DIY LEDs - The write-up

[Taqpol]

Grim, how do you like the warm whites compared to something like the neutral whites? I vaguely remember thinking you thought the warm white would be a little too warm for our purposes.

 

[lpsouth1978]

Here is a quick comparison of the different coloras available in the Cree XP-E led's. I put this together a while back when I was trying to decide on the color combo I would use. The only color missing is the red. This is not a perfect comparison, but at least you can see the color difference between each of the LED's. Hope this helps someone.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Grim, how do you like the warm whites compared to something like the neutral whites? I vaguely remember thinking you thought the warm white would be a little too warm for our purposes.

I haven't seen the neutrals yet. I like what the warms do in my mix but I am not sure if the mix of cool and warm whites would be as good as just going with all Neutrals.

 

[DannyHennig]

Hmm. I will be supplementing the tank with 4x24w t5s, using UVL actinics and ATI blue plus bulbs. Ideally Id like to be able to remove them and put them on my frag tank, but I guess the flexibility is nice. I was planning on a 50/50 white/blue split, but Im thinking about adding another 12 blues to try and balance it out a bit.

Final result would be:
24 XP-G Cool Whites
36 XR-E Royal Blues

+ t5 actinics. Hopefully it works out alright!

Thanks for the help guys, I appreciate it.

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

These have been posted before but I thought it might be relevant given grim's comments.

XP-G white spectra:

XR-E spectra:

ALL of the whites have lots of royal blue and a dip around the blue/cyan wavelengths. Cool and neutral have green and yellow covered pretty well, with cool being a bit stronger in green and neutral being a bit stronger in yellow. Warm white is a little deficient in green, very strong in amber, and pretty strong in orange/red.

Another clear message is that the XP-G warms are "warmer" than the XR-E warms in terms of amount of amber light compared to blue.

Of course, to me, this is all somewhat meaningless, as it's not clear that there's a widely accepted "target spectrum" for reef tanks, so we're left with trial and error rather than math and formulas.

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

But for those who do want to do the math, terahz found this awesome tool:

http://www.sylvania.com/BusinessProducts/Innovations/LEDColorCalculator

 

[DannyHennig]

Another quick Q. As above, Im looking at mounting my leds to the Rapidled pre-tapped heatsinks. Im going to make two fixtures, with 30leds each. I was planning using two of the 5.9" heatsinks for each of my fixtures, meaning id have 30 leds mounted in a 12"x9" footprint. Given the tank is 3x2.5', will I be able to achieve decent spread with such small heatsinks? Obviously it comes down to the aquascape and mounting height, but I think I should be ok?

I will eventually add a third fitting when I move to a 5x3 (although it will effectively be a 5x2.5 with my aquascape).

Sorry for the silly questions, I just want to make sure Im heading in the right direction before ordering $600 of leds

 

[westmoorenerd]

Alright guys, I'm in the last waiting period (shipping) before I can make one of my 4 fixtures. Here's my running total so far for my build:

240 XR-E Leds: (96CW)(96RB)(48B) ~$950.00
240 80 degree optics: ~$70
8x 8.48"x12" heatsinks: ~$200
20x ELN-60-48D: ~$500
8x Artic Alumina: ~$56
8x Yate Loon 120mm fans: ~$32
8x 9v Wallwarts for fans: ~$24

Total: ~$1832 plus shipping. or about $7.60 per led for my build. I still haven't ordered everything in the full quantity I need, just spreading my purchases out.

Here's the lay out of colors I'm going to run if anyone cares:

 

[XSiVE]

240 80 degree optics: ~$70

Where did you find optics for 30 cents each?

 

[sammy113]

8x Yate Loon 120mm fans: ~$32

Also where you find 120mm Yate Loon fans @$4?

 

[westmoorenerd]

Lenses: http://www.satistronics.com/10pcs-80-degree-lens-for-cree-ledssscree80-black_p1400.html

Yate Loon Fans: http://www.xoxide.com/yate-loon-highspeed-120.html
http://www.xoxide.com/yate-loon-mediumspeed-120.html
http://www.xoxide.com/xoxide-120mm-silent-fan.html

 

[jwess]

What's the deal with heatsinks? Could I achieve the same function using just a piece aluminum angle? Assuming I could even find such a piece.
Josh

 

[Bunkerbean]

SO I am planning a build here in the next year or so and was in the planning stages for finances. The tank dimensions are 194"x40"x30". What would be the best configuration for this tank? Or would DIY LED not even be a good option for this tank?

 

[westmoorenerd]

Bunker, 8 of the fixtures I'm making should work well in a tank that size. Should cost somewhere around $4000 or so... and take the biggest LED lit "private" aquarium title too!

 

[thewire]

Alright guys, I'm in the last waiting period (shipping) before I can make one of my 4 fixtures. Here's my running total so far for my build:

240 XR-E Leds: (96CW)(96RB)(48B) ~$950.00
240 80 degree optics: ~$70
8x 8.48"x12" heatsinks: ~$200
20x ELN-60-48D: ~$500
8x Artic Alumina: ~$56
8x Yate Loon 120mm fans: ~$32
8x 9v Wallwarts for fans: ~$24

Total: ~$1832 plus shipping. or about $7.60 per led for my build. I still haven't ordered everything in the full quantity I need, just spreading my purchases out.

Here's the lay out of colors I'm going to run if anyone cares:

Where did you get the LED for like under $4 each?

 

[chriscobb]

Might sound like a stupid question, but what is the height or distance from where the led is mounted to the heatsink to the end of the optic installed?

 

[hllywd]

http://www.satistronics.com/10pcs-80-degree-lens-for-cree-ledssscree80-black_p1400.html These are 8.6mm according to their specs (I didn't measure mine physically). I bought 70°s and am very happy with the way they distribute the light.

http://www.satistronics.com/50pcs-60-degree-lens-for-CREE-LEDs-SS-CREE-60-_p1398.html These say 11.8mm, The ones I have are approximately 5/8" or almost 16mm. I have 40°s and 60°s. On my tank the 60°s were OK and the 40°s made for a lot of color separation high in the tank.

Obviously for either you'd have to add the thickness of the star fro total height. The first ones snap on the LEDs pretty tightly while the second ones may fall off under their own weight IME.
HTH, Tim

 

[marspeed]

Might sound like a stupid question, but what is the height or distance from where the led is mounted to the heatsink to the end of the optic installed?

up to about 15 mm depends on the optic used look at the data sheet for the optic you plan to use

 

[westmoorenerd]

Where did you get the LED for like under $4 each?

I got some at cost, and some pretty close to cost due to a group buy. Can't tell you who I bought them from because I received a massive discount due to the amount I ordered, a blotched group buy, and a military discount.

 

[Bunkerbean]

Bunker, 8 of the fixtures I'm making should work well in a tank that size. Should cost somewhere around $4000 or so... and take the biggest LED lit "private" aquarium title too!

Do you have a post with all your equiptment choices laid out?