XSiVE's 120 in-wall

[shovelhead91701]

Man, what a great build thread..... I wish all of the LED stuff was around when I built my lights....the nerd in me is chomping at the bit to delve into something new but I think my wife would kill me.....lol

I know who to turn to when the time comes though!

[XSiVE]

So as promised, I got this small LED Pendant built tonight.. I fiddled around with mono 1/8" audio jacks thinking I would use them for quick-disconnects then I realized the two contacts werent the ones that had solder points on the back.. ughhh.. oh well.

Once I quit fooling around with quick-disconnects and decided to hard-wire this thing it only took about 2.5 hours to build, maybe less. I guess thats what happens when you only have 8 LEDs, no splash guard, no dimming circuit, no adjoining heat sinks, no frills really, this is a basic pendant to light my frag tank.



I estimated that it would hang about 2ft above the frag tank, and with the water so shallow I could easily get away with a lower number of emitters in a more high density package than what I did for my display.

The whites are CREE XP-G with 45 degree optics, the blues are CREE XR-E with 40 degree optics.


sorry for the poor quality on this one


I used the same fan as I used for my large pendants, mainly because it's silent, moves a good amount of air and only costs $2.99

the completed project:

Yes, that's cat5, yes I know it seems odd to carry power, but it's only 21W, Im not too concerned but will be keeping an eye on it.


and how it briefly lit the frag tank (without optics) its obviously not in its final position here.. I just stuck it on two pieces of L aluminum to see how the color temp was with the brighter whites than I was used to with my XR-E's on the display. I didnt mount it to the ceiling because I promised someone I would take it to them and show them how nice (and easy) these things are.

[BriGuy31+]

How do you like the XP-Gs? Do you think they are 30% brighter?

[XSiVE]

How do you like the XP-Gs? Do you think they are 30% brighter?

they are definitely brighter by a significant amount.

[XSiVE]

Well, Sir Patrick asked for pics of some corals, I snapped out a few today while I was hanging out.

None of my SPS are really picture-worthy at the moment, Im try go to re-grow everything still, not to mention I've got 16 acro's sitting in my frag tank waiting for their next dip in CoralRx in hopes of eliminating the AEFW issue.

So here's some non-sps, except one.

Acans from Meisen




I will do a PIF with these baby plate corals as soon as they are big enough to not get blown around in everybody's current.


Bird of Paradise


currently my favorite Favia


some beautiful frogspawn I got 1-2 heads from Tal long ago, the pic doesnt do it justice, the tips are more pink


My Mandarin decided it was going to come out and pose for once, FINALLY a good shot of this thing.


Im going to let this gsp completely cover the glass on this side, we'll see how far it gets on its own or if I will have to help.

[Sir Patrick]

Thx for the new shots!!!

Im in when ya do the PIF! Ive been looking for a nice fungia for a while.

[ETBReefer05]

I will second that motion XSiVE, those frogspawn tips are much more pink IRL

[ReeferRob]

I love DIY's, as a matter of fact ripped my fish room/lab apart today and completely re built it. I really want to and very tempted to pull the trigger on a DIY LED kit. Any tips or pointers for a 25x25x25 cube, sticks up top acans and favias down low. Also advice on a solder gun would be helpful!

[cg5071]

Whit is PIF? Also that is cool, all those babies.
What does a simpler led setup like you have run? (in cost)

[fishtal]

Great shot of the Mandarin! I saw the lights in person and they are awesome, quite impressive.

BTW, PIF= Pay it forward.