DIY LED Array build

[der_wille_zur_macht]

I'll post info after the purchase.
Captive Reef

Please do. The lack of specifics about the particular LED they're using, combined with the rather broad statements about applicability (spring vegetables, fish metabolism?) and the typical unbelievable output numbers make me skeptical, but you never know.

 

[CaptiveReef]

Product page

Product page

Here is the link to the Company's page.
http://www.ledwholesalers.com/store/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=512

CaptiveReef

 

[menthol]

Well i can share some photos but i really do not have "build" photos of my LED fixture, i wish i did.

Here is what it looked like when i finished it...

Here is how it is hanging over my tank...

It is way too hard to find a decent power supply here in my country so i made my own...

Using this power supply setup, it is still under-powered, my PS can only supply 21V max when it is supposed to be powered @24V.

Here are photos of my tank from last month i think....

Tank is almost a year old. Been running on this LED fixture for 7-8months now. Coral growth is very nice.

My LED fixture has 36/36 white/blue Cree XR-E Q5 on a 6ft. aluminum frame. heatsinks are just 1inch thick and that includes the fins already.

 

[g8gxp]

That is freakin amazing! This just makes me more motivated to hurry up and finish my build.

 

[CaptiveReef]

Holy CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Holy CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Excuse my wording, but Holy Crap!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait to get the LED Lighting. The corals colors look fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Great job on building your own power supply!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CaptiveReef

 

[Reef_Matrix29]

Beautiful tank and great spread of light! What current are you running them at again?

 

[sphil876p]

That is freakin amazing! This just makes me more motivated to hurry up and finish my build.

X 2 on the amazing comment :thumbsup:

Also, if you guys noticed from his pic Menthol used far less LEDs per square foot than what we have been doing here, and no optics even though his tank looks to be fairly deep.
Maybe this is why we are getting to much light to the corals.
Glad you shared Menthol, thank you :bigeyes:

 

[Patroclus]

That is freakin amazing! This just makes me more motivated to hurry up and finish my build.

X3! Love that tank. I'm running T5/MH combo but this makes me want to convert to LED.

 

[saf1]

X 2 on the amazing comment :thumbsup:

Also, if you guys noticed from his pic Menthol used far less LEDs per square foot than what we have been doing here, and no optics even though his tank looks to be fairly deep.
Maybe this is why we are getting to much light to the corals.
Glad you shared Menthol, thank you :bigeyes:

That could be - I counted roughly 18 per row 72 total.

I currently am building a prototype just to play and have 6 over a 6 gallon nano and may actually drop it down.

 

[Reef_Matrix29]

X 2 on the amazing comment :thumbsup:

Also, if you guys noticed from his pic Menthol used far less LEDs per square foot than what we have been doing here, and no optics even though his tank looks to be fairly deep.
Maybe this is why we are getting to much light to the corals.
Glad you shared Menthol, thank you :bigeyes:

Agreed! He is using way less LEDs and seems to be able to turn them up without any issue for 7 - 8 months! I think that I'm going to redo my fixture now that my T5s are healing the tank in the interim. I will downgrade from 36 LEDs per array to about 24, space them better, still no optics, blue and white individual drivers and push them at 500mA and ramp up from there once I'm done. I will do the thermal tape this time instead of screws and thermal paste!

 

[yardartist]

Menthol thanks for the post details!

 

[AFWX]

Menthol,

Couple questions:

What is the spacing between your LEDs? Where did you get your heatsink? (link if possible) How did you make the top of the light fixture, or is that just the top of the heat sink? Did you use regular aluminum angled metal from a hardware store for the frame? Is that regular acrylic you are using for the shield, or are you using some kind of UV filter?

Thanks for the help, your setup looks amazing!

 

[menthol]

Ok guys, i had to go to sleep over here, at the other side of the world, haha.

My tank's depth is 22+in. with a water depth of roughly 20in.

Spacing is about 3-4in, i did this thinking that i may still add/upgrade in the future but fortunately, it is not letting me do that, yet!

The frame is just made up of 1in. alumunim angle bars, the heatsinks are just the ones they use for amplifiers and other general projects. Third world = less supplies, haha! The DC fans are keeping it VERY cool.

Shielding is just a cut-to-size sheet of 1/8in acrylic.

LED drivers are 1000ma for the white and 700ma for the blue, like I said, i can only get 21V out of my current power supply so i do not know what that equates to.

OT:
I have a full thread on my tank at reefphilippines, from start to recent if you are interested. I also have a thread here in RC at an attempt to share my tank details, http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1736627


Thanks!

 

[CaptiveReef]

White lights K value

White lights K value

Menthol what spectrum are your white LED lights? 5,500 k, 10,000 k, and up?


Thanks,
CaptiveReef

 

[menthol]

Menthol what spectrum are your white LED lights? 5,500 k, 10,000 k, and up?


Thanks,
CaptiveReef

10,000K - white
450nm - blue

------------------------

So guys with the loss of color issue, does the color loss happen to corals from different heights in the tank? Or just the bottom or middle or top part?!?

On my friend's tank that is having some color loss, corals on the bottom are the ones having issues. He's using China-made high-power LED's. I'm guessing little PAR is getting on the lower part of his tank.

 

[Canoe]

Well i can share some photos but i really do not have "build" photos of my LED fixture, i wish i did.

Hello,

When you have a chance, could you take a photo of your tank with your Cannon 40D White Balance set to Daylight instead of Auto? WB: Daylight uses a reference of ~5200K so we can more accurately see what the resulting light colour is?

Thanks,

 

[menthol]

Hello,

When you have a chance, could you take a photo of your tank with your Cannon 40D White Balance set to Daylight instead of Auto? WB: Daylight uses a reference of ~5200K so we can more accurately see what the resulting light colour is?

Thanks,

As per your fetish, Canoe....... LOL:lol2:


No POST-process...

Daylight+Actinics

Daylight only

Actinics only

With POST-processing to match WHAT-MY-EYES-CAN-SEE, close enough but not exactly. WB still set to DAYLIGHT, all bulbs ON.

 

[Canoe]

wow - sure can see how rich that blue is
neat seeing what is fluorescing in your tank too

thank you very much!

p.s. I assume that with the colour temps you've given that it's the XRE Cool-White and Royal-Blue LEDs?

p.s.s. With the way the lights are mounted over the tank, is there any concern with stray UV coming off the blue LEDs? Is there an absolute cutoff on wavelength with the blue LEDs?

 

[menthol]

wow - sure can see how rich that blue is
neat seeing what is fluorescing in your tank too

thank you very much!

You are welcome!

p.s. I assume that with the colour temps you've given that it's the XRE Cool-White and Royal-Blue LEDs?

Yes

p.s.s. With the way the lights are mounted over the tank, is there any concern with stray UV coming off the blue LEDs? Is there an absolute cutoff on wavelength with the blue LEDs?

I've no idea, haha!

 

[Canoe]

Originally Posted by Canoe...
p.s.s. With the way the lights are mounted over the tank, is there any concern with stray UV coming off the blue LEDs? Is there an absolute cutoff on wavelength with the blue LEDs?
I've no idea, haha!

I just happened to have an appointment at the eye doctor's this afternoon. So I asked about UV dangers, specifically to designing LED fixtures for aquariums. To summarize, he said (I HAVE NOT CONFIRMED THIS WITH ANY OTHER SOURCE):

• he's concerned about UV from the sun & welding (both high intensity) and generated light below 380nm and particularly below 340nm and extremely so below 320nm
• high intensity UV can burn the surface of the eye, leading to scaring and cataracts
• very high intensity can "sunburn" the retina - snow-blindness
• anything above 380nm (visible spectrum) he is not worried about, with the obvious qualification to not look directly into any LED device - should be a shield so any children cannot peer up directly into LEDs (ed. ~ interpret that as just for LEDs close to edge of tank that spill their direct radiation cone beyond the tank edge???)
• pointed out that any UV in the tank from LEDs (if there is any) will be getting both scattered and filtered before it leaves the tank and filtered again by our eyes - he can't see it having enough intensity to be a factor, even if using UV LEDs (told him there are no UV LEDs below 365nm, most around 385nm) that are directed at the contents of the tank
• pointed out that if the LEDs are visible in their fixture, in a dark room at night our pupils open and the point-source LEDs won't be bright enough to close them down but they are relatively bright and may be very fatiguing (eye strain) in a surprisingly short period of time

Bottom line: there shouldn't be a UV problem with Royal-Blue through to Deep-Red. IR should get filtered by a glass shield or glass tank; don't know about acrylic (high density acrylic for eye glasses ("1.6" or higher) filters UV better).