Information on Submerged LED lighting

[Dave.stevens]

Hi everyone,

I have a new 150g salt tank and considering submered LED lighting for it. The T5 that I have now are a real heat issue since I can't hang them from the ceiling and need to have covers on the tank because of cats in the house. I would really like some feedback on this from people here with more experience than myself. Let me know what you think.

[FarmerTy]

I don't know if that's a common practice in the hobby, or if there even is a fixture out there that even does that. Probably have to be custom unless you know of a company that does this, specifically for saltwater reef tanks. I know that do it for boats to "pimp" your ride out but that's all I have ever heard of it. And those lights will probably not do for a saltwater reef tank, wrong spectrum I would imagine.

I say enclose the hood and add fans... viola. Way cheaper option as well.

-Ty

[+brian.srock]

They have many types of underwater LED lights available but for accent lighting only. I use the betta tank led bulbs as moon light bulbs in my tank and a red led strip in my sump.

I'd say put a nice custom enclosure as well.

[jestep]

Good quality LED's would put a ton of heat into the tank if they were somehow designed to be submerged. They don't transfer radiant heat like MH bulbs do, but they still produce a lot of heat. I've seen heatsinks on 3W LED's that were hot enough to cook on. No way you would ever want that directly in the tank water.