LED Planning
Printed From: Utah Reefs
Category: Specialized Discussion
Forum Name: DIY
Forum Description: Do it Yourself
URL: http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=59396
Printed Date: August 20 2025 at 8:26pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.03 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: LED Planning
Posted By: Erikts
Subject: LED Planning
Date Posted: October 02 2012 at 4:06pm
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SEE FINAL IN END POST I am thinking about this kit http://www.aquastyleonline.com/products/90--LEDs--DIY-Dimmable-Kit.html" rel="nofollow - http://www.aquastyleonline.com/products/90--LEDs--DIY-Dimmable-Kit.html Any experience or advise would be great. ------------- 34G solana |
Replies:
Posted By: aquablue
Date Posted: October 02 2012 at 5:06pm
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That looks like a fairly decent kit, I'd go with the option with the violet and red if I was getting that setup. What lights are over your 75g now, what color temps? ------------- 12G Nano Cube | DIY LED Member of GCFB |
Posted By: ReefKeeper78
Date Posted: October 02 2012 at 6:07pm
| Seems like a decent kit, I didn't see what the driver brand was but if it works it works. |
Posted By: phys
Date Posted: October 05 2012 at 2:56am
| it seems that the kit's leds do not provide as near as much light output per watt as youd recieve with cree leds. that will be the major downfall of the system you have here. it will be about 50% as bright as youd get with cree leds over the bridgelux that are provided. which means you'll be wanting to run them closer to the max output which will decrease their lifespan. |
Posted By: Erikts
Date Posted: November 07 2012 at 2:10pm
 Changed plans------------- 34G solana |
Posted By: Erikts
Date Posted: November 07 2012 at 2:13pm
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I am going to use Bridgelux leds. ------------- 34G solana |
Posted By: phys
Date Posted: November 07 2012 at 4:08pm
| i havent worked with bridgelux leds but make sure you know what you're getting. You dont want to get LEDs with less output and have to purchase more to get what you need. |
Posted By: ReefKeeper78
Date Posted: November 07 2012 at 10:29pm
| My feeling is if your running green you really don't need cyan since cyan is a mix of blue and green. Bridgelux are not as powerful as the cree's so there will be some loss of efficiency, not sure of best known running amperage is on those LED's either so can't really tell you what powers your going to have with the driver just know that running parallel strings with the eln-60 that each stings max out will be 650mA. On cree whites that is way under running them. Post a spec sheet on the LED if you got one? |
Posted By: ReefKeeper78
Date Posted: November 07 2012 at 10:40pm
| Oh and I would do more RB then B like reverse that, 18RB and 6B. IMHO |
Posted By: Erikts
Date Posted: November 08 2012 at 7:16am
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I cant find Spec Sheets but the website says Max. current: 700mA ------------- 34G solana |
Posted By: ReefKeeper78
Date Posted: November 08 2012 at 8:31am
| That being the case you should be fine running those in parallel but that does say a lot about the power of the LED's, the Cree whites can handle more then double that (not saying you would run them that hard) Also will be important to balance the strings correctly, If not you could end up with 1 sting running 750 and the other at 550mA, in which case you will see a sting fail quick, with how much led's cost I don't want to see that happen to anyone. Make sure to use some 1 ohm resistors for current testing and I would personally put fuses on the parallel sets for safety sake would use a 3/4 watt Fast blow type. |
Posted By: ajsahm
Date Posted: November 08 2012 at 10:48am
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I am looking at the same company. I have stock lighting in a BC so it really needs some help. I am very new to this so I was wondering what ratio everyone thinks I should get? http://www.aquastyleonline.com/products/Aquarium-24--LEDs--DIY-Dimmable-Kit.html ------------- 75g - In the process of building |
Posted By: ajsahm
Date Posted: November 08 2012 at 11:18am
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ok this is what I was thinking $99.00 LED Color Options:18 white 16 blue 2 red = 36 led dimable for a 29g biocube White LEDs: 50% 10000k 50% 6500k LED Drivers: Maxwellen 12-20 leds (x2) Optics: 60 degree - other option is 80 or 45? ------------- 75g - In the process of building |
Posted By: phys
Date Posted: November 08 2012 at 1:00pm
| your optics will determine how high you set your fixture from the water. That's it. Calculate the angle you'd like to see at the height you want it then choose your optics. I have standard 120 degree optics on mine at a height of 6 inches about and it covers just enough. |
Posted By: phys
Date Posted: November 08 2012 at 1:05pm
| oh and I discovered you can use regular old everyday power supplies. I built a new 8 LED system using 5$ 1A 15v supplies off eBay. They weren't as accurate on the output so test the amperage and voltage and add resistors and fuses accordingly. |
Posted By: ReefKeeper78
Date Posted: November 08 2012 at 4:06pm
IMHO I would go Royal blue rather then just blue, The other colors depend on the "Look" you are trying to achieve. I have a 180 72x24x24 and I don't use any optics with my lights about 6" off the water, so like Phys said it depends on how high you want the fixtures off the tank.
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ajsahm wrote:Posted By: phys
Date Posted: November 08 2012 at 4:56pm
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I'll have to second that about the royal blue.. That's the peak wavelength absorption of chlorophill, that's the stuff the corals use for photosynthetic energy. You'll be only mildly supplementing their abosorptions on the tailing ends of the response with the blue. So you should have more royal blues and fewer blues, the corals will get more usable light that way. You can check it out a bit here: http://www.dahlia-mds.co.uk/Topics/Propagation_2011_3.htm" rel="nofollow - http://www.dahlia-mds.co.uk/Topics/Propagation_2011_3.htm When you look at that, remember that you're not going to need as much in the red due to the fact that most coral live a bit further down in the ocean so the amount of red light at the longer wavelengths is not reaching them. So they have evolved to respond more effectively to the shorter blue wavelengths of light. So dont wast too much money on your red LEDs. Your green LEDs are definitely there for reflectivity of the surface of the corals and just for pure asthetics. The absorption of light in the green is so small, you will not realy see too much of an growth by the coral using it... hence, that's why you see so many corals have green in them. You see the colors that are not absorbed. Your blues will help with the blueish corals that you may obtain later on in your build. That'll help pop the colors, so definitely keep a bit of each of them in there for looks. Now you may want to change your mind on that specific wavelength of UV... If you want something that will help your corals, try something that peaks in the 425nm wavelength if you can find them. That will help catch the chlorophill a thats resides in smaller amounts in coral. It also causes a fluroescence in the coral at a bit redder wavelenghts than you see with actinics. I'm not sure as to how much you'll see, but hey, give it a try! Here's a link about that: http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=peak+wavelength+of+chlorophyll+in+corals&view=detail&id=D1BB1C440DFB01441E02949B10F2F7EDCF3180EA" rel="nofollow - http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=peak+wavelength+of+chlorophyll+in+corals&view=detail&id=D1BB1C440DFB01441E02949B10F2F7EDCF3180EA
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Posted By: ajsahm
Date Posted: November 09 2012 at 8:37am
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Wow thanks for the great info! I will get to reading. I appreciate the help. I am planing on mounting these in the hood of a coralife biocube to replace the stock lighting. ------------- 75g - In the process of building |
Posted By: Erikts
Date Posted: March 02 2013 at 9:56am
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Finally DONE!!!!! Bridgelux LEDs, Rapid LED Heat Sinks, What a chore. Here are some final pics. Now to Program the apex and hang them over the tank. FTS to follow in a few days.     ------------- 34G solana |
Posted By: Shad
Date Posted: March 12 2013 at 2:52pm
| I'm curious as to how much time you have invested in all the soldering work.. Holy cow.. |
Posted By: Erikts
Date Posted: March 12 2013 at 4:11pm
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Only a few hours to solder the main part of the fixture. A good Soldering Iron and I used extra flux on each joint. I have had several areas that were not planned properly and I had to rework several times  . ------------- 34G solana |
Posted By: ReefKeeper78
Date Posted: March 12 2013 at 4:36pm
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Good to see you used some powerwerx poles to connect them up.. Makes for a much cleaner build.. ------------- 180Gal Reef with 576 Watts of LED's 16Gal Innovative Marine Nano LED lit 150 Gal Frag tank with MH PADI Dive certified sure love that ocean.. |