Jump to content
Top Shelf Aquatics

Single Cree LED Aquaclear Fuge Mod


ReeVo

Recommended Posts

OK guys, this is something people have had trouble with in the last few years.

I've come up with a great way to power up a single Cree XP-G led for us Aquaclear Fuge Mod guys. It is not expensive and it's very clean. No more trying to find the proper buck puck ballasts or ac power adapters.

 

List of items you will need:

1 - Cree XP-G Neutral White ( Neutral white led is best due to light spectrum )

1 – RapidLed Moonlight Driver

1 – RapidLed Single LED Heatsink

1 – Thermal Pad ( Can be purchased as RapidLed )

18G Wire ( Length can be any size. Make sure you have 2 of the same lengths )

¼” Heatshrink and ¼” Sleeving ( Optional if you decide to sleeve your project )

 

Tools you will need:

Soldering Gun

Solder ( I used Sn63/Pb37 )

Philips Screw Driver

Heat Gun ( Optional if you decide to sleeve your project )

 

 

Take this at your own risk if you are not comfortable dealing with electricity or any of the tools used in this build. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE.

 

Instructions:

1. First off, plug in your soldering iron and get it warmed up. It’ll be ready to use once these next few steps are finished

2. Clean Heatsink with alcohol or Acetone

3. Apply thermal pad to Heatsink ( Take notice of the screw holes on the Heatsink and the grooves on the thermal pad )

4. Use your nails or knife to peel off the back side of the thermal pad ( It’s super thin, so take you time peeling it off )

5. Once off, place the led over the thermal pad and press firmly ( You can use the screws that came with the heatsink if you’d like for extra assurance )

 

Now it’s time to use the soldering gun.

6. Cut 2 wires of the same length

7. Nip 3-4mm of wires ends

8. Put a little bit of solder over the tips of the wire

9. Put a little bit of solder over one of the Positive and Negative points on the LED

10. Solder one of the wires to the Positive and one to the Negative

11. Unscrew the screws on the RapidLed Moonlight Driver ( Not all the way )

12. Run the Positive and Negative wires to RapidLed Moonlight Driver ( Appoint wires to the correct slots )

13. Screw them down firmly ( Make sure they cannot be pulled out )

14. Double check to see if wires are not touching each other and are firmly in place

15. Plug in and see if it turns on

 

Your Done! :D

 

IMG_1721.jpg

 

IMG_1722.jpg

 

IMG_1724.jpg

 

IMG_1732.jpg

 

IMG_1734.jpg

 

 

Sleeving Instructions:

1. Cut one piece of ¼” sleeving approximately 1” shorter than your wiring

2. Slide wires into sleeving

3. Cut two 1” pieces of ¼” heatsrink

4. Slide heatshrink over to the LED side ( Make sure that half of the heatshrink is over the wires and other half is over the sleeving )

5. Use heat gun ( or blow drier if hot enough ) to shrink the heatshrink. ( Do not aim heat gun on yourself. It will burn you. Do not aim it on heatshrink no longer than 10-15 seconds or it’ll burn it.

6. Do the same for the Driver side.

 

When you’re done, it should look like this.

IMG_1736.jpg

 

IMG_1737.jpg

 

IMG_1735.jpg

 

IMG_1740.jpg

 

 

 

 

I built my Aquaclear fuge just like everybody else but my lid is the only thing different. You can copy mine if you’d like or I can build it for you if you’re not much of a DIY geek ( Like myself :) )

I made my own acrylic box to house the LED. The back side is open so the LED will not overheat. I cut the inside of the lid so I can replace it with a clear piece of acrylic. The green lid is not clear enough for me so I replaced it. I get better light penetration this way.

I also painted everything black.

 

IMG_1460.jpg

 

IMG_1458.jpg

 

IMG_1457.jpg

 

Don’t mind the other LED that’s in there. That light did not work out.

IMG_1456.jpg

 

IMG_1455.jpg

 

IMG_1748.jpg

 

IMG_1744.jpg

 

IMG_1745.jpg

 

IMG_1746.jpg

 

IMG_1747.jpg

 

 

I hope you all enjoyed my DIY project.

If you have any questions or concerns, PM me or just post your comment below.

Happy Reefing :D

  • Like 3
Link to comment
jedimasterben

Very clean looking, but I'd highly recommend either a 660nm or 630nm LED and a royal blue LED, or a warm white LED. Neutral white is better than cool, but the more red spectrum you have, the better macroalgaes will grow.

Link to comment
jedimasterben
Would it be possible to run 2 leds off that driver?

As long as forward voltage is less than 13VDC. You can run 3x deep red and 1x royal blue on the driver, and would grow chaeto like a boss.

Link to comment
As long as forward voltage is less than 13VDC. You can run 3x deep red and 1x royal blue on the driver, and would grow chaeto like a boss.

This interests me.....

Link to comment
jedimasterben
I changed mine to neutral white :)

Isn't too much red bad due to nuance algae growth?

You're trying to grow algae, right?

 

And for the record, algae will only grow with nutrients.

Link to comment

curiosity - whats the overall cos ton the project - excluding the fuge

 

and different spectrums cause things to grow differently. the algaes love the red

Link to comment
jedimasterben
curiosity - whats the overall cos ton the project - excluding the fuge

 

and different spectrums cause things to grow differently. the algaes love the red

But cannot grow if they do not have the nutrients provided to them. I have significant amounts of red over my display tank and don't have algae issues until I let phosphate slip upwards.

Link to comment
But cannot grow if they do not have the nutrients provided to them. I have significant amounts of red over my display tank and don't have algae issues until I let phosphate slip upwards.

 

yes this is true - i dont have any reds in my D/T just white/blue and 2 uv's... and i got gha like a disgusting mess - it is growing like madd in my sump too - cant wait for the gfo to arrive. A reactor will be in the near future as well

Link to comment
But cannot grow if they do not have the nutrients provided to them. I have significant amounts of red over my display tank and don't have algae issues until I let phosphate slip upwards.

Same here. I'm gonna ditch the nano glo and build something today

Link to comment
You're trying to grow algae, right?

 

And for the record, algae will only grow with nutrients.

 

That's true. Wouldn't a warm white be better in this case?

If so, ill add a warm white and a red led to this.

 

curiosity - whats the overall cos ton the project - excluding the fuge

 

and different spectrums cause things to grow differently. the algaes love the red

 

The led kit i built is about $29

Not including the lid and acrylic used to host the LED.

Link to comment
The led kit i built is about $29

Not including the lid and acrylic used to host the LED.

 

 

Very reasonable for that - you can stick it to the LED however you want :) so that option should range from a dollar-10 bucks. I like the idea its very neat enclosed and solid. Should not require much power to run either.

Link to comment
jedimasterben
That's true. Wouldn't a warm white be better in this case?

If so, ill add a warm white and a red led to this.

The best for growing algaes is a 4:1 ratio of deep red to royal blue, warm white doesn't seem to offer anything that those two do not.

Link to comment
  • 2 weeks later...

The best for growing algaes is a 4:1 ratio of deep red to royal blue, warm white doesn't seem to offer anything that those two do not.

 

i know you said 4:1 ratio is best but

would 1 deep red + 1 royal blue still be a better option than 2 neutral whites or 2 warm whites?

Link to comment

FWIW, I use a single 3w CREE NW powered by the moonlight driver as detailed above by the OP, and it grew my chateo in chamber 2 of my BC29 like a CHAMPION....

 

Just because something may be marginally "better" at growing algae, doesn't mean you have to ditch the original idea or intent.

 

The 660DR and 455 RB hit two very specific spectrums of light, but the 5000K NW will still hit those and a wide range of others as well. LEDs that specifically provide the 660 DR and 455 RB will not hit the rest, only those two peaks.

 

For my future upgrade (in planning mode), I will use 2 x 3w NW Cree LEDs for the fuge, just to up the amount lumens back there. These are mounted onto an ordinary CPU heatsink I had laying around, using a thermal pad. Passive cooling only, no fans needed (That moonlight driver is only running at 350mA)

 

I also wired it to my Moonlight to the same string, since my fuge light goes on at night. 1 single moonlight was more than enough for the BC29, too bright actually. I will be looking for ways to cover it with a thick mesh screen to dim it down manually.

Link to comment
jedimasterben

i know you said 4:1 ratio is best but

would 1 deep red + 1 royal blue still be a better option than 2 neutral whites or 2 warm whites?

The more red the better.

 

FWIW, I use a single 3w CREE NW powered by the moonlight driver as detailed above by the OP, and it grew my chateo in chamber 2 of my BC29 like a CHAMPION....

 

Just because something may be marginally "better" at growing algae, doesn't mean you have to ditch the original idea or intent.

 

The 660DR and 455 RB hit two very specific spectrums of light, but the 5000K NW will still hit those and a wide range of others as well. LEDs that specifically provide the 660 DR and 455 RB will not hit the rest, only those two peaks.

 

For my future upgrade (in planning mode), I will use 2 x 3w NW Cree LEDs for the fuge, just to up the amount lumens back there. These are mounted onto an ordinary CPU heatsink I had laying around, using a thermal pad. Passive cooling only, no fans needed (That moonlight driver is only running at 350mA)

 

I also wired it to my Moonlight to the same string, since my fuge light goes on at night. 1 single moonlight was more than enough for the BC29, too bright actually. I will be looking for ways to cover it with a thick mesh screen to dim it down manually.

You're assuming that the 4:1 ratio is only marginally better at growing macroalgaes, but it's far from that. NW doesn't have near the power that a single royal blue and single deep red LED do together in their respective spectrums.

Link to comment

You're assuming that the 4:1 ratio is only marginally better at growing macroalgaes, but it's far from that. NW doesn't have near the power that a single royal blue and single deep red LED do together in their respective spectrums.

You're assuming this is a ATS thread, when in fact this is a AC70 fuge light thread. I wanted to push for the clarity that the solution proposed by the OP does indeed work, without the need for any DR or RB supplements. With a single NW LED, you can very effectivly grow a ball of chateo not only in your AC70, but in any refugim that allows the LED to be in somewhat close proximity to the chaeto or macro of choice. Sometimes more, is not better.

 

Edit: This solution is WAY more effective than those submersible halogen bulbs being sold and recommended as refugium lights.

Link to comment

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recommended Discussions

×
×
  • Create New...