# DIY LED lights for a 5 gallon tank?



## MPevine11 (May 26, 2010)

how many LEDS, and what colors?


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## WingoAgency (Jan 10, 2006)

Option (1)
3 x 3W => 9W 
2 x 6,700K 
1 x 12,000K
no lens
LEDs must be splash guarded.


Option (2)
1 x 6,700K Par bulb 10W is more than enough
1 x Exo-terra light bracket and light doom
(I have a similar setup for my 6G future EPI shrimp tank with a remote controllable version of the PAR bulb.)


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## MPevine11 (May 26, 2010)

what is the ideal spktrum? ~7,000K?

for a 5 gallon tank i only need approximately 3 (3 watt) Leds?


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## WingoAgency (Jan 10, 2006)

Yes to both 


MY RGB model with max of 18W over 10G will yield 45 par 

so 9W pver 5G is not far off.





MPevine11 said:


> what is the ideal spktrum? ~7,000K?
> 
> for a 5 gallon tank i only need approximately 3 (3 watt) Leds?


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## redfishsc (Aug 29, 2010)

Agreed with Wingo except I'd like to slightly qualify this one:



WingoAgency said:


> Option (2)
> 1 x 6,700K Par bulb 10W is more than enough
> 1 x Exo-terra light bracket and light doom
> (I have a similar setup for my 6G future EPI shrimp tank with a remote controllable version of the PAR bulb.)


This will work fine as long as the PAR bulb uses high output emitters (meaning, anything from one watt to ten watt emitters). If it's a 10 watt bulb, DO NOT buy a bulb that has more than 10 LEDs in it..... frequently these lower wattage PAR bulbs will use tiny 3mm or 5mm LEDs that are horridly inefficient. 


Just count the number of LEDs in it, and look at the wattage, and as long as you have high power LEDs you should be fine. 



For a DIY approach--

You really only need 5-6 LEDs at around 350mA. RapidLED.com I think has a very cheap 350mA driver that would work great for you. Not dimmable, but you can raise the height of your array easily. 


Use a computer CPU heatsink (or two of them) for your heatsink. You would only need two if you want to spread the LEDs out a little bit more, but you could also put them all on a single heatsink and use it as a "pendant". Dirt cheap if you have any old CPU's or CPU friends that can help.


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## MPevine11 (May 26, 2010)

i may be doing a rimless 7.5 gallon cube now........

how much would this change things??


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