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Thoughts on the ADA Background light

Nathanh2150

Member
Joined
9 Oct 2020
Messages
263
Location
Norwich
Hi All,
Today wile visiting my favourite aquascaping store in Norwich I came across an ADA Background Lighting Unit that goes on the back of the aquarium which can be dimmed to the preferred ambience to suite your aquarium. I am more then likely gonna dibble into my savings to get one for my aquascaper 900 but I wouldn’t know where to start to look for one at a bargain of a price I’m not fussed if it’s brand new or second hand as long as it’s all in working condition without any issues. The only reason I have thought about this as I have made a small mistake with my aquarium where I’m not able to move it as it’s in a very tight corner of the room and the wall is painted white but it’s making the water look like a yellow tinge colour even when a water change has been done ✅. There’s enough room for my fingers to go to the back of the tank but for my arm that’s a no go 🙅‍♂️ so not even able to stick a backing to the tank and smoothing it down and really don’t want to drain it all the way down and remove all the inner items in the tank to get to just the back of the tank. I’m probs waffling on but want to add as much information as possible 😆 btw if anyone has one that’s not designed by Ada but a 3rd party please let me know and add your photos 👍🏻
 

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Looks good. Saw one yesterday at Aquarium Gardens. But in my opinion the price of it is astronomical for what it is. There is a slightly cheaper version of the same thing. Can’t quite remember the name but if you look on Aquarium gardens website you will find it. This is still quite pricey as well though.

Wonder if it’s worth a DIY attempt if you are handy? Make an acrylic box, find some opaque film that graduates from blue to white. Cover internal face of acrylic with a white or opaque film. Find a relatively cheap dimmable led and fit it in the bottom?
I’ve never seen one for sale 2nd hand, so not sure where you would find one for sale 👍
 
Hi 👋
Thankyou for your message if only I could get to aquarium gardens to take a look as Iv seen so many YouTube videos with this store featured in. I haven’t contacted them as of yet as didn’t know if they sold the Ada light as only came across it today when I went into scapenature 😊 I would like to say I’m diy confident but Yh I’m not i wouldn’t even know where to start.. hehe 🙃. I did think the same as the price is rather high but I guess you pay for the brand like everything elc these days hopefully soon they come down In price.
 
Looks really good 👍🏻 and I wouldn’t know where to start on building one plus I won’t want to put all the work in to then find out it’s not the right colouration for the background with the led lights.
 
Well............. this didn't take long.. Sorry it's just funny to me.

Chinese knockoff..Only about $50US cheaper (after shipping).. China's slipping..
 
I don’t think it has any benefits to the plants more of just a back light.. as scapenature didn’t advise on any benefits to the light apart from the dimmer options and sizes. And yes I had already seen this one listed on eBay but thought to reach out to everyone that’s reads this post to see if they have got one in the Uk at a more reasonable price mark
 
if I was in the market for something like that, I'd go for the lightground one - I have built quite a few lightboxes for arty purposes and it's tricky to get a clean overall light in a diy one with LED strips, they need to go sideways and you need either more depth or more opacity to avoid it looking spotty . If I was to try it, I'd get samples of white and translucent acrylics from one of the many online custom plastics people in different thicknesses and see which ones would blur out your chosen LEDs with least loss of brightness in combination with a custom graduated opaque vinyl from one of the many POD sign companies out there. When you're happy, sandwich the vinyl between your opaque and a thin sheet of clear in the skinniest container your LEDs will allow (aluminium channel is spot on for this sort of job) use a decent glue like E6000 to glue the acrylic to your frame and make the back removable for maintenance, doctor a couple of s hooks to hang it
And now I want to make one😬
 
if I was in the market for something like that, I'd go for the lightground one - I have built quite a few lightboxes for arty purposes and it's tricky to get a clean overall light in a diy one with LED strips, they need to go sideways and you need either more depth or more opacity to avoid it looking spotty . If I was to try it, I'd get samples of white and translucent acrylics from one of the many online custom plastics people in different thicknesses and see which ones would blur out your chosen LEDs with least loss of brightness in combination with a custom graduated opaque vinyl from one of the many POD sign companies out there. When you're happy, sandwich the vinyl between your opaque and a thin sheet of clear in the skinniest container your LEDs will allow (aluminium channel is spot on for this sort of job) use a decent glue like E6000 to glue the acrylic to your frame and make the back removable for maintenance, doctor a couple of s hooks to hang it
And now I want to make one😬
Seems not too spotty here .See post 40.
Slightly different concept though.
I'm sure a camera and post processing could show some unevenness..:)

Vids gone... it was 7 years ago.
 
Seems not too spotty here .See post 40.
Slightly different concept though.
I'm sure a camera and post processing could show some unevenness..:)
yep, different concept- he has a lot of loss of intensity halfway , and I bet that foamcore didn't last long (massive dust magnet, and it warps if it's not supported properly), my musings are based on it being a true lightbox rather than a backlight so the intensity is even all over and moderated only by whatever gradient film you use
 
yep, different concept- he has a lot of loss of intensity halfway , and I bet that foamcore didn't last long (massive dust magnet, and it warps if it's not supported properly), my musings are based on it being a true lightbox rather than a backlight so the intensity is even all over and moderated only by whatever gradient film you use
Frosted film is placed right on the glass.. (cuts par (maybe) but I digress). Any white reflective surface will work instead of foamcore.

Aluminum.. wood.
Doesn't solve the lightbox problem but a LED tv screen would work.. :)
Besides the gradient is really part of the aesthetics..
You could probably get a flat screen tv cheaper than the ADA thing.. sorry the TV thing actually was a concept when contemplating some bizarre types of aquarium lighting..
another idea.. yea more of a picture frame thing..
 
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Pretty sure I've seen something like that using a laptop screen backlight somewhere on my perambulations round t'interwebs, possibly Reddit

If I remember correctly I believe I figured the output was too low for a planted tank and/or cofiguring say a tablet screen w/ asst circuitry ect was well above my paygrade.
 
Expensive yes, but they look great to the right aquascape in IMO. I bought the Ada one in Japan and then realised it wouldn’t fit in my luggage so returned! As you would expect the build quality is excellent
 
I believe this is the more cost effective one vs the ADA unit:


@Ady has both in his journal here: Aftermath. (ADA on the left, Light Ground on the right)
 
I believe this is the more cost effective one vs the ADA unit:


@Ady has both in his journal here: Aftermath. (ADA on the left, Light Ground on the right)
Would this fit my aquascaper 900 ? As this would be ideal for my setup and would like to give it a go.
 
Would this fit my aquascaper 900 ? As this would be ideal for my setup and would like to give it a go.

you would need the larger 90cm variant ofcourse:

 
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