nemosworld
New member
if you are going to do that, then just get heatsinks. this is how your leds should look with channels:
for the last two days i have been running them for 8 hours with no fan and so far they can still be touched by my hand.
Aquastyleonline.com LED questions.
- Thread starter RotaryGeek
- Start date
if you are going to do that, then just get heatsinks. this is how your leds should look with channels:
for the last two days i have been running them for 8 hours with no fan and so far they can still be touched by my hand.
andrewbram
New member
very nice nemo I always like a visual refrence. I think I saw that earlier in the thread or maybe another thread but I have honestly done nothing but read on here for two weeks straight so my mind becomes mush.(took time off work before starting some classes so nothing but spare time lol). So do the wires get ran on inside of that channel I assume. Also It was mentioned that there are other light controllers would you happen to have any links to them. ANd if you dont run optics are these leds capable to penatrate 21inch depth effectively.
the controllers I was refering to were:
Typon http://www.boostled.com/products/typhon-led-controller-kit?utm_source=google-product-search sure enough they edited the link
only works with PWM controlled drivers such as the ones listed on the site (this is basicaly the same thing that many of the diy conroler threads are building, it just comes ready to go out of the box, no assembly or programing know how needed, and is about the same cost as trying to build it yourself)
the other one is called a DIM4 and I don't know if my link will work since reef central is boycotting the seller of this (in a rather distastful way IMO, if you try to post their name correctly RC edits it to something rather vulgar) since they are a sponser on another reef forum but here goes (the site is IT IS ON THE CENSOR FOR A REASON): http://www.clay-boa.com/dim4-4-port-led-sunrise-sunset-controller-v1-0/ sure enough they edited the link
good product from what I can tell as it does a bit more that just turn the lights up and down.
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andrewbram
New member
Thanks Zach and nemo you have been a tremendous help. Does that second one work with the meanwells. couldnt see the link it says error 404 lol. So if I just search dim 4 I will find it I assume. I think I have all my info other then the controller figured out.
Yeah, just search for DIM4 and you'll find it. they have a very nice user manual that you can read about how it works. It works with the meanwell 'D' drivers 0-10volt dimming.
semigodd154
New member
I have a 36 x 36 x18 cubeish 16 in water depth what would be a recommended setup for this tank it is to be mostly sps with a few random lps and softies thrown in for movement and is this something i can pay extra for and have it put together before shipping i can build a house but this is beyond me no patience lol what colors would evryone recommend and how high should this be mounted thanks in advance for the opinions
nemosworld
New member
giving the affordability of these leds, i would put 72 leds over your tank.
18 per heatsink, two in the front and to in the back, you can then use channel to make a mount for them. and either hang them or put them in your canopy.
get the kit that has uv and red in it.
18 per heatsink, two in the front and to in the back, you can then use channel to make a mount for them. and either hang them or put them in your canopy.
get the kit that has uv and red in it.
Anyone had any luck on pricing, acquisition of 0-10V controlled pots? (http://www.micronor.com/products.php?category=Potentiometers - Motorized and Manual&offset=0)
platylover
Member
For those of you buying the heatsinks, which ones are you getting? And how many of the LEDs are you able to fit on the three largest sizes, 7.1x11.9 or 7.1x15.8 or 7.7x19.8?
I'm thinking of getting the 72 led kit with two heatsinks for a 120G build (48x24x24). I plan to mount in a canopy with the LEDs about 6 to 7 inches from the water. Which size do you think I need to get good coverage/spread at that height? I'm a bit concerned with the closeness to the water causing a spotlight affect if the heatsinks aren't large enough
If I go with the u channel aluminum, I'm thinking 40 inches for each tube would be okay. I don't think I would need to extend the entire 48" width, right?
The tank is euro- braced so I have an 18x42 unobstructed opening.
I'm thinking of getting the 72 led kit with two heatsinks for a 120G build (48x24x24). I plan to mount in a canopy with the LEDs about 6 to 7 inches from the water. Which size do you think I need to get good coverage/spread at that height? I'm a bit concerned with the closeness to the water causing a spotlight affect if the heatsinks aren't large enough
If I go with the u channel aluminum, I'm thinking 40 inches for each tube would be okay. I don't think I would need to extend the entire 48" width, right?
The tank is euro- braced so I have an 18x42 unobstructed opening.
project-roc
New member
I just ordered the 72kit for my 75gal. I upgraded the drivers to meanwells and are running them parallel. I ordered 44royal blues, 4 reds, 12-10000k whites and 12-6500k whites, all with 80* optics. Each drivers are running 24leds, which the meanwells seem to have enough Power for at least 26 of them . I have one driver wired and tested it out last night, I had to turn the sv2 (inside the meanwell) down quite a bit in order to drive each string around 650ma. Does anyone know if these LEDs can be safely ran higher than 650ma? I was under the impression that 700 was the max? Anyway this is what I have done as of now.
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platylover
Member
Nemosworld, I see you are recommending the 72 kits with the 2red &2uv. Would that be enough red and uv LEDs to make a difference? Also, would these be run without optics to get better spread?
Thanks
Thanks
MADtanks
Stix Anyone?
So I have some good news guys, I did a PAR test tonight and am happy to say the results are pleasing.
Fixture sits 12" above the water, sand is at about 38" from the fixture! and 27ish inches from the water line(sandbed is between 1 - 2" ).
PAR Results:
above water(about 11" from LED's): 800
4" under water: 5 - 600(brace blocking some light)
14" under water: 300
Sand bed: between 40 - 80 at corners(no rock) 100 front glass, 160 Center of the sandbed
I will be adding 2 80W T5s(60") and do another test, im sure at this point I will be able to grow the SPS in those low light corners. Most of my High dollar SPS will be on the top of all the rock work(sweet spot of around 300PAR) so i am more than happy with the results, and the rest will be for low light demanding SPS, as well as some Zoas, and Acans at the sand bed(center of the tank) I was going to go with the 80* optics but at this point the way i redid the rock work i no longer feel the need to. I am sure the T5s are going to fill in the gaps that I am missing with the LED's so im a happy camper now.
Pics to come when i take readings with the 60" T5s, and without.
Fixture sits 12" above the water, sand is at about 38" from the fixture! and 27ish inches from the water line(sandbed is between 1 - 2" ).
PAR Results:
above water(about 11" from LED's): 800
4" under water: 5 - 600(brace blocking some light)
14" under water: 300
Sand bed: between 40 - 80 at corners(no rock) 100 front glass, 160 Center of the sandbed
I will be adding 2 80W T5s(60") and do another test, im sure at this point I will be able to grow the SPS in those low light corners. Most of my High dollar SPS will be on the top of all the rock work(sweet spot of around 300PAR) so i am more than happy with the results, and the rest will be for low light demanding SPS, as well as some Zoas, and Acans at the sand bed(center of the tank) I was going to go with the 80* optics but at this point the way i redid the rock work i no longer feel the need to. I am sure the T5s are going to fill in the gaps that I am missing with the LED's so im a happy camper now.
Pics to come when i take readings with the 60" T5s, and without.
nemosworld
New member
based on all of the reading i have being doing, i think they help, just don't know if two of each is enough, i do know that the reds are really strong so you do not want to add too many, they will over power the other colors.
the uv combined with with gives your corals a nice pop. i have to order some uv for my rig, not adding red, green or any other color though. i like my blue tank, but i also like a crytal clean white tank as well.
the only reason i recommend the kit above is because if you do not like the red or uv, the kits normally comes with extra leds, so you can easily swap them out.
Well I put my fixture up above the tank tonight. I'm not 100% finished with it, still need to make an outer housing to make it look pretty (didn't go canopy style, mine is hanging from the ceiling which is a whole other ordeal considering it isn't balanced like my current usa fixture was, but I wanted to re-use hardware at least)
As for PAR, I have to shoot a video of this as nobody would probably believe me, but over 12" off the water surface, I still have the plastic film on the lexan, and 6" below the water line I had 1300 par on my apogee meter. That's 2 very tight clusters of 38 led's a piece, with 60 degree optics on a 75g tank. It drops down to about 300-350 on the sand bed full blast, but I've trimmed it back to about 350 par at the top of the tank as that is what my old outer orbit fixture was.
I also implemented the 24 hour lighting setup with utilizing a relay on this setup. I split the blue led's between the heatsinks and drivers. All the whites on one heat sink are a single driver, but only half of the blues, and half of the blues on the other heat sink are wired to one driver. The remaining 2 halves are wired to another.
This leaves me 3 cords on the fixture. 1 cord for white, 1 cord for full blast blues (actinic portion basically), and 1 cord for moonlighting.
The moonlighting cord gets power 100% of the time, and is wired to a relay which is powered by the actinic cord. When the actinics aren't powered from my dc8, my dimmer wires stay open by taking one of the dimmer wires to the pot, the other wire comes off the pot and goes to the common of the relay, and the other dimmer wire is placed on the normally open contact of the relay.
As soon as the actinics come on, the coil is energized, and closes the contact to the normally open side of the relay. This now completes the dimmer circuit through the pot and my 'moonlights' come up to full strength as well as the other bank of blue led's.
That relay is in stock at most radio shacks for under $10 if anybody else wants to do that cheapo 24 hour lighting trick. My next project will be an arduino, but I have a few other things to do first before I start on it.
As for PAR, I have to shoot a video of this as nobody would probably believe me, but over 12" off the water surface, I still have the plastic film on the lexan, and 6" below the water line I had 1300 par on my apogee meter. That's 2 very tight clusters of 38 led's a piece, with 60 degree optics on a 75g tank. It drops down to about 300-350 on the sand bed full blast, but I've trimmed it back to about 350 par at the top of the tank as that is what my old outer orbit fixture was.
I also implemented the 24 hour lighting setup with utilizing a relay on this setup. I split the blue led's between the heatsinks and drivers. All the whites on one heat sink are a single driver, but only half of the blues, and half of the blues on the other heat sink are wired to one driver. The remaining 2 halves are wired to another.
This leaves me 3 cords on the fixture. 1 cord for white, 1 cord for full blast blues (actinic portion basically), and 1 cord for moonlighting.
The moonlighting cord gets power 100% of the time, and is wired to a relay which is powered by the actinic cord. When the actinics aren't powered from my dc8, my dimmer wires stay open by taking one of the dimmer wires to the pot, the other wire comes off the pot and goes to the common of the relay, and the other dimmer wire is placed on the normally open contact of the relay.
As soon as the actinics come on, the coil is energized, and closes the contact to the normally open side of the relay. This now completes the dimmer circuit through the pot and my 'moonlights' come up to full strength as well as the other bank of blue led's.
That relay is in stock at most radio shacks for under $10 if anybody else wants to do that cheapo 24 hour lighting trick. My next project will be an arduino, but I have a few other things to do first before I start on it.
So, has anyone used the "heatsink plaster" that comes with these kits, and does it really work, ie stick and more importantly conduct heat well enough? A better question, what exactly is the stuff, the instructions that came with my kit say it dries in 10 minutes but it appears to be a one part adheasive........ or would I be better off getting some archtic alumina two part if I get lazy and decide not to drill and tap the heatsink like I orriginaly planned?
Not bad on thier shipping time, 8 days from when I placed my order, tracking said it would arrive on friday, but to my pleasant surprise it was sitting on my desk at work when I got back from a meeting before lunch today! So much for getting anything productive done after work this week
heck I didn't get a confirmation that it had even shipped from Fedex until last Friday! So that's only 4 days from Hong Kong to Missouri.
Not bad on thier shipping time, 8 days from when I placed my order, tracking said it would arrive on friday, but to my pleasant surprise it was sitting on my desk at work when I got back from a meeting before lunch today! So much for getting anything productive done after work this week
heck I didn't get a confirmation that it had even shipped from Fedex until last Friday! So that's only 4 days from Hong Kong to Missouri.I used the plaster without issues. Leds stay cool and i can feel my heatsink absorb a lot of it. I run a baffled fan on it now and it stays nice and cold. I also have the optics pressed up against lexan too so i never glued those down as they couldn't go anywhere
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
nemosworld
New member
i used the heatsink plaster on my rig with no issues, the great thing about them is that they hold the leds real good, and when and if you need to swap out a led, it comes easy as well.
Excellent! I think I'll be lazy and use the plaster. Dread, I like you idea of using the splash gaurd to holdon the optics, makes them changeable that way. did you use the holders or just set the lens on the led and hold it in place with lexan? The holders seem like the snap on pretty tight and I'd be afraid to remove them.
Once you get all finished I'd love to see some pictures.
viper12775
New member
i have a question ive been running 2 60w cree fixtures i upgraded my tank so i needed 1 more fixture so i orderd the 24 led kit from aquastyle 12 white and 12 blue but the blue looks more purple or pink to me i like the look alot more so im going to order 2 more kits to replace the crees i just dont know if he mixed up the order and sent me something other than royal blue they were marked blue but look nothing like the royal blue crees do your blues well look blue :hmm4: thanks for any info
