DIY LEDs - The write-up

[hllywd]

I have fixtures that were made for my 270 gallon tank. two of them are to long to be used on the new set up. I used the arctic epoxy to attach. How hard is it to get them off the heat sinks and attach them to the new 24" heat sinks? I hate to order more LEDS when I have a bunch right here.

As a point of information, I was shocked at how easy some of mine pop off using a wood chisel tapped under the edge. Some of the stars warp slightly as well. I wouldn't glue them again without wire brushing the back of the star, and the heatsink with a Dremel. To reuse the LEDs the old adhesive needs to be wire brushed off as well.

Tim

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

I wouldn't glue them again without wire brushing the back of the star, and the heatsink with a Dremel.

All those scratches mean the parts will have worse thermal transfer. Ideally you want smooth, flat surfaces with as little thermal compound (or adhesive) between them as possible.

 

[extra]

hello again.

what a disappointment when i reached the "end" of this thread just today It has given me some great evening reading for about 2 weeks now after not visiting this thread since March. BTW for everybody starting their post with "i didnt read it all but here my question:" i'd say, go back and read all of it. And yes, its many hours of reading!

i hope you don't mind that i do only have planted freshwater tanks. Also my goals in terms of light pattern, spread, color temperature are different from most of yours. Nonetheless i think you deserve to see what i did with the stuff i learned from you

I asked a few questions back on page 58 of this split, however, my plans have changed, and also some diy-action has happened i left the AL u-channel path and went with a small heatsink and active cooling:

Small, high density modules. Each Module:

• 18 LEDs
• 12 degree optics (carclo plain tight)
• 3 1000Ma buckpucks
• 3 dimmable channels for adjustable white-tint (think full xp-g cw blast at noon and high-cri Seoul P4 sunset).
• 2 x 12V Fans
• Solderless and highly adjustable (optics, led arrangement)

These modules will hang at the ceiling (thx widmer). Not sure about on how to hang them, but i think i'll use the heavy-duty goose neck thingy i have laying around. After hanging the first two modules i'll decide if i need more of them. I love the flexibility of DIY!

as i know you guys like pix, here are some... (click for larger version)

in the making...


still missing fans & driver-mount:


running... with 2 of 3 strings fired up (6x cree xp-g r5 cw & 6x cree xp-g q4 ww).


yes, these bricks need to absorb a lot of heat, so they'll be actively cooled (2x 12V-Fan in series per module & attached temp-sensor to an arduino to shut down fans whenever possible and switch off lights if necessary).

i'd not call it "spotlight effect". think about it as "swamp light effect"

The holders i'm using are the BJB Led Mounts mentioned a few pages back. Some poeple didn't like them, but i sure do. The optics can be "clicked" on, they have their separate plastic frame so no need to touch the optics them self. No need to solder, great flexibility to experiment with led arrangement. Unfortunately they're quite expensive. To be honest i'm around ~$15.-/led for led, optics and holder.

i just want to say thank you again to all of you, for great questions, superb answers and lots of inspiration! You'll get an update as soon as the things are hanging above my tank.

cheers

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

I'm a closet planted FW fanatic, so I demand photos of your tank! Glad to see this is starting to spill into that arena, where lighting practices tend to be outdated compared to reefkeeping.

 

[XSiVE]

hello again.

what a disappointment when i reached the "end" of this thread just today It has given me some great evening reading for about 2 weeks now after not visiting this thread since March. BTW for everybody starting their post with "i didnt read it all but here my question:" i'd say, go back and read all of it. And yes, its many hours of reading!

i hope you don't mind that i do only have planted freshwater tanks. Also my goals in terms of light pattern, spread, color temperature are different from most of yours. Nonetheless i think you deserve to see what i did with the stuff i learned from you

I asked a few questions back on page 58 of this split, however, my plans have changed, and also some diy-action has happened i left the AL u-channel path and went with a small heatsink and active cooling:

Small, high density modules. Each Module:

• 18 LEDs
• 12 degree optics (carclo plain tight)
• 3 1000Ma buckpucks
• 3 dimmable channels for adjustable white-tint (think full xp-g cw blast at noon and high-cri Seoul P4 sunset).
• 2 x 12V Fans
• Solderless and highly adjustable (optics, led arrangement)

These modules will hang at the ceiling (thx widmer). Not sure about on how to hang them, but i think i'll use the heavy-duty goose neck thingy i have laying around. After hanging the first two modules i'll decide if i need more of them. I love the flexibility of DIY!


The holders i'm using are the BJB Led Mounts mentioned a few pages back. Some poeple didn't like them, but i sure do. The optics can be "clicked" on, they have their separate plastic frame so no need to touch the optics them self. No need to solder, great flexibility to experiment with led arrangement. Unfortunately they're quite expensive. To be honest i'm around ~$15.-/led for led, optics and holder.

i just want to say thank you again to all of you, for great questions, superb answers and lots of inspiration! You'll get an update as soon as the things are hanging above my tank.

cheers

Holy cow I love how you've done the solder-less approach here. Please show us a pic of your tank lit by them

 

[sammy113]

wow that turned out very clean. Love the solder-less mounts

 

[sammy113]

I'm a closet planted FW fanatic, so I demand photos of your tank! Glad to see this is starting to spill into that arena, where lighting practices tend to be outdated compared to reefkeeping.

I gotta say me too :lol:
Here's my FW planted with a mix of Q5, Semi LED 10k, XPG and 2 Semi RB's

 

[Sneasle]

LED's for 55g and 29g?

LED's for 55g and 29g?

I've skim through all three sections of this thread, and while I have both the requisite mechanical and electrical abilities to do a diy build of this sort, I'm a bit baffled by how many LED's I would require.

What I would like to do would be to light these tanks mostly white, but with a few red/blue/green LED's on their own strings so I can adjust the color in the tanks slightly and to help with creating a more uniform day light cycle.

Can someone help me out in figuring out how large of an LED count I would need of just the whites? My tanks are both very low light currently, <1w/gal if though they are heavily planted, so I don't need something too high power, I would just like to get good coverage.

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Very nice tank sammy. I love the clean look of a rimless tank.

Sneasle, it's gonna be hard for us to answer, since we're so used to builds for reef tanks. I'd probably start with 20 - 30 square inches per LED, so for the 55g, maybe between 25 and 35 LEDs total; and 20 - 25 for the 29g.

If I were you, doing a planted FW tank, I'd probably use a mix of a third warm white, a third cool white, and a third neutral white. That will get you a spectrum and color very close to what most people put on a planted tank, more or less a neutral daylight white color.

If you wanted to mix in other colors, I'd experiment until it's right. You'll probably find that a VERY VERY small amount of a given colored LED will make a big difference in coloration, except for the blues, which tend to "blend in" with white LEDs. Even still, you might end up wanting, say, 10 of a given color running at very low power instead of 2 of the same LED at full power, to allow you to get an even distribution of that color. When adding in only a little of a given color, it's tough to do so by using a small number of LEDs at a typical power level because you won't be able to spread that color evenly over the tank.

Keep us updated!

 

[Sneasle]

Very nice tank sammy. I love the clean look of a rimless tank.

Sneasle, it's gonna be hard for us to answer, since we're so used to builds for reef tanks. I'd probably start with 20 - 30 square inches per LED, so for the 55g, maybe between 25 and 35 LEDs total; and 20 - 25 for the 29g.

If I were you, doing a planted FW tank, I'd probably use a mix of a third warm white, a third cool white, and a third neutral white. That will get you a spectrum and color very close to what most people put on a planted tank, more or less a neutral daylight white color.

If you wanted to mix in other colors, I'd experiment until it's right. You'll probably find that a VERY VERY small amount of a given colored LED will make a big difference in coloration, except for the blues, which tend to "blend in" with white LEDs. Even still, you might end up wanting, say, 10 of a given color running at very low power instead of 2 of the same LED at full power, to allow you to get an even distribution of that color. When adding in only a little of a given color, it's tough to do so by using a small number of LEDs at a typical power level because you won't be able to spread that color evenly over the tank.

Keep us updated!

Hmm.. that sounds reasonable, kinda high, but reasonable. I guess I could set it up so I can add strings in later if I'm not getting as high a level of output as I would expect.


I get your point on the colors, what I was thinking about doing was just spacing them down the middle, alternating the colors and throwing some wide angle len's on them, that should end up with a relatively even pattern that should look good.

What the most popular LED to go with right now?

 

[kcress]

So DWZM you like planted FW?

Here's mine:

I kid.. I snapped this at MBARI.

 

[westmoorenerd]

I was about to say....damn thats a nice planted. I used to have one, no where near that nice though...

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

So DWZM you like planted FW?

Here's mine:

I kid.. I snapped this at MBARI.

Dang dude, don't play with my heart like that. :lol:

This is my nicest, lit by VHO. It was taken down about 2 years ago when I thought I was moving to Jersey:

There's a planted 10g FW in my son's room that desperately needs LEDs. Right now it has two worn out CFLs over it.

Now back to your regularly scheduled LED thread. . .

 

[widmer]

extra-

Your fixture looks GREAT. That's a lot of light for a freshwater planted tank. I do have the 12 degree carlco optics that I picked up for a flashlight project, and I beleive your assessment of them being like a "swamplight" is a great way of putting it.

Anyway, something I noticed - I imagine that part of your rationale between running two fans is that you can put them in series so that the voltage is appropriate coming off of your 24v supply. You could take this a step further as well and pick up a $5 ebay case fan speed controller which is essentially a variable resistor, puting that in series to slow down the fans and make them quieter.

 

[Frode]

Extra: that's a very nice build! I like those BJB holders. I have googled for them, but can't seem to find a European dealer yet.
Where did you purchase them if I may ask?

 

[extra]

hi,

I'm a closet planted FW fanatic, so I demand photos of your tank! Glad to see this is starting to spill into that arena, where lighting practices tend to be outdated compared to reefkeeping.

here some pics: Aquarium, Jungle above. One word of caution though! These pics are old, my tank looks different now (it was rebuilt after moving lately). Also, it's not lit by the leds yet! At the time the pictures were taken, i had 4x 54W fluorescent, and its only 2x 54 now. Also, all the emerse plants are gone So you'll probably be disappointed as soon as i post the current before/after led pics.

sammy113, nice and clean tank! I can imagine the neons looking really nice with the rb supplement. quite minimalistic planting approach there... I'm sure one of dwzm's nice lotuses would fit in there perfectly

Your fixture looks GREAT. That's a lot of light for a freshwater planted tank. I do have the 12 degree carlco optics that I picked up for a flashlight project, and I beleive your assessment of them being like a "swamplight" is a great way of putting it.

Anyway, something I noticed - I imagine that part of your rationale between running two fans is that you can put them in series so that the voltage is appropriate coming off of your 24v supply. You could take this a step further as well and pick up a $5 ebay case fan speed controller which is essentially a variable resistor, puting that in series to slow down the fans and make them quieter.

i hope you're right about it being a lot of light for a fw tank. not a lot of reference builds out there that i know of... my tank is a 180g and i'm really not yet sure if my assumptions are right.
Yes the fans will be in series on 24v. Could you elaborate on the fan controller thingy? I use an arduino and thought about switching them on/off with a relay. I have some almost un-hearable low noise fans, so i think fans will be on whenever the leds are on.

Extra: that's a very nice build! I like those BJB holders. I have googled for them, but can't seem to find a European dealer yet.
Where did you purchase them if I may ask?

Frode, I called them directly and they told me about a local reseller. I'm in Switzerland and i'm sure they have some reseller in Holland too, just contact them.


Was it in this thread where angled light and it's impact on par was discussed? I remember something like "the flatter the angle, the more light is reflected by the water (thus, not in the tank)". However i like thinking about a flat angle... let's say 30degrees. So the spotlight blob might stretch quite a bit and would maybe create interesting shadows and optical depth. I wouldn't like a mirrored projection of my tank at the wall though! someone tried it?

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Nice tank!

i hope you're right about it being a lot of light for a fw tank. not a lot of reference builds out there that i know of... my tank is a 180g and i'm really not yet sure if my assumptions are right.

In general, you could probably aim for 1/3 the wattage of what you'd put on a planted tank for NO fluorescents, and be in the right range. If you used to have ~200w of NO, you might want 60 - 80w of LEDs, which is 20 - 30 LEDs, plus or minus. Assuming you have two of the 18 LED modules you described earlier, you should be in the right ballpark.

Yes the fans will be in series on 24v. Could you elaborate on the fan controller thingy? I use an arduino and thought about switching them on/off with a relay. I have some almost un-hearable low noise fans, so i think fans will be on whenever the leds are on.

If you don't care about speed control, I wouldn't bother. Use a single relay capable of handling your fans' load at 24v and you'll be able to turn them on/off with the Arduino. You'll probably need a transistor to drive the relay as the Arduino probably doesn't have the juice to drive it directly.

Was it in this thread where angled light and it's impact on par was discussed? I remember something like "the flatter the angle, the more light is reflected by the water (thus, not in the tank)". However i like thinking about a flat angle... let's say 30degrees. So the spotlight blob might stretch quite a bit and would maybe create interesting shadows and optical depth. I wouldn't like a mirrored projection of my tank at the wall though! someone tried it?

Yes, an angle will mean more light reflected, less in the tank, but IMHO it's not a huge or significant problem - especially since you probably have a little too much light to begin with. And anyways, if it's not enough, add a few more LEDs or bump the drive current up 5 or 10 percent. IMHO it'll be WELL worth the dramatic effect you get from the angled lighting. I've experimented with small units of a few LEDs each at big angles on my tanks and it's a REALLY cool look.

 

[extra]

thanks for the helpful answers dwzm. i'm surprised, i thought i was more "low end" with the amount of light. Probably because i hang around in reef forums too often
you encouraged me even more to try the angled mounting. If i'm lucky i can angle them in a way that won't blind me when sitting in the living room. If not, there are some acrylic barn-door or "reflector" designs i have in my mind.
When angling like this though, the modules would tend to hang far apart from each other. This will rise the question about the placement of controller/drivers/powersupply again. I need to re-read about the allowed cable lengths of the several cable connections i have:

aquarium-controller <- usb -> arduino
wall outlet < > power supply
power supply < > buckpucks
buckpucks < > leds
power supply < > fans
arduino <- relay & stuff -> fans

i have buckpuck-shields for arduino, so all buckpucks will probably be stacked to the arduino. Or i'll use one arduino per module, which seems kinda overkill, as they won't be doing much at all, most of the program logic will happen in my linux based controller. It wouldn't be difficult if the modules were very close (on the same fixture-mount maybe). All drivers, arduino & powersupply between the modules, having only powercord and a usb cable going up to the ceiling. It looks different if the modules would be 2 meters (excuse me, 6.5inches), appart. I'd like to minimize cable connections between modules and between ceiling & control box. Is there some obvious optimal solution i'm overlooking?

 

[Haxer]

Has anyone had any experience with the new 420nm led's from nanotuners...?

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

thanks for the helpful answers dwzm. i'm surprised, i thought i was more "low end" with the amount of light. Probably because i hang around in reef forums too often
you encouraged me even more to try the angled mounting. If i'm lucky i can angle them in a way that won't blind me when sitting in the living room. If not, there are some acrylic barn-door or "reflector" designs i have in my mind.

I did "barn door" blinders on some of my nano rigs. Very effective. I would assume you want them. Even in a situation where there was only a LITTLE leakage out the base/sides of optics, it was very nice to have it blocked.

Is there some obvious optimal solution i'm overlooking?

Wireless?

Honestly it's hard to suggest without knowing your exact configuration.

Has anyone had any experience with the new 420nm led's from nanotuners...?

Link? I took a quick look at their website and saw no such product.