bimbo Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 G'day, I am in the process of setting up a 5x2x2 for frontosa and a few other fish and am wanting to acheive a lighting effect that looks like rays of light/sunshine coming through the water. I have seen it done using a few halogen downlights and also with MH lights but this tank is being fully enclosed with cupboards and I think heat buildup from both of these types of lights may be an issue. I think that the same effect may be able to be acheived using LED lights. Has anyone out there done this or seen a setup similar to what I am after or suggestions of how I may be able to do this? Cheers James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve24cro Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 You can achieve this with MH lighting, not sure about LED, i dont think it would work. However if its not a planted tank, its going to be a big waste of electricity running a MH just for that effect when you could put a double 4ft fluoro on there and would be more than enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firthy13 Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 the only way to get that dappled light effect is with strong lighting either MH or led will work. MH are very expansive to run. only really worth it if your keeping plants or marine. the led units are good, but are going to set you back $500++ for a good quality unit that wont break down in the first month like a lot of the cheap Chinese ones are doing at the moment. frontosa really dont like strong light. when i had my colony, i found any more light then a single fluro they wouldnt come out and were clearly quite stressed out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcloughlin2 Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 Any LED lights will work. Just buy some of the LED strips or buy one of the low power LED light units which set you back under $150. Providing they are the sole source of lighting it will be more then adequete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bimbo Posted May 20, 2011 Author Share Posted May 20, 2011 I havn't got water in the tank yet but this is what I came up with. I bought a 12 LED kit form Rapidled.com which cost me $130 au posted - another well know electronics chain has the same LED's (cree xp-e) for around 20 bucks EACH the LED's are mounted to 2 aluminium strips from bunnings. Here is the effect with the dimmer running at minimum - there will definatly be shimmer from surface of the water. even wound right down these bad boys will have you seein spots for days if you accidently glance directly at them I still have to get the lights mounted properly - they will be another 30cm higher which will remover the strong blue light (I actually don't mind it) but it does show up stronger blue in the photo than real life. I will get some pics of the mounting etc once it is done incase someone in the future wants to do something similar. Cheers James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayT Posted May 22, 2011 Share Posted May 22, 2011 I'm keen to see - it looks fantastic and is something i would like to do when i set up my larger displays in a few months time once i'm settled in Perth. More for a 'moonlight' type effect in the evenings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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