DIY aquarium lighting. LED aquarium lighting

LED (Light Emitting Diode) lighting is an excellent option for a marine or freshwater aquarium. LED lamps do not use much electricity. They are distinguished by long-lasting and relatively easy operation. These features help reduce operating costs for a long time. Environmentally friendly LED lighting does not contain harmful chemical substances, such as mercury or phosphorus, as opposed to fluorescent lamps. You have the option to install LED lightening aquarium with your own hands, if you use the instructions.

Advantages and disadvantages of LED lighting

Check out the LED aquarium.

How to install LED aquarium lighting yourself

The first method of making LED aquarium lighting with your own hands is the simplest. Here you can use a lid with a special backlight. It is recommended to attach LED strips around the perimeter of the lid white, which will give all possible spectrum and ensure uniform illumination of the upper perimeter of the tank.

The second method is to make a small “chandelier”. Above the tank you need to make a square, round or diamond-shaped block in which you can put all the equipment and LED strip. Lighting with a power of 120 W is enough for a spacious tank with a capacity of 250-300 liters, where many fish and plants live. Such a “chandelier” can contain about 40 LED lamps with a luminous flux of 270 lm (lumens), 3 W each. The result will be a lighting brightness of more than 10,000 lm, which will provide a bright light spectrum in an aquarium of this size. The main thing is constant monitoring of the balance of the ecosystem: excess green light promotes the proliferation of microbes.

How much does it cost to assemble such a lamp? The cost may vary depending on the seller. It is advisable to buy LED lamps from trusted manufacturers so that they last a long time and do not create difficulties during installation. Reliable imported LED lamps: Osram, Cree, Philips, Lumileds. Russian manufacturers of LED dumps: “Feron”, “Camelion”, “Jazzway”, “Gauss”, “Navigator”, “Era”.

To install lighting with such bulbs yourself, you need:

• Buy a lot of LED light bulbs, LED strip;
• Plastic gutters 10 cm wide and 2 meters long;
• Power supply 12 V, can be supplied from a desktop computer;
• Take a soft wire 1.5 mm;
• Get a 6-12 V air conditioner;
• For LED strip no connectors are needed, lamps will require 40 connectors;
• Cutter for 48 mm holes.

See how to make LED aquarium lighting with your own hands.

After preparing all the materials, along plastic construction it is necessary to cut two gutters and drill holes in the lower part - about 20 pcs. by 1 meter, possible in a checkerboard pattern. Then you need to put LEDs in the holes and secure them. All lamps must be connected to power. If you do not know how to properly handle wiring, contact an electrician who can perform the procedure correctly.

A cooler or fan should be placed where the lighting cover evaporates or heats up. For decorative purposes, you can make night lighting that will imitate moonlight. It is needed for tropical sea fish and sea anemones. For night light, you can use a blue LED strip that can be installed on the back wall. An electric lighting timer or automatic backlight on/off must also be connected to regulate the amount needed daylight hours.

The lighting of the aquarium should come from its top part - this creates soft and diffused light. It is better to use 1 W LED lamps, however, the appropriate power is selected for different aquariums. An LED strip of 30-40 light bulbs with a total power of 3 W can be sufficient for a tank with a capacity of 200 liters. The main thing is that the light is not too bright and does not harm the slaves and plants. The optimal calculation is 0.5 Watt per 1 liter of water, but for a deep and spacious aquarium, all indicators in the formula must be multiplied by two.

It is also important to take into account the thickness of the bottom - visually, the water and all bottom plants should receive enough light in the lower layers of the tank. Bottom fish and snails require little light, but the plants will still grow and require more light. During the process of photosynthesis, plants will require a lot of light, and due to its deficiency, they will release less oxygen. To avoid problems, you need to regulate the amount of daylight and create uniform illumination in the pond that every resident will receive.

An aquarium is one of the most impressive decorations in any interior, and it cannot do without lighting. Daylight is not enough for guests from the aquatic tropics, even when the aquarium is placed near the window, especially for a large aquarium in the back of the room. A well-designed mini-pond is one of additional elements artificial lighting in the apartment. Lighting an aquarium with your own hands is easy, for example, using LEDs.

Why do you need light in an aquarium?

In the water column, its own ecosystem is formed; it is based on the relationship between tropical aquatic plants, microorganisms and other inhabitants. Fish are the last link in this ecosystem, but they all need additional light for normal life. Determining role in development, reproduction and growth activation aquatic plants It is the light that plays. The process of photosynthesis in which carbon dioxide Plants convert water into food, enrich the water with oxygen, and fish breathe it through their gills.

Without enough light, plants fade and degrade, and stop reproducing by cuttings and layering. The water must be well saturated with oxygen, otherwise the life of mollusks, crustaceans, fish and other inhabitants of the artificial water area is not possible. Green and purple aquarium plants do not absorb the entire spectrum, but part of the range.

Different types of lamps emit a slightly different spectral range, so a combination of them is often used to illuminate an aquarium - fluorescent, LED, halogen and incandescent lamps. IN winter time with their help, they increase the duration of daylight hours over a glass reservoir, like in the tropics, but you should not illuminate the aquarium for more than 10 hours a day, and turn it off at night.

How to find out if there is enough light for the inhabitants of the aquarium

A well-lit aquarium, preferably from the front from above, is always pleasing to the eye - the plants are rich green in color with shades of brown, yellowish and lilac. Tropical fish are playful and active, and their scales shine with all the colors of the rainbow. However, due to a violation of the eco-balance, which directly depends on the purity of water and lighting, aquarium troubles occur. The water sometimes blooms and becomes cloudy green; incorrect light provokes the growth of single-celled green algae. When fish in muddy water greedily grab air at the surface, this is a lack of oxygen with an excess of lighting.

If after installing the lighting and after 2-3 months all the inhabitants of the aquarium are still quite comfortable, then this indicates optimal lighting. Signs are clear water, fish are interested in eating and breeding, and plants are actively growing. It also happens the other way around, when the aquarium is a little dark - the plants grow dull and degrade, becoming covered with a black beard, appearance not happy, and everything speaks of its pollution and lack of light.

Tip: Sometimes green, red or red diodes are added to the backlight to enhance the effect. of blue color. This is impressive, but only makes sense occasionally, if you have guests or for the mood. With constant use, such experiments are unacceptable, and unnatural lighting depresses fish and negatively affects plant photosynthesis. Although the aquarium is an element of additional lighting in the apartment, for its inhabitants it is still their home. Such a disco, instead of simply lighting the aquarium with an LED strip, harms the health of the inhabitants.

Calculation of lighting power

It is usually recommended that the total power of LED lamps be about 1 W, but the amount of water in a home aquarium can be from 20 liters to 2 tons. For illumination, 0.2 W LEDs are most often used. To determine the number of lamps above your aquarium, there are complex formulas; in practice, for a 200 liter aquarium you will need an LED strip with 30 mini-bulbs of about 3 W or 25-40 spot LEDs.

Aquarists claim that 0.5 W/liter of water is the optimal formula, but this is not accurate either - the higher and deeper the aquarium, the more difficult it is to illuminate the entire thickness of the water to the bottom. Visually, you can also determine these characteristics - the water and all the plants in it should be illuminated evenly down to the bottom. Bottom-dwelling fish and snails need less light, but plants still grow upward. The fish themselves will determine where they are more comfortable - in the shaded part or closer to the surface, but plants are more sensitive and demanding of light due to photosynthesis.

The spectral range in lighting an aquarium with LED lamps with a combination of lamps for illuminating aquatic plants has great importance. They use the orange-red and purple-blue shade range. By combining fluorescent phytolamps and LED lighting of the aquarium, you can get complete lighting that is comfortable for all its inhabitants.

How to light an aquarium

1. A good source of lighting is halogen lamps, which are economical, shine brightly, and additionally emit a little heat. They are made from mercury, and few people use them for lighting aquariums. However, as an alternative to incandescent lamps, they may be quite suitable.

2. The simplest artificial lighting for an aquarium is an ordinary incandescent lamp, which produces a yellow spectrum acceptable for plants; it shades red and yellow fish well. This spectrum is not enough for higher aquarium plants, but it promotes increased growth of phytoplankton and lower algae. Leafy plants gradually become smaller and pale, and if the lamp is too bright, the water blooms. A lamp installed above the water additionally heats the glass and water, creating discomfort for the fish, especially if the aquarium is not purged with a compressor. Such lighting is combined with other lamps, for example, fluorescent lamps, such as LBU (universal), their spectrum is most suitable. Both lamps are mounted on a high box above the aquarium, and its bottom is lined with foil to reflect and focus the light.

3. Fluorescent lamps are more durable and economical, they have diffused light, and they provide a wider spectrum. There are white and blue lamps in the shade of emitted light. An aquarium needs 0.5 W/liter, and a pair of lamps along the length of the aquarium with reflectors will provide illumination for an artificial reservoir of 200-500 liters. For Dutch type In an aquarium with lush vegetation, choose 1800K and 1200K lamps with a warm spectrum; cold 6700K lamps are suitable for rocky terrain and predatory fish. It is easier to purchase lamps with the required range at a pet store or in departments for aquarists. Combining lamps will provide optimal lighting for plants.

4. LED lamps are the most best option. They are the most economical, do not heat the water, and making LED aquarium lighting with your own hands is much easier. Their range is better than other options, the dispersion is more uniform, they do not harm plants and do not cause discomfort to fish. Their range provides great opportunities for combining color effects.

5. LED strip - as an additional option, it can also be used to illuminate the aquarium. Still, it is better to combine them with other light sources, due to the lack of spectral range.

How to install aquarium lighting

The best visual effect is achieved by illuminating the aquarium from above and in front, that is, at the front wall. Home ponds that are built into cabinet furniture and have a lid that opens from the top for feeding fish fit in seamlessly. Special shelves made from a profile with front lighting also look beautiful, where several identical aquariums with different inhabitants stand on top of each other. Massive cabinets also fit perfectly into the interior, as a stand for an aquarium, where the lighting is made of the same material in the form of a lid. If the lighting is mounted in a cabinet above the aquarium, then it should be covered with glass during installation of the lighting equipment so that nothing falls into the water, and this will bother the fish less.

To optimize electricity consumption, a thermostat is installed on the heating pads, and an electric timer or electric timer is installed on the lighting. circuit breaker. They turn lights on and off without human intervention, which is convenient during busy times. It is also important to consider the origin of most of the inhabitants of the aquarium - tropical fish need more high temperature water and prolonged lighting, while colder waters are not so demanding of this.

Main advantages of LED lighting

LED lamps have recently come into use among aquarists, but quickly became the leaders in lighting. This happened due to many characteristics, and this type of lamp pushed aside other lighting devices.

1. Economical indicator - their cost is lower than other types of lamps, electricity consumption is also optimal with sufficient brightness.

2. In terms of efficiency, such lamps are slightly inferior to fluorescent lamps based on cold cathodes, CCFL, that is, they economic efficiency provides serious savings.

3.High strength, resistance to mechanical stress and insensitivity to vibrations due to the lack of thin spirals.

4. The durability of these lamps is impressive, the service life reaches up to 5 years, excluding the cost of components and frequent replacement.

5. The spectral range of LED lighting is favorable for aquarium inhabitants.

6. The greatest safety when handling these lamps is due to operation at low voltage. They are quite fireproof, as they are protected from the influence high humidity and short circuit.

7. LEDs, even when operating for 8-10 hours, do not produce excess heat, allowing you to maintain optimal temperature in the aquarium. temperature regime.

8. LED light bulbs, due to the absence of toxic components and the absence of infrared and ultraviolet radiation, are considered to be highly environmentally friendly..

The only disadvantage of LED lighting is their high cost and the need to supply rated operating voltage; an additional power supply will be required.

DIY LED aquarium lighting

The first method, lighting the aquarium yourself with LEDs, is the simplest, where you can additionally equip a lighting cover with special phytolamps. To do this, a white LED strip is fixed around the perimeter. This will give the optimal spectrum and the most uniform illumination along the upper perimeter of the aquarium. A self-adhesive LED strip filled with plastic is used, where the protective layer is removed and attached around the perimeter of the box.

Such lighting is widely used for decorative purposes, but it cannot be an independent source of lighting for the aquarium. The insulation at the junction of the tape and the cord is made with a special transparent silicone used for aquariums. It will reliably protect the power cord from water. The output wires are marked in red, this is a plus, and the minus is black or blue wire. If the polarity is not correct, the LEDs will not work.

The second method is to assemble full-fledged aquarium LED lighting of sufficient power without generators and complex equipment. At 200-300 l, a power of 120 W is enough for a richly planted aquarium. This amounts to a total of 40 270 lumen spot LEDs at 3W each. The result will be 10,800 lumens of illumination, which will give very bright illumination for this volume. It is important to monitor the balance of the entire ecosystem, and with excess light and the development of green microorganisms, it is necessary to reduce the overall intensity.

The cost of such a design can vary greatly, since in online stores from the Chinese, for example, and from more reputable companies you can find LEDs and power supplies of the same quality. However, prices may vary significantly.

For self-installation backlights you will need:

• set of LED lamps,
• 2-2.5 meters of plastic gutter 100 mm wide,
• 12 Volt power supply, can be from a computer,
• soft wire 1.5 mm,
• preferably 6 computer coolers of 12 volts each,
• 40 LED connector sockets,
• cutter for processing 48 mm holes.

Along the length of the aquarium, we cut 2 pieces of the gutter, in the bottom of which we drill holes, about 20 pieces per meter, placing them in a checkerboard pattern. We insert LED lamps into the holes and secure them.

All lamps must be connected to power in parallel to a 12 volt power supply. For proper connection, it is better to contact an electrician, since the connection diagram may seem complicated to people who are not experts in connecting lamps to connectors. Computer coolers or fans should be installed when there is a lot of evaporation or heating of the cover for lighting.

For decorative purposes, additional night lighting, such as moonlight, is sometimes provided. To do this, connect a little blue LED strip, which can be installed behind the back wall, but so that it is below the bottom of the aquarium. The electric timer will be able to turn it on when the daylight goes out.

Experienced owners know that additional light is necessary for beautiful fish colors and healthy plant growth. It helps to recreate the conditions familiar to the inhabitants. In addition, proper lighting will help maintain the internal balance of the aquatic environment. And this affects the development and reproduction of the inhabitants of the aquarium.

In a specialized pet store you can purchase a cover along with the aquarium. the right size. A ready-made lighting system is already built into it. However, it is not suitable for every aquarium.

Types of lighting for an aquarium

Before choosing lamps, you need to remember that for different purposes you need different type lighting. Combining different color spectrums will help recreate the conditions that are most comfortable for both plants and inhabitants.

So if you want:

• Ensure lush growth of vegetation, then it is necessary to use lamps of the red, blue and white spectrum.
• Enhance the beauty of aquarium fish and support the growth of corals, then you need to stop at blue spectrum lamps. They are used in marine and pseudomarine aquariums for recreation.
• Make the aquarium a warm and pleasant piece of furniture Yellow spectrum lamps will help. They do not have a positive effect on the flora of a home pond, but they can advantageously highlight the beauty of aquarium fish and illuminate the room with soft, diffused daylight. A yellow lamp can be combined with a white one by installing the latter in back wall for contrasting background lighting.

Incandescent lamps

Most a budget option lighting. Most often used in small pools and fish ponds.

The advantage of such lamps is the required color spectrum - up to 3000 K. It is most favorable for the process of photosynthesis and the growth of aquatic vegetation.

There is also a big minus - it is a very low efficiency (only 5%). A lot of energy goes into heat. In addition, the lamp may burst if water drops from the aquarium get on it.

Therefore, incandescent lamps are most often used for aquariums with cold-blooded inhabitants (frogs, turtles, newts and others).

Fluorescent lamps

There are two types: specialized and fluorescent lamps. The first type is best suited for lighting a container with plants. They emit a red and blue color spectrum, which accelerates the growth and development of plants.

Specialized lamps have their drawbacks: high price and short service life (up to a year).

A fluorescent lamp is cheaper and lasts about 2 years. There is a significant disadvantage - the growth of aquatic plants and the process of photosynthesis slow down.

Halogen lamps

The brightest light source for an aquarium. Their power ranges from 70 to 1000 W. It has a point focus and illuminates a specific area.

Light penetrates to the very depths, reflecting from the walls and creating a contrast of colors and play with deep shadows. Such lamps are the most popular among lovers of the aquatic environment.

However, there is a drawback to such a lighting source: it requires cooling for at least an hour a day, because it can burn out due to overheating. Like an incandescent lamp, it can burst if water gets into it.

LED strips

They are the most economical light source. In addition, there are tapes different colors and shades, and therefore the color spectrum can be recreated independently by combining blue, yellow, white and red. Also, using the switch, the ribbons of the required color are turned on. But the main advantage is water resistance.

There is a variety of LED strips that are coated with silicone. They can be placed in water without any fear.

Installation of LED strips is very simple - just glue them to inside covers and connect to the power source. However, a transformer is required here, because the tapes consume only 12V.

How to install aquarium lighting yourself?

First of all, you need a frame or a finished lid. The frame itself is best made of wood or OSB boards. You can take plastic and plexiglass, but it is not advisable, because these materials are easily deformed when heated (depending on the type of lamp being installed, the heat transfer can be quite large). You can make the lid yourself.

The inside of the lid should be covered with reflective foil - this way all the light will be directed towards the aquarium itself. For fluorescent and halogen lamps, special fasteners are used, with which they are firmly screwed to the inner surface of the cover. All that remains is to connect the wires and insulate open areas special tape.

LED strips are much easier to install. They connect to a 12V power supply. Then he breaks down protective covering on the back side, and the LEDs are glued to the cover.

We should not forget that a lot of moisture evaporates from the aquarium. It settles on the lid and can cause the LEDs to burn out. Therefore, you need to choose a waterproof tape.

After completing the installation, be sure to seal the junction of the LED and stabilizer wires with silicone sealant.

If high humidity air in the room does not bother the owner, and in the “bank” itself there live calm inhabitants who are not prone to jumping and escaping from the aquarium, then you can install special spotlights that only need to be fixed.

Conclusion

Lighting in an aquarium is very important for the healthy growth of fish and plants. It is involved in regulating the balance of the aquatic environment. It is easiest to buy a ready-made lid with lighting, but it will be more expensive and it is not a guarantee that it will fit every aquarium. Indeed, depending on the volume of the aquarium, the types of its inhabitants (fish, toads, newts or turtles) and plants, different intensities and color spectrum of illumination are needed.

Natural lighting does not make it possible to create adequate conditions for underwater inhabitants. It illuminates the tank unevenly. IN winter period The length of the day is noticeably shortened. In this regard, it is impossible to do without the use of artificial lighting. Therefore, below we will tell you how to do it DIY LED aquarium lighting using inexpensive and accessible materials.

LED lighting carried out for implementation decorative functions, creating an optimal habitat for plants and organisms. The importance of LED lamps is due to the following reasons:

• Possibility of creating effective lighting intensity.
• High quality LED lamps.
• Long period of exposure to lighting.

Main features of LED lamps

The advantages of this light source are as follows:

Thanks to the long period of operation, you will not often have to wonder about replacing the ice lighting source. Moreover, arrays consisting of several light bulbs can be used. Disadvantages of this device Not for an aquarium. The only thing I would like to note is that it has recently appeared on the modern market, so this device is not widely distributed.

Choosing LED lamps for your aquarium wisely

The selection of light bulbs for an aquarium should be based on two key parameters. The first is intensity. luminous flux. The second is color temperature. When choosing a lamp, pay attention to the lumen/W indicator. The higher it is, the greater the energy efficiency, that is, the efficiency of the light source. Also pay attention to the pulsation coefficient of the light flux - let it be less than 5%, ideally 1%. Higher values ​​of this indicator will lead to increased eye fatigue, and why do you need an aquarium that negatively affects your health.

Each aquarium light has a different color temperature range. In an aquarium it should not be less than 5500 K. The perfect solution, if the color temperature is 6000–8000 K.

If an ice light source with a value of less than 4000K or lower is selected, the light will be excessively yellow. Conversely, a value of more than 6000K indicates a predominance of blue color. The most favorable for an aquarium is this color palette like warm white, cold white shade or daylight.

The quality level of the light source is no less important. You should not buy overly cheap lamps. They have an increased glow intensity only during the first time of use. After a certain period of time, the process of degradation of the light source can be observed, which negatively affects the inhabitants of the flora and fauna of an artificial home pond. The choice of lamp shade is an individual decision of the tank owner.

What is the best way to install LED lamps?

You can easily install LED lamps in an aquarium with your own hands. During this work, in order to achieve the most comfortable microclimate in the tank and an attractive visual effect, it is important to do this work correctly. When mounting lamps on top, a cover glass should be provided to help prevent excessive evaporation of liquid, fish jumping out, or water droplets falling onto the bulbs. To save money electrical energy We can recommend setting a timer that will help automatically turn off the lights according to a given pattern.

The main thing is to light the aquarium in such a way that all the needs of living beings and plants are satisfied. If you notice, for example, that the algae are not as bright as before, and the fish have turned pale, then there is a high probability that the backlight is installed poorly. Rotting of plant roots indicates that the LEDs are not directed towards their roots.

It should be noted that the abundance of light is also a mistake in setting the correct amount of lighting. In such a situation, the water blooms and there is a green coating on the walls.

How to light an aquarium

There are two simple ways to organize lighting. The first method is the simplest. DIY LED lighting for an aquarium will help significantly reduce your costs. You will need an LED strip.

Next, you simply carefully stick it around the perimeter of the structure. Please note that lighting an aquarium with LED strip will make the lighting as uniform as possible, although it will not be energy efficient enough. This tape is sold in a skein. On one side of the tape there are LEDs, and on the other there is double-sided tape. But you should keep in mind that this type of lighting is not the only source for your aquarium. To create complete lighting, it is advisable to use additional T5 or T8 LED lamps. The place where the tape and cord are fixed must have insulation based on silicone filler.

The second lighting method is the installation of LED lamps. It is more popular and allows you to create complete and high-quality lighting of the entire tank. Collect LED lamp for an aquarium with your own hands is not difficult. The lamp consists of a certain number of lamps. How many of them should you take? For a container of 200–300 liters you will need 40 spot lamps. Each bulb must be rated at 270 lumens (3 watts each).

How to calculate the lighting of LED lamps in an aquarium

It is advisable to calculate lighting requirements in lux, which refers to units of illumination. As we remember, for a standard aquarium 6000–10000 lux will be enough. It is necessary to calculate the area of ​​the tank. It is calculated in square meters. The resulting figure must be multiplied by the amount of lux set for the aquarium. As a result, you should get the necessary indicators for a small home pond.

DIY tank lighting with LED lamps

If you first study useful information, then installing aquarium lamps will not cause difficulties. Installation of lamps involves the sequential implementation of the following stages:

Summing up - LED lamps for aquariums - how beneficial are they?

From the information described above, we can conclude that installing LED lamps for an aquarium does not cause additional difficulties. Having previously read the literature on this issue, you can easily install them in a tank using a self-created lamp. Do-it-yourself LED aquarium lighting organized in this way has a large number of benefits. It creates high-quality and complete lighting for underwater inhabitants, is economical, and has a varied combination of colors. The only disadvantage of using lamps is their relatively high cost. However, over time, these products easily pay for themselves. The aquarium operates in energy-saving mode.

Video

Quite often, aquarists are faced with the issue of aquarium lighting, especially if it is homemade or if you keep plants for which standard lighting is clearly not enough. It is not always clear what type, what power and what temperature of the lamp to choose. In this note, I will describe my case of creating and calculating LED lighting for an aquarium with my own hands, and also simultaneously share additional information that I came across on this issue.

My aquaterrarium

Actually, my aquaterrarium. Below is an aquarium of 120 liters (with live plants, gastromyzons, glass perches, tetras, corydoras, etc.), on top there are 3 more of the same volume for a terrarium. As you can see, there is, frankly, not enough space to place aquarium lighting. Initially, when constructing the aquarium, 2 fluorescent tube lamps with a power of 8 W each were installed as lighting. Visually, it seemed that the aquarium was sufficiently lit. But after some time, the plants began to protest in every way available to them. It was decided to change the backlight to a more powerful one.

Choosing the type of aquarium lighting source

I decided to install the increasingly popular LED strips. The most important reason to do LED backlight The aquarium in my case was due to the extreme compactness of such lighting. Additional advantages of LED aquarium lighting include energy savings, long service life, and LED operation on low voltage (there is water all around, you never know...).

My LED aquarium light is not afraid of water

What kind of light do aquarium plants need?

A few words about emission and absorption spectra. Plants are interested in the visible part of the light spectrum. To capture light, plants use chlorophyll, which absorbs light from the blue and red parts of the spectrum.

Green plants absorb visible light predominantly in the blue and red parts of the spectrum

Green light Plants reflect, which is why we see them green. So the white light visible to our eyes contains everything necessary for plants part of the spectrum (blue and red) and even more (unused by plants green part spectrum). Therefore, any source white light Suitable for lighting a standard aquarium. You just need to correctly calculate how much light is needed in your case.

Calculation of aquarium lighting

Calculating lighting for an aquarium with LEDs is no different from calculating lighting with other light sources. Most sources contain the notorious formula 0.5 - 0.8 watts per liter. In principle, the scheme works, but for different light sources there may be significant errors (for example, my 120 liters actually require 43 W of LED strip - if I counted by Watts, it would come out to a completely different number).

I recommend calculating the lighting requirements of the aquarium in lux. Lux is a unit of illumination, essentially a lumen per 1 m² of area. Illumination for standard aquariums (height less than length) with ordinary plants is 6,000 - 10,000 lux. For plants with a very high light requirement, 10,000 – 15,000 lux.

Those. We calculate the bottom area of ​​our aquarium in square meters and multiply the resulting number by the required amount of lux. We get the required parameters for our light source in lumens (they are indicated for all light bulbs and LED strips).

Calculation example: the bottom area of ​​my aquarium is 0.75m*0.4m=0.3m². Desired illumination is about 7000 lux. This means we need a light bulb 0.3 m² * 7000 lux = 2100 lumens.

I go to Leroy, where I see an excellent option: LED strip 14.4W/60LED/m, cool white, IP65. 1 meter of such tape produces 700 lumens. So, we take 3 meters.

This is the tape I installed to illuminate my aquarium

Similar calculations can be made for any lamps/bulbs/spotlights.

At first it seemed that 7,000 lux was a lot of light. But if we compare it with what we find in nature, it turns out just right.

Examples of illumination in lux

You will also need a power supply, I took it with a reserve, 60 W. Well, here we simply multiply the power of a meter of tape by the number of meters.

Warm or cold – see for yourself. Cold is more in the blue part of the spectrum, warm in the red. Usually they put it cold (it passes through the water column better), but for shallow aquariums this is not important. Choose according to your scenery. I installed two meters of cold and one meter of warm white light.

DIY LED aquarium lighting
Now there is enough light for everyone

As a conclusion

I installed LED lighting in the aquarium and couldn’t be happier :) No, seriously, very cool. Fluorescent lamps It would be cheaper to light the aquarium, but, I repeat, my distance from the water to the “lid” (i.e., the shelf of the terrarium) is too short, and I was also wondering what it would be like to do LED lighting for an aquarium with your own hands. The plants are very happy. Absolutely everyone began to grow, Riccia turned from a pathetic lump into a lush carpet. No flowering, threads or other problems were noticed in 3 weeks.