# cheap led lights



## zcfish (Jan 31, 2009)

just want to share my experience on finding the lights for my tank. well my 125g tank is in a walkout basement. while there is daylight it's definite not enough. i want to have the tank illuminate reasonably bright for 12 hours a day. also i want to have another set of lights that will double the brightness on demand.

since it's going to run 12 hours 365 days a year with 300 watts flourescant will put a big dent on the wallet (keep in mind i also need to run a 300 watts heater almost non-stop in the cold jersey winter) led seems to be the only solution. i've reading these posts it seems led is prohibited expensive.

so i visited home depot, lowes and one day i saw these led shop light in sears that's going for 30 bucks for 60 lights. i bought one and figured to give it a try to see how bright 60 led is.

on my way home i had to stop by costco to pickup some grocery. i was surprised to find costco actually has under cabinet led lights come in the form of hockey pucks. each package come with 4 of these pucks and each puck has 24 led lights. these pucks can be connected together to form a string of pucks. i quickly bought the three last packages.

i setup three sets of lights. the first set has only one puck i put blue tape on top of it so it's my moonlight. i have another string of 5 pucks (120 leds) that's my normal 12 hours lights and the last string has 6 lights which can be turned on on demand. the lights i think are about 6500k.

and best of all, 2.5 w per puck!


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## zcfish (Jan 31, 2009)

forgot to metion it was 18 bucks for 4 pucks so it cost me less than 60 for the lights.


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## JWerner2 (Jul 7, 2008)

PICTURES!!


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## FPiX (Dec 29, 2008)

Interested in seeing some pictures as well!


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## Lostlilkidd (Jan 27, 2009)

yes, pics please

im looking for lights too


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## KaiserSousay (Nov 2, 2008)

Well.................How did they work??


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

LED strips work great. I put an 18" strip over a 10 gallon tank. I think is was about $20. It has 22 lights, 
and you can see their reflection.










I also put the same 18" strips over other tanks. You can also get the LED rope lights at Lowe's that 
would allow you to custom build something inside a box. Many possibilities. If you like algae in your 
tanks, you'll be disappointed because I haven't seen a speck of it in any tanks lit by LED's. As for cost, 
I hooked one up to a meter and ran if for a couple of weeks 24/7. It hadn't even cost a penny yet.


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## Grey Legion (Apr 11, 2005)

Ikea also has some good prices on LED lighting..


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## zcfish (Jan 31, 2009)

here's the pictures

on the left there are three wires controlling three set of lights. pucks are connected by cables kind of light christmas lights. i screen down a strip of plywood in the canopy so the puck screws won't go through the top of the canopy.
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/KjnY7MPxmpv6ZeeHUxJDRQ?feat=directlink

here's a picture of the front with all the lights turned on. it's very bright but you can't really tell from the camera.
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/WC ... directlink


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## JWerner2 (Jul 7, 2008)

That looks super smooth.

I found loads of similar light pucks but they all cost way more. Superbrightleds.com is probably my most trusted site for LED related stuff. I dont know where the closest costco is


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## Howler33 (Dec 10, 2004)

Do you get the shimmering effect from all the separate point lights hitting the water? I have seen those hockey puck LEDs and have been tempted to egt some. I think I will give it a try, thanks for sharing your experience.


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## JWerner2 (Jul 7, 2008)

Generally you will get it with just about any lighting as long as the lights are suspended and you have some agitation. I dont know about LEDs though, it shouldn't be different. I can see shimmer when my tanks light is off from the surrounding lighting in the living room ( I have a tall lamp behind the tank ) and it runs off of regular incandescent house bulbs.


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## Howler33 (Dec 10, 2004)

I do see shimmering on my tank as well but, it is not very pronounced. I was hoping that with so many tiny light sources that the shimmering would be more enhanced.


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## JWerner2 (Jul 7, 2008)

Move the light around if possible so that it is just above the most agitated spot in the surface, maybe direct the flow a bit more towards the surface also. I know that if you move the lights higher up you should get more of a shimmer. Give that a try just to see how it looks. Hold the lights up a bit higher. You can also add a actinic or something of a different kelvin. It should help produce more shadows which will increase the shimmer.


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## zcfish (Jan 31, 2009)

the shimmering is quite pronounced on the bottom and also on the rocks. this is only from the agitation of the filter. i haven't got time to play with it that much yet. for example i could move the light forward to the front of the tank or put 4 or 5 of them together to get some kind of spotlight effect.

when i got them from costco there was only one on display and the other two dropped to the back between the racks. i haven't seem then ever since. so if you to make a long trip then call them first. made by "lights of america"


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## I3lazd (Dec 29, 2008)

did you return the sears lights?


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## zcfish (Jan 31, 2009)

i returned the sears light as i said i didn't get a chance to try it until i got the ones from costco. the sears light has 60 led each. i am running 120 led right normally it's ok for 6 feet.


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