lucky_snapper
New member
Anyone here doing a large tank build with all LED lighting ? I am planning on doing all LED with my 210 and want to see how others have set theirs up..
ALL Led
- Thread starter lucky_snapper
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Eric the half-bee
Passer of gasses
I'm planning the same down the road. Hopefully next 6-12 months. The savings in bulbs and electric will pay for it quickly(2 years). I found a local LFS that is having his made in China(of course) with 300 watt output, built in timer, coolong fan and 2 year warranty for aboot $550/unit.
tom obrecht
Active member
Here's a former TOTM that recently made a video and changed to LEDs. Very impressive! Hope this helps.
http://www.youtube.com/user/reefkeeper2?feature=chclk
http://www.youtube.com/user/reefkeeper2?feature=chclk
aquamn1999
Member
My tank is 350 gallons 96 x 36 x 24 and it is all LED. Here is a picture from about 6 months ago.
lucky_snapper
New member
That sounds good but I am gonna go DIY and do it myself. From my experience most of the commercially built LED light fixtures that that you buy are either underpowered or overly expensive or both. Also buying direct from China can have its problems.. you would just never know what the quality of the piece would be.. In order for the fixture to be productive you are going to need hi intensity LED's like the Cree 3w XR-E and XP-G.
lucky_snapper
New member
The plan that I have laid out in my head is to use 110 LED's in a 60/40 split for display and 5 royal blues for moonlighting purposes. The problems that I see with the Rapid LED kits is that the drivers that they use can only power 12-14 LED's at a time.. I have been doing some research and I think that I found a meanwell driver that can power all of the blues and another one that can power all of the whites. So I will be able to run 2 dimmable drivers instead of 10. Also I think that it will be much cheaper to go this route.. The XP-E blues can be bought with optics from Rapid for $4 each and the XP-G's with optics run $5 and the meanwell drivers are $100 each. I am thinking of running 3 heat sinks bolted to an aluminum frame. The heat sinks are about 30 each so figure in wire and thermal paste and a few misc and I should have a custom built set up for under $800. Which is less than if I were to go with a Rapid pre-built kit with the same amount of lights..
i built two led fixtures for my 210g in april. i used a two to one ratio of blue to white cree XP-Es with a strip of white XP-Gs down the middle i only did six but most people do 12. i am currently running led link 80degree optics and i have seen outstanding growth from the top all the way to the bottom. not to mention the cree leds can run at 9v and i am only running the blues at 4.5v and the whites at 3v and the XP-Gs are not even running yet for fear that i will burn every thing. i will be adding a third fixture in the next couple of months when i get the money. the fixtures measure 18x8.5. the best place to order the kits are from http://reefledlights.com/.
here are some pics
here are some pics
Eric the half-bee
Passer of gasses
That's great to DIY. I'm too lazy to do it myself. I've seen the sets, I referred to in the LFS, in action and the results have been impressive.
lucky_snapper
New member
i built two led fixtures for my 210g in april. i used a two to one ratio of blue to white cree XP-Es with a strip of white XP-Gs down the middle i only did six but most people do 12. i am currently running led link 80degree optics and i have seen outstanding growth from the top all the way to the bottom. not to mention the cree leds can run at 9v and i am only running the blues at 4.5v and the whites at 3v and the XP-Gs are not even running yet for fear that i will burn every thing. i will be adding a third fixture in the next couple of months when i get the money. the fixtures measure 18x8.5. the best place to order the kits are from http://reefledlights.com/.
here are some pics
This is really an awesome setup .. and exactly what I was looking for when I made this thread.. So if I see correctly you are running 84 leds total with 21 white ? I am really on the fence as to how many white I will actually need. I have see a few LED setups in person and they are spectacular.. Which driver did u end up using ? I checked out reefledlights.com and they have some nice stuff but it is alittle more expensive then rapidled or heatsinksusa .. I was planning on doing 3 12x8 setups and they have them for $30 a piece. Granted they are not drilled but I might not even go that route anyway. Overall you have a very nice setup!!
each fixture has 24 blue 12 white and 6 XP-Gs. i am using the meanwell dimmable drivers. each driver runs 12 leds. i used the thermal epoxy to attach the leds to the heat sink not drilled and tapped.(however i have another diy light i did for my 10g nano that i did drill and tap and it was not difficult). the fixtures i have now i ordered my leds and drivers from cutter electronics in Australia, i ordered my heatsink from heatsink USA, and i ordered my optics from Reef led. after doing some math and factoring in the reef club discount, it came out cheaper to just order every thing from Reef led. i am getting a diy controller that will control all of the leds. also the downfall to having all the leds on one driver if you do not have a controller is they will all come on at the same time. i step mine on one row at the time. my t5s come on first, then one row of blues, then the next of blues, then the whites and once i get the xp-gs up and running they would be next and then the turn off the same way. Now if you have a controller you can just bring all the the blues on at the same time and not have to worry about having that much light on all the time.
ReefPharmer
Active member
When i read the number of sols you had, i started having hickups. Props to you, my hand wouldnt lift to pay that much for lights.
lucky_snapper
New member
Yes I definitely plan on running a controller.
lucky_snapper
New member
Well the cool thing about LED's, especially DIY LED's is that you do not have to buy them all at once..I am by no means a rich guy so I am going to break down my purchases in to sections.. this month I might order the first kit and build it and then next month the second and so on..
lucky_snapper
New member
Kels- I would love to hear more about your build. What was the ratio of blue/ royal blue to white that you used. How many LED's did you go with ? Do you have a 5 or 6 ft tank ??
LOTUS50GOD
Active member
I have a 340.. All LED. I am using 6 AI Sols..
david00061
New member
can you post links to pics
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