DIY with AcroStar LED's!

[Poseidon]

Good evening everyone, it has been a long while since I posted anything on the boards about my tank! I am still in the hobby, recovering from a case of LARS (Lazy A** Reefer Syndrome) where I did lose quite a few corals. Unfortunately they were the SPS that are hard or impossible to find, the old school ones.

Anyway, I have moved away from the metal halide/led combo and went 100% LED using these AcroStar pucks. I decided to go with the 1/2 Mega, 8 3W emitters on a 2" puck. My first plan was to use my existing power supply and 6 of the pucks, but that didn't work as the power supply was to small to drive all 6 properly with the LDD drivers. (The supply was 36v, 150W max, and I was pushing that to the edge, with no success.)

With that plan not working out, I upgrade my supply to a 45v 350W version and ordered 2 more of the pucks from Yann.

I couldn't be happier with the results!

Here is a list of what I am using:
45V 350W Power Supply from Amazon
2 LDD 1000 mAH Drivers
2 LDD 700 mAH Drivers
1 AcroIQ Micro Driver (Also from Blue Acro) This thing is NEAT, and TINY
https://blueacro.com/acroiq/
1 Voltage dropping thing from EBay, 45v in, 12v out to run the fan and
1 O2 Surplus 0-10V to 5v PWM converter board
8 Half-Mega 18k Blue https://blueacro.com/acrostar/
PCI cooling fan from Amazon
36" Makers Slim Heatsink

Ok, now that the list is out of the way, some pictures!




These are the old light, 14k Phoenix 4 Luxeon M 12W LED's

New Light:

The emitter itself, still in the plastic. Really well done, looks like a full on commercial production product, not something designed and built by a hobbyist.

Project starting:


Here the fan is in place, and you can see the center lines for the 3 pucks, this was updated to 4 later:


A better picture of the emitters mounted to the heatsink:


Here we have after many hours a nearly complete fixture, the reflectors and diffusers are mounted and you can see my wiring 1.0, it was also upgraded when I added the 2nd pair of pucks.


Cont"¦

 

[Poseidon]

First picture of the tank with the 6 pucks and my old power supply, this was a 1 AM picture:


Here we go again, 2 more pucks and more wiring to do:


I did a much better job on this endcap, I can plug in the ethernet cable that goes to my Apex for control right into the side of the light:


Let the wiring begin! Three of the 4 components are viewable here, but none of the wires:


AcroIQ Driver, remember I said this was SMALL?:


After about 3 hours of cutting, stripping, and screwing in tiny wires to tiny terminals:


Power side endcap, I am pleased with how this turned out:


Cont"¦

 

[Poseidon]

And FINALLY! On the tank, the sun was actually shining into that window of course, but this pic shows all 8 pucks in operation over the tank.:


For some numbers, I have the LED's about 6" off the surface of the water the top of my rock work or the tips of the green acro on the left are getting about 325 PAR, the Rastas also to the left are 250 ish, and the sanded varies from 80 to 100. These values are straight from the clubs apogee PAR meter. I have set the Apex to ramp up the blue channel to 75%, and the white to 50% over about an hour, then it stays there for 8 hours and ramps back down over about 2 hours.

I have only had the lights in operation about 10 days, and I have a few immediate observations. The Jason Fox Witch Hunter monti LOVES these lights, I think I can see it growing in front of my very eyes. The algae that grows on the glass has been reduced by 80%, most likely due to the light being so focused down onto the rock work. My black background also seems to have faded into the back even more, I am sure also due to the focused light no longer illuminating the glass panes themselves.

I'll make sure to update the thread as my tank grows, I added several new frags this weekend from a local swap, and so far everything is HAPPY!

Thank you Yann for making such a quality product, I fully anticipate a surge in both growth and color over the next few weeks and months.

-Mike

 

[theatrus]

Beautiful tank and a very clean build! How many LEDs did you end up running on the Micro driver?

 

[Poseidon]

Beautiful tank and a very clean build! How many LEDs did you end up running on the Micro driver?

Thanks Yann! There are 2 pucks on the micro driver. That is a really neat piece, I'm going to recommend it for any of my friends future builds. Not sure if it's possible, but adding detents at 500, and 700 mAH would make that driver darn near perfect.

 

[perkint]

The emitter itself, still in the plastic. Really well done, looks like a full on commercial production product, not something designed and built by a hobbyist

I could be wrong, but having read a fair few of Theatrus' posts on here, I don't think he is "just a hobbyist" in this context. I very much get the impression he is a professional in this sort of game, but he just does these things (ie the reef gear) in his spare time! Either that or he's just showing off :lolspin:

I'm still waiting to see what he comes up with for the PAR meter!

He has come up with some very impressive designs. And it looks like you've put some of them to good effect there :thumbsup:

Tim

 

[theatrus]

I could be wrong, but having read a fair few of Theatrus' posts on here, I don't think he is "just a hobbyist" in this context. I very much get the impression he is a professional in this sort of game, but he just does these things (ie the reef gear) in his spare time! Either that or he's just showing off :lolspin:

I'm still waiting to see what he comes up with for the PAR meter!

He has come up with some very impressive designs. And it looks like you've put some of them to good effect there :thumbsup:

Tim

Its very much a spare time kinda thing. Used to do hardware professionally, but now its all in the software game, so this scratches the nostalgic itch

 

[Poseidon]

I could be wrong, but having read a fair few of Theatrus' posts on here, I don't think he is "just a hobbyist" in this context. I very much get the impression he is a professional in this sort of game, but he just does these things (ie the reef gear) in his spare time! Either that or he's just showing off :lolspin:

I'm still waiting to see what he comes up with for the PAR meter!

He has come up with some very impressive designs. And it looks like you've put some of them to good effect there :thumbsup:

Tim

This is very true, he has skills. Thanks!

Its very much a spare time kinda thing. Used to do hardware professionally, but now its all in the software game, so this scratches the nostalgic itch

I'm glad you scratched. :beer:

 

[gus6464]

Its very much a spare time kinda thing. Used to do hardware professionally, but now its all in the software game, so this scratches the nostalgic itch

What's the ETA on your light controller? Been holding off a project waiting for it

 

[perkint]

Its very much a spare time kinda thing. Used to do hardware professionally, but now its all in the software game, so this scratches the nostalgic itch

I wasn't far off then - used to be professional

Tim

 

[saf1]

Hi Poseidon. Nice build. Am I correct in that this is over a 85 gallon tank?

I am a bit behind, well, a lot behind, in my 240 gallon build but it is using the AcroStars as well. I'm using the Mega4Z's though. I have them mounted and staged on the heat sinks but I've not started the wiring just yet since I'm still finalizing a simple question. Closed hood or light rack

I see you are using LDD's in one picture then another has AcroIQ driver. Was that for the two additional chips you added after? They are small but good things come in small packages. Hopefully I'll have mine setup soon. I'm hoping they can punch through a tank that is 30" tall reasonably enough. I'm sure they will be fine and I'll have 4 total mixed in with two of my existing multi led chips.

Well done, looks nice and neat.

 

[Poseidon]

Hi Poseidon. Nice build. Am I correct in that this is over a 85 gallon tank?



I am a bit behind, well, a lot behind, in my 240 gallon build but it is using the AcroStars as well. I'm using the Mega4Z's though. I have them mounted and staged on the heat sinks but I've not started the wiring just yet since I'm still finalizing a simple question. Closed hood or light rack



I see you are using LDD's in one picture then another has AcroIQ driver. Was that for the two additional chips you added after? They are small but good things come in small packages. Hopefully I'll have mine setup soon. I'm hoping they can punch through a tank that is 30" tall reasonably enough. I'm sure they will be fine and I'll have 4 total mixed in with two of my existing multi led chips.



Well done, looks nice and neat.

Exactly, the micro was for the 2 additional, and yes the tank is 36x24x22 tall. I know I'm not lighting the whole tank evenly, but I didn't want that. With these lights you can put the light where you want to, saving on power usage and glass cleaning time. [emoji3][emoji1303]

Thanks for the compliment, it took about a day to put together, I'm happy with the results.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[saf1]

Thanks Poseidon. Like I mentioned I have a set of 4 that I need to finish. I've been pretty busy so that is why I've been sitting on them. However finishing up some painting this week, then wainscot hopefully next weekend, then I can get the tank staged in the final resting spot. While the sump gets finished I should be able to throw together the lights finally.

Looks really clean and professional. You did good.