Cheap LED light alternative? Would this work?

[frankn88]

I have a 28g JBJ CF Quad. I want to upgrade to LED. Been looking at all the expensive alternatives, then realized my daughter has something like this hanging in her bedroom: https://amazon.com/DAYBETTER-Flexible-Changing-Bedroom-Decoration/dp/B07SPZ2HGT/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=led+light+strips+royal+blue&qid=1598731063&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyNENQVVBGMlE5QUVPJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMDM2MjkxMk5ZU1o3NlAxTzJXVSZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwNjYxMDY1MTk0MkdWNlNZWkVTOSZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

 

Just a 40' string of LED lights in her bedroom for $25. Could I just curl this up inside the hood (protected from the water of course), and adjust the color and brightness? Tell me why this is a stupid idea?

Thanks!

[A.m.P]

There are some strings which can provide decent par, but they're actually fairly-expensive.
A single Prime HD would work fine over that, you could check the facebook marketplace for used Primes, the light has a decent shelf-life and the older HD's go for around 130-150 pretty regularly.

If you want to try something cheaper and interesting you may be able to get away with this if you mount it 15-18" above the tank (I use a bent-over pie-tin as a light-shield/ can)

You could also keep an eye-out for Maxspect razors, their single-puck's come up used for less than $50 sometimes and around 70-150 for the double, plus if they burn out the company will completely refurbish them for $60-120.

Another decent option could be the HIPARGERO, but you may be somewhat limited in what you can grow and you may have a bit of shading.

There's also the Coral Box MOON V1&V2 which regularly pop up for around 70-100.

[frankn88]

Is PAR only measured with a spectrometer? Are cheap little novelty strings putting out the wrong, or not enough PAR? They're bright as hell when my daughter cranks them up - they could easily blind the fish in my tank. Just trying to understand if it's the "wrong" kind of light and why.

Also, I'm not trying to grow SPS, mainly just fish and LPS.

[A.m.P]

Your senses are a truly terrible gauge of the world around you, anything not having to do with medium size and speed objects on the plains of Africa doesn't mesh well.
Gauging PAR by eye can leave you believing a white tank with 20 PAR has 200, and a blue system with 200 PAR has 20.

To further answer your question, spectrum matters a great deal, mixing cool white and dark blue of around 455 nm could work, but getting any kind of par into your system would be difficult with strip-lights as they lack lenses. You would likely need higher-end strip lights, which cost 15-20 per yard, and around 4 rows in a reflective casing with a heatsink-backing.
At that point you would likely have very evenly-spread diffuse lighting and some reasonable PAR at your sandbed, but you'd have also spent more than going with the other options I listed.

 

They are also not water proof and a potential fire hazard unless you seal them or put a diffuser plate over them.

 

Lumens are a measure of brightness as it appears to our eyes, unfortunately a PAR meter is the only way to gauge radiation and PUR is the only way to gauge photosynthetically-available light spectrums.

 

You could try a pair of the 12W ABI spotlights and point them towards the back for a great amount of coverage and ample PAR to grow even acro's in the top-half of your system (with them mounted 12-15" above).

[DSA65PRO]

Check out 21ledusa, I’m using their LED Lights, you can add more Strips and Controls as needed. 

[frankn88]

DSA65PRO - I looked at 21ledusa. Looks pretty inexpensive, but almost zero information. My tank is about 18" x 18", so I'd only be able to fit a 1 ft section and I can't even tell how you hook them up or how many you'd really need, though 9W doesn't seem like enough? How do you have yours hooked up and how many do you have?

 

I'd been looking at these: https://blueacro.com/acrostar/ because I could mount them inside my existing hood, which would really be ideal, but I'm not sure how to figure out the other components I'd need, like drivers and heat sinks...

 

[DSA65PRO]

The First Picture is the 36” 435nm Strip. It is at full dimming. Second Picture full brightness. As you can see they are completely washing out my iPad Camera A 36” strip needs an extra 1.5” for the Electric Lead. Third picture Full Brightness on my 65 Gallon. I didn’t use my Camera Filters. The connector is Feed through so you can connect these independent strips in Series, also they have splitters. You will need their 12vdc transformer, just pick on big enough for future add on strips. The Strips are incased in 100% Silicone Caulk. There’s no Splicing, Soldering or mismatched plugs. I do Electric tape the plugs, to keep a stray splash or drip out of them.  The only thing you have to be careful of is not Plugging a 24vdc transformer into the lights. 

[DSA65PRO]

This Picture is the Reefbar Pro, 50/50 I cant take a picture of it while Lit without using most of my filters. Actual Length is 37.5” to Allow for the cord. Next picture is the Sunsetter. Third picture the Remote. Fourth Picture is the Dimmer, showing the 12vdc Dimmer, and plugs. 

[A.m.P]

15 hours ago, DSA65PRO said:

Check out 21ledusa, I’m using their LED Lights, you can add more Strips and Controls as needed. 

I'd been looking at using their strips for some DIY bars with reflectors, seems you have their lensed version though (or is the 435 one of their normal ones?), do you have any experience with their normal strips?

[DSA65PRO]

I’ve used their Strips that are already mounted, wired and sealed. I have not used their tape. BTW I understand that their Tape LED is also sealed in Clear Silicone Caulk, you just have to seal the ends in Silicone after Soldering, or Terminating. BTW I used a piece of White PVC Rain Gutter as my Hood Mount. 

[A.m.P]

5 minutes ago, DSA65PRO said:

I’ve used their Strips that are already mounted, wired and sealed. I have not used their tape. BTW I understand that their Tape LED is also sealed in Clear Silicone Caulk, you just have to seal the ends in Silicone after Soldering, or Terminating. 

Yeah, the waterproofing is a big selling point, I'd just read some less-than-flattering first-hand experiences elsewhere when combing and was only really considering their unlensed-stuff as supplementation, not primary. If you've had good experiences with their product then it sounds like a fine supplement or alternative for the OP.

I will say the owner is very open and responsive to emails and would probably be willing to help the OP walk-through a solution for their tank, but I'm not sure how much PAR any unlensed strip can really provide at-depth. (In that I'm unsure, not that I don't recommend or doubt, there just isn't much verified/repeatable testing out there)

[frankn88]

Thanks to both of you! I'll shoot them an email and see if I can get some more info or suggestions.

[frankn88]

I sent him an email. But as I'm looking around more, seems like (2) of the Heavy Blue Reefbar Pro's would probably be enough for my 28g tank. Do you all agree? It's 60W and it'd be 2 x 

4x 445nm Actinic Blue
2x 465nm Aqua Blue
1x 423nm UV
3x 12,000K White,

which seems like a pretty good mix for a mixed reef tank (but what do I know...)

I assume I'd only need one sunsetter, but do I need two dimmers or just one? Anything else? Thanks again for your help.

[frankn88]

DSA65PRO, I talked to him and he only has the 50/50 available, so I ordered 2 of those w/ the sunsetter. Thanks for the help!

[frankn88]

On 8/30/2020 at 11:12 AM, DSA65PRO said:

I’ve used their Strips that are already mounted, wired and sealed. I have not used their tape. BTW I understand that their Tape LED is also sealed in Clear Silicone Caulk, you just have to seal the ends in Silicone after Soldering, or Terminating. BTW I used a piece of White PVC Rain Gutter as my Hood Mount. 

Got the lights (50/50) installed them in my existing JBJ 28 hood by yanking out the fluorescent fixture and zip locked the 2 new lights in with only very minor surgery required. Worked great! Thanks again for the tip! According to their website, with 2 I should be getting about 150 PAR at the sand and probably 250-300 on top of my rocks.