any LED DIY guides for idiots out there?

shrimphead

New member
planning on setting up some led lights for 3 propergation tanks I got.
which is about 3ft by 3ft, and about 1' 5" tall so are like shallow cubes.
I have about 30cm room above the tank to hang them.
I will be houseing mostly lps and softies but may have a tank for sps too so would have 2 moderate to high light units and one with more LEDS.

so I think I know the basic components needed from looking at LED builds (LEDS, heatsinks, fan, drivers, wires) but I would like to know exactly how it works so I can work out how many LEDS I need for how many drivers ect.


things I need to reasearch
1. how many LEDs I need that a sufficient for moderate to low-high corals
2. I want to have around 5 or 6 different coloured LEDS (mostly cree) but not sure if it's worth having lots of different colours whats your guys opinion
3. I need to work out the spacing of the LEDs
4. wether i should get optics.
5. how to get most of the light into the aquarium and not spilling out the tank.
6.i want all the colours dimmable.
7.good heatsinks
8. fan(if needed)
9.spash guard.

also need to know how prone are you to an electric shock from these DIY fixtures. I just spent a ton of money putting up a load of waterproof sockets to make it extra safe. would seem a bit pointless of me to do all that if you can easily get shocked from it, especially when your reaching underneath it all the time with wet hands.

sorry I'm a noob on this LED stuff, thx rob
 
I built mine with Bridglux and have had great luck with them. My hard corals do fine, I put 100 leds on my 6foot 125gal tank.
 
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