After trying out all types of lighting, I finally decided to try out the growing popularity of LEDs. Thought they were really expensive so I never really looked into it, to my amaze they were really cheap and I was able to complete this lamp with less than 40$.
The main problem with LEDs is that they heat up ALOT, but by using a simple L-shaped aluminium profile, some thermal paste and a 4$ computer fan, this problem ceased to exist. LED drivers are extremely useful as LEDs require constant current rather than constant voltage. The LED driver was, by far, the most expensive piece in the whole set-up, rounding up to about 15$. You can make a DIY LED driver with a voltage regulator and a resistance but it will never be as good and I decided to avoid the problem.
I decided to use the color sequence, shown in the video, to distribute the three colors of light as best as possible throughout the aquarium. Blue light will help to grow plants tall and strong while red light will help to grow them small and dense. This aquarium has some light demanding carpeting plants so I went with the max amount of light I could use in this small 10gal NANO aquarium. I know the watts per gallon rule isn't really good for measuring LED light in an aquarium, but in such a small tank I decided to go with it. I applied a 1.5-2 watts of LED light per gallon rule, which sums up to 15-20 watts for a 10gal. This lighting system has 7 3w LEDs (21w).
In Lumen terms:
Each White LED is about 220 lm, each Blue LED is about 24 lm, each Red LED is about 67 lm. This sums up about 995 lm.
The light turned out to work perfectly, plants start pearling almost immediately after I turn it on, the fan keeps the heat sink (aluminum profile) at a really cool level and it makes no sound at all. The shrimp in the tank haven't been affected by the light change and the plants look better each day.
4 окт 2024
