# Cheapest, extremely bright and super-efficient LED lighting for planted tanks. DIY tutorial.



## baghro (3 Mar 2015)

Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, friends! I'm Tiger from India. I have devised an easy-to-make, extremely bright (~4500 lumens), energy efficient (just 45 Watts) lighting for your planted aquarium for under $5, powered using a spare computer PSU. This lighting system has a very long life of >50,000 hours provided you make it correctly as shown, and the LEDs do not overheat. It would take you around 45 minutes to 1 hour to do it, and years to enjoy it.



Commerical 50W LED lightings can cost $150, and most aren't nearly as bright as this one in the tutorial. This provides your planted tanks with metal-halide-like brightness, although not heating the water up, or making a hole in your pocket. In a 15 gallon tank, you'd get a fluorescent equivalent of 4-5 Watts per gallon of light.

Another big advantage of this lighting over most commercial lightings is that you can control the brightness of the LEDs by using a 12V LED dimmer that costs less than 1 dollar. 


The best part about these PWM dimmers is that they do not lose any power to heat. So if you are at 50% brightness, you are consuming 50% electricity, and generating 50% less heat. LEDs are also more efficient when they are at less than full power. Two points to energy efficiency.

All parts can be purchased on Amazon/eBay, except the 2 feet aluminium channel. It will be readily available in shops that make window panes and fits them in buildings.



So, here's to metal halide brightness, minus the heat and plus the extremely high energy efficiency!

And minus the lots of cash!



Detailed instructions in the YouTube video.


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## Jamie McGrath (3 Mar 2015)

great tutorial, but how do you make the fitting waterproof? looks like lots of bare wires and connections to get shorted out buy some water.


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## ian_m (3 Mar 2015)

I didn't see any form of current limiting, you can't just apply 12V to LED's. They will work, in fact work extremely brightly, but will have a fairly limited life.


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## baghro (3 Mar 2015)

Jamie McGrath said:


> great tutorial, but how do you make the fitting waterproof? looks like lots of bare wires and connections to get shorted out buy some water.




Thank you very much! 

Yes, the fixture in fact works much above the water surface. The aluminium can't rust. Even if it gets some moisture, the constant heat would make the water quickly evaporate. The LEDs are sealed (the yellow thing at the front is epoxy) and hence they are already waterproof. I've been using a similar fixture for one year, and no problems yet. Freshwater can't short out 12 volts at the polarity separation distance like this. We can indeed make it waterproof, but that would be fairly complicated. We can't use cellophane, as it would melt. I'll think of a way and inform you.


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## baghro (3 Mar 2015)

ian_m said:


> I didn't see any form of current limiting, you can't just apply 12V to LED's. They will work, in fact work extremely brightly, but will have a fairly limited life.



Good question!

Each module is comprised of 9 LEDs. Each die has 3x3 4.5 Volt LEDs inside. At 12 V, each LED gets 12/4.5 = 2.7 Volts. Additionally, each row has its own 1.5 ohm resistor (as per the datasheet.)

Let me show you a closeup.


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## Vivian Andrew (5 Mar 2015)

Hi Baghro,

I'm from India too seen this led in ebay, but most of them add red and blue led with it for proper photosynthesis, but you never used any so it will work for planted tank?, and can you also provide link from where you got, check the below link

http://www.ebay.in/itm/10-pcs-10W-w...7?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_203&hash=item19fb699a07


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## baghro (7 Mar 2015)

Vivian Andrew said:


> Hi Baghro,
> 
> I'm from India too seen this led in ebay, but most of them add red and blue led with it for proper photosynthesis, but you never used any so it will work for planted tank?, and can you also provide link from where you got, check the below link
> 
> http://www.ebay.in/itm/10-pcs-10W-w...7?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_203&hash=item19fb699a07




Thank you for your comment. These LEDs have a wide visible spectrum, propensed more towards the blue side. This fixture is especially for a planted tank, because in most cases, this brightness would be intolerable for light-sensitive fishes. 

Yes, you can get it from the eBay link you sent. I got it from a local radio shack. I'd suggest you check your local electronics parts store or radio shack first.


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## Vivian Andrew (8 Mar 2015)

Thanks for the clarification, will check in local electronics shop first, for brightness will add a dimmer to it.


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## Vivian Andrew (9 Mar 2015)

Hi I have shared this post in another forum is that ok.


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