PRIMARY LED lit Custom glass tank
- Thread starter zachtos
- Start date
itZme
New member
Hey mine left on the 14th too. They arrived today! YAY!
Did yours get here yet?
I am now drilling all the holes and will solder them up tonight and hopefully plug it in today before bedtime (you know it may be 6:00 am before i find a need to sleep with the DIY bug going strong)
I'll let you know how it looks... hope yours come soon if they haven't.
-- itZme
itZme
New member
Well, I got it all together and there are a couple of concerns I have.
There is a yellowish ring around the beam of each white bulb. It isn't terrible but it definitely makes the color seem way off from the 9,000K that they claim. If you look directly into the beam it seems very bright and white but when you see the projected beams it is a different thing altogether. I ran 69 white lights and 39 blue lights with 33 ohm resistors to give a total voltage of 3.8V to each LED and I have a 1.2A 12V power supply with a total draw of 720mA from the array.
I know the bulbs are being driven to their max. capacity.
The bulbs I bought are 110,000 mcd like >> THESE << . The beam is only 12 degrees wide. Each bulb is about 12 inches from the substrate and creates a circle about 1" diameter at the bottom. This leaves some areas that the light doesn't overlap and cover. I might add a pc-fluorescent tube in there to help fill in the dimmer areas.
They really look neat and shimmer in the water like sunlight would but there is just not enough coverage. You might have better luck with a smaller area to light and more bulbs in a closer grid than mine. I don't want to discourage you from your goal, just update you on the progress I have had to maybe help you out.
The holes I drilled were about 1 1/8" apart and on an offset grid so that every other row was half a hole shifted over to help fill any open spaces. Then I added the 5mm blues in between the rows of white. I will post a pic to help you see what I did. It is a quick thing I did in paint just now.
There is also a considerable amount of heat coming out of these bulbs when there are 108 of them all on at once. I didn't expect it to be this much heat. It is not anywhere near an incandescent bulb but it is still a lot more than you would think of with LEDs. I calculated the light that I will get from this array at around 28 watts equivalent.
Here are some very convenient links that you or other LED DIY'ers might need.
LED array designer (tells you what resistors to use and lots of good stuff)
These LEDs are the brightest I could find and the cheapest. ($35/100 LEDs delivered.) I know I couldn't find the same item on their website... only on Ebay.
LEDs>> LEDs are here <<
LED millicandella to lumens converter (wattage equivalent calculator)
I will post a pic when I get some time.
Let us know how yours turns out... I am hoping you get the results you are after in your neat little DIY cube.
-- itZme
There is a yellowish ring around the beam of each white bulb. It isn't terrible but it definitely makes the color seem way off from the 9,000K that they claim. If you look directly into the beam it seems very bright and white but when you see the projected beams it is a different thing altogether. I ran 69 white lights and 39 blue lights with 33 ohm resistors to give a total voltage of 3.8V to each LED and I have a 1.2A 12V power supply with a total draw of 720mA from the array.
I know the bulbs are being driven to their max. capacity.
The bulbs I bought are 110,000 mcd like >> THESE << . The beam is only 12 degrees wide. Each bulb is about 12 inches from the substrate and creates a circle about 1" diameter at the bottom. This leaves some areas that the light doesn't overlap and cover. I might add a pc-fluorescent tube in there to help fill in the dimmer areas.
They really look neat and shimmer in the water like sunlight would but there is just not enough coverage. You might have better luck with a smaller area to light and more bulbs in a closer grid than mine. I don't want to discourage you from your goal, just update you on the progress I have had to maybe help you out.
The holes I drilled were about 1 1/8" apart and on an offset grid so that every other row was half a hole shifted over to help fill any open spaces. Then I added the 5mm blues in between the rows of white. I will post a pic to help you see what I did. It is a quick thing I did in paint just now.
There is also a considerable amount of heat coming out of these bulbs when there are 108 of them all on at once. I didn't expect it to be this much heat. It is not anywhere near an incandescent bulb but it is still a lot more than you would think of with LEDs. I calculated the light that I will get from this array at around 28 watts equivalent.
Here are some very convenient links that you or other LED DIY'ers might need.
LED array designer (tells you what resistors to use and lots of good stuff)
These LEDs are the brightest I could find and the cheapest. ($35/100 LEDs delivered.) I know I couldn't find the same item on their website... only on Ebay.
LEDs>> LEDs are here <<
LED millicandella to lumens converter (wattage equivalent calculator)
I will post a pic when I get some time.
Let us know how yours turns out... I am hoping you get the results you are after in your neat little DIY cube.
-- itZme
xtrstangx
Premium Member
The silicone and the Great Stuff is fine in salt water. I've used the silicone myself on my sump and its not killing my SPS/clams/etc with "toxic chemicals". The only toxic GE II is the Bathroom/Kitchen, not the Door/Window.
As for the Great Stuff, there is plenty of documentation on tanks with it.
Looks interesting. Definately subscribed to this one.
As for the Great Stuff, there is plenty of documentation on tanks with it.
Looks interesting. Definately subscribed to this one.
zachtos
Active member
itZme: you need to use about 75% more LEDs for good coverage. I STILL have not received mine... I don't know what the problem is but I am not happy since I took time off to work on this. Watts do NOT matter becuase LEDs are MUCH more efficient then any other lighting source. candellas converting into lumens also doe not matter. This is because lumens gives a TOTAL light output. LEDs are projecting in a beam directly onto our corals, which is actually exactly what we want. So the best measurements would be candellas (they give intensity of the beam) and then a LUX reading of the final output (this gives overall intensity at the coral's level)
I am not happy that my tank cycle may or may not have started... I am not going to have luck finding ammonia due to the holidays... What would happen if a small amount of human urine were added? gross, but it may introduce ammonia (among other contaminents?)
I am not happy that my tank cycle may or may not have started... I am not going to have luck finding ammonia due to the holidays... What would happen if a small amount of human urine were added? gross, but it may introduce ammonia (among other contaminents?)
candella is a little misleading though, because all they do is narrow the beam and increase the rating. 100,000 at 12degrees would be 50k at 24degrees. but yeah, wider spread and youd cover each spot by twice as many sources, so it levels out.
as for pee, could do that, Im a bit bashful perhaps, so i tossed a bit of frozen shrimp in there, itll break down quick enough. you can also put some food in there. basicly any form of nutrients will become ammonia. pee is just 1 step ahead.
as for pee, could do that, Im a bit bashful perhaps, so i tossed a bit of frozen shrimp in there, itll break down quick enough. you can also put some food in there. basicly any form of nutrients will become ammonia. pee is just 1 step ahead.
itZme
New member
Just a suggestion here .. usually there is a bottle with purple label or one called Sea-Mist at Wal-mart stores that is ammonia.
There is a bottle of ammonia at Ace hardware in the cleaning supplies that looks like this
They both should be open tomorrow. Good luck with your cycle problems. Hope you find it is already done
that would be a nice surprise.-- itZme
Charles99
New member
Keep me updated with the LED project. I made a DIY Moonlight setup using 3 Blue LEDs from besthongkong.com on my 60g. I purchased a handfull of extra blue and white to supplement my 4x65W PC.
I want to create the shimmering effect that hallides produce. I did come across some usefull info on using LEDS:
A majority of them have a narrow/ intense beams. This beam may "burn" corals. I guess this will all depend on the exact type (beam angle) of the LED or the depth of the tank.
Keep me posted. Thanks.
I want to create the shimmering effect that hallides produce. I did come across some usefull info on using LEDS:
A majority of them have a narrow/ intense beams. This beam may "burn" corals. I guess this will all depend on the exact type (beam angle) of the LED or the depth of the tank.
Keep me posted. Thanks.
zachtos
Active member
LEDs have arrived. I had enough time to do a test today.
110,000mcd 10mm LEDs x100qty, 9000K color, also have low intesity 410nm 5mm LEDs x50 all from besthongkong.com's ebay store. cost about $40total.
Full tank w/ 1-13WPC bulb
protoboard 6LEDs
protoboard 6LEDs ON
* please PM me how to resize pics w/o losing quality - I use windows powertool plugin to resize
Let the project begin!
110,000mcd 10mm LEDs x100qty, 9000K color, also have low intesity 410nm 5mm LEDs x50 all from besthongkong.com's ebay store. cost about $40total.
- 24volt regulated wall adapter
- capacitor for delayed off and volt regulation/insurance against spikes takes 3seconds for LEDs to turn off
- 6 LEDs 3.4V each
- 150 ohm resistor @ 3.6V
- V=IR, 3.6/150=0.024Ax1000= 24mA <-- goal was 25mA (pretty close)
protoboard 6LEDs
protoboard 6LEDs ON
* please PM me how to resize pics w/o losing quality - I use windows powertool plugin to resize
Let the project begin!
