LED's on an open-top.

Lighting what about these? Their just for supplementing though, i wouldn't rely on them for just growth...

 

Same thing as the strip light that I had mentioned, but in a tube. Good price, too. With a little searching, you should be able to find strip lights at a pretty good price. They are encased in flexible plastic, so a protective tube isn't needed. A cabinet maker that I work with has some rolls for use as under cabinet lighting, stair treads, deck lighting, etc. They come in rolls of various colors and can be cut with a scissors every 4". Some have a controller to change the colors of the strip. The day after he showed them to me, I won the blue strip in a raffle at the local reef club meeting. ;D

 

This is getting more interest than I thought it would!

Hmm....420nm wavelength cor corals? Do you know what wavelength I can get from the cool white vs. royal blue CREE LEDs?

I wanted to dim them....because they will be supplementation AND moonlights. I thought a dimmer would help to simulate the sun/moon lighting...maybe even change the daylight schedule accordingly with daylight savings time.

 

On a side note...someone mentioned putting money towards an expensive ATO. A gravity-fed ATO can be made for a few bucks(comparative to most equipment). I see lighting as the most important part of a reef tank.

 

I know standard blue LED's are 420nm i bet Royal blue CREE are as well. Nope 3W Blue CREE LED with 450-460nm wavelength. Since you aren't looking for alot of wattage you might consider lower power LEDs

 

420nm is on the lower end of the blue color temp. Could I balance it out with whites? Oh wait, it's probably not that simple, huh? White is..well where is white..probably around 6000k - 7000k. What's that = nm? for CREE 3W? ugh.

 

HeY seano if want moon lights I think the cree's are to powerfull I was considering doing the same for my 55gal and nightrider advised against it sayin that there great for supplementation but to strong for moon lights so maybe you could do the cree's for supplementation and buy a small moonlight kit for like $20 I'll send u a link for the ones I'm thinkin bout when I get back from my little vacation

 

.. I'm confused, Bobo..you recommended I do the CREEs. I thought Night-rida's turned out great.

 

Here are a few more shots for you.

 

If you want to supplement with T5's . . .
I spray painted the reflectors and endcaps black