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 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


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]

Dumbderks LED's Here is a link to my build and if you go to Rapid LED Home Page 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 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]

Originally Posted by XSiVE

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!?

Originally Posted by 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.

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!

Originally Posted by 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.

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!