http://www.mpja.com/prodinfo.asp?number=17566+PD

Optics have the biggest effect on comparable PAR levels. Overlap of the output of the LEDs makes a big difference too, although not as much as changing the optics. No optics gets you about 70W MH levels. Tighter spacing will get you levels higher than that. 60 degree optics will get you into high end 150W territory, and 40 degree will get you into high end 250W territory. 25 degree could see levels pushed as high as 400W, but I haven't done any testing on that.

Is anyone familiar with the Azoo Neo Reef LED lighting? Specifically how are the bulbs? I am trying to light a 6 gal tank that is roughly 12"(L)X8"(W)X11"(H). This light has 16whites (dont know if they are the cool whites) and 8 blues (dont know which spectrum either). Question is will this light be enough for my little nano? Thanks for all your help.

steve

Hi evilc66,
Will it better or not if I put 4xUV LEDs out of 36 LEDs( 20CW+12RB+4UV) for my 2ft cube tank?

That light will be considered low light, even for a 3g tank. It will be far too small for a 6g tank.



4 UVs will be fine. I'm still trying to find out what kind of quantity of UV we actually need.

beside kaidomain, where can get better 3W UV LED?

Nowhere as of yet. I'm looking at some higher power UV LEDs, but they are expensive ($50+ )

From your experience, do this UV from kaidomain has significant improve in sps coloration and growth ?

It's a little too early to tell. We are still in the early stages of using UV in our LED setups. For all I know, we are using too little. Thats why I bought the UV meter to start testing.

Is the result promising after tested by UV meter ?

btw, I'll be getting 4 UV from Kaidomain soon so would like to know any improvement observed .

High power UV leds and someones eyes won't mix very well

Don't look at them then Seriously though, it's no different than looking at a MH bulb. We are using power levels that are way below what a typical MH bulb will put out even after UV glass. Also, the LEDs from KD are on the verge of visible light. It's not a low enough wavelength to cause instant damage.

3 quick questions if I may...

First, is it better to drive the royal blues at ~750 mA rather than 1000mA?

Second, do the UV leds need a certain current, or rather do they have a maximum?

And third, one or two 3W UV LEDS for a 14G Biocube?

Thankyou very much,

d.

Hi evilc66,

Please feel free to comment, feedback or advice for my diy LED layout plan listed below,



My new 33/37 LEDs Lighting initial plan for 2x2x2ft reef tank.
Consist of 4UV, 10RB and 19CW which is about 42/58 ratio. 4 reserve for future extension.
Spacing wise will be 1.5” apart with 40 degree LEN.

Thanks.

i can't help on the amount of UV's, but the max current i believe is 700mA.
on the royal blues, that is preference. i would run it at a 1A. it is always easier to dim down the blues than maybe wanting more. or if you wanted more blues then ou have to turn down the cool whites and are not geting your full potential either. i hope this helps you.

Like deepdvnarq said, 700mA max on the UVs and you can run up to 1A on the royals. We are using enough heatsink to effectively cool the LEDs where it's not a concern, and the little extra output is a nice benefit.

2 UVs on a BC14 is fine. It's going to be a while before I can tell you exactly what you need for UV, but 2 won't do any harm.



I would space the UV LEDs out more to cover a larger area. Put them on rows 2 and 4, 2 LEDs in from the ends.

Hi there,

i wonder how much led's would be needed to illuminat a 13.33" cube (actually its 40cm x 40x cm x40cm). I would like to use CREE 7090 cool white(1000mA)/Royal blue(700mA) - 1:1. Further more i don't want to use optics because the gap to the water surface isn't that big and i don't like "spotligh fx".

The tank is currently illuminated by 3 x 24 T5 power compact tubes (2xwhite / 1x blue). I thought about 18 to 24 Leds (1,7" gap/6 Leds per Row). But i am not sure. How much LEDs would i need to get at least the current level of illumination?.

I also considered 2 different arragments (based on 24 Leds).

A.
w b w b w b
b w b w b w
w b w b w b
b w b w b w

B.
w w w w w w
b b b b b b
w w w w w w
b b b b b b

B would be easier to wire with regard to seperate blue/white controlling and different Current while A would probably result in a more constant illumination.

Hint: default optics white -> 90 deg. Royal blue -> 100 deg.

One more thing: what is the best way to protected leds/soldering from (salt) splash water?
What do you think. ?
Cheers,
Nikolas

Go with layout A, and just put a splash sheild infront of the LEDs. Just keeping moisture off the LEDs and the solder joints solves 95% of the corrosion issues. If you feel a little paranoid about it, you can brush clear nail polish over the solder joints after they are clean and free of flux.

Like this?

Or need to separate the 2 UV to the both end (near the "R"eserve area)?

Hey evil, I've never done any DIY work at all and I was wondering what layout you would suggest for a cube tank thats 20"x 16"x 15.4" ? I have no idea how many leds I would need, or what type of optics to use. I don't really plan on keeping any corals that need intense light ( above 250 watts), just species of zoanthids, palys, protos, etc. I noticed that the Cree XREs are the leds to have around here. Would you be able to make a few suggestions on where to buy led supplies other than from Ledsupply.com? Thanks- Reefbox25

Nearer the reverve area. At least on the same rows as those ones. Although, with the extra spacing on the last layout, that could work too. The only thing I see with that layout is that the UV LEDs in the center might be wasted being so close to the front and back of the tank.



32 LEDs in an 8x4 setup would be fine. With only 15.4" height, you can get away without optics. It will still give you enough PAR to keep most anything you want, and will certainly work well for the zoas and palys that you are looking to keep.

If you can hit the $75 minimum order (which you will), ETG Tech is about the best place you can get LEDs. It's the same place that LED Supply gets theirs from. Talk to Anna Lopez over there. She will take good care of you.

i'll take a stab at it, since you dont need high lighting except for zoa, you can probably get by without optics. you can order from ETG Tech. they do have a minimum order though but i don't think you will have a problem reaching it. for simplicity's sake, i think you should get the large heatsink (cut to length of tank)from heatsink usa.com, with o total of 27 leds (14rb and 13 cw), in 3 rows of 9 (rows of leds positioned at the edges of the heatsink and the third centered). you will need 4 to 5 buckpuck depending if you want total color separation. since your tank dimension are so wide, you may need to slide your array either forward or backward to place the array for best positioning. if you want to get fancier, you would need 2 small heatsinks (cut to length of tank)both with 2 rows of 9 leds (36 leds 18 rb and 18 cw). you would also need 6 buckpucks total. if you want to do dawn dusk effects you will need at least 2 power supplies at 24v and at least 3.3 amps each. etg tech doesn't have buckpucks however, only ledsupply i believe. also you power supply could come from www.mpja.com look for the potrans 24v 6.5 amp powersupply. it is only $15 each. you might want to pick up optics from etg tech in case if you want to increase the lighting later, you could just add on the optics.


damn it! lol i'm at work and it took me awhile to answer it. i see i wasnt that far off though. lol

Evilc66,

Thanks for your reply. Do you think that 24 would be a sufficient number? Or should i better use more? (I have to buy more than 24 anyway in order to hit the minimum order quantity for import). Regarding the splash shield: What material would you suggest - acrylic glass?

BTW: great thread.

Regards,
Nikolas

24 will be more than enough for a tank that size. What minimum do you have to hit and from where? If you are ordering from ETG, you are way beyond the minimum.

Acrylic is fine for a splash guard and makes it easier to drill if you want to screw it down.

For my LED lighting, I'm using 2mm glass for splash guard.

btw, evilc66 has you bought any stuff from Kaidomain?

Are they same as DealExtreme based at Hong Kong?

I have bought from both. Slow shipping, but the products aren't bad. The pcb on the high power LEDs isn't as good quality as the ones from ETG.

To what degree will the glass filter the UV...as usually single-ended mh is enveloped in a glass sheath just for that reason.

It shouldn't. UV glass blocks mainly UV-B and UV-C. We are dealing with UV-A, which doesn't get filtered out much.

I'm using normal glass and I think UV from LED is not as strong as MH as such do not need UV filtering glass.

am I right...evilc66?

UV glass over MH is there for a different reason. It's filtering out most of the harmfull wavelengths of UV. You will want a splash guard of some description, but it can be acrylic.

Hi Evil,

Going to build an LED custom light, but have some questions...

Been poking around Nanotuners DIY light section. What are the Rebel LED squares for?

Rebel LED square

and can I run 10 LED and a PC fan from this:

LED Driver

Finaly, I am planing a pico - 8x8x10 AIO. Thinking of running

w - b - w
b - w - w - b
w - b - w

They have 6500K daylight and 460NM Blue... Would that be sufficient to run anything in there? or is this BIG TIME overkill? I would be spacing the LED's 2 inches apart...

Thanks,

B

thanks for clearing that up evil.

d.

You can run three Rebel LEDs on the same pcb. It's the same concept that has been around for a while, but square instead of star shaped.



No. You are limited to 12W max. That wouldn't run four LEDs comfortably. Plus, no dimming control. Stick with Buckpucks.



Run 3x3 with 2.5" spacing. That will be plenty of light over that little tank.

Thanks for the fast reply... Still not sure on the squares, but I am pretty sure I am going to go with the star and not worry about it.

Probably end up with the buckpuck then saw what was called a bucktoot - looks like it would run 6 LED like the suggestion you made on 3x3. then I could go with a 36W power supply.

So you would recommend:

b-w-b
w-b-w

and are the 6500K OK??

Thanks again!

Bucktoots are only 350mA output. Stick with Buckpucks and a 3x3 arrangement. You will need two driver to do this, and keep the blues on one and the whites on the other. This will give you the color temp control.

6500K is pretty much your only option. Anything higher is hard to come by. It won't create any issues though. Everyone else uses them without issue.

I accidentally order the buck puck with external dimming instead of the one with the pot. I saw the pot with external dimming and didnt even pay attention to the pucks next in line that said with pot. So when i got the drivers i was like wheres the pot man... did you check behind your ear, did we already smoke it? Any way, i noticed it only had two wires instead of three for the dimming controls (pots have three terminals the two ends and one wiper). Would i be able to hook up a potentiometer to these pucks and if so how? Also what type of pot would i need to pick up Ex: 1k ohm 6w,audio tapper linear tapper?
thanks again for all the help

hahaha

i just got my heatsink today...i ordered the wrong size...im like 3 inches short of what i wanted...haha

and i almost ordered the same ones you did.

you want the linear pot (audio will only get your ears high! corny, i know!) 5 - 10k ohm and in the exact words from the LED gawd himself:
Connect the VREF (+5v) to the center post, and the CTRL to either of the outside posts. The different posts will just change the direction of rotation for the brightness.

Thanks deep i will have to go to frys tomorrow and get a couple of them.

Evil my question is about drivers, what in your opinion would be the best to use to ddrive 60 leds, 30w/30b, buckpucks i would need 10 of and 2 power supplies correct? is there a cheaper equally efficient way to do it, I was planning on all at 1000ma. Also where can I find the info on the spread of different angle lenses? By the way great write up and info.

hi evil,

on the other thread i mentioned this led module. Do you think if i use 3 of it equal 120w total that would be enough for my RSM 250 65g? i wish i would have a par meter to compare the stock lighting and this module.
Thank you for your advise

I doubt that can do the job.

Ummmmm. Can you explain why?

Anyway I found an interesting article about 100W LED HERE.. It's available on ebay now for $99 here

that array has been mentioned before. if i remember correctly, the LEDs in that setup was only 1/4w to maybe a max of 1 watt. its been awhile since that one has come up. it is simply not powerful enough to support corals. maybe a fowlr. can't help you on the other one but if im guessing correctly after reading the site, it is 100 1 watt Leds. it certainly claims tremendous lumen output, but 1 watt bulbs just dont have what it takes for PAR output.

The array uses 1W LEDs. They just don't have the penetrating power to do well on a reef tank. You could use it on tanks less than 12" tall, but it would be medium-ish light levels. There is a major change in PAR output and penetration power when you bump up to 3W of power.

The 100W LED has been around for a while and been brought up before. But like many of the other higher power LEDs (Cree MC-E, SSC P7, etc), there aren't many practical applications for us in the reef world. Remember, it's a 5500K-6500K LED and will look horrible yellow over a tank. It will also be very hard to raise the color temp to a practical level using blue LEDs. We have plenty of light using current 3W LEDs. The only next move to higher output LEDs will be when the colored LEDs we need follow the output increases of the whites, which is less likely to happen.

well its return of the dying buckpucks for me. now my bc14 went down and its not even in a project box to overheat. it is in the hood near a fan to give it extra air movement. im so frustarted with these things. im going to give it one more shot on these things. i'm going to mount these on the outside of the rear part of the hood, in open air. if this is not sufficient then i dont know what else will be.

Should the LEDs be flickering slightly when the power is cut? Is this normal or is do I have something wired wrong. I have six LEDs hooked up to each individual buckpuck.

Power cut from what? From the power supply? From the Buckpuck? From the pot?

I am reading and I need your help, I am going to use 60 cree's, 30w and 30rb, using the meanwell driver I would need 5 to run that volume of led's, the thing is 1 would not have 13 led's on it. would I need 4 of the Meanwell ELN-60-48P and 1 that is smaller?

The Meanwell drivers can run UP to 13 LEDs. You can run anything up to that point.