5630 300 LED light strip too much?

I'm setting up a new 40 Gallon tank...

Plastic plants
Rocks
2" gravel substrate
Only one fish planned so far and it's my 3" albino bristlenose nose pleco

I bought 5 meters of 5630 300 LED light strip to install in my hood. Would that be overkill for my setup? I was going to split it up into 5 1 meter strip in my hood over my tank.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Ps... I do plan on adding more fish later but that over a month from now. I'm just cycling the tank right now.

My plans are a tropical community tank...

 

Never built my own light, but you got me curious so I started digging around. The same type of LED strip you bought I found on Amazon and there are several folks in the reviews section that used them for aquarium lighting, they included pics of how they set them up, might be helpful so here ya go!

 

Any reports on how the crI is on them?

 

Got them installed and it is way too much light.... I ended up buying a 5 dollar dimmer remote that plugged right in. Works like a charm. LOVE IT. I'll upload photos.

Built the hood also.

 

Nice man! Congrats! I might have to give this a shot if I start up a new tank Now I wonder how it would work if you added a strip of yellow, or red, or blue, or whatever and added a second dimmer to give you some different colors (or specific wavelengths for plants, etc)

Edit: also I don't know how much you care, or if it is even an issue but you could probably use some al foil or something around the edges up in the hood to reduce the bleedout through the sides of the tank (and direct it more down).

 

Yeah I was thinking about doing something in the back but I just added some Pothos Plants hanging off the back of the tank so now the led lights will be the only light they get so I'm leaving it as it is.

 

Nice man! Congrats! I might have to give this a shot if I start up a new tank Now I wonder how it would work if you added a strip of yellow, or red, or blue, or whatever and added a second dimmer to give you some different colors (or specific wavelengths for plants, etc)

Edit: also I don't know how much you care, or if it is even an issue but you could probably use some al foil or something around the edges up in the hood to reduce the bleedout through the sides of the tank (and direct it more down).

Thanks for the encouragement... you can buy RBG Let's that alow you to change the color of the lights. But unless you want to spend an arm and a leg you can't choose the exact color spectrum. Just the general collar that it looks like. Not so great for growing but great for like a night time affect.

 

Got them installed and it is way too much light.... I ended up buying a 5 dollar dimmer remote that plugged right in. Works like a charm. LOVE IT. I'll upload photos.

Built the hood also.

I was planning to buy a couple of the strips as soon as I got home and...Then totally forgot about this thread until this morning when I noticed that 3 of the 6 23w CFLs over my tank and the two 4 foot T8s were dead. So, it's down to only about 69 watts vs the normal 200ish.

What did you end up using as a power supply?

 

I was planning to buy a couple of the strips as soon as I got home and...Then totally forgot about this thread until this morning when I noticed that 3 of the 6 23w CFLs over my tank and the two 4 foot T8s were dead. So, it's down to only about 69 watts vs the normal 200ish.

What did you end up using as a power supply?

I used a 5 amp power suply For the 5630 led lights. The lights are too much for my tank so I also bought a wireless remote controlled dimmer. Worth every penny. And only 5 bucks on ebay. I payed $20 for the lights dimmer and power suply.

 

Photo of my tank now.

 

I used a 5 amp power suply For the 5630 led lights. The lights are too much for my tank so I also bought a wireless remote controlled dimmer. Worth every penny. And only 5 bucks on ebay. I payed $20 for the lights dimmer and power suply.

I was going to grab one of the dimmers that came up in the related items, but it was $5 with $30 shipping so...I can just put switches on the rows of leds if I need to. I might have a 12v PSU laying around somewhere, if not they're easy enough to buy.

 

I was going to grab one of the dimmers that came up in the related items, but it was $5 with $30 shipping so...I can just put switches on the rows of leds if I need to. I might have a 12v PSU laying around somewhere, if not they're easy enough to buy.

This is the dimmer I bought... on amazon with free shipping. Works perfectly. Also it plugs right into the psu I bought. Also it works as a remote for turning on and off. So very easy.

 

Those are some nice rocks! Do you know what type they are?

 

I work in the oilfields and one of my wells is in a rock quarry.... I just picked some rocks I liked them brought them home and ran a acid test on them. No clue the type. Sorry.

 

Curious how it's doing. That last progress pictures looks great for budget strip lighting!.

 

It's doing good.... just having problems with the cycle. It's stuck in the nitrite spike. I kept my bio media but I upgraded the filter. Hoping it will help. But everything else is fantastic.