Underwater LED Aquarium Lights Make Beautiful Moon Lights

Many people like to use spotlights or highlights directly underwater in their aquarium. It's a great way to shine light into the nooks and crannies of your tank. Use underwater aquarium lights as unusual moonlights. See the nocturnal behavior of your fish. What do they get up to in the dark? It's worth keeping an eye on their night time activities, as gentle lunar illumination helps promote spawning activities.

Totally Submersible Underwater Lights

Before we continue, let's clear any confusion about what kind of aquarium lamps we are talking about. Elsewhere on the site you will find many articles about functional aquarium lighting, used to recreate sunlight to support life in your tank. This article is about submersible units kept permanently underwater. These products have the label submersible or underwater products.

LED Underwater Lights for Aquariums

Advances in LEDs made some exciting underwater aquarium lights available. LEDs are much better for fish tanks than the old incandescent bulbs. Colored bulbs are still useful for pond lighting, but they are a pain to use in tanks, because they generate heat, and they are so big -they are difficult to conceal.

For Decorative Purposes

Underwater LED lights are perfect submersible lights. Thin strips of LEDs you can place at the rear of your tank for a very subtle lighting effect. Please note, these lighting systems are not designed to fully illuminate the tank like your above-tank lighting. Underwater aquarium lights provide small area highlights, and low level nocturnal light. They are great as a nightlight for your room.

Automatic Night Lights

Before you buy any underwater fish tanks lights, check the length of the cord, and make sure it will reach your power supply easily. Cheap underwater lights don't come with a switch, only a plug. To enjoy the underwater lights fully, get an automatic timer. These are plugs that power the lights on and off according to the times you set. If you haven't already got one, use one to control your main lighting too.


Underwater tank lights can be fixed in place to the glass bottom with suction cups. If you don't want it half buried in substrate, you can fix it yourself - we use plastic handy ties. Some aggressive fish will give them abuse, our cichlids took a keen interest in them. Take care if you have bigger fish, you don't want them cutting through the cord.

Flexible LED Strips

One particular underwater aquarium light that attracts a lot of attention is the Orphek flexible LED strip. This product can be bent and flexed into any shape, so you can weave it around obstacles and fit it into the tightest of space in your tank. These things are cool little light strips - we use them outside of the aquarium as funky night lights on our porch!

Combined Light and Air Wands

Underwater aquarium lights have boomed in popularity now affordable LED's have come onto the market. One of the biggest applications is LED air stones. Combine your functional air bubbler with a nice decorative colored light. There are many LED air stones to choose from. Look for multiple colors, different color change speed. Most of the LED air stones are wand shaped. This is a useful format for artfully concealing it behind your tank scenery. Another format is the bubble ring.

Hidden Lighting Keeps It Natural Looking

Not every aquarium owner appreciates these underwater lights, as they strive for the most natural look. Modern LED lights are so small and thin, the underwater lighting can be completely hidden, just leaving the subtly moonshine effects. Underwater aquarium lighting can be a great way to add interest to your tank. Enjoy the aquatic scene night and day,with a cool underwater night light.