Staaan
The Maaan
This is pretty much a response to diverrad's thread. Figured it'd be easier for people to read since it turned out to be quite long.
MY DIY LED EXPERIENCE
As far as my DIY LED Fixture adventures go... it has been quite simple.
For me simple = NON DIMMABLE.
None of my "creations" are dimmable.. however from what I've read.. it doesn't seem much different than constant current, the only differences being the actual driver/powersupply and the need for a potentiometer (which allows you to actually control the dimming -- its a little dial/knob that allows for dimming).
However if you want to do the whole sunrise/sunsent/moonrise/moonset/thunder storm craziness... for the time being, I can't help you with that. You need an APEX controller. But it IS doable, according to Reef Led Lights site, which has a whole page dedicated to the Apex controller. (The site is linked lower down in this post)
But in all seriousness.. I was never a very "handy-man type". But my dad is -- taught me how to solder... and boom. Done.
Its really not a big deal at ALL. It can be slightly tedious, but once you park your rear-end down and just focus on what you're doing, its cake.
If you don't want to take a big plunge, such as - purchasing all you need to create an actual fixture for your tank (to replace your current lighting) I recommened creating a supplmental blue LED strip which is easy as you can get.. and really cheap. And will let you "test the waters" before you dive in.
Konrad, I beleive you have a 40B. So.. basically a 24" - 36" flat strip of aluminum which can be purchased a Lowes... don't think I"ve seen them at Home Depot.
With just 6 LEDs... heck even 12 LEDs.. as long as you space them apart so they're not all clumped together.. you don't need a fancy shmancy heat sink (which is just a really heavy piece of aluminum w/ lots of surface area) and a whole fan cooling system.
So...
*6-12 XR-E or XP-G (The XPG has 20% more PAR I believe not really a significant difference to justify the cost IMO)
*With 70 or 80 Degree optics
*Piece of flat aluminum from Lowes
*Meanwell LPC Driver (the cheapest driver they offer - a constant current driver -- no dimming with this one - $18)
Little info about optics..
70 degree actually has higher PAR than 60 degree beleive it or not.
This is the whole greater than/less than flow chart in terms of PAR..
(degrees)
70 > 60 > 80 > NO OPTICS
For DIY LED information I highly reccommend - REEF LED LIGHTS
The whole section on the top right - "How to DIY LED" has a few great topics covered.
As far as price goes - RAPID LED.com seems to be cheaper. But when I say cheaper its just by a bit.
For instance the last "fixture" I made, which was for my tiny 6g Nanocube consisted of 6 LEDs.
4 Blue and 2 White. (I like the 20,000K look.. even though it might be a tiny bit more skewed to the blue side than a traditional 20,000K)
Anyway.
The total from Reef LED Lights was ~$78 I believe. And @ RapidLED it was $70
So not a huge difference, BUT - RapidLED's LEDs are actually pre-tinned.. so it might be a bit easier to solder (in most cases).
In my case - My fathers solder gun is like from the 80s and it doesn't reach the temperatures that today's solder guns reach, so the pre-tinned contact points on the LED's starboard were a bit difficult to solder on to. But any cheap gun from Radio-shack should be absolutely fine. I think they're like $10.
All in all...
I really think that ALL reefers should really get into LEDs. The initial cost for a DIY LED seems to be comparable to say an ATI T5 fixture which seems to be the top tier T5 fixture. LEDs.. consume less electricity. Contain 10,000 hours of life, even even after those 10,000 hours, they are only supposed to drop brightness by 20%. So 80% brightness will/should remain!
You don't have to worry about swapping out bulb, and have some algae growth because the spectrum of your MH/T5 bulb changed due to normal use.
And -- little heat. Which negates the need for a chiller (majority of the time)
So its pretty much nothing but savings. Plus when you DIY.. you can arrange it however you want.
Now most people say that the DIY fixtures look like crap.
2 Easy fixes for that - build a wooden canopy and hide the ugliness. Or just spend some time into really thinking about how you want the damn thing to look. The more time you spend, the better it'll come out.
My sister's boyfriend (whom I got into reefing literally 2 months after he saw my tank) created his own DIY LEDs.. as soon as I came up with the idea of actually doing it. Of course he beat me to it (as most of the club members that know me) I am slow as hell with everything. But he's been running them for over a year with SPS, LPS and softies and has seen nothing but growth from each category of coral.
I really hope I've encouraged some of you to go and try this DIY LED stuff. Its fun to put together honestly.. and your always amazed and happy. You can have the equivalent or better of some manufactured LED fixture at a fraction of the cost. Not to mentions growth rates that are comparable to the best MH/T5 fixtures.
MY DIY LED EXPERIENCE
As far as my DIY LED Fixture adventures go... it has been quite simple.
For me simple = NON DIMMABLE.
None of my "creations" are dimmable.. however from what I've read.. it doesn't seem much different than constant current, the only differences being the actual driver/powersupply and the need for a potentiometer (which allows you to actually control the dimming -- its a little dial/knob that allows for dimming).
However if you want to do the whole sunrise/sunsent/moonrise/moonset/thunder storm craziness... for the time being, I can't help you with that. You need an APEX controller. But it IS doable, according to Reef Led Lights site, which has a whole page dedicated to the Apex controller. (The site is linked lower down in this post)
But in all seriousness.. I was never a very "handy-man type". But my dad is -- taught me how to solder... and boom. Done.
Its really not a big deal at ALL. It can be slightly tedious, but once you park your rear-end down and just focus on what you're doing, its cake.
If you don't want to take a big plunge, such as - purchasing all you need to create an actual fixture for your tank (to replace your current lighting) I recommened creating a supplmental blue LED strip which is easy as you can get.. and really cheap. And will let you "test the waters" before you dive in.
Konrad, I beleive you have a 40B. So.. basically a 24" - 36" flat strip of aluminum which can be purchased a Lowes... don't think I"ve seen them at Home Depot.
With just 6 LEDs... heck even 12 LEDs.. as long as you space them apart so they're not all clumped together.. you don't need a fancy shmancy heat sink (which is just a really heavy piece of aluminum w/ lots of surface area) and a whole fan cooling system.
So...
*6-12 XR-E or XP-G (The XPG has 20% more PAR I believe not really a significant difference to justify the cost IMO)
*With 70 or 80 Degree optics
*Piece of flat aluminum from Lowes
*Meanwell LPC Driver (the cheapest driver they offer - a constant current driver -- no dimming with this one - $18)
Little info about optics..
70 degree actually has higher PAR than 60 degree beleive it or not.
This is the whole greater than/less than flow chart in terms of PAR..
(degrees)
70 > 60 > 80 > NO OPTICS
For DIY LED information I highly reccommend - REEF LED LIGHTS
The whole section on the top right - "How to DIY LED" has a few great topics covered.
As far as price goes - RAPID LED.com seems to be cheaper. But when I say cheaper its just by a bit.
For instance the last "fixture" I made, which was for my tiny 6g Nanocube consisted of 6 LEDs.
4 Blue and 2 White. (I like the 20,000K look.. even though it might be a tiny bit more skewed to the blue side than a traditional 20,000K)
Anyway.
The total from Reef LED Lights was ~$78 I believe. And @ RapidLED it was $70
So not a huge difference, BUT - RapidLED's LEDs are actually pre-tinned.. so it might be a bit easier to solder (in most cases).
In my case - My fathers solder gun is like from the 80s and it doesn't reach the temperatures that today's solder guns reach, so the pre-tinned contact points on the LED's starboard were a bit difficult to solder on to. But any cheap gun from Radio-shack should be absolutely fine. I think they're like $10.
All in all...
I really think that ALL reefers should really get into LEDs. The initial cost for a DIY LED seems to be comparable to say an ATI T5 fixture which seems to be the top tier T5 fixture. LEDs.. consume less electricity. Contain 10,000 hours of life, even even after those 10,000 hours, they are only supposed to drop brightness by 20%. So 80% brightness will/should remain!
You don't have to worry about swapping out bulb, and have some algae growth because the spectrum of your MH/T5 bulb changed due to normal use.
And -- little heat. Which negates the need for a chiller (majority of the time)
So its pretty much nothing but savings. Plus when you DIY.. you can arrange it however you want.
Now most people say that the DIY fixtures look like crap.
2 Easy fixes for that - build a wooden canopy and hide the ugliness. Or just spend some time into really thinking about how you want the damn thing to look. The more time you spend, the better it'll come out.
My sister's boyfriend (whom I got into reefing literally 2 months after he saw my tank) created his own DIY LEDs.. as soon as I came up with the idea of actually doing it. Of course he beat me to it (as most of the club members that know me) I am slow as hell with everything. But he's been running them for over a year with SPS, LPS and softies and has seen nothing but growth from each category of coral.
I really hope I've encouraged some of you to go and try this DIY LED stuff. Its fun to put together honestly.. and your always amazed and happy. You can have the equivalent or better of some manufactured LED fixture at a fraction of the cost. Not to mentions growth rates that are comparable to the best MH/T5 fixtures.
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