Minimalistic multichip DIY LED build

[themaddhatter]

Definitely would be last resort, if I wanted to go that route I would've bought the individual chips which he's got for 31 dollars now. I've heard from a few people's threads that they seemed to like the color ratio of these at full on, so I'm taking a gamble. I can always transfer them to my 100g and start a build for this tank.

 

[007Bond]

Trial and error has always worked best for me. Led's,... another interesting learning curve for our hobby :thumbsup:

 

[themaddhatter]

I find the tinkering as much or more fun then watching the tank!

 

[007Bond]

Same here,...keep us posted!

 

[themaddhatter]

For sure! I'm going to start working on a mounting system this week. Trouble is, I do residential HVAC for a living in Ontario.. [/IMG]

 

[themaddhatter]

Already see my first challenge. The fixture in 8" high from the top of the screw base to the bottom of the lens. If I mount it in my canopy, it's going to be 3" from the surface. If i mount it open, the highest I can probably manage is about 7". Since I can't dim it, this may be too intense...

 

[zachts]

Already see my first challenge. The fixture in 8" high from the top of the screw base to the bottom of the lens. If I mount it in my canopy, it's going to be 3" from the surface. If i mount it open, the highest I can probably manage is about 7". Since I can't dim it, this may be too intense...

Didn't I see that those were dimmable with a normal LED rated wall dimmer switch? (all channels at once)

 

[themaddhatter]

The guy told me non dimmable. The price for a dimmable version was closer to 180

 

[zachts]

The guy told me non dimmable. The price for a dimmable version was closer to 180

doh!, there's always old school egg crate, screen, or fluorescent light diffuser panels from the hardware store......

 

[marspeed]

-23 and I thought I was busy

 

[themaddhatter]

I was on call Sunday, after my shift. I logged 15 hours before throwing in the towel, and there were still a few calls left.

 

[themaddhatter]

doh!, there's always old school egg crate, screen, or fluorescent light diffuser panels from the hardware store......

Not a bad idea for climatizing the tank to them

 

[themaddhatter]

Finally got them hung. The middle and right are at 5" from the surface. The left one is about 9". Crazy shimmer, especially when they were up higher. Visually doesn't look as uniformly bright as the t5s but definitely much more dramatic. I don't have too many corals yet but the zoas I do have seem Ok so far. My BTA disappeared yesterday, before the lights were switched, so I'm hoping this entices him back.

 

[themaddhatter]

Well, it's been two days, and my diatom bloom is completely gone!the anemone is visible behind some rocks, slowly making its way out. The lights seem way brighter now, but I don't kno for that's the lack. Of diatoms or actual intensity. I'll take more pics soon. Getting some sps tomorrow, so fingers crossed..

 

[007Bond]

Thanks for letting us know how its going with your new lights,...interesting :thumbsup:...also nice to see someone putting up some info on this thread again

 

[iced98lx]

I've been using a single 5 channel multichip for about a 1.5 years now over a 29 gallon Biocube as testing for implementation over a 180 gallon tank. I still plan to run 3 of them over the 180. they fade in very slowly and fade out quickly on the biocube to limit the amount of time at full tilt (only about an hour near full strength) but I will be running them at full blast over the 180 for 5-7 hours a day.

Tri color:

bali aquacultured piece: (3 inches off the bottom of the tank):

 

[themaddhatter]

I've been using a single 5 channel multichip for about a 1.5 years now over a 29 gallon Biocube as testing for implementation over a 180 gallon tank. I still plan to run 3 of them over the 180. they fade in very slowly and fade out quickly on the biocube to limit the amount of time at full tilt (only about an hour near full strength) but I will be running them at full blast over the 180 for 5-7 hours a day.

Tri color:

bali aquacultured piece: (3 inches off the bottom of the tank):

Those look pretty good! What chip are you using? And are you running the channels individually? The biggest weakness to mine is that they're not dimmable, so they come on and go full tilt for 11 hours. I'm going to reduce the photo period to 8 hours gradually though, because the light is so intense. I just added some sps today that I'll post pics of shortly.

 

[themaddhatter]

Thanks for letting us know how its going with your new lights,...interesting [emoji106]...also nice to see someone putting up some info on this thread again

Only fair, my friend, since most of my knowledge was gleaned from this thread! I'll post pics of a few sps that I just introduced this morning, shortly.

 

[themaddhatter]

I really love how the green pops under this light. The red looks nice too. The last one was supposed to be blue but the guy said it didn't do well for him and changed to a brown. He gave it to me to see if light improves it.

 

[007Bond]

Caps are good test corals. The red looks pretty big,...your trigger and tang look like their trying to get out of all the new light. lol