Aquarium lighting - 75 photos of design examples
Whatever the volume of the aquarium, all its living inhabitants and aquatic plants for full life support requires additional lighting. With indoor lighting, its design is difficult to appreciate in all its glory.

Beginners aquarists important knowledge of how to perform the lighting of the aquarium, so that its inhabitants have enough light and heat.

Diode, fluorescent and incandescent lamps, along with other equipment, are necessary to maintain the full life cycle in a closed water space.

What is important to know then the equipment of the home aquarium
Most of the inhabitants of our aquariums come from the tropics, where there is a lot of light and heat. Lamps need aquatic plants for high-grade photosynthesis. There are other equipment that works to maintain eco-balance:
- heating pads and thermal switches;
- oxygen injection compressor;
- water filter and equipment for mechanical cleaning of the bottom.
In our latitudes, daylight hours are much shorter than in the tropics, where many fish and plants come from.

In a residential environment, only a small percentage of natural light passes through the water column. Additional illumination provides not only photosynthesis of underwater vegetation, but also creates a comfortable habitat.

Attention: From a lack of light, aquarium fish get sick more and live less, and the plants degrade, rot and die.

Aquatic plants, not algae, but higher plants, with all the functions, like those of terrestrial forms.

Differences only in the fact that one has to hold the air, the other water. Green algae develop in water with an excess of light, then the water turns green or “blooms”. They take oxygen from fish and create an unfavorable oxygen regime.

Tips from experienced craftsmen on lighting
Some photophilous aquatic plants themselves are excellent indicators. For example, there is a light green limnophila with feathery leaves; according to its condition, aquarists determine whether it is necessary to increase or decrease lighting.
When a limnophile develops well and maintains a bright color, then the entire flora and fauna is comfortable in this environment. With proper lighting and nutrition, the fish look alive and active, eat well and multiply.
Often, the lighting of the room "pond" is used as an additional source of lighting in a long narrow room, especially at the opposite wall from the window. LED aquarium lighting is an interesting design trick in the design of modern apartments and offices.

Attention: The backlight can not be located behind the aquarium - fish reveal the rainbow flow of scales only from the illuminated side. The correct location of the lamps - on top of the front wall.

Lateral lighting from the window leads to an excess of rays and fouling of glass with algae. But from the dark side, you can use fitolamps, if there are some indoor flowers nearby that need to extend the daylight and the intensity of the rays.

The easiest way to do your own aquarium lighting is to place small light bulbs and diodes in a hinged lid. For this purpose, it is made in the form of a shallow box, fixed above the glass container. The size of the aquarium and the box for lighting above it should be the same.

Important: Aquatic plants need a combination of lighting, so experts recommend combining fluorescent lamps (white and bluish light) and the usual incandescent light bulb. It gives a yellowish light, close in spectrum to the sun's rays.

In a properly equipped cover there should be a reflector, for example, from a foil or a mirror surface. This technique protects the aquarium cover from overheating and directs light into the water column.

Long lamps of artificial light, as in the photo lighting aquarium, as a rule, do not overheat. But ordinary light bulbs on a tungsten filament give a lot of excess heat.

Often, the aquarium cover is equipped with chiseled LEDs - aesthetically and conveniently, the water column is evenly illuminated. But this will not be enough for plants, especially when the aquarium is deep.

And the lamps that give a lot of heat, overheat the surface of the water - fish can burn themselves. Water must circulate and mix from the cooler or during active oxygenation.

Tip: To prevent overheating of the surface of the water, lift the lamp at some distance from the water.
Ways to fix the lamp above the aquarium:
- On the hanging brackets (on the ceiling or furniture shelf).
- Fix it with a special metal clip at the front corner (some table lamps have a reflector).
- Side stops.
- Suckers on the wall, at the front glass or under the shelf, mounted above the aquarium.

The main types of lamps for aquarium lighting
- Halogen lamps are close to incandescent lamps, they have low efficiency, if we talk about the emission of the required spectrum. But they are suitable for combined lighting.

- Metal halogen lamps look innovative, give a wide range. For installation on the lid, holders are required.

- Fluorescent lamps have several modifications, used to extend the duration of lighting

- Compact or spiral fluorescent lamps (economical) - a good option for a combined backlight.

The water column absorbs light, and the greater the volume of the aquarium, the deeper. Part of the world is delayed by the plants themselves, and a minimum reaches the bottom forms.

Aquarists have found a solution to this problem - to plant plants in a cascade or amphitheater, so that the front wall has a clear “clearing” to observe the fish, and a whole “forest” has already risen to the back wall.

Photo lighting aquarium
































