Bootlegger
New member
So I finally got around to retrofitting my dated hood on my 80 gallon all-glass tank.
Prior to the upgrade I was running 6x54 watt T5HO in a dated wooden canopy (kind of 1990s). Well, I'm still using the canopy because I didn't have time (or motivation) to build a whole new hood the way I wanted. Thus, in short, I swapped two bulbs (108 watts) for 108 watts of LEDs. I used the following:
1x 4ft aluminum channel
1x Blower fan
4x Luxeon M Royal Blue
2x Luxeon M 4000k
2x Luxeon M 5000k
4x Ocean Coral White (RGB)
1x CREE Royal Blue
1x Osram Diamond Dragon 5000k
1x Osram Diamond Dragon 4000k
4x Meanwell LDD drivers, 3x 1000mA, 1x 500mA
1x Typhoon Controller
1x 15VDC power supply, 150 watts
1x 10-amp 12-60VDC boost/buck module
When making the upgrade to LED, I decided to upgrade to a programmed start ballast with a higher ballast factor. The previous ballasts were Fulham Workhorses, and though good, I already had a superior Quicktronic.
The most challenging part of this (other than finding time) was wiring it all up without it looking like a birds nest of wire. Another challenge was deciding what to stuff in the hood and what to mount under my cabinet. At some point, I'll build a more "modern" hood and plan to stuff nearly everything in the hood, including the power supply.
Lessons Learned:
1) Use molex connectors; it's not necessary but simplifies future maintenance
2) Be more careful soldering, i.e. when you're working at night on an empty stomach, you're accumulate too many, "Ahhh shhhhiii!"
3) The typhoon controller is great, but a real pain to mount; functional but practical for a nicely finished job. It really needs a separate box designed just for it. Anyone have a 3D printer? If so, make up some panel mount boxes for these ubiquitous Arduinos on the market. I'll probably buy one
4) Make sure you have enough of the right gauge wire with right colors. The last minute run to home depot only leads to disappointment.
5) Meanwell LDD drivers are awesome! Wish I used them from day 1. I like the stevesled drivers but being able to go above 24VDC on the same string kept my project to four channels.
6) Boost/buck is great. It allows me to tune my configuration without having to change power supplies. I could go up or down LEDS at will.
Typhoon (Arduino) Panel with Meanwell LDD Drivers (note: the fan you see is cooling the 12-60 VDC boost/buck)
I'm using 4 channels broken into Royal Blue, "White", RGB, and "Fill" (CREE and Osram to fill in edge of tank)
Layout (Royal Blues and RGBs are on)
Layout from farther away (you can see the heatsink better):
Front View of Layout:
1990s Cannopy (here you can see my fan from where the blower fan pulls fresh air and dumps into the canopy)
Here's a photo with everything about at 100%. The kelvin (color) I went for was 10,000k. I'm running 2x actinic, 1x super blue, 1x daylight T5s. With the T5s not running, the color looks around 6500k. This is my estimate using a tool cold a "trained eye".
Prior to the upgrade I was running 6x54 watt T5HO in a dated wooden canopy (kind of 1990s). Well, I'm still using the canopy because I didn't have time (or motivation) to build a whole new hood the way I wanted. Thus, in short, I swapped two bulbs (108 watts) for 108 watts of LEDs. I used the following:
1x 4ft aluminum channel
1x Blower fan
4x Luxeon M Royal Blue
2x Luxeon M 4000k
2x Luxeon M 5000k
4x Ocean Coral White (RGB)
1x CREE Royal Blue
1x Osram Diamond Dragon 5000k
1x Osram Diamond Dragon 4000k
4x Meanwell LDD drivers, 3x 1000mA, 1x 500mA
1x Typhoon Controller
1x 15VDC power supply, 150 watts
1x 10-amp 12-60VDC boost/buck module
When making the upgrade to LED, I decided to upgrade to a programmed start ballast with a higher ballast factor. The previous ballasts were Fulham Workhorses, and though good, I already had a superior Quicktronic.
The most challenging part of this (other than finding time) was wiring it all up without it looking like a birds nest of wire. Another challenge was deciding what to stuff in the hood and what to mount under my cabinet. At some point, I'll build a more "modern" hood and plan to stuff nearly everything in the hood, including the power supply.
Lessons Learned:
1) Use molex connectors; it's not necessary but simplifies future maintenance
2) Be more careful soldering, i.e. when you're working at night on an empty stomach, you're accumulate too many, "Ahhh shhhhiii!"
3) The typhoon controller is great, but a real pain to mount; functional but practical for a nicely finished job. It really needs a separate box designed just for it. Anyone have a 3D printer? If so, make up some panel mount boxes for these ubiquitous Arduinos on the market. I'll probably buy one
4) Make sure you have enough of the right gauge wire with right colors. The last minute run to home depot only leads to disappointment.
5) Meanwell LDD drivers are awesome! Wish I used them from day 1. I like the stevesled drivers but being able to go above 24VDC on the same string kept my project to four channels.
6) Boost/buck is great. It allows me to tune my configuration without having to change power supplies. I could go up or down LEDS at will.
Typhoon (Arduino) Panel with Meanwell LDD Drivers (note: the fan you see is cooling the 12-60 VDC boost/buck)
I'm using 4 channels broken into Royal Blue, "White", RGB, and "Fill" (CREE and Osram to fill in edge of tank)
Layout (Royal Blues and RGBs are on)
Layout from farther away (you can see the heatsink better):
Front View of Layout:
1990s Cannopy (here you can see my fan from where the blower fan pulls fresh air and dumps into the canopy)
Here's a photo with everything about at 100%. The kelvin (color) I went for was 10,000k. I'm running 2x actinic, 1x super blue, 1x daylight T5s. With the T5s not running, the color looks around 6500k. This is my estimate using a tool cold a "trained eye".
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