DIY LED Lights

[dennysfishroom]

While I didn't do it myself (Corey helped at the end), I now have an Led light fixture on my 135 gallon tank. I'll have to fool with it for a few months to see if it's what I wanted, but my plan is to try and grow plants in that tank. I can't decide if it's brighter or darker, but once I put some plants in there I should start to have an idea. I used 8 white lights and 4 red lights, but I'm not sure about the need for red lights. If I'm going to be trying plants, I do need to get the fish out of that tank. Denny

[SeafariStu]

The reds are imperative for growing plants.

You'll have to clean the glass on the tank to tell if it's any brighter!

[dennysfishroom]

If I would have cleaned the glass in the tank with the old lights it would have been brighter too. Denny

[dennysfishroom]

Well, I decided to redo my 135 today. I took all the plastic plants and rock work out, as well as all the barbs. Then I planted what plants I had available. It must not be working though. It's been almost 5 hours, and I still haven't seen any plant growth. Not quite as exciting as watching a tank of fish. Denny

[SeafariStu]

Did you clean the glass off so you could see the plants?

[dennysfishroom]

yeah, I did do that. Got my arm all wet up to my shoulder. Unfortunately, the glass is pretty scratched up, but I can see what's in there. Denny

[dennysfishroom]

I'm running the LED's and the CFL's on the tank right now. For the last week or so I've been running both, and the CFL's were on 24 hours a day. I finally got a timer, but the algae has really started to grow. I put 3 bushynose in there today. I'm hoping the plants start to grow as well, which should help with the algae problem. Denny