Jeff.:P:. Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 Well with the help of Evil and some other members I was able to complete this project and learn some interesting stuff. Here's a LED fixture that I rebuilt for my parents Bio-orb that has some shrimp's, softies, GSP, clown. The original fixture crapped out and after seeing some of the builds here I figured that LED's would fit the need. Man these things are bright It kinda looks like the arc reactor from Iron Man. I gutted the existing fixture and just used the plastic shield. The sofites and shrooms were fine under the stock light, but they pop with this fixture. parts list Xitanium 120VAC, 12W, 700mA Driver (4) Endor Rebel - Cool White, Emitter, 180 Lumens @ 700mA (4) Luxeon III Star LED - Royal Blue Lambertian, 340 mW @ 700mA computer heatsinks with chip set stock fixture heatsink w/fan with chip heatsinks. guts, please don't mind the thermal paste, and mssy wiring Link to comment
Splumph Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 Looks like you turned over some live rock...still pretty cool though. Link to comment
Jeff.:P:. Posted December 14, 2008 Author Share Posted December 14, 2008 LED's on with low exposure setting Tank with new LED fixture.. Tank with stock Halogen light.. Link to comment
evilc66 Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 Cool. See if you can get a night shot. The light from the window is throwing off the white balance. Get some closeups too while you are at it. Banner is on the way. Link to comment
Jeff.:P:. Posted December 14, 2008 Author Share Posted December 14, 2008 Some closeup updated pics.. with my wifes canon elf. Link to comment
evilc66 Posted December 21, 2008 Share Posted December 21, 2008 Nice. How's the flow with just running the air pump? Link to comment
Jeff.:P:. Posted December 21, 2008 Author Share Posted December 21, 2008 I put I micro-jet 450 in the rear of the tank, and split the flow to get around the tank. I think it puts out 120gph, not bad for a tiny little thing. And it gets the job done, since the air pump wasn't doing much. Nice. How's the flow with just running the air pump? Link to comment
evilc66 Posted December 21, 2008 Share Posted December 21, 2008 Gotcha. That makes more sense. Link to comment
Kraylen Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 Its the little short guys they hire to fire at you from pirate ships. whats a cannon elf? Link to comment
ajmckay Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 Nice DIY Build! It's certainly good to see the advancement of DIY aquarium lighting. In my opinion commercial fixtures; whether they be PC, T5, MH, LED, or anything else are overly expensive and are definitely a limiting factor when it comes to the growth and stability of the hobby. I mean if it were easier to provide for highly photosynthetic corals people could more easily grow them and frag them and hopefully decrease the impact of coral harvesting on the oceans. Does anyone else agree? I mean at the very least people would be able to enjoy their tanks more... Anyways, thanks for the pictures and the details. Link to comment
clownfish1124 Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 Canon elph: film slr. Very nice build! Link to comment
evilc66 Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 Not SLR, point and shoot. Elf's were the super compact cameras. Link to comment
coralcor Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 Not SLR, point and shoot. Elf's were the super compact cameras. o i c i thought you were talking about like an elf that gets shot out of a cannon.lol Link to comment
Jeff.:P:. Posted February 4, 2009 Author Share Posted February 4, 2009 Thanks. The canon elf is my wife's point and shoot, does a good job on the run. Link to comment
Lalani Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 Geez, nice light mod. No wonder searches didn't show this one... you call it a Bio-Orb, lol. Link to comment
stuhow Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 Thats intersting I was told you couldn't put Softies in with the LED light unit. i have the same one and now I am interested to know how yours are doing, please let me know, have the survived and what did you put in your Biorb??? I was also told that feather dsteers need more space than in a 60L biorb. Please let me know whats in your tank and oer what period you added eveything. Cheers Stu Link to comment
Jeff.:P:. Posted February 5, 2009 Author Share Posted February 5, 2009 Thats intersting I was told you couldn't put Softies in with the LED light unit. i have the same one and now I am interested to know how yours are doing, please let me know, have the survived and what did you put in your Biorb??? I was also told that feather dsteers need more space than in a 60L biorb. Please let me know whats in your tank and oer what period you added eveything. Cheers Stu The stock LED unit will grow some softies but a piece of crap IMO. The stock LED unit broke when the thin wiring kept rubbing and eventually shorted out. Then I made a modified LED unit with high intensity 6 LEDs. The DIY LED unit has maybe 5-6 times more intensity then the stock one. Everything is thriving under the new LED's. I've had the feather dusters since the beginning of the tank. I'd give it 1-2 months until adding corals (cycle). After that have fun. Currently the tank has mini-anems, zoas, paly's, gsp, xenia, anthelia, 2 featherdusters, 3 peppermint shrimp, clownfish. Make sure you get some flow in your Biorb. I'm going to rip out the airtube, and possibly rescape in the near future. macro algae is growing nuts and needs to be trimmed every week, but keeps the parameters in check. Geez, nice light mod. No wonder searches didn't show this one... you call it a Bio-Orb, lol. Thanks Link to comment
stuhow Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 Ah ok, it cetainatly looks like a fantastic mod and the lights are very bright indeed. I think i may build my own light unit using LEDs in the near future as a little project, if you have any plans or guides that would be really useful. My flow is perfectly fine as I have stripped out the standard filter out of the tank and have a powerhead with two nozzles, one pointing to the surface creating great surface movement and the other pointing towrds my LR check out: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...p;#entry2050121 To see photos and let me know what you think? Link to comment
Nellis Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 Very cool. Is there a cap piece from the original fixture so that you could cover the electronics, it's a small detail but would make it much more slick. If not I smell a fab DIY... Link to comment
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