PRIMARY LED lit Custom glass tank

[fppf]

You took one picture with the room lights on and the other with the room lights off, can you take some more but keep the room light on or off, just make it the same.

Just a suggestion, why don't you just layout a PCB for a block of LED's and get it made? Then you just need to solder on the parts and be done with it. Then slap on some conformal coating to protect it and your all set.

 

[zachtos]

I thought about using a PrintedCircuitBoard CAD program to get a PCB made but there were some design issues. The PCB would not really save any time. I would still need to solder all the legs of the LEDs into the board which as it turns out, was the fastest part of the construction. The time consuming part was TRIMMING everyLED down and BENDING each wire. The PCB may save time bending, but you would still have to make sure each LED is facing the right way and test along the way. The major problem would be the inability to keep each LED in place at a perfect 90degree angle with the water. As the LEDs are nearly like a beam, you want them shining perfectly down onto the corals for maximum exposure. But if I could get a PCB with all of the 5mm holes drilled already and traces drawn, that could save a great deal of time. I still think the greatest time saver would be to use the 12V modules shown above in this thread. They are cheap too by the way, and use the SAME LEDs that I used in this project.

LUX meter to arrive friday, measurements to be posted this weekend.

 

[fppf]

You can get colars to put on the LED's so when there flush on the bottom of the PCB they will be square.

 

[zachtos]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6512271#post6512271 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by zachtos
2" bulb made of ultrabrite LEDs 40,000mcd x 48 for under $20 ea, just plug em into a 12Vdc powersupply!

available in MULTIPLE colors

now you dont even need to solder... they also sell pre wired Blue LEDs individually that you could use to accent these.

of course I found out about these after I ordered my single LEDs. I'll let you know in a week how they turn out.

these seem to be the best way financially/timewise to scale this project up

 

[zachtos]

I finished wiring my fuge array. I consists of 96 LEDs. 24blue, 24UV, 48Red. 620-630nm RED, 410nm UV, 465nm BLUE. I chose these instead of white because chlorophyl A&B do not use green light. They react to 640nm and 400-470nm. So these lights should grow plants much more efficiently with no wasted light spectrum, perfect for a refugium without coral. I plan to run these 20 hours a day to grow chaetomorpha marco algae which seems to be struggling to survive for the last 4 weeks with my 7W 2700K PC bulb.

4hours to solder/construct my 4"x4" array. running on 24Vdc @ 22mA, 120ohm current limitting resistors. On off switch and capacitor for voltage cleaning/stability. Tomorrow I plan to wire in a 500mA fuse for protection.

Behold the macro mega light 2000!


LUX readings this weekend.

 

[55chadman]

i may have misses it but to you have the plans for your power supply and what your driving you led's with

im glad some one worked up this idea i had pland to do it but it fizzled out may try it again

thanks

chad

 

[55chadman]

also i thought to help protect the back of the led array spray clear polyurathane on the back

maby!!!

chad

 

[zachtos]

LUX readings have arrived. I dont have any powerful lighting to test right now... So tell me if these results are good or not compared to MH

left out 0" because that measurment skews the graph, and is not practical for real life application.

are these numbers good enough for SPS/clams??? don't be biased and say "you need MH etc blah blah blah". Use the posted results please.

 

[fppf]

Fromm what I have read reefs get about 75,000 lux or 1,500-1,000 umols at noon.

 

[zachtos]

That is nice. But no one can replicate that amount of light. Does anyone have any LUX readings at various heights for high power lights?

 

[SunnyX]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6664534#post6664534 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by fppf
Fromm what I have read reefs get about 75,000 lux or 1,500-1,000 umols at noon.

Some reefs receive up to 120,000 Lux

For reference, a 175 watt MH puts out close to 17,000 LUX.

 

[Ruminari]

interesting thread I can't wait to see your later results. Also a comparison to a MH would be awesome to see. I wonder when someone will do this on a larger scale.

 

[Airman]

Good design. You have a lot of light in a confined space.

 

[zachtos]

measured the intensity of my 4mo old 20,000K AB 250MH bulb today... keep in mind, this is a small array versus 250W!!! This is 89% average intensity of MH and seems to be able to penetrate deeper then MH can w/ less drop off at great distance.

LEDs current PROs

1. gives off very low heat, does cause some heat but it is less then PC bulbs.

2. lasts longer then your tank will (should last atleast 6 years, max maybe 11years until 50% intensity)

3. due to low heat generation, may be mounted very close to water surface, this gives them an advantage because they can get much closer then MH, thus giving them the winning edge in my book

4. Less power used, 40W vs 250W, means less electric bill

5. Fully customizable lighting effects

LEDs current CONs
1. cost is about twice as much as MH DIY kits and about 50% more then complete setups.

2. requires a lot of man hours, but may be remedied using the 2" bulbs shown above.

3. intensity seems to be between 175W MH and 250WMH, doesn't look like it can compete w/ a 400W MH... yet. (but close)

I think LEDs win in my book. Atleast until you get to tanks over 120 gallons. Then you really should just get the MH. The array will be too big and costly at that time and it probably wont be able to give you enough LUX... not sure yet, no 400W comparisons availale.

I'm thinking of starting array in the near future for a 90 gallon tank. I am considering paying an unemployed college student to build it on his free time. It would not take him more then a few 40 hour weeks maximum.

$1600 for 4600LEDs, 6.4/in^2, at 45"x16"
I think maybe $1000 labor charge would be fair. (130 labor hours at $8/hr, maybe cut the array in half and do half on my freetime or just do it all myself on spare time)
$150 power supplies, 10x12Vdc psupplies135 strands of 34LED long strings at 120Vdc

so maybe about $1800 to do it myself or $2800 to pay someone... still a bit expensive... but then again so is 2x250MH and 2x110W VHO actinic... about $1000 for those then add in that lovely $1000 chiller unit and all that increased evaporation and electricity and yearly $280 bulb changes... I stay its more expensive to go MH w/in 2 years easily...

 

[duhfactor]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6675551#post6675551 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by zachtos

measured the intensity of my 4mo old 20,000K AB 250MH bulb today... keep in mind, this is a small array versus 250W!!! This is 89% average intensity of MH and seems to be able to penetrate deeper then MH can w/ less drop off at great distance.

LEDs current PROs

1. gives off very low heat, does cause some heat but it is less then PC bulbs.

2. lasts longer then your tank will (should last atleast 6 years, max maybe 11years until 50% intensity)

3. due to low heat generation, may be mounted very close to water surface, this gives them an advantage because they can get much closer then MH, thus giving them the winning edge in my book

4. Less power used, 40W vs 250W, means less electric bill

5. Fully customizable lighting effects

LEDs current CONs
1. cost is about twice as much as MH DIY kits and about 50% more then complete setups.

2. requires a lot of man hours, but may be remedied using the 2" bulbs shown above.

3. intensity seems to be between 175W MH and 250WMH, doesn't look like it can compete w/ a 400W MH... yet. (but close)

I think LEDs win in my book. Atleast until you get to tanks over 120 gallons. Then you really should just get the MH. The array will be too big and costly at that time and it probably wont be able to give you enough LUX... not sure yet, no 400W comparisons availale.

I'm thinking of starting array in the near future for a 90 gallon tank. I am considering paying an unemployed college student to build it on his free time. It would not take him more then a few 40 hour weeks maximum.

$1600 for 4600LEDs, 6.4/in^2, at 45"x16"
I think maybe $1000 labor charge would be fair. (130 labor hours at $8/hr, maybe cut the array in half and do half on my freetime or just do it all myself on spare time)
$150 power supplies, 10x12Vdc psupplies135 strands of 34LED long strings at 120Vdc

so maybe about $1800 to do it myself or $2800 to pay someone... still a bit expensive... but then again so is 2x250MH and 2x110W VHO actinic... about $1000 for those then add in that lovely $1000 chiller unit and all that increased evaporation and electricity and yearly $280 bulb changes... I stay its more expensive to go MH w/in 2 years easily...

Wow!!! I had no idea!!! This has such promise for deep nano tanks!!
D

 

[dpieroni]

250w 10000K

250w 10000K

Good work... I think you are worry a lot of people in the reef lighting business with this forum...just a joke..
I want to say that a 20000K MH has 50% or less the power of a 10000K MH.
Do you have a 10000K MH to compare to?
thanks
diego

 

[zachtos]

no, I personally ownly have a 20,000K 250W HQI MH. My LUX mtr does respond to the frequencies of that bulb fairly well. I've seen a few LUX readings of 10,000K bulbs and they were very close to the 20,000K bulb I have. Remember, a LUX meter is more biased towards the 550nm range, and much less towards the 400nm and 600nm. So the only really good way to measure is with a PAR meter which I can not afford. My LFS does not own one either. But I think the LUX readings still give a "good enough" answer. It is probably going to be fine for SPS/clam if I so desire. I will get an SPS frag or two this week along w/ some more softies.

 

[zachtos]

to answer various inquiries about the power supply once and for all:
24Vdc power supply
12Vdc supply
these are wired in series to provide 36Vdc which allowed me to run longer arrays of LEDs. I ran 24Vdc to my fuge array on seperate powersupply. I couldv'e shared it w/ the display but I didn't want to overload it, and wanted it to be on a different time schedule. I could've used a PC powersupply to get 12Vdc but those are bulky and fairly loud and oversized for my project. Also I'm not sure How it would work if i connected the outputs in series to make 36Vdc, or how safe that would be.

 

[irishpete]

What is the heat difference?

 

[zachtos]

my 6 gallon tank has only 4 gallons of water and is running at 81deg F w/ the LEDs on during the day. This is w/ 2 5vdc fans blowing across them. It is a +3deg increase over my single 13W PC. The lights have an acrylic guard and are 1.5" above the water. considering I am getting MH quality light w/ a temp of 81deg F ambient heating only, I think that is great. But I may have some problems this summer if it goes much higher.