[chris_ranger]

i apologize now for the lack of punctuation as im on mobile and its hard to do all that easily.

so ive ammassed a collection of those cheap led flash lights, the ones that use the 3 aaa batteries. harbor freight usually gives them away for free with purchases or has them for .99.
i also have these rectangular magnetic 2 way hockey puck ones that have about 20 leds each.
the cheap ones give off a bluish white light mostly and the puck ones more of a white light.
i had an idea of wiring these all up to a 6 volt transformer and using them as lighting in my new aqueon 15 gallon column, the single t5 isnt enough.
i could throw in a couple 60w cfl daylights as ive seen done by another person, but want to limit the ammount of heat as my room already gets warm because of my computer.
my question is will these leds provide the right type of light for plant growth. the small flash lights give off i would guess 30 lumens of light where the pucks give off maybe 120 lumens. i could cram about 5 of the pucks or upwards of 20-30 of the little flash lights once i pulled them apart.
i would also be supplementing them with some red leds as well.

 

[Hoppy]

This should work, but the only way to be sure is to try it. Please do that and start a thread in the DIY forum showing how you did it, etc.

 

[talontsiawd]

I am currently using a Beamswork LED fixture on my 6 gallon which is just low powered LED's, look to be surface mount. This thing works quite well for a non CO2 tank. I would imagine the flashlight LED's are more powerful, or look to be without measuring so I think they could work pretty well. I was thinking about the same idea before I bought this fixture.

I don't know about the Harbor Freight ones but the LED flashlights I have are a bit too blue for my taste. That is where you may have issue, it may make the tank look washed out. However, you could add some LED's as well, or an LED strip to balance it. Either add some warm white LED's/LED strip, or a combination of warm white and red.

The color issue should not hurt plant growth, it's more of a cosmetic thing.