LED lightbulbs for aquarium lighting

A few weeks ago we decided to use LED lighting on the new tank racks we had instead of using tubular fluorescent lighting. We used Unitech LED lightbulbs as they were pretty cheap and the cover was made out of plastic and is easily removed. Just a quick twist and it pops off easily. No need to damage the lightbulb and if you want to, you can just plop the cover back in.

With cover

Without cover

Installed it to the middle rack in parallel connection with all the lights connected to one switch. Flipped on the switch and all the LED lightbulb burst to life. Been observing the lightbulbs for some time and so far the performance is good.

Used to have 12-24watts of lighting per 15gallon tank but now with these energy efficient LED, its down to 3-5watts per tank. By removing the cover of the bulb it greatly reduces the glare and gives a kind of spotlight effect making it unnecessary to install hoods or reflectors.

The manufacturer claims that the light produced by one watt is equivalent to 8watts of standard CFL (compact fluorescent light) bulbs and by rough comparison it seems to hold true.

With a 30,000 hour lifespan (if true as claimed), these LED light bulbs are worth every cent so if you're setting up a new tank or need to change a busted tank light you should give it a try. The only problem is if you don't have enough room for a receptacle above your tank. This is true for most fish racks but otherwise, they are a great alternative.

UPDATE (July 01, 2015)

The 3 watts LED bulbs wasn't quite enough for aquatic plants with high light requirements so we decided to up the game a little with a higher wattage LED bulb. We switched one of the 3 watts LED bulb (which was still in good working condition) to a higher wattage LED bulb.

This is an LED from another brand, Isonic, since the previously used LED bulbs (Unitech) were out of stock. We used the 9watts cool light variety and unlike the Unitech LED bulb's cover which was fairly easy to remove, this one required a little bit of hacking. After prying the cover of the bulb open with a small knife, the LED module needed to be glued back on to the housing which required a brisk walk to the nearby motorcycle accessories store to purchase a small tube of fast bonding adhesive (I used Superglue).

The LED bulb cover makes a great hideout for cichlids. They love it very much.

The brightness is obviously higher than then 3 watts LED bulb (left side on cichlid tank) since it is 9 watts and it uniformly illuminates the 15 gallons tank (right side filled with freshly harvested aquatic plants) pretty well.

If you have any pet-related questions we will try our best to answer them. Kindly ask your questions in the comments section below or click here to send us a message on Facebook.

Happy pet-keeping!

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