Aquarium LED Lighting || High Intensity || Enhance Fish Colour

I am in constant implementation of LED's & i just love them. Aquarium is a great place i started with where i do lots of experiments not just LED's but rest too.

There are plenty of aquarium lighting ibles available including those are which includes plexi glass and hooking plenty of LEDs to get the effect and trust me they look good and plenty of time too and more probability of messing and maintenance ,moonlight is my favorite.

What this ible shows the same with less amount of hard-work :P 

NOTE : am extremely sorry for low resolution pics and video since am out of town and this is what i have in my dropbox. The effect is more visible in actuality.

This is the final output

Step 1: Requirements

1> LED's
1Watt LED (BLUE) x 2
1Watt LED (RED) x 2
(reason for choosing these two colors cause these give extremely nice purplish color which enhances Fish and ornaments color)

2> AC-DC Adapter

3> Connecting Wires

4> Glue 
Feviquick

5> Optional
Plexi glass (optional)
2small strips
Hanger
(these are optional since designed can be tweaked to greater extent suiting ones needs)

Comments

[diy_bloke]

I am almost considering taking an aquarium, just for the looks of this

[samalert]

Thanks mate means a lot to me.

[diy_bloke]

I might not even put in fish :-) It is a piece of art :-)

[faelenor]

I'm sorry but this is not a good design at all! These LEDs need a driver to work properly. You have to power them with precise current/voltage. Right now, you're applying 9 volts on each pairs. Unless you're using really weird LEDs, the forward voltage of the red led must be around 3V and 4V for the blue led. With 9V, you will eventually burn the LEDs. It should also be specified in your instructable that all LEDs are different and the forward voltage and driving current in the LED datasheet should be respected.

Also, with 1W LEDs, you need a heatsink! Those LEDs must become really hot and this will reduce their life time.

Has your setup been running for a long time? I'm pretty sure it won't because you're overpowering them and there's no heatsink.

[bigD103]

agreed. there was just no research done whatsoever on this. if you want to see how to really do it. go to reefcentral and search for the diy leds. at least have a driver or buck puck.

[samalert]

If LED's were burning in few months or so then would have researched for sure.
If my concept was to be out as commercial product then i must have researched.

but none of these are happening so :(.

and i cant really make you trust me that these LED's aren't burning atleast for a year.

Now either my AC-DC adapter is good that's saving my LEDs
OR my electricity source is good which is punching a nice non-spike current :)

[samalert]

Look am really not into electronics in depth am in IT so have superficial knowledge.

But, working on LED's from past 2years and trying to understand so i may b wrong or may not be.

Now this 1WATT LED require 3v and above to LIT its fullest will need between 4-5v. These LEDs heats up but not very HOT i can touch them even after its been lit for past 2hrs. Since its LED i even put them on day.

Now since i was confused about how much to resistance to use for red and blue a blog specified that rather than brainstorming use them in series so i did it !

And to prove that these wont burn i have not replaced a single LED from this circuit from past 1 year (BUILd on MID SEP 2011) daily i use them for more than 4hrs.

And lastly about heatsink the star shape disk itself is a heat sink no need to use those huge aluminium blocks.

[DutyFree]

For what it's worth, I think this is a great idea. Technicality aside, it I'm going to try something like this, myself. The aforementioned "experts" may be correct, but there's a nicer way to say it.

Good effort, my friend. Keep it up.

[samalert]

A straight from heart ............ THANK YOU !

[glendalf81]

awesome, just what i was looking to do, now if i can just find where to buy those LED's as maplins do not stock them

[samalert]

tnx mate hope fishes will b happy and so do u

[rc jedi]

as long as you drive them below their max current, a precise driver current controller won't be needed. besides, we wanna test stuff to destruction anyways, how else are we gonna learn the absolute? great instructible, i wanna do 1 too.

[samalert]

lol great !

[-chase-]

It's a pretty cool idea - since the average lighting heats up and adds to evaporation. However - and I can't remember if they make a full spectrum LED or not - possibly they do. But fish and plant life need full spectrum light.

So for the moment - it looks like it would be a great mood setting light for temporary use - perhaps at night or what ever - or to be used as in additon to the full spectrum florecents needed.

personally I'd go for some underwater style LED lighting for effect.

[buddhafragt]

Hi, do you think it is a good idea to give the fishes only blue and red light?
Think abou you must live only in this light, you will be crazy in 2 days.

[samalert]

In morning they get good sunlight ....... at night rather than CFL's its a good option. Still if you think one can use LED strips (RGB) with color controller and can give them different colors.

Also,what i have heard is aquarium lights emits a particular spectrum which enhances their color. When i tried with CFL's about a month or so the goldfish even after giving good diet they turn to fade color so what i have to build was to enhance their color which was equivalent to aquarium lights. And using the blue and red led's have multiplied their color much more than aquarium lights.

[kokpat]

Here is my version, can place the lamp with slope, a plastic sheet to collect vapour/ water, and aluminim sheet act as heat sink...

[kokpat]

For reference, it is the LED driver
Input voltage 5 to 35V, output 350mA±20mA
Can drive 1 to 10 1W LED...

[samalert]

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150513740307053.435805.562192052&type=3

This is my album for fish tank and all modifications done till now with lightings ranging from white CFL's,blue tubes,yellow bulbs, red bulbs,white tubes to moonlight LEDs everything.......but off-course except this above lighting fixtures :(

[amandaghassaei]

looks great!

[samalert]

Tnx, a gud comment from one who wrks at instructablea is like WOW :)