DIY LED Array build

[sphil876p]

Should I two or three array over a 48" tank what's the widest heat sink?

This question could have many different answers based on your specific setup...

1. What type of corals do you keep or intend to keep?
2. How wide is the area you are trying to light?
3. Are you replacing some other type of lighting or is this a new setup?
4. How deep are you trying to light, or how deep will livestock placement be in the tank?

As far as the Heatsink most of us are using http://www.heatsinkusa.com/
and it looks like the widest they offer is 10.080 Inch Width.....

 

[nitjt]

Its to replace my 2 250W DE with 4 39W T5, Its 29 inches deep with a couple of clams on the sand bed. Mostly SPS, it's 24" wide at its widest point a bow front.

 

[nitjt]

Phil did you replace another type of light or was your first set up LED?

 

[sphil876p]

Phil did you replace another type of light or was your first set up LED?

I replaced a 250watt double ended metal halide that was mounted over my frag tank, there are pics earlier in this thread....

 

[sphil876p]

Its to replace my 2 250W DE with 4 39W T5, Its 29 inches deep with a couple of clams on the sand bed. Mostly SPS, it's 24" wide at its widest point a bow front.

In that case, I would do at least three and make sure to use optic lenses.

When you are planning your build keep in mind that the lenses focus most of the light downward, so you have to be cautious of gaps in the light coverage......
I am planning 4 of these 8.5" x 12" arrays for my 120 gallon which is 48" x 24"

 

[my2girls]

Is this LED bulb similar to Phil's diy spotlight?
http://www.nanotuners.com/product_info.php?cPath=74&products_id=623

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

It'll have a similar visual impact, but likely is not as efficient. Also clearly not as customizable since you can't control the exact components as you can with DIY. And it's not dimmable.

Though, as with nearly all prebuilt products, there is zero info on the components used, so it's really hard to tell.

 

[sphil876p]

Is this LED bulb similar to Phil's diy spotlight?
http://www.nanotuners.com/product_info.php?cPath=74&products_id=623

Ditto what der_wille said.....
I did get a chance to see these bulbs in person at MACNA though, and to a person that might not wish to build one these are nice.....
They are not dimmable however, they have a regular base that screws into any light fixture. This gives the option to use any fixture that is commercialy avaiable including tracks, so the mounting flexibility of the premade LED floodlamp is its biggest feature. I would be really interested in these if they could be dimmed, but I guess the circuitry required will not fit into this small package. They do really look sharp though, and are completely passively cooled by machined aluminum fins............

 

[my2girls]

Thanks for the responses guys. I don't think I care too much about dimming right now. I'm looking to either do an LED retro on a 29g biocube, or take the hood off and doing spotlights. I like the look of the all-in-one hood, but it's limiting. The wife will never go for some jerry rigged LED set up either. It has to look good in the living room. Anyway, this and other LED threads have helped me.

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

The circuitry to dim them would certainly fit in the package, my guess is that it wasn't included because those bulbs are aimed at mass market consumers who want a replacement for an incandescent light, not reef keepers.

Mounting flexibility is attractive, but again you can DIY that. I've got a few nano-sized rigs retrofitted into really nice looking stainless steel desk lamps from a department store, so it's definitely possible.

 

[my2girls]

Yeah, I'm leaning towards doing 2-3 spotlights on my BC29. The goof is I'm not worried about the LED/electrical aspect, it's the diying into the dept. store fixture(s). :rolleye1:

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

I've got a few dozen photos from my build that I need to put into a thread some time. It was pretty straightforward and the end result looks pretty sleek.

 

[turwo4444@yahoo]

Hey this is al.Give me a call so we can trade out some stuff

 

[james3370]

The circuitry to dim them would certainly fit in the package, my guess is that it wasn't included because those bulbs are aimed at mass market consumers who want a replacement for an incandescent light, not reef keepers.

Mounting flexibility is attractive, but again you can DIY that. I've got a few nano-sized rigs retrofitted into really nice looking stainless steel desk lamps from a department store, so it's definitely possible.

evil66 that help nanotuners design those is nano-reef.com's version of Grim Reefer in the LED builds over there LOL

nice guy....i've chatted w/ him alot about LED setups

 

[Reef_Matrix29]

Got a question...I have been observing my tank under the DIY LED I put on about 2 months+ ago and I have continued to see a color depletion in most of my SPS corals. LPS and other soft corals are fine, but all of the SPS are "bleaching/lightening" in color since switching from my T5's to LEDs. I was driving them at 700mA for the first month and reduced down to 500mA thinking that perhaps it was too much. The fixture sits about 6 - 7 inches off the water line w/out optics. Anyone else experiencing this with their LED arrays and if so have you found the cause? It would seem that either the lights are too strong or not producing the right spectrum for "coloring". Any thoughts?

 

[lynxvs]

I've been experiencing the same thing for quite some time... I've had my light running in one form or another for almost two years and cannot seem to keep SPS corals. I measured pretty good PAR levels but I don't think its a matter of the lights are to strong. I think it might be proper spectrum but I have no proof of this. I voiced concern about this many times but someone will always come back saying they have no problem. Maybe it's only certain species that have the problem with LED light I don't know enough about what species need what light.. maybe others can reply with there experiences.

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

I haven't kept anything nearly long-term enough to speak about my own experiences.

I know Soundwave had some photos in his thread back a break or two, and mentioned he had lost one or two specific corals, but had great success with other SPS.

 

[Reef_Matrix29]

I've been experiencing the same thing for quite some time... I've had my light running in one form or another for almost two years and cannot seem to keep SPS corals. I measured pretty good PAR levels but I don't think its a matter of the lights are to strong. I think it might be proper spectrum but I have no proof of this. I voiced concern about this many times but someone will always come back saying they have no problem. Maybe it's only certain species that have the problem with LED light I don't know enough about what species need what light.. maybe others can reply with there experiences.

I've been doing some research and it seems that the terms "chronic" and "dynamic" photo inhibition seem to be describing what may be happening to the corals. As I understand it, please research it for yourself as well, it seems that perhaps too much light is saturating the corals and they are passing the excess energy off as heat and regressing their pigments. Dynamic is reversible with a few days of lower intensity lightening should see a return in color of corals, but chronic is just like the name implies in which coral death is next. I have taken my LED array off the tank and put my T5 back on and have seen some improvement in the "troubled corals". I will monitor over the next two weeks and provide pictures of the decline and recovery period.

From my understanding, and this is just a stab in the dark, it would seem that perhaps we are driving the LEDs past the safe parameters for the corals and not necessarily the equipment. How did we determine exactly what current to drive the array's at? Was a Solaris or AI unit opened and derived that way? If so, I guess it stands to reason that the number of LEDs, distance to the water surface and current pushing them need to be greatly determined.

If I do use the LED array again, I will most likely turn them back down to the manufacturer's specs of 350mA and perhaps supplement with Actinic T5 bulbs if its not as "intense" or "bright" as I would like it to be. 72 LEDs doesn't seem to be able to be driven at 1000, 700 or even 500mA for SPS to thrive. Just my experience at this point.

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

From my understanding, and this is just a stab in the dark, it would seem that perhaps we are driving the LEDs past the safe parameters for the corals and not necessarily the equipment. How did we determine exactly what current to drive the array's at? Was a Solaris or AI unit opened and derived that way? If so, I guess it stands to reason that the number of LEDs, distance to the water surface and current pushing them need to be greatly determined.

I'm running my fixtures at 500mA and don't plan to go above that for my upcoming "big tank" build. This is an equally "out there" stab in the dark, but after seeing the insides of Solaris and AI fixtures, based on observing the heatsinking in both, one of two things is definitely true: Either we are driving WAY higher than those fixtures, or we are WAY overcooling our LEDs.

I also wonder how different dimming methods come in to play with respect to a coral's biological response. Analog dimming, where the drive current is actually adjusted, is one thing. But if we are dimming via PWM, the frequency might be high enough that our eyes are fooled into thinking the light is dimmer, but are the corals fooled? Or, do they "see" the full brightness being switched on and off?

 

[lynxvs]

I'm running my fixtures at 500mA and don't plan to go above that for my upcoming "big tank" build. This is an equally "out there" stab in the dark, but after seeing the insides of Solaris and AI fixtures, based on observing the heatsinking in both, one of two things is definitely true: Either we are driving WAY higher than those fixtures, or we are WAY overcooling our LEDs.

I also wonder how different dimming methods come in to play with respect to a coral's biological response. Analog dimming, where the drive current is actually adjusted, is one thing. But if we are dimming via PWM, the frequency might be high enough that our eyes are fooled into thinking the light is dimmer, but are the corals fooled? Or, do they "see" the full brightness being switched on and off?

Most designs that I have seen have been "over engineered" in the cooling dept. huge heatsinks are not always needed i posted some calculations i believe in my thread showing a proper heatsink size. I use just a flat aluminum plate for cooling.

Good question as far as PWM though a PAR meter shows reduced PAR when dimming.