Please help me build......

[ReeferRob]

Is there anyone out there that can help me with design and parts selection for a DIY LED setup? Ive been out of the loop for a while and need some guidance.
Thanks!

[dumbderk]

Hey Reeferbob I just did my LED build a few months ago :P if you can give me your tank dimensions I can decide how many leds you need and what size heatsink to put it on.

I will take pictures of my led setup here in a sec for you to look at :P

[dumbderk]

Ok, first off the cheapest way and most effecient way is to go with Rapid LED Home Page (http://www.rapidled.com) for most of the things you need. As for the heatsink go with www.Heatsinkusa.com they are based in michigan and will most likely give you a better price.

Here is a list of must have materials.

36 Leds if you want the whiter look, 48 if you want the bluer look. Go with the Ultra Premium LED DIY Kit with Dimmable Drivers version they are the best and can offer a great dusk to dawn effect.

The leds combo should look like this if you have 36 LEDS 18Royal Blue, 12Cool White and 6warm white
the white will get you closer to the red spectrum or a more 14k or less look but will provide better growth for corals and is exactly what I have on 1 of the two heatsinks I have above my tank.

Here is what lighting would look like with 36leds using that ratio of RB-CW-WW
http://i997.photobucket.com/albums/af94/dumbderk/Flint%20Frag%20Swap/ZackSelling022.jpg

If you want a bluer look than mine then you can always add more blue leds to the kit, as for spotlighting I have none what so ever do to using 60deg optic lenses and the certain placement of the leds height and spacing on the heatsink.

2 rolls of 10 gauge wire electrical wire found at an auto store or hardware etc. The wire they provide many have found to be incredibly short to make longer connections.

go with 36/48 60 degree lenses to provide a better par rating for your tank as it is considered a deeper one.

DDC-01 PWM Controller for controlling lighting and dimming

since your tank is square I would go with 1 10''X23'' heatsink placed atlest 6 to 8 inches above the water
You will need 2 Fans to cool this off I would go with 100mm+ fans and a 12V AC adapter to power them go to newegg.com to get them they are called kingwin I think and they are $10 per heatsink.

If you do not have the tools needed for this project you will need a soldering gun, electrical solder, possibly a drill to drill the actual heatsink like I have to place the fans upon it

Accordian Tubing for the electrical wire to go into to protect from the water

Electrical Tape and lots of it

and that should do ya, how you hang it above your tank is up to you and this is based off of your 60g cube which I assume is the one you are setting back up.

[dumbderk]

http://www.captivereefs.com/forum/diy-projects-plans/dumbderks-leds-18017/#post124834 Here is a link to my build and if you go to Rapid LED Home Page (http://www.rapidled.com) you can find some building diagrams there and here is also what helped me out a lot

DIY Dimmable RapidLED Kit - Converting from MH's - 3reef Forums (http://www.3reef.com/forums/i-made/diy-dimmable-rapidled-kit-converting-mhs-96138.html) I asked him so many questions and he was very helpful and replied asap as well as the rapidled staff.

[Manoj's Reef]

Tagging along. I have been on the fence about it.

[ReeferRob]

Thanks for all the great suggestions Zack. Unfortunately the cube is gone. To curb my craving to have beautiful corals in the house once again, I will be setting up just a 15 gallon breeder tank with dimensions of 24x12x12. I definitely want to have the option of dimming and do preferrer a more blue 20k look. Not sure if I will us optics as the tank is a bit shallow, I want to avoid spot lighting, and will be keeping low light creatures.

[XSiVE]

Hey Rob, low light creatures in a tank that size can probably be lit by something like 18 LEDs without optics..

[jimsflies]

I've got 16 3w crees (9 blues/7 whites) with no optics over my 29 biocube. The PAR measures 650! I currently am only running the LEDs at 20% which is a lot more (220) than my old 150 watt halide was providing (60). For comparison, a 14k 150 watt halide was about 340 when new.

My guess is that a lot of people without access to a PAR meter, smoke their corals under LEDs.

As I mentioned rob, I have the dimmer pieces parts that came with the DIY fixture I bought that you can have. It includes a 12 volt transformer which is used to power the dimming circuit....although as I understand it, a 10 volt is what you really want. Having seen one of these now, I can see how easy they are to put together.

[dumbderk]

Yea for a 15g with those dimensions a heatsink being 22''X8'' would work fine. From Heatsinkusa your looking at around $54 for an 22''X8''. As for the amount of leds if jim is running his bio on 16 leds I am not sure on how many you would need contact rapidled with the dimensions of your tank and tell them you want a 20k look being able to grow anything you would want, or use the old mh wattage per gallon method. Also the closer the leds are together the less they spotlight but with your tank bein the depth and width they are they will probably be spread pretty far apart so no optics will work great.

[ReeferRob]

Hey Rob, low light creatures in a tank that size can probably be lit by something like 18 LEDs without optics..

Ah, there you are sorry I forgot your name but I believe you and I were discussing a fixture for this exact tank about a year ago if I remember correctly!?


I've got 16 3w crees (9 blues/7 whites) with no optics over my 29 biocube. The PAR measures 650! I currently am only running the LEDs at 20% which is a lot more (220) than my old 150 watt halide was providing (60). For comparison, a 14k 150 watt halide was about 340 when new.

My guess is that a lot of people without access to a PAR meter, smoke their corals under LEDs.

As I mentioned rob, I have the dimmer pieces parts that came with the DIY fixture I bought that you can have. It includes a 12 volt transformer which is used to power the dimming circuit....although as I understand it, a 10 volt is what you really want. Having seen one of these now, I can see how easy they are to put together.

Wow Jim sounds like a great set up. Are you getting good growth? How long of a light acclimation period did you use?
I was thinking of that exact number of LED.
I very much appreciate the offer on the hard goods, Ill have to see if I can weasel a few bucks out of the paycheck to send you for postage!


Yea for a 15g with those dimensions a heatsink being 22''X8'' would work fine. From Heatsinkusa your looking at around $54 for an 22''X8''. As for the amount of leds if jim is running his bio on 16 leds I am not sure on how many you would need contact rapidled with the dimensions of your tank and tell them you want a 20k look being able to grow anything you would want, or use the old mh wattage per gallon method. Also the closer the leds are together the less they spotlight but with your tank bein the depth and width they are they will probably be spread pretty far apart so no optics will work great.

Optics are one thing that Im not certain I need. As I remember they are used to concentrate the light in to one area more, particularly useful with tanks of greater depth. I will keep the initial set up costs down if I don't, and well they can always be added later right. Maybe after cycle?

Do you think Heatsinkusa will have the appropriate drill, tap and screw set or hopefully rapidled? The thermal paste is just to help dissipate the heat not actually secure the LED to the sink?

---------- Post added at 06:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:26 PM ----------

By the way is the transformer the same as an AC/DC power supply from a computer? I used one off my old computer to make a power supply to my RC car Lipo charger....... been racing a little since I got out of salt!

[dumbderk]

Yep optics will narrow them downward for deeper tanks like mine, if you wanted you could still get the lenses they come free anyways and would be useful if you decide to go deeper anyways, HeatsinkUsa will not have the necessary drill bits as they do not drill, however rapidled does drill but they only have certain size heatsinks which most likely wont be the one you need, as for drills and drill bits just go to the hardware store like home depot and ask for drill bits that will go through thick aluminum and buy atleast 2 of those drills, they tend to snap or bend on you. As for the thermal paste it is in fact for attaching it to the heatsink and is for dissipating heat away from the actual led to the heatsink without these your leds will get quite hot, I only used thermal paste to attach them to the heatsink and it was included in the package, to give you an idea how strong it is, I accidently glued a star to the heatsink in the wrong place and to get it off I had to carefully take a screw driver and hammer to get it off of the heatsink without breaking the led and it worked but I had to hit it quite hard.

As for the transformer I am not sure with electronic jargon but the plugins for the drivers are basically the male end of an extension cord cut off at about 3ft worth of cord, as for the dimmer it is the same voltage as a cell phone charger, and that is about it, as for the fans they need there own power supply as well I cant remember which one is the equivalence to a phone charger.

Just figured it out the transformer that powers dimming controller needs to be 10v just get an old cell phone charger and cut the part that plugs into the phone off of the cord, the transformer for the fans is 12v and to give you an idea I use one transformer to power 4 120mm fans.

[dumbderk]

when I said drills I meant drill bits, shouldn't be able to break the drill, Oh and you will need a decent amount of solder as well, they do not include that in the package as well as you need to look up pre-tinning for how to connect the leds connections together, :)

[ReeferRob]

when I said drills I meant drill bits, shouldn't be able to break the drill, Oh and you will need a decent amount of solder as well, they do not include that in the package as well as you need to look up pre-tinning for how to connect the leds connections together, :)

Thanks for the info, Ive got the soldering supplies and skills! from the RC thing already.

I can use my work drill and bits, just was thinking they might have a convenient kit with tap and screw. But it doesn't sound as though I need to secure them that much.

[dumbderk]

When I started I had no electrical knowledge what so ever and this kit was easy as **** to build so it sounds like you will be able to do this with no problem at all, oh and as for acclimation to leds from MH I just put my leds at 45% then bumped it up 10% each week. I am at 90% and the corals love it things I had brown out from the MH I had colored up in no time with my leds. I think I might try and build those bamboo boxes tonight for mine :)

[Badfish]

This may help with the wiring
http://www.captivereefs.com/forum/diy-projects-plans/badfishs-diy-leds-idiots-thats-me-13367/

[jimsflies]

Wow Jim sounds like a great set up. Are you getting good growth? How long of a light acclimation period did you use?
I was thinking of that exact number of LED.
I very much appreciate the offer on the hard goods, Ill have to see if I can weasel a few bucks out of the paycheck to send you for postage!




No need to send any money. Just pm your addy if you decide you can use the parts.

I've only had them on the tank a couple weeks so too early to really tell. But corals are more open and seem much happier. I am still acclimating them...just running lights at 20% right now. I will slowly bump them up over the next couple months.

[XSiVE]

Also if you want a timer-controlled dim up and down, I've got something that might interest you and some of the other DIY LED guys on here.. perhaps I should sell a few since I can have them made pretty quickly.

What it is, is a stand-alone LED controller, can control up to 4 channels of dimming, has timer circuitry, all sorts of settings you can modify (heck you can re-write the software if you want, I wrote the current version). It basically allows you to get very creative with your LEDs without having to have a full-on aquarium controller system.

[ReeferRob]

This may help with the wiring
http://www.captivereefs.com/forum/diy-projects-plans/badfishs-diy-leds-idiots-thats-me-13367/

Nice and simple, just the way I like it! What's the difference between the "buckpucks" and the "meanwells"? Are they really just the same thing, just different capabilities for powering more LEDs?


No need to send any money. Just pm your addy if you decide you can use the parts.

I've only had them on the tank a couple weeks so too early to really tell. But corals are more open and seem much happier. I am still acclimating them...just running lights at 20% right now. I will slowly bump them up over the next couple months.

Thanks soo much Jim, Ill fire over that PM asap.

Gotta pay my painter for the custom body he's doing for my RC, but next week Im ordering some LED's!!

[RedfordReefer]

Rob, I have a full metric Tap set for when the time comes man. I'd me more than willing to give ya a hand in getting the heat sink all tapped up and such. I also have thermal paste here.

[RedfordReefer]

Also if you want a timer-controlled dim up and down, I've got something that might interest you and some of the other DIY LED guys on here.. perhaps I should sell a few since I can have them made pretty quickly.

What it is, is a stand-alone LED controller, can control up to 4 channels of dimming, has timer circuitry, all sorts of settings you can modify (heck you can re-write the software if you want, I wrote the current version). It basically allows you to get very creative with your LEDs without having to have a full-on aquarium controller system.

PWM or DC? What are you using for a RTC?

I'd be interested in seeing this, as I have more or less the same thing here. 4PWM channels, but 20GPIO pins (can tap relays off the pins), with the ability to take I2C, One-wire, and other inputs for real-time decisions. I had considered just integrating a reef controller last year, but I sold the tank. Still have the hardware here.

I am currently experimenting with the Cortex-M3 processor and a 2.4" LED touchscreen (320X240) as a front end.

[ReeferRob]

Anxiously awaiting the friendly "get your arse back in" package from Jim so that I can figure it all out and order the necessary remainder of parts.
From the sounds of it Jim, your sending a used dimmer and transformer?! What else am I gonna need exactly? Other than the heat sink, the led's, wire, solder, thermal past, (optics if I decide) assuming there is just one dimmer, Ill need to get a second to dim the white and blues separately correct? Would that then require a second transformer and or power supply? Im still a bit confused with all the terminology and what exactly they do.

I want to eventually have 12-18 led's, independently dimmable, closer to 20K look, and very few if any optics.

Also what size fan if any would you guys suggest. Will this require an additional power supply/transformer theingymajig, or are the Coralife ones acceptable that come with a wall plug??

[ReeferRob]

Rob, I have a full metric Tap set for when the time comes man. I'd me more than willing to give ya a hand in getting the heat sink all tapped up and such. I also have thermal paste here.

Thanks buddy, I appreciate the offer. Maybe you of all people can explain the electrical conversion jargon to me in layman terms!? I got the skills to do the wiring, just not following the power supply, to transformer to converter to driver chain. And how many diodes per driver etc.:stupidme::hypnodisk:

[XSiVE]

PWM or DC? What are you using for a RTC?

I'd be interested in seeing this, as I have more or less the same thing here. 4PWM channels, but 20GPIO pins (can tap relays off the pins), with the ability to take I2C, One-wire, and other inputs for real-time decisions. I had considered just integrating a reef controller last year, but I sold the tank. Still have the hardware here.

I am currently experimenting with the Cortex-M3 processor and a 2.4" LED touchscreen (320X240) as a front end.

You can get the schematics, parts list and code for what I have here: typhon-reef - Typhon: An LED controller for aquarium lighting - Google Project Hosting (http://code.google.com/p/typhon-reef/)

[Tom@HaslettMI]

You might consider using the adhesive pads instead of drilling and tapping the heatsink. I don't have experience with either but when the time comes I am planning to use the pads. They are available from nanotuners and this (http://www.ledgroupbuy.com/) site. I am considering buying all of my gear from the latter.

Tom