(Another) DIY LED Build - Linear Design

[TheFishMan65]

I have read but have no hard evidence that 1 watt of LED is equal to 3 watts of T5. So based on that for 54 watts of T5 you need 18 watts of LEDs or 6 three watt LEDs.

Another calculcation is LEDs per square inch for SPS you probably need 12-14. So that would be 96 to 120.

I know the number don't match. Since you don't have 16-20 T5 bulbs over the tank. I would lean toward the second set.

I hope this helps.

 

[dukeap]

I also voted, hope you win, this thread has been very helpful to me, and now i know what I need and dont need to built my led, right now am doing the 3D sketch once its done ill post it up to see what you guys think, keep up the good work

 

[katchupoy]

You'll never get a split Bwahahaha. At least I don't think so. The upgrade made them unneeded as I understand it.

And Congratulations! I voted first thing this morning.

thanks for the vote... is that so... no more split... lol... hahaha, was just kidding... but if you guys keep asking, I will keep answering... its like every night it became a habit of answering questions.... its like if I dont do it, my night is incomplete... hahahaha, pathetic....

 

[katchupoy]

I just ordered an additional 36 leds for a total of 72.

That is going to be intense..... make sure you have dimmable drivers. So you can slowly adjust it to your corals. also, I wish that you ordered other colors too like red, cyan and violet (420nm)... i wish I did.

I am now working on the final design and I wanted to know if you are happy with the solid rows of color. If you had it to do over again would you alternate color within each row?

If im going to do it again and using only 36. I will mix the two rails... and one solid (maybe blue) for dusk/dawn. The problem im having is i only have one rail of white in the middle. There is no problem except for the spread of the white... I wont just cover front to back without raising the light to 9"

Now if I have it mixed then that means I have white and blue on the front and the same at the back.

This is not a problem with your setup since you have so many lights (72) to cover the whole tank...

Again, If i have 48 leds, then Im going to keep the solid colors. But if im doing 36 then probably half half or mix.

Also I was planning on installing the lights inside a canopy but that will move the led's about 6 inches above the water line. With 6 rows of twelve led's do you think I will have adequate coverage for the entire tank?

Sorry but i dont understand the question. Let me disect it...
1) installing it inside canopy... I dont see any issue with that. Is it big enough to cover the whole surface area of your tank?
2) but that will move it 6".... move down? or up? is that good? or your saying you dont like it?
3) adequate? well my question is how big is your canopy? if its the same surface area then I dont see any issue. I believe your tank is like 4 inch deeper than my tank (front to back) and by looking at my tank as a reference, You just need 4 rails and it should cover front to back... Now you are asking if you have 6? Yes yes yes... I think its very good... even with optics at 6" from the water, you should be able to cover the whole tank...

Well let me rephrase that last sentence... Sometime we dont want it to cover the whole tank with LED... it will look like T5??? its like light everywhere... Dont you think it would be nice that you have like a concentrated light in the middle and a little bit dark on the sides? Not like very intense MH effect in the center where there is a hot spots... Bt not also like a T5 effect where everything is flat.... Something in the middle of those two... I cant explain it but I bet you got what Im trying to say...

Thats why on my diagram I have 9" spacing in the middle and I believe like 4" spacing on both ends.

 

[katchupoy]

Great setup and very innovative idea with the linear setup. I do have a quick question for you as I am setting up a similar system. I currently have a 150 w/ 48"wX30"dX24"h sps reef with 2 250 radiums on m80 ballasts. I would like to make a transition to led either fully or half a##ed. I am thinking that maybe I could use the 2 bulb t5 setup I have in the basement as a little extra kicker with a few rows of leds instead of my MH. Could you estimate how many t5's would be the equivalent of 1 row of leds? Would it be an even match? I would probably need at least 8 if not 10 rows of t5 to cover my tank so I am trying to get a handle on this situation. Thank you and again great work on your tank and the lighting.

To be honest, this is my dream tank... 150, deep enough front to back and also top to bottom. Congrats...

Wait, are you using 2x250 radiums only? or supplemented with something? If "only" so how do you dusk/dawn? maybe add 2rails x 12leds RBs? as actinic supplement? or radiums are already blue? maybe CW LEDs instead?

I have a feeling you want to remove MH? and switch to maybe T5 and LED combo? I cannot really comment on how many LEDs vs T5. There are so many factors. But I can tell you this. I have a DIY T5 x6 with a dull reflector because of the salt splash. I can say 12HP leds is to 2x39watt T5 hands down led wins. Now if you have the top of the line T5's then thats a different story.

Are you going to buy more T5 and a few LEDs to replace your MH? Why not just keep your MH for now and add two rails of LEDs.

Or maybe do this.... dont do the rail version, but instead do the island approach like the ones you see with big block of heat sink... but instead use channel put together... like maybe 18" of channel with 6 leds on it as one rail, then do several rails... so if we do 4x6 then you have 24 per side of your tank... or you can do 6x6 total of 36 leds... this way, you can replace one MH (side) of your tank at a time. I believe doing this way is cheaper also.

 

[katchupoy]

This thread and its simple graphs and schematics helped me understand the entire DIY LED project I'm about to put together.

Not to mention the OP is always willing to help.

I just voted. :beer:

For those all of you who voted... thanks...

 

[NickRummy]

Sometime we dont want it to cover the whole tank with LED... it will look like T5??? its like light everywhere... Dont you think it would be nice that you have like a concentrated light in the middle and a little bit dark on the sides? Not like very intense MH effect in the center where there is a hot spots...

This is my thought exactly. I don't feel like I need to fill my tank %100 with light. I'm ok with some darker spots, some brighter spots and in between.

I'll be mounting mine in a canopy as well. My LED's will probably be about 4" away from the light. I'll have (2) rows of whites and I'm going to try 60 degree optics first. I wasn't going to use any so that I could get more spread but it looks like I'd lose A LOT of concentrated light that way. If I go with the optics I might have some more hot spots but my rails will be adjustable front to back so I'll be able to tune that down.

 

[austin93]

Thank you for your comments. Yes, I am trying to get rid of the MH I have now and no I don't use anything for dusk to dawn. I am getting down to the time where I should replace the halides so I was actually planning on getting about 2 or 3 rows of leds to start and see what I thought of them. They would all be controlled by my apex, so I can get a nice effect in the evening and morning. Do you feel it would be better to have 2 rows, 1 with blue and 1 w/ white or better with 2 rows of blue and 1 row of xpg? I have heard xpg will overpower the royal blue with a 1 to 1 ratio. Thanks, and yes I love the dimensions of my tank just sometimes wish it was longer. That would also make lighting about a 1/3 more expensive at least too.

 

[TheFishMan65]

Austin,
I would recommend 2:1. I would also agree (katchupoy's earlier post if I read it right) that the outside 2 rails be mixed royal blue and white with the center rail blue.

 

[cveverly]

I also voted as this is a great thread. I was ready to buy LEDs when you posted this and you convinced me to go with channels. I ended up with a hybrid system of LEDs and T5s. I used 72 LEDs (2RB:1CW) and 4 T5 lamps to cover a 24x48x24 area of my tank that is SPS only. I have only had it running 4 days and the corals have already responded positively. I am not using optics yet as the fixture is only 5-6 inches from the water surface. I run the LEDs 16 hrs and the T5 I run 5 hours.

Thanks for your inspiration!

 

[TheFishMan65]

What did you have on it before? With 72 LED I am surprised you need any T5s. What current and LED types? Sort of surprised no one is getting a sunburn.

 

[cveverly]

What did you have on it before? With 72 LED I am surprised you need any T5s. What current and LED types? Sort of surprised no one is getting a sunburn.

I was using two 250 halides on the ends and a 400 watt halide in the center.

I am using Cree XP-E Royal Blue and Cree XP-G Cool White. I am using no optics so that may explain the lack of sunburn.

Here are a couple pictures.

 

[TheFishMan65]

Thanks, I understand those number now.

 

[katchupoy]

I also voted as this is a great thread. I was ready to buy LEDs when you posted this and you convinced me to go with channels. I ended up with a hybrid system of LEDs and T5s. I used 72 LEDs (2RB:1CW) and 4 T5 lamps to cover a 24x48x24 area of my tank that is SPS only. I have only had it running 4 days and the corals have already responded positively. I am not using optics yet as the fixture is only 5-6 inches from the water surface. I run the LEDs 16 hrs and the T5 I run 5 hours.

Thanks for your inspiration!

Please post pictures here (oops, you did post pics).... I like to see the results... what t5 lamps did you use... is there a fiji... i love fiji... they make my anemonies pop...

 

[katchupoy]

What did you have on it before? With 72 LED I am surprised you need any T5s. What current and LED types? Sort of surprised no one is getting a sunburn.

Im with Fishman... if you put optics in those, then its a big big difference.. in terms of intensity.. you will not need those t5??? except for fiji...

 

[cveverly]

I will add optics in time. T5s are Blue+ I had that were not in use. I need to get new tubes but I have yet to decide what to get.

Here is another picture LEDs only. One thing to note is a 9 foot window supplying a lot of natural light. Colors are much different at night.

 

[katchupoy]

I need to get new tubes but I have yet to decide what to get.

I like that shot... one note, when you add optics, you will have high contrast effect... Highlights and shadows because the light source will become like MH which is one point light source. In this case several one point light source...

Right now, everything looks like T5, a bit flat and diffused. Not saying this is bad... I just want to let you know the difference... if you like this look, then there is no point of optics...

 

[thewarbrd]

Hi Cesar, I've read through this thread and it's inspired me to make the move to LED on my 75g, pretty much duplicating what you've done on yours, (36 @ 2:1). The one thing I havent been able to pin down for certain is what type of optics you used on your whites? It looked like in the pictures something was on them, but they didnt look like the ones you have on the blues and reading through everything I only saw mention of optics used on the blues.

Thanks again for providing such detailed build info!!!

 

[cveverly]

The one thing I havent been able to pin down for certain is what type of optics you used on your whites? It looked like in the pictures something was on them, but they didnt look like the ones you have on the blues

I may be able to help with this question. The XP-G and XR-E LEDs use very different looking optics. If you look at the following picture you can see the two different types. I think he used 60 degree optics.

 

[katchupoy]

cleverly is correct. XR-E use big optics ones, And XP-E and XP-G uses the small ones... I have 65deg for the XR-Es and 45 for the XP-?s. Hope this helps. XP-E's are the newer replacement of XR-E. They both run @ 700 ma but the XP's are more efficient and more lumen.

thewarbrd

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