DIY LED 10 gallon

[telamont]

Anyone know of a good site to buy all my equipment for a DIY led?

I am new to LED and want to start one for my 10g. What color combo LED's should I use that would produce good sps growth and color? I would like to put in green, red, and UV possibly as I have been reading a bit about the options.

Thanks.

 

[telamont]

rapidled with 6 white and 6 blue may suffice for my 10g?

 

[cgomez87]

i would just go with a par38 rapid led bulb

 

[Dre59]

i would just go with a par38 rapid led bulb

+1 and go with 120 optics :thumbsup:

 

[zachts]

I wouldn't worry about red and green on a tank that small. I've played with them over a 10 gallon 12 led setup and the dico they create with only one of each isn't worth the benifits without using a lot of difuser and losing 25% of the light to get it blended well.

Violets are a must in my opinion and I would consider using a mix of cool with and high CRI warm white to get the red and green benifits with less color blending and disco problems. the only draw back with violets is it takes 2 or 3 of them to give the same radiometric output as a royal blue. but well worth it IMO.

Steve's LED is another good source that I have used in addion to Rapid LED and Aquastyle online depending on what your looking for.

 

[hllywd]

rapidled with 6 white and 6 blue may suffice for my 10g?

Yes. Neutral white, and royal blue. If I had it to do again, I'd use neutrals rather than cool whites. With 12 LEDs over the 10, make them dimmable.

 

[zachts]

To answere your growth question with a 10 gallon since they are so close to the tank you really don't need many LEDs for great growth. 4 or 5 royal blues (probably less) runing at their upper limits would be sufficient output for even demanding SPS. additional LEDs and colors are just for aesthetics and to let them run at lower levels for less heat and longer life etc.

 

[LukeG]

I'm researching the same thing now. I was hoping 6 Cree LEDs would be sufficient but I'm leaning towards 10 now. How does 2 CW, 2 NW, 4 RB, 1 blue, 1 UV sound as a mix? Can I get away with 1 dim-able channel? I'd prefer the 10-12k look.

 

[megadeth72]

You can if the v/amp draw is the same, 12 will match drivers a bit bette

Two channels will let you adjust color and or moo light win a controllwr

 

[Centralcampus]

I have 12 LEDs in a biocube 14. Neutral white, and royal blue. Unless you are going to get a controller, It is useless to have dimmable in my opinion.

 

[kriv4o]

I have two 10 gal with diy leds.
First one is a stand alone nano that has a led fixture inspired by the multichip led thread from the DIY forum here. It's running a 20w 14K(IIRC) epistar multichip supplemented by 4 Royal blues and 2UVs from RapidLed on separate driver. Zoas and macros seem to be doing great inanity so far.
Second one is a 10 gal clam lagoon I have plumbed to my DT. I wanted a fixture comparable to a 150w MH since clams were the main idea here. I followed RapidLed's advice and went with a total of 14 leds running of the same driver(7RB+7CW). I have them retrofitted in an old PC fixture that's 2 inches above the water. Let me tellnyou that thing is bright. Actually I am considering decreasing the light period in that tank as Infamy battling a bit of cyanon ATM. Pretty sure the light is too much.
Hope that helps. Will have to agree thou that unless you have your lights hooked to a controller it's not really necessary to go with separate dimmable drivers.

 

[LukeG]

Does anyone know of an economical way to control the lights? I guess you could use light timer and multiple ballasts but it seems too expensive for a low tech solution. Are all light controllers hundreds of dollars?

 

[megadeth72]

cheapest is gonna be a simple digital timer

an arduino uno and a couple relays and override toggle switches will put you on the path to more control, dimmable, temp monitoring and what not, it's kinda like lego's for adults, but keep in mind 110v can kill you

 

[LukeG]

Thanks for the lead. Are there any good tutorials or references? Does anyone sell them or build them already adapted as reef controllers?

 

[megadeth72]

google arduino reef controller or arduino led controller, there's a ton of tutorials

there's also a couple cheap off the shelf ones, reefkeeper lite and typhoon

 

[LukeG]

I've been reading up on it and following threads here. I don't think I'll tackle the project. I wish there was a reasonably priced controller that handles LEDs, temp, pH & auto top off.

 

[megadeth72]

a ph probe alone is not reasonably priced