# My DIY LED Light Setup for less than $100



## swamplander2 (Sep 22, 2013)

Scenario: I've got a 120g tank that's 5' long which makes it hard to find a good light solution that's premade as they all only go up to 4' and just don't look good at all. So I saw a post in this forum a few days ago and decided to replace the lights I currently used (that were dying on me) with this custom setup. All told, less than $100... actually it was $110 if you factor in the wood I got for the home-made temp canopy (I plan to do a real DIY canopy so this was just $30 in wood hence why it isn't painted and there's a gap).

I picked up two spools of 16' 6000K LED lights ($14ea) by HitLights (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005GL ... l-20&psc=1) and one spool ($14ea) of blue (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005GL ... l-20&psc=1). Personally I also got two ($12ea) DC plug extensions (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AEI ... l-20&psc=1) so the cables would make it all the way to the transformers ($10) (I used these http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007ME ... l-20&psc=1) which are plugged into cheap-o timers from Lowes.

I linked the two whites together so I had two strands for each plug+timer. Took a 5' piece of pine and screwed some housing flushing to one side to provide some insulation (although these lights don't get hot) and to make it sticky as the LED's have 3M sticky tape on the back of them. After a little more wood and screws, poof... I'm very pleased with the brightness, how cheap this was and the whole setup took less than 2 hours to build, including the round trip to Lowes.


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## SkyRocker (Apr 26, 2013)

Awesome. I'm looking to do something like this on my 55. This build has definitely got me thinking that I'll be able to do what I'm planning on doing. And thanks you VERY much for including the links to the stuff that you used and for the pictures. Much appreciated!


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## apmorgan93 (Jan 29, 2013)

Have given thought to doing this myself. Using CFLs on my 5ft right now and they get awful hot and burn energy. Does it cause the ripple lighting effect like halides do?


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## swamplander2 (Sep 22, 2013)

Yup... like all LED solutions you get the ripple.

I think that the blue strip for my tank needs to be cut by 50%... one strip on a 120g is just too much light on the tank in the evening. It is supposed to simulate moonlight... not a blue sun


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## apmorgan93 (Jan 29, 2013)

Nice! I really want the ripple. I may have to steal your idea whenever I finally get around to building a canopy for my tank. I don't think plants could be grown with this lighting setup, but if mine continue to get munched on that wont be an issue for me anymore haha.


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## swamplander2 (Sep 22, 2013)

The room has plenty of natural light where my tank is so I'm going to give it a shot. All told the lighting project you saw was about $150 for a 6' tank and took maybe 2 hours.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Nice job. I too have a odd sized tank that is going to be hard to find proper lighting for (7ft x 2ft x 31"tall) so I have been looking around to see what sort of DIY lighting I may decide on building. Would you be able to share a few more pics of your tank from different angles so I can see how the lighting you did looks? Also what's the height on your tank and how do the LED's seem to penetrate to the deeper depth so far, seem like they would reach the bottom of a 31" tall tank well enough?


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## swamplander2 (Sep 22, 2013)

Absolutely... happy to share pictures. I'm on the road this week but can take more pictures. Let me know exactly what you're looking for and happy to shoot more & send more specs.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Thanks. How about just one from directly in front of it with the room light on as well as the room light off just so I can see how the light penetration to the bottom of the tank looks. That's the main thing I am concerned about if I do one on mine because of the added depth. Also if you could shot one with the blue lights on that would be cool as well.


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## chiroken (Sep 25, 2007)

I'm with Steve, would love to see additional picks. I'm in the long process of setting up an 8'x2'x31.5H tank and I too have a concern with depth penetration with LED's.


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## nodima (Oct 3, 2002)

Nice write up. One suggestion to improve the safety of the lights is to add something to prevent the lights from moving side to side if they were bumped. I did a similar project for my planted tank a while back using a pair of T5 bulbs and was concerned about the possibility of the lights crashing so I built in some prevention.

side view


front view


Assume you will be painting/staining the wood to protect it? Think about using white inside the housing to help reflect any wayward light beams!


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## swamplander2 (Sep 22, 2013)

I'll post some photos late this weekend... still away on a biz trip and won't get home until after 12a 

I don't plan to stain/paint what I currently have. It was a temp solution. I'm building a real canopy for the tank that's 100% enclosed so I don't have a gap between the lights and the tank. I really dislike the glow above the tank... the only light I want is coming from the tank, not above it. Hope to do that later this fall... in all that spare time. The canopy will fit fixed on the top of the tank so that will keep it from sliding off.


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## nodima (Oct 3, 2002)

swamplander2 said:


> I'll post some photos late this weekend... still away on a biz trip and won't get home until after 12a
> 
> I don't plan to stain/paint what I currently have. It was a temp solution. I'm building a real canopy for the tank that's 100% enclosed so I don't have a gap between the lights and the tank. I really dislike the glow above the tank... the only light I want is coming from the tank, not above it. Hope to do that later this fall... in all that spare time. The canopy will fit fixed on the top of the tank so that will keep it from sliding off.


Careful - there is nothing more permanent than a temporary solution that works!!!

Great proof of concept - I agree with you on the light spillage - when I get around to building a stand/canopy for the tank in the pictures, I will go the same route.


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## swamplander2 (Sep 22, 2013)

Here you go... two more pictures a bit more close up to show the light all the way through to the bottom (click for bigger images). When I rebuild the canopy, I won't have lights over the entire top, rather closer to the middle horizontally so the light at the top of the background isn't so bright:


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## nodima (Oct 3, 2002)

Looks fantastic - I know where I'll be sourcing light for my 180 now.

I particularly like the way your rock and background match - looks very natural to me.

one way to make you fish 'pop' is to have the lights more towards the front wall of the aquarium so the fish are not back lit, sounds like you will have that effect with the new canopy.


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## swamplander2 (Sep 22, 2013)

Agreed... like you said this is a temp solution and the ugliest thing in my office right now. I will experiment with a few techniques in moving the lights forward to get the optimal angle.

As for the background & rock matching... it sure didn't start out that way


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## HiReZ (Jul 19, 2011)

Thank you for sharing! I am planning a DIY LED light for a 75 gallon. I had not come across these led strips as an option... at least not this cheap. This makes my plan much more feasible and cost effective. This is a great find and DIY. My life will be much easier thanks to you sharing you parts list.

Thanks again   :thumb: =D>


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