but might not be so we are going for LED, I'd like a LED tube with alternate blue and white leds in - is this a good idea? I find the blue lights are too blue.
However just found some on ebay that we thought were suitable but when we rang the shop it turns out they are for 'mood lighting' and don't sound strong enough to light our tank.
Would really like some recommendations for good blue and white LED lights (preferably not too expensive) please, and where you get them from.
Many thanks
Zoe :)
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I've never used them etc etc..... but these people have lots of different things in stock of white&blue LEDs. (click (http://www.seapets.co.uk/products/aquarium-supplies/fish-tank-equipment/aquarium-lighting/led-aquarium-lighting-strips/all-products.html))
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Wow! That's what they call an open-ended question. In order to give a sensible answer I would need to know a few things about your tank.
- Do you grow real plants?
- What lighting is in the tank at the moment?
- What does "preferably not too expensive" mean? Can you give a budget.
- How handy are you at DIY?
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Hi
Thanks for replies, sorry was a bit vague wasn't it, no real plants, used to have but despite many fertilising tablets and correct lighting we could never keep them alive for longer than a few months so we've switched to 'Supa Natural Fern' (basically dead real stuff so it looks real but is fake, but doesn't look fake like plastic plants! ;D )
Lighting that doesn't work anymore was a white and a red tube (from when we did have real plants), can't remember number on it but it was one that plants liked (I didn't like the warmer glow though, I prefer a blue/white glow). Although they obviously didn't like it enough! ???
We were thinking around £25
Hubby fairly handy at DIY, not fabulous with electronics but his Dad is ;D
Thanks again
Zoe
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Not having plants makes life simpler.
I think that for £25 you will be lucky to find a complete ready-to-go LED lighting solution for your tank. Now I haven't done loads of searching around for this but I came up with:- A T5 like LED tube. It's white only, but at 6000K colour temperature that's a good daylight colour. £12 from amazon (http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00D1YRPEG#productDetails)
- Some clips to secure them. £1 from firstlightdirect. (http://www.firstlightdirect.com/Terry-Clips-for-T5-5-8-Inch-Fluorescent-Tubes-PAIR_A105Y9.aspx?nh=251981)
- Some cables and waterproof lampholders. £7 from firstlightdirect. (http://www.firstlightdirect.com/T5-Lamp-Lead-Length-2m-IP67-ULTRA-SEAL-Lamp-Leads-Waterproof-IP67-PAIR_A105Y2.aspx?nh=251981)
(I've tested the links this time! ;))
Total, £20. But you will have to fit the lights yourself and wire them up to a plug and a switch. It's not an ideal solution but it was the best I could come up with. This will give you a single LED strip that will be roughly equivalent to a decent T5 tube. Is one enough? God knows. It depends on the size of your tank and your preference really. There is no right answer to this.
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Thank you, did some further research and have ordered a couple of led tubes, hopefully they will be ok (always worrying ordering things like that online, will they even get here in one piece?!). I'll post pics when we've (hopefully successfully) wired them in!
Thanks for all your help ;D