# LED Light Setup



## markannab (Feb 21, 2015)

I thought I'd share my new LED lighting setup in case anyone else is thinking of doing something similar. It's complete with the exception of the light shining on the top mesh. I'm waiting for (non-toxic) paint to dry on a strip of timber which will prevent the light shining on it and make the plants appear to come out of darkness.

I used 5050 LED lighting. 5050 is an RGB light that allows you to set the exact colours you want via a remote. In my case, I was after a dim, warm glow that would bring out the warm tones in the timber and Piper. For this tank, I used 2 x 850mm strips working out at around 25w at full power (though they're run at about 50% of that). 5050 comes in 30, 60 or 120 LED's per metre. I used 60 per metre.

On the remote, there are a number of preset colours but, also, a number of custom buttons you can program. It takes a while going back and forth with red, green and blue to get the effect you want. But once you find it, it's locked in for future use.


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## getarealdog (Feb 21, 2015)

Excellent work there markannab with the whole set up.


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## smithson (Feb 21, 2015)

nice look can I ask were you got the light strip from


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## rockethead (Feb 21, 2015)

I got same led strip from ebay. I got my from china but it took a month to get it so if in a hurry get them from someone who has already imported it into australia


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## markannab (Feb 21, 2015)

Yes, I bought on eBay from overseas. Do a search for 5050 LED strip. Add the word "Remote" to narrow it down. Some sellers sell by the metre rather than starting at 5 metres.


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## ajwill (Mar 21, 2015)

Hey [MENTION=33201]markannab[/MENTION], love this look and working on something similar. Can I ask what wire mesh you used to cover the lights? A bit hard to see in the close up pic.


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## markannab (Mar 21, 2015)

Hi, it's 10mm gal mesh. It's only purpose is to give me something to hang plants from. It actually comes just short of the lights. Since taking these photos, I've done two things to complete the project:

1. I've painted the mesh in matt black so it's more invisible; and

2. I've run a strip of matt black timber (roughly 25mm x 8mm) just in front of the lights and hung it from the ceiling. This deflects the light and prevents the mesh being illuminated. The plants now appear to emerge from darkness. To make it adjustable, I screwed a couple of bendy aluminium plates onto the timber and bent them over. The free end of the aluminium then slid behind (above) the wire mesh (hope that makes sense). The allowed me to make tiny adjustments to the angle of the wood to get the lighting effect I wanted.

I hope that helps,
Mark.


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## ajwill (Mar 21, 2015)

Thanks for the details. Do you have anything covering the lights at all? I'm worried about the adhesive - have read it can do nasty things if a snake gets tangled in it?


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## markannab (Mar 21, 2015)

In my case I haven't. There's no adhesive exposed and the lights are a good 600mm from any surface.


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## ajwill (Mar 21, 2015)

Nice. Thanks.


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## Snapped (Aug 26, 2015)

Looks great, is that the only lighting you use in the enclosure? (just asking as I'm convering a tv unit at the moment and looking at LED lighting)


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## markannab (Aug 26, 2015)

Yes, that's the only lighting. I was surprised how far the light travels. Even though the enclosure is something like 1700mm high internally, the lights reach all the way to the bottom.


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## Snapped (Aug 26, 2015)

markannab said:


> Yes, that's the only lighting. I was surprised how far the light travels. Even though the enclosure is something like 1700mm high internally, the lights reach all the way to the bottom.



Thats good to know then, thanks markannab, I'll be putting LED lights on my list then.


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