Smoothdog's Multichip LED build

Sweet build Kirk, I haven't been on here in a while. I still haven't done anything different to mine but still planning on adding some 3w led's of various colors around each multichip LED. I had mine side by side with a phoenix and they looked very close in color but the phoenix was also about 2 years old so guess it wasn't a good comparison. Once things slow back down around here I'll jump back on my tank build and hopefully get the lights to where I want them.
 
Yeah, the bulbs may have shifted spectrum if they were that old. I've also heard that the cheaper chinese leds can vary pretty significantly. I'm just hoping that the other 2 chips match so I don't have a big color difference. You may want to consider higher wattage supplementals. The 100w chip can completely blow out the 3 10w royal blues if I crank it up. I think I'm going to go with 20w blues on the big tank.

Looking forward tothe updates on your build.
 
nice thread smoothdog! are you still using these 100w leds and did you build them for your big tank? and how are they doing over your coral?
 
Yep, they've been on my 29g tank for a little over a week now. Corals seem to be happy, no issues so far. I have not built them for the 100g yet. Hopefully I'll get to it in the next month or so.
 
Very nice build! I found this thread doing some searching around, and I really appreciate the comparison pics and side-by-side. Very nice color.

I'm in the process of constructing a pendant style version similar to this. The housing will be a 4" ABS pipe coupler, with a zalman cnps7000cu heatsink (fits inside nicely) and a 150w multichip that is 50/50 10000k white and 445nm blue. I will probably do a ring of 6 420nm around the bottom of the light as well.
 
tomservo said:
Very nice build! I found this thread doing some searching around, and I really appreciate the comparison pics and side-by-side. Very nice color.

I'm in the process of constructing a pendant style version similar to this. The housing will be a 4" ABS pipe coupler, with a zalman cnps7000cu heatsink (fits inside nicely) and a 150w multichip that is 50/50 10000k white and 445nm blue. I will probably do a ring of 6 420nm around the bottom of the light as well.
Click to expand...

Thanks, when i was looking in to building this there was a lot of overly technical jargon beingthrown around but not a lot of real world examples so i just wanted to share so people could see what could be done with a simple build.

Sounds like your build will be pretty sweet. What wattage will you be using for the supplementals? What optics will you use?
 
Has anyone tried contacting the seller to see if he has anything higher color temp than 20K? Maybe a 25-30k 100W chip would be blue enough without having to supplement.
 
I haven't but this is the seller's name on ebay - aallion2008

I just used the 'contact member' link on ebay seller's page to request the 20k leds. I'm sure you could do the same to check.
 
miatawnt2b said:
Has anyone tried contacting the seller to see if he has anything higher color temp than 20K? Maybe a 25-30k 100W chip would be blue enough without having to supplement.
Click to expand...

BTW, your review of the Odyssea MH fixture several year ago convinced me to get one, and as you can see from the pictures, I still have it, at least until I can get my new lights built. ;)
 
smoothdog said:
BTW, your review of the Odyssea MH fixture several year ago convinced me to get one, and as you can see from the pictures, I still have it, at least until I can get my new lights built. ;)
Click to expand...

Ha Ha... nice. I sold that light with my 90gal fully stocked about 3 years ago for something like $500. Was moving to the southwest and wasn't moving a reef across the country. I just got my first tank since, (a 29 rimless cube) and it currently has an old school 175W hamilton pendant with magnetic ballast. I am looking to upgrade. :)

That thread was insane. Every once in a while someone posts to it. :)

-J
 
I contacted the seller and he has LED's in the 25-30k range as well. Based on the color you've seen with the 20k's, in your estimation would you go with a 25k or a 30k to get a similar color to an XM 14k bulb?

-J
 
I haven't personally seen the color rendition of the XMs or the higher k leds so I wouldn't feel comfortable giving an opinion there. If you really want a one light solution I would consider the hybrid chips with a mixture of white and blue leds on the same multichip. I've seen a couple of pictures of these in the forums and the color rendition looks pretty good if it's accurate.

I'm currently running the light over my small tank with the 100w chip at around 50% and 3 10w blues at 100% and love the color so I ordered 4 30W blues to go with the 2 100w white chips for the big tank that I plan to run brighter. I personally think running the whites and blues on separate dimmable channels is the way to go because everyone has different personal tastes as far as color and this allows you to fine tune the color to your liking. It does cost a bit more this way but the individual parts can be purchased over time and the overall cost is still considerably less than a pre-made fixture.
 
awesome build smoothdog i am contemplating something like this for a custom 37G that i am building,
Would a couple of the 10W and 20W be enough to sustain sps corals instead of 1 big 100W as i want to keep electricty to below 150W, Also what colours would you suggest for growth and aesthetics?
My tank dimensions are 27.5*19.6*17.7H
 
I think i'm going to go with a 27k or 30k and see what that does. I'm not sure about the hybrid chip... I'm concerned that with a 60deg optic, it will be too 'spotty'.

-J
 
ziyaadb said:
awesome build smoothdog i am contemplating something like this for a custom 37G that i am building,
Would a couple of the 10W and 20W be enough to sustain sps corals instead of 1 big 100W as i want to keep electricty to below 150W, Also what colours would you suggest for growth and aesthetics?
My tank dimensions are 27.5*19.6*17.7H
Click to expand...

Thanks ziyaadb. Wow, you're my first thread visitor from South Africa! :D I think you'd be fine with a few chips in that range for that size tank. I only did the 100w on my small tank as a test before jumping with both feet on the big tank. I actually just threw my killawatt meter on it and realized I'm only using about 38w on the 100w chip though. That's another thing to consider too, if you use a dimmable driver with over sized chips you can always dim them down to save power. It also helps with the life of the chip to run it at lower than 100%.

As far as colors go, I used a 20k white and my blues are in the 455-465nm range. The light has only been on the tank for a couple of weeks now but everything looks very happy and I'm please with the color. The only sps I have in that tank is an encrusting montipora and it seems to be doing well. I found some blues with a slightly broader range (450-470nm) and thought I would give them a shot on the big tank since broader range in the blue spectrum is supposed to be more beneficial.



miatawnt2b said:
I think i'm going to go with a 27k or 30k and see what that does. I'm not sure about the hybrid chip... I'm concerned that with a 60deg optic, it will be too 'spotty'.

-J
Click to expand...

Cool, let us know how it turns out! I have heard that there can be some striping when using optics on the hybrid chips but I think that was one with half white on one side and half blue on the other, not white on the outsides and blue in the center. Don't know what angle was used on the optics though. I switched from the 60 deg optics to 90 deg on the main light. I found that the shadows were just too harsh with the 60 deg.
 
This really seems like the way to go for LEDs. What would you recommend for a 6 foot 125 gallon? I plan on keeping some SPS and clams at the bottom. Any input would be appreciated.
 
awesome thanks smoothdog.
I want to get maximum bang for buck and dont want to waste. for me buying a 100W chip and only using 50% is not a viable option.
Can you please pm me the link to from whom you bought the chips and drivers? I would really appreciate it.
 
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