How to Install Cheap LED Lights in Aquarium

How to Install LED Lights in Aquarium:

LED is an acronym of Light Emitting Diode. It is an electronic instrument that releases lights when current passes through it. Most earlier inventions in LEDs were able to produce only red light, but latest inventions are able to emit other types of light colors too such as RGB (red, green & blue). However, now LED lights can be used to emit white light too.

LED lights consume less energy as compared to other lights & their life span is longer than ordinary lights. Now people use LED lights because they are cheaper & offer high intensity of light by connecting a series of LEDs together.

LED lights for aquarium will save your money & such types of lights are essential for fish & plants health, & corals need LED light to produce oxygen. Fish are active in a bright tank, & they search for food & play around but without enough lighting fish goes to sleeping mode & most of the time they will look lazy & would not like to swim.

In this tutorial I will show you how to setup inexpensive & simple LED lighting for fish tank yourself. Please watch a video on installing cheap LED lights in aquarium & give a feedback in the comment section below.

How to setup LED Lighting in Aquarium

I have provided a step by step tutorial about how to setup LED utility bar light in aquarium. I hope that in this tutorial you will know more about aquarium lights & it will answer some of your important questions related to the advantages of LED lights in a fish tank.

Step 1: Why I decided to replace my old aquarium light:

Push on light mounted to the underneath of aquarium

During the initial setup of the aquarium I purchased push on light as you can see in the picture it is mounted to the underneath of aquarium. The brightness of the light is not too bad but it’s not good either & I purchased this light because it was cheap. I used this light for a week then I decided to replace it with LED Utility bar light. 

Step 2: Select light that is suitable for your aquarium:

Choosing the lights that are suitable for your tank is a challenge because the intensity of lights depends on the type of fish you are keeping in your aquarium. Some species of fish would not like fully bright aquarium so it is advisable to adjust the intensity of light based on the type of fish you have in aquarium. Actually I am setting up a lighting system for my aquarium & the fish I have need bright lights.

Step 3: Why LED lights are better than ordinary lights:

Most of aquarium lights are available with intensity control & offers hobbyists a choice of choosing different colors. LED lights offers an average life span of 50,000 working hours so they can last a long time. Also they are cheap & their installation is simple & won’t require that much power. They do not heat up as compared to other lights & can provide a wider coverage.

Step 4: LED Utility bar lights & its specifications:

Unboxing ARLEC LED light for aquarium

I will start with unboxing ARLEC LED Utility Bar Light & will discuss its specifications with you. This LED Utility Bar Light needs 10 W power & it has a 1.5m cord. It is very easy to install this light in your aquarium. LED Utility bar light provides 950 Lumens of light. The product has the following dimensions: Width: 45 mm, Height: 28 mm, Length: 500 mm.

Step 5: Mount LED utility bar light to the underneath of aquarium:

Mount LED utility bar light to the underneath of aquarium

I have mounted LED bar light to the underneath of my aquarium stand & now I am going to test its brightness. Even though the length of the LED light bar is less than the entire length of my fish tank but it is providing good coverage. Apart from that it is energy efficient. Also LED lights give you an option to choose b/w various different colors.

Pros & cons of ARLEC LED utility bar light:

Being a hobbyist it is important to spend some time watching your fish, corals & plants, & in the presence of lights you can observe the inhabitants’ health in a better way. Aquarium lights will keep your fish healthy & active, plants also need source of light & corals need lights for oxygenation. Colorful LED lights enhance the beauty of fish tank. LED fixtures tend to be a bit costly to buy & initially you will pay more money even though you will make up for this over time in saving energy & bulb replacement costs. You can adjust the light intensity of LED lights.

LED lights have a problem when it makes white light. They can create white light by using various color diodes. When all the diodes glow together, they produce white light. When many diodes of different colors are used, the integrated white light often turned to be bluish. When the LED lights in a lamp begin to degrade, the color quality will deteriorate & will emit poor colors. The LEDs are usually sensitive to the temperature levels of the surrounding & its efficiency is based on the temperature levels. High levels of temperatures will inhibit the proper functioning of the LEDs. A heat sunk is needed to keep them functioning properly to stop the lamps from failing. Although LED utility bar light can provide adequate energy for virtually all fish & some plants, but if you have plants that require higher intensity of lights then go for higher LED lighting option.

Provide Feedback:

Let me know what do you think about LED lights in the comment section of this post. Thank you for reading this tutorial & enjoy rest of your day.