Thinking of doing a DIY LED fixture for a 75 with clams and sps
- Thread starter aaronlp
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Cptn Spaulding
New member
Plenty of information on the Reef Lighting forum about this. My two cents: don't get red and green LED's, just get different blues and whites (i.e. warm and cool white, royal blue, cyan) to make your spectral band wider. Rapidled.com has a pretty good DIY kit.
rapidled.com thankyou!! i couldnt remeber the name of the site haha
dgodwin
Member
I'm thinking of getting a diy kit from http://www.aquastyleonline.com/ for the 40g breeder my students have set up. Probably will get the 36 led dimmable kit, although I don't think we'll need that much light, as we don't have any corals yet, and will be starting with softies...
der_wille_zur_macht
Team RC
Check out the DIY forum, there are TONS of very long and very informative threads. If you need help finding specific info lemme know, I spend a fair amount of time over there. Or if you wanna see some DIY LED stuff in person lemme know and you can stop by some time.
But yeah, getting the intensity to keep clams or SPS is not a problem. These days it's just as common to have builds that are too powerful (since people often build on "rules of thumb" based on last-generation tech). The real catch with DIY rigs is nailing the color balance to keep *everything* in a typical tank looking good. Though, to be fair, people have the same struggle with other types of lighting (look at all the "which T5 combo is best" threads). It's just that with LEDs, we're still kinda figuring it out, and you have many times more variables to keep track of, since instead of 4 or 6 T5 lamps to pick, you might have 40 or 50 LEDs...
But yeah, getting the intensity to keep clams or SPS is not a problem. These days it's just as common to have builds that are too powerful (since people often build on "rules of thumb" based on last-generation tech). The real catch with DIY rigs is nailing the color balance to keep *everything* in a typical tank looking good. Though, to be fair, people have the same struggle with other types of lighting (look at all the "which T5 combo is best" threads). It's just that with LEDs, we're still kinda figuring it out, and you have many times more variables to keep track of, since instead of 4 or 6 T5 lamps to pick, you might have 40 or 50 LEDs...
der_wille_zur_macht
Team RC
I don't want to start a debate here, but keep in mind that those are very much lower-end products, you'll get less light and burn more energy per LED. It may be appealing because of the low entry price, but a 36-LED kit from there is probably comparable to an 18 or 24 LED kit using higher-end components, and they'll probably cost about the same to buy upfront.
der_wille_zur_macht
Team RC
I've never actually done it so I can't really comment. I might try it at some point but only in very small amounts and with caution. Those are both really potent colors with no obvious need in an aquarium, and monochromatic LEDs are extremely narrow bandwidths, so I would expect it would be very easy to overdo it.
davidpesce
New member
I just added 6 violet LEDs to the basement tank (it already had royal blue and cool white). The violets give the corals a bit more pop, but the RBs over-power them (unless they are dimmed down).
I also have 6 greens I could put on there but haven't had a chance. One of these days...
I also have 6 greens I could put on there but haven't had a chance. One of these days...
Eastamherstbias
New member
There are some really good Led fixtures out there. Pay a little more and get one of them. Radion/Maxspect/AI. Prices are coming down. I hate how DIY looks DIY. Unless you have a hood or put it in an old current fixture.
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