# LED and shimmering effect ( is it possible? )



## Furcifer (Aug 31, 2003)

Hi,

Can anyone tell me if led lights can give shimmering effect like Metal H. lambs?

I can tell that, this light wave "shimmering" effect increases if you put your bulbs 
like 40-50cm over the tank. Is it possible to have this effect with 
LED lighting without attaching them 50cm above the water line? Will it look like MH lambs? I want to see very strong shimmering effect, what are your suggestions?


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

> Can anyone tell me if led lights can give shimmering effect like Metal H. lambs?


Yes, they do give shimmering effect. I use the outdoor 10w LED floods. You can find them one ebay.

Video of outdoor LED floods


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## JimA (Nov 7, 2009)

Thats a pretty intense shimmer, not sure I could stand that in my living room. Std LED lighting like marineland or beamworks does not shimmer like that, but it does shimmer.


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## quentin8 (Sep 30, 2011)

prov356 said:


> > Can anyone tell me if led lights can give shimmering effect like Metal H. lambs?
> 
> 
> Yes, they do give shimmering effect. I use the outdoor 10w LED floods. You can find them one ebay.
> ...


 I have been looking at these lights for awhile now. How hard are they to wire?


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

> Thats a pretty intense shimmer, not sure I could stand that in my living room.


I didn't have covers on the tanks yet, they toned it down a bit. But, all in the eye of the beholder.



> I have been looking at these lights for awhile now. How hard are they to wire?


I did 10 of them on a Saturday. I used 18-2 SJ cord and a plug that I got at Lowe's. You have to:

open the back (4 screws), 
cut out the old wire and some waterproofing stuff that looks a lot like Elmer's glue, 
loosen and remove the widget thing that holds the wire in place on the box and seals it, 
add the new wire and secure with two wire nuts,
put the box back together being careful to align a rubber gasket that seals it up,
then add the plug.


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## Narwhal72 (Sep 26, 2006)

I like the look of your room Tim!

Jim,
You could always reduce the shimmer by adding in a couple of fluorescent tubes to even out the light.

I am going to be doing the same thing as an accent light (supplementing some fluorescents) in my fish room but using some 5 watt GU10 LED's that I have. They fit in a standard GU10 Halogen track light that I will be using around the walls of the fish room.

The key is the point source illumination. The fewer the points you have the more shimmer you get. The LED Aquarium fixture strips have lots of points of light and that reduces the amount of shimmer.

Andy


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## quentin8 (Sep 30, 2011)

Wow alot easier than I thought. I guess Ill be ordering a couple. Just to be clear the light does come with the driver correct? I couldnt find anything regarding the driver.
Sorry I didnt mean to hijack the thread.


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

Yes, the LED driver comes with it. You just have to swap out the cord or hard wire it.

I did exactly what you mentioned on my 180, Andy. I added a 20w LED flood to my CF fixtures. Adds a touch of shimmer and a bit of light in the center of the tank where it was a bit dim. Combos can work great.


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## Furcifer (Aug 31, 2003)

Thank you Prov for detailed answer, can you tell us how many 10w led bulbs needed for shimmer effect?

My tank is 160cm long, 65cm deep ( 64" x 26" x 26" )

I'm thinking to use 4 florescent tube and some leds for shimmer effect. Do they work well with each other?


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## AfricanLove (Jan 2, 2012)

Hi, My brother is going to do a 25 gallon nano reef and I was wondering if I could take and place a board inside the canopy and mount some LED rope lights on it. You think this would work?


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## Narwhal72 (Sep 26, 2006)

Rope lights are low output LED's. OK for looking directly at but not good for lighting up an area like an aquarium.
You would want high power LED's for a reef.
Andy


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

Furcifer said:


> Thank you Prov for detailed answer, can you tell us how many 10w led bulbs needed for shimmer effect?
> 
> My tank is 160cm long, 65cm deep ( 64" x 26" x 26" )
> 
> I'm thinking to use 4 florescent tube and some leds for shimmer effect. Do they work well with each other?


In the pic, there's only one over each tank. Sometimes they span two tanks. For your tank, a 20W would probably be about right, but you could go with two 10's if you wanted to light different areas of the tank. They do work well with each other, but if the fluorescent lighting is strong enough, it can greatly reduce the shimmer effect. I haven't tried all combinations. Sometimes you just have to experiment.


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## Furcifer (Aug 31, 2003)

Thank you Tim, i'm dying to have proper lighting and shimmer effect on this tank.


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## Guest (May 15, 2012)

I don't know why, I'm a pretty big fan of shimmering tank light.

Full blasting of light gets boring to me. The shimmering effect to me personally gives the tank that awesome feel to it.


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## deaver (Apr 23, 2011)

opcorn:


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## Guest (May 16, 2012)

I'd like to know where I can buy these parts and do them myself as well. Thank you!


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## deaver (Apr 23, 2011)

me too.


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## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

PM responses please. :thumb:


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## philscichlids (Aug 15, 2011)

Prov Just out of curiosityhow much does each led bulb cost and how much is the driver ? I'm in the process of finishing up my stands for my new fishroom and I haven't started looking into lighting . Yours looks so nice !


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