Power saving tips and ways to save money!?

[sphelps]

If you're going to submerse LED strips make sure you get IP68 rating, most are IP65 to 67 which qualifies as waterproof but not for long term submersion. The bigger issue however will be the constant need to clean the algae film off them, not sure you'll gain any benefit compared to just mounting them closer to the water surface without actually submersing them. You could always rig up a liquid cooled heat sink with some titanium tubing using tank water to extract the heat into the tank but not likely very cost effective.

[mike31154]

Originally Posted by sphelps

If you're going to submerse LED strips make sure you get IP68 rating, most are IP65 to 67 which qualifies as waterproof but not for long term submersion.

Good point about the IP rating. I should have mentioned that as well. And yea, the algae cleaning would get old pretty quick I reckon. May not be as much of an issue for our freshwater friends though.