Tank and LED progress

liquidcowboy

New member
I have started to upgrade my current CF light fixture to a DIY LED fixture. Instead of having to hang the light fixture from the ceiling above the tank, a buddy of mine is building a canopy for my tank. So I thought I would take some pics of the progress I have made so far and post it.

Here is the light fixture assembled and the LEDs cemented on:
led1.jpg


Here is my soldering progress:
led2.jpg


As you can see, my wiring and solder skills are still being honed in lol

Here is my canopy completed, just need to stain it now:
canopy1.jpg


canopy2.jpg
 
How did you determine how many leds to use? Is there a rough estimate of number of leds vs mh, vs pc, vs t5?
 
How did you determine how many leds to use? Is there a rough estimate of number of leds vs mh, vs pc, vs t5?

I just measured out the area I had for the fixture and how I wanted to place the LEDs and came up with needing 36 per side, 72 in total.
 
Do you know how 72 will compare to your CF fixture? I am thinking of upgrading one of my pc fixtures and trying to figure out how many It'l take to have equivalant lighting.
 
Do you know how 72 will compare to your CF fixture? I am thinking of upgrading one of my pc fixtures and trying to figure out how many It'l take to have equivalant lighting.

ALOT brighter lol. My pc lights now are not very bright. With my current lights I have had problems being able to keep anything other than zoas and a couple other softies. So hopefully now I can finally turn it into an SPS dominate reef.
 
Do you know how 72 will compare to your CF fixture? I am thinking of upgrading one of my pc fixtures and trying to figure out how many It'l take to have equivalant lighting.

the thing is that there is now rule of thumb when it comes to leds... i would say at least one led (white 18k) per gal. and or some blue leds.
 
Update:

I have finished soldering all the 18K white LEDs together. Next up is to connect all the blues and royal blues.

photo.jpg
 
:thumbsup: good work. Here are some questions..

Are you going to be using meanwell ballasts? Did you check how much mA your getting from the white leds? Are you adding fans? Are you gonna mount the ballasts in the canopy?
 
:thumbsup: good work. Here are some questions..

Are you going to be using meanwell ballasts? Did you check how much mA your getting from the white leds? Are you adding fans? Are you gonna mount the ballasts in the canopy?

Yes, I will be using the dimmable meanwell drivers. I will be adding fansvto the back of the canopy. The drivers will be mounted with my RKL and other modules in the stand. I havn't tested any of the lights yet, still trying to get them all soldered up together.
 
Okay, I know it's been a while but now that finals are over and work has slowed down, I have finally finished my LEDs and have them up and running.

Pic is not so great as I am in between digital cameras, so I only have my iphone to take pics with:

photo-1.jpg


It's hard to tell from the bad pic, but it is a night and day difference from my PC fixture. Now it is time to start stocking it with some new corals :dance:
 
It's been a while but here is a current updated pic of my LEDs and canopy. I still need to stain the canopy but I am having a hard time matching it to the stand. I have also added some new vortechs and I love them! :dance:

tank1.jpg
 
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