DIY LED Array build

[sphil876p]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15407864#post15407864 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by der_wille_zur_macht
sphil, what current are you driving your spotlight at? Do you have any means to take temperature readings on the heatsink, LEDs, or driver? I'm assuming that black thing on the heatsink is a fan?

The buckpuck is a 1000ma wired with the dimming pot.....
I did not put the meter on it to test it to see what it is really driving. I guess that is blind trust that the thing will not drive over what it is rated The pot actually dims the LEDs until they turn off. The lamp is very bright at full power......
Yes the black part is a cpu fan that came mounted on the heatsink... I am under driving the fan, at 200MA it is rated for 330MA. The fan still moves alot of air, it pulls air from the holes at the top of the lamp blows through the sink fins and out of the small gap around the face of the lamp. I ground the acrylic on my bench grinder and that left a 1/32" gap for about 3 or 4 inches on the face of the lamp. I do not have a way to accurately test the temps in the fixtures. I have a pinpoint temp probe that would tell me the ambient temp inside the fixture, but there is so much air circulating I dont believe that it is getting hotter than ambient room temp. I ran the lamp at full power for a couple of hours, and the metal housing did not even get warm.....
BTW do you have a link for a decent inexpensive light meter that I could use to check the light levels in my DT under the MH to compare to the lamp. I can see how this coversation is going to go with my wife. You built these expensive fixtures and need WHAT to see how bright they are!!!!!!!! :eek2:

 

[Reef_Matrix29]

lol

 

[sphil876p]

All I have been able to find on the light meter is as follows
Apogee MQ-200 PAR Meter
[MQ-200]
$335.00
http://www.aquariumspecialty.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=3225


Anybody have any input?


This is way more than I was hoping to spend after building a somewhat expensive LED fixture. Are there more economical meters out there?

 

[Reef_Matrix29]

I have been looking around also and I believe that this is the cheapest of the available PAR meters unfortunately.

 

[lynxvs]

If you have a decent multimeter lying around you can just buy the sensor it makes for a cheap PAR meter about $139.00. I went with the Apogee SQ-120. Just multiply the mV reading by 5 to get the PAR reading.

 

[Reef_Matrix29]

Have you compared that to a true PAR meter to make sure that you are getting comparable results?

 

[james3370]

our club has one in the equipment we can "check out"

suction cups for moving tanks, glass drill bits, par meter, etc

 

[sphil876p]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15437268#post15437268 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by lynxvs
If you have a decent multimeter lying around you can just buy the sensor it makes for a cheap PAR meter about $139.00. I went with the Apogee SQ-120. Just multiply the mV reading by 5 to get the PAR reading.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/40220688@N05/3717380250/" title="PICT0364 by sphil876, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3477/3717380250_522124970e.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="PICT0364" /></a>


Can you tell me if my meter will work and specifically how I can hook the sensor up to my meter....
Also, will this provide reliable readings????


Thanks in advance

 

[lynxvs]

I think most multimeters are good enough.... if it has a mV scale. as far as hooking it up I believe the sensor has three leads coming out of it Black, Red and Clear. Hook up the red to the positive terminal the back to the negative the clear can stay disconnected. So depending on the calibration supplied with the sensor...Use the conversion factor (5.00 ìmol m-2 s-1 per mV) to
convert the mV signal from the sensor to photosynthetic photon
flux in ìmol m-2 s-1 (multiply the mV output by the conversion
factor to yield ìmol m-2 s-1).

here is the manual
http://www.apogee-inst.com/manuals/QuantumSensor_Manual.pdf

 

[sphil876p]

Coral growth under LEDs update

Coral growth under LEDs update

So, I was having some water quality issues and picked up what I hope to be the solution at MACNA from Aquarium Specialties....

and this is what the Six LED spot lamp is residing over....

 

[sphil876p]

More Pics

More Pics

Here we go........

 

[Reef_Matrix29]

How are the corals growing under the LED's?

 

[sphil876p]

How are the corals growing under the LED's?

I am trying to dig up/take some comparison shots, but in the meantime...
I believe based on my experiance so far, I have mounted the LEDs too close to the frag rack so most of the corals have grown very light colored. I am still observing growth though, most of the acros have encrusted their bases well and the aussie duncan polyp has sprouted three new baby heads while living under the LEDs.

PICS to follow

 

[Cracky]

I would like to build one for my 10 gallon.

 

[sphil876p]

I would like to build one for my 10 gallon.

The small six LED lamp should be plenty of light for a 10g....
It appears to me that they put out enough light to keep my clam happy.
Happy as a clam:rollface:

I did kind of detail the build process starting a couple of pages back.
If you have any specific questions I will try to help....

 

[sphil876p]

Coral growth

Coral growth

This is an acro I picked up right after finishing the array...

little while later....

This weekend moved it under the Halides in my Display tank.....

 

[Reef_Matrix29]

Yeah, it does look like the LED's might be too bright or close and bleaching out the coral. I have a pink birdsnest that is doing the same and I have moved it down to sand level for that reason.

 

[sphil876p]

More Pics

More Pics

Here is another one.....
Right after I finished the Array..

a little while later.......

My 2 year old son was helping Daddy with the corals one day while I was not around and fragged a branch off for me, though you can see it has encrusted the superglue base I stuck it into :lol:

 

[Reef_Matrix29]

Now I wonder, if the coral is still encrusting and growing, but has lost all of its pigment, how much longer can or will it really be able to survive? I have several corals that the same thing is happening too, but my only options would be to reduce the current from 700mA to like 500mA since I can't lift my array up. Any thoughts or similar scenarios happening to anyone else?

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

If it's still growing, I really wouldn't worry about it. Rather than having lost something important, it's probably just displaying a new set of pigments due to the new lights. I've had corals that *completely* changed colors when moved from one tank to another - pink to orange, green to blue, purple to orange. . .

Granted, as hobbyists, when we see something that's pale like that, we immediately assume it's bleached and dying - but given that it is still growing, I wouldn't worry. Corals develop pigments for all sorts of reasons that I wouldn't pretend to understand, and IMHO we are a little too used to jumping to conclusions about their health based on what we perceive to be the "correct" colors.

Since you have two frags of it, how about moving one frag to a lower-light portion of the tank, as an experiment? Or put it in a traditionally-lit tank, or give it to a friend, and compare growth rates.