Modding a NC6 to 3.18- LED NOW

[gunguy05]

I have a stock nc6 that i am thinking of getting a 2.18 kit for and two more ballasts so that i can have 3.18 total and separate control over all of my lights. I was thinking of two 50/50 bulbs and a actinic for the middle bulb. Any thoughts or experiences, my other thougt was a 10K, 50/50, actinic. What do you all think would give the best results, i want to be able to keep some higher light stuff and i think this will do the trick.

[SPerry]

I had a NC6 3.18 for a while. I would suggest 2 10K and a true actinic in the middle. Have both 10Ks on one ballast and the actinic on a separate one. That will allow you to have a sunrise effect. You should be able to keep some medium light SPS. What are you wanting to keep?

[gunguy05]

I had a NC6 3.18 for a while. I would suggest 2 10K and a true actinic in the middle. Have both 10Ks on one ballast and the actinic on a separate one. That will allow you to have a sunrise effect. You should be able to keep some medium light SPS. What are you wanting to keep?

 

I was thinking about frogspawn/hammer actually, also maybe some acans, trumpets, and candycanes. Will also have some palys/zoas and rics mixed in as well. That sounds good, i can just get one ballast for the towo10K and use the stock one for the true actinic.

[gunguy05]

After much consideration, research, and asking questions.. I decided to go LED. Many thanks to Evilc66, Waterproof, and reeftankguy, and GaryR1984 for answering questions and posting very informative topics with great detail.

 

After looking and researching, i decided that i wanted to go with a 6 royal blue, 6 white setup of Cree xr-e. Much like Waterprood, but with 12 LEDs. I want to keep the assembly somewhat modular so that if I decide in the near future to convert to a 12 or 14 gallon, that i can reinstall the CF stuff and take the LED with the tank, and they will still be powerful enough for something larger... but that's another post for another day... and some deep talking and convincing to be done with the wife

 

I figured out, that for a NC6, the heatsink has to be very thin. I looked at getting a heatsink from heastsink usa, but they are all too thick. Unless you want to modify then, which i do not have the means to do... so i decided to make my own, trying all the time to keep the mass as high as possible for heat transfer, but keeping it thin enough to fit in the stock hood and still have room to add fans.. which i have not conquered yet. So i decided to build a frame using 1 1/2x 1/8" in aluminum bar from Lowes, about 9.00 for a 3 ft section. I cut 3 8 1/2" length and put them together with 1/2" angle bar, also of aluminum. about 2.00 from Lowes. I basically made a frame of 3 rows and the two angle bars on the ends to hold it together...

 

 

 

I found some small 1 1/2" x 1/2" square heatsinks on ebay, i mounted these on the tip of the frame, one directly above where each of the LEDs will be

 

Then... after much drilling with a #43 bit and tapping all holes with a 4-40 tap.. i mounted all of the LEDs to the aluminum bars. I used thermal paste from Shadio Rack for a good thermal connection.

 

 

I still have a ways to go... soldering, gotta buy some buck pucks this week and a power supply or two, and find 2 fans... but i at least have it started... off to bed !!

[gunguy05]

Well, just found some cheap (free) 16 gauge wire. So, going to eat dinner in a bit and should be picking that up. Hopefully i can get the wiring done either tonight or in the morning. first thing.

[evilc66]

Looks like a good start. The 16awg wire might be a little too big to make wiring the LEDs an easy task. You don't need anything bigger than 18awg (thats on the big side), and typically we use 26-22awg

[gunguy05]

Yeah, it actually turned out to be 18ga. It was a little big, but manageable. I actually just ordered my power supplies from MPJA and my buck pucks, wired w/ pots from ledsupply.com.. I decided to go w/ 2 PS so i could have independent control over each set. Also, figured i might was well get while the gettin is good, only another $15 and if i decided to setup a reef controller it will already be ready for it. Hopefully have all setup by next week.

[jimbo327]

Will this fit in the hood?

[gunguy05]

The led assembly will. The fans I am still considering what to do but probably not. There is another member who mounted two 60mm fans to the outside. I am still looking into that. My power supplies should actually be un today and I am going to try and put it all together this weekend. I will pay pics when I can.

 

 

 

Will this fit in the hood?

[gunguy05]

Just got my PS in today... all I can say is WOW!!! Don't have your eyes anywhere near those puppies when you turn them on. Freaking bright!! I don't have the think mounted yet. but i held it over my tank and it is freaking amazing. I hope to get it mounted tonight or tomorrow and i will post pics as soon as I can

[jimbo327]

Can I get a detailed list of what to buy? And roughly how much they cost?

[gunguy05]

Can I get a detailed list of what to buy? And roughly how much they cost?

 

Heatsinks Ebay Heatsinks

I ordered 2 packs of these, they are 9.99 a piece plus shipping so $25.00

 

L shaped aluminum(1/2x1/2x3'), Al bar stock (1 1/2x1/8x3'), Al bar stock for mounting to inside of hood (1/2"x3')--- all of this was bout $12-$15 from Lowes/HD.

 

6- Cool White Cree XR-E LED from etg tech $36.00

6- Royal Blue Cree XR-E LED from etg tech $36.00

Thermal paste (radio shack) ~ 7.00

4-40 screws, and nylon washers (lowes), wirenuts ~ 15.00

wire- I used 18ga, but 22 would suffice- free (had on hand)

tap w/ handle and bit, i think about 10.00 (lowes)

2- 24V 6.2A power supplies from MPJA $39.00 including shipping.

2- bucks pucks from ledsupply.com $45.00

2- 80mm fans- these were tri cool adjustable speed from staples. I paid 10.00 each for them, but could be had cheaper, i just didn't want to wait to have them shipped. - 20.00 total

project box, and 2 SPST switches from Radio Shack- about 12.00

 

So all in all I have roughly $260.00. I probably spent about 15 hours or so on it, most of that was figuring and cutting, and recutting, and trimming. The roughest part was getting it all to fit in the hood, which I thougt would never happen without some visible modifications. I am proud to say the only visible modification from the outisde is the vent slits that i hand cut in the top of the hood with my dremel tool. 1 or 2 are a bit curvy, and really aren't noticeable but could definitely have been done better. End result is awesome.. the actinic is sweet, i have tried to get pics, put cannot get good ones with my POS camera, might tray another one tomorrow. The color temperature is infinitely controllable with the pots on the buck pucks. And, the temp before the build was about 82 all the time, now it is consistently between 79 and 80. Not anything that would be possible with MH lighting, in a stock hood. The $$$ of the LED kind of sucks, but if you combine the light output, the color flexibility, and practical need to never replace bulbs, AND the lower wattage use, it will very quickly pay for itself. I even think it could be removed and reinstalled in a 12 or 14 gal tank if i choose to upgrade in the future. I will try and post some pics tomorrow if i get a chance.

[ADAreef]

Great work- looking forward to more pics.

[gunguy05]

Thanks. I will post some tonight if at all possible. My wife is due with our first baby very soon so things are a little hectic right now.

 

Great work- looking forward to more pics.

[gunguy05]

First i cleaned out all of the PC lights, ballasts, and other crap.

 

Then i had to find room for the fans, i attached them to the inside of the hood with "mighty putty" Thank god for Billy Mays I also made a couple of brackets to attach the LED/heatsink assembly to the inside of the hood. This took numerous fittings, tappings of holes, markings and adjustments to get the assembly to be perpendicular. It was almost too big. Next time i will make it a hair smaller and it will be much easier to fit under the cover.

 

The only visible modification from the outside of the hood is the slits that i cut in the top of the hood with my dremel. I could have made them straighter and more uniform, but this is the first time i had done this. They really do look good though. I had considered cutting a 2 1/2" hole for each of the fans. This turned out much better. Glad i thought about it for an extra hour or 2

 

The bottom of the hood is pretty boring. I had to notch out the middle front of the Al for the middle screw that holds the acrylic cover in place. Also i had to cut the corners off of the front bar to enable to assembly to slide forward enough to fit in with the fans. One of the keys was to make sure that the fans were as parallel as possible to the bottom surface of the cover. This way the space was maximized. It was a tight fit... but well worth the maneuvering that it took to get it all in there.

 

 

I will try and get some pics of the lights at different adjustments tonight or tomorrow and post... it's been a really busy day.

[gunguy05]

OK. First of all let me say these pics look like crap. I have tried to get the colors to show up right but i don't know what else to do. All I can say is that they look far better than anything i could have ever expected, and they are pretty much infinitely adjustable. They seem to have much more of a purple tint in person than the pics show. They are a little bluer. My camera, a canon SD 630 just won't do it.

[yeast]

Try fooling around with your white balance. That is 99% of the time the problem.

[evilc66]

Royal blue LEDs are really hard to photograph

[evanj]

I've been wasting my time researching another power compact for my NC6. I need to get my s#*t together and go LED

 

Great build.

[Drew220]

How did you wire your fans? Are they n a separate power supply from the LEDS?

[juicestain]

post a current full tank shot and tell us if you would have done anything different. i would also like to know how the fans are wired. you have 4 fans total under that thing?