Spacing should be fine, but there is no need for optics on a tanks that high unless you are going for really high PAR.

Thanks, I guess I have them just in case. The goal is a mixed tank to include sps and clam.

DIY'ers beware!!!
This may have been mentioned elsewhere , use caution when applying the Cree secondary optics.
I used the optics that are specifically made for the Cree XLamp 7090 XR-E's that I bought from LedSupply.com #247-10-LENS.The flaw in Cree's optic holder is that it must be mounted onto the LED's small lens.The holder snaps in place on the lens and is "permanently" fixed.Care must be taken when mounting them as I had damaged two of my royal blue LEDs by doing so.One of them went on fine , but when I took the holder off it took with it the small LED lens!The other one was not so lucky from the start as you need some good amount of pressure and as careful as I was the LED lens popped right off!!
Son of bleep!!!I just ruined two good LEDs damn it!!
Aside from this I managed to at least test the optic before taking it off one of the blues.The result was a spot about 8" diameter at you guessed it evil 3'.
I placed that one royal blue over my 2.5 AGA pico and the sight was beautiful.From that one LED I was able to illuminate the tank far brighter and intense than my aqualight mini in a sunlit room!!It almost brought a tear to my eyes.LED's all the way!Going to buy more royals blues and this time use no optics.
Checked out a video on Youtube.com for the lumenaqua light and found something that might be interesting.That fixture uses a patented sheet like lens that to me looks like a fresnel/polarizer.Considering how the Cree optics for me are a bust I may consider trying a fresnel/polarizer to experiment.Anyone else tried this , results?

Your LED come off the star PCB? Can you still take your LED out the lens? If you can then try this and you maybe able to rescue your LED.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHyRLQexJpA

No it was just the small lens on the LED itself , the rest remains attached to the star PCB.Before trying them my impression of those optic holders was that it would snap on the small square board that is the LED not
the lens itself.They are a pain to put on and take off and the end result is a damaged LED.If one insists on using those particular secondary optics/holders a workaround would be to DIY make the hole slightly bigger so that it
does not affix itself to the LED lens.Next would be to apply some sort of temporary adhesive or maybe silicone around the square LED and attach the holder w/optic.Doing so can save your LEDs from damage.As for me I am scrapping them , I'm P.O'ed just looking at em.
For those DIY'ing I would find another secondary optic solution as opposed to the ones designed by Cree for the XR-E LED.If you need optics I have seen some with holders that attach onto the star PCB itself.I will have to look into it some more.

There are other options for optics, but they take more work to use. Many of them use a three leg mount that interferes with the two bolt method of fastening that we use. Laying out three threaded holes will be a little more complicated. Also, many of the manufacturers stop at about 45 degrees for their "wide" angle optics. Cree is one of the few that has wider than that. The other types of optic mounts cover the solder pads making it even more of a pain to use.

Even though the Cree optics fit a little tight at times (not all of them are that tight), they are the easiest for the hobbyist to use by a long shot. If they feel like they are a little troublesome to install, take a sharp knife around the inside edge of the lense holder to remove any burs from the molding process.

hey evil i have been reading up quite a bit lately and i'm wondering about the tapping and drilling of the heat sinks. Couldn't one just buy self-taping screws to screw the LEDs down? the only problem i see as it would need to be cooled as it will get kinda hot, but still. How big is the little U that the bolts go into, i think a 1/4" scree could work no?

well while i'm asking, i'm looking at the cad12 tank, seen another DIY on it of 20 LEDs, i want to keep SPS/clams so i was also going to do 20 but the tank is 13" deep i was thinking 20 will be fine without optics right? also UV's are they totally needed for SPS?

thanks

well i'm not evil, but I can tell you that you can use self tapping screws. I decided to go with them in my second LED build cause my first experience with tap bits and 440 screws was not the best. The Nylon washers I used are the same that fits the 440 and even the same drill bit to help the self tapping screws.

i assume they worked out for you? i was thinking about the ones with the taps already on them, like this:
http://www.wisechainfasteners.com.cn/screw...ping_Screws.jpg

A little tight is an understatement!Trying three out of three optics for the type I used is a fair conclusion that they all will damage your LEDs without modification.
As for modding them that's basically what I said.I don't like the idea of these holders affixing to the small LED lense , period.I recommend making the opening wider so it does not sit on the lens at all and mount it with an adhesive of your choice.It is more than just burs you have to remove and better method than using a sharp knife would be to use sandpaper.Just twist some rolled up sandpaper through the end until it makes an opening that fits around not on the small LED lens.Safer than a knife and makes a cleaner more uniform finish

Hey Evil or anyone who has read this entire thread:

Which pages highlight the background information other than page 1? I have looked through parts of this thread but I am just beginning to learn about LEDs.

I am thinking of a 10 gal LED SPS build.

Thanks for the thread.

Background information on what?

Evil,
I meant is there a section on building an LED. You covered the first two sections in the first post but I did not see the build section.

I was trying to figure out how much equipment etc. I would need if I attempted this project.

Thanks for all of your hard work.

Nope. Haven't finished that part yet

Ok thanks. I was worried that sleep deprivation was setting in.

So if I wanted to do an DIY LED for a standard 10 gallon how many LEDs would I need? Something like 16? 8 blue and 8 white in a 4 x 4 grid or something else? I would need 4 drivers right? 4 LED per. I am trying to run some numbers and see if I want to even attempt this project. I have access to all tools needed and an electrican who could help with the build.

I also have a 2.5 standard that I am thinking about. What would I need for that build?

Thanks.

best thing to do is spend 2-3 hours and read every post.. pretty good chance your question is answered somewhere.. its a good read..

to your question id say 16 would be adequate, just get dimmable buckpucks so you can dim them if needed.. you will only need 3 drivers to run 16 leds, (6 per) you can spend extra to get a little bit more control on the temp, but im sure you'll manage if you want to keep cost down..

what are the tank dimensions, if its a cube shape then either the formation you said or 5-6-5 (3 rows)

Like xcracer mentioned, I'm pretty sure I have covered both tank sizes before. But I'm a nice guy and I'll help you out

16 LEDs is about perfect for a 10g in an 8x2 pattern. You want to get as much coverage along the length as you can. Put the LEDs on 2" spacing center to center, and put rows on 3" spacing. You could get away with 3 drivers for it, but 4 would give you full seperation of the whites and blues. If you don't mind having two whites and two blues on a single driver, it will save you a few bucks. You might even like them for first and last stage of a dawn/dusk cycle.

The 2.5g will need a minimum of 8 LEDs (4x2)

I'm hoping to build a new LED light for my 90g bowfront. While I realize this doesn't fit in the nano category, I read about other tanks of similar size on this thread so I hoped it was okay to ask a few questions.

I have 12" on each side with 18" in the middle of the bow and 48" wide. It's a high tank at 29". Currently I have live sand and live rock, and getting ready to start with all sorts of coral. My plan was to go with a MH system, but I don't have room for the MH and T5 in one unit, as the real estate is scarce. As it turns out, my neighbor actually produced a proposal some time ago for a reef LED tank, and so I have so nearby resources and expertise to help.

The real problem is trying to decipher the design. May of the layouts I've seen are two blocks of LEDs. However, in looking at the commerical products, they seem to have rows of lights across the tank. So my furst issue is the lighting design. My thoughts are to have three rows of LEDs attached to a 10" or so heat sink, with about 1.5" - 2" between rows and LEDs. So basically I'm assuming about 24ish LEDs per row, times three rows. I was also assuming a 50-50 mix of white and roayal blue.

I was also hoping to build in enough power to get to the equivalient of 500w of MH, so I was planning, based on the earlier posts, of using 40 degree optics to increase the output. Does the spacing soudn like it would work?

I would also like to have a 24 hour cycle, by simulating dawn, daytime, dusk, and then lunar lighting. My neighbor can supply dimmable "buckpuck" equivalents, so could I use a few of the royal blue LEDs to serve as lunar lighting, then ramp up more for dawn, introducing a set or two of white, then all on for some time? If so, how many should I plan for each step? Then I'd reverse the process at the end of the day? My house is X10 controlled, so I was planning on ctronlling this through that mechanism, as his drivers are AC powered.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

By 500W of MH lighting, I'm assuming you are talking about 2x250W that you would have used over the tank? You can easily hit that PAR level and then some with 40 degree optics. If you are to use them, 2" spacing between LEDs on a single row is the absolute max you want to use. You can get away with a little wider spacing on the rows.

3 rows of 24 will cover the majority of the tank. You may need to add a few extra to cover the area in the middle of the bow.

Yes, I meant 2x250, sorry. Glad to hear I can achieve that level of output. I'm not sure how I would handle the extra 6" in the middle of the tank. If I put a light out there I get in the way of the glass canopy for feeding. I'll look into that further.

I'll draw up a schematic and see how it would work with a tad less than 2", based on the heatsink I want to use. What about the notion of the lunar and actinic equivalence I was describing? Can I just plan to use a few of the royal blues for lunar?

And by the way, thanks for responding so quickly. I've really appreciated your input on this and other threads.

I have been reading a lot of research papers on light , types of and how they affect corals.These LED fixtures that I see here on Nano-Reef are pretty amazing and want to get into making one myself eventually.While LEDs look nice for an aquarium they do look unnatural for the overall quality of light.I have not seen any fixtures like this in person so it is hard to make an good opinion about them.The light they put out appears incomplete when we'll say compared to sunlight.There tends to be a focus on getting more blues for the purpose of bringing out the corals color with photosynthesis playing second.
Images and videos of actual reefs show that not all areas are that deep to where the only light that penetrates the water is blue.The shallower end has more of an ice cyan look with traces of yellow and green.I find it strange that no one here is trying to mimic actual "complete" light qualities of the reef using LEDs.
I have an idea for an LED fixture that I am considering on building which consists of one each cool white, neutral white, warm white and royal blue or cool white, neutral white, warm white, royal blue, blue and green.
My thoughts are first to make a more "complete" white light using LEDs.I am well aware that the cool white alone contains a full spectrum, but to certain degree.Basing on what I found in the Cree XR-E tech document I would use the cool white to handle more of the blue end, the neutral white for more of the green and yellow and the warm white for the orange and red.Royal blue will be in there for a more specific actinic purpose.Contemplating on whether to add a blue and green specific LEDs to the mix considering the cool white and neutral white can make up that portion of the spectrum without getting to heavy.
There is the notion that red and green light will have no benefit and while this may be true for most coral what about the other organisms that inhabit our tanks.The test reports I have looked over concerning red light show that red light alone was used with no affect on coral growth only bleaching them.A report on green light does however show some worth.
Another interesting report shown that a lower K and higher K MH bulbs were used to test coral growth. Surprisingly the results were not much different from each other and intensity alone played a major factor.This can possibly rule out any negative impact I may get by using the neutral and warm whites while retaining there output for macro algae and other organisms that benefit from there ends of the light spectrum.
The fixture will start off small and will be for my 2.5 pico.Based off of the results I get from that then I will make a larger array for a 20H WIP.

Not true. The mixing of blue and white LEDs is there for two purposes; to help aproximate higher color temperatures, and to increase PAR. Royal blue LEDs (455nm) hit right on the peak response for photosynthesis in corals. They produce almost as much PAR as a cool white LED. The added colors from fluorescence is a nice side effect, but not the primary reason that royal blue are used. I think if you start reading back into a lot of my posts from quite a while ago you will find that there is a definite reason for why we have all gone in this direction. This method is also used in virtually every commercial fixture available. I'll agree that there is something missing in the overall spectral output, but not where you are looking.

I think it is unfair that you say that LED lit reefs look unnatural based on pictures and video. They will never capture the true look of LEDs in person. Part of it is the saturation of the sensor in the camera with blue light, making it very difficult to get the white balance correct, and also that the spotlighting and color banding is always exagerated on film. Until you see one in person, I would withold judgement on appearance for right now. I think almost anyone that has LEDs over a reef will tell you that it looks better than almost any other lighting source.



Comparing images again isn't a fair representation. Changes in camera settings to over/under expose images to capture more detail can change the overall appearance. Trying to make your reef look like a picture will only cause a lot of aggrivation trying to get it right. Shouldn't the primary goal be to provide the best quality of light for our livestock, and make the appearance secondary?



I think that you are going to get way too much red with using all the different whites. Keep in mind that the spectral charts are generalized approximations, and will shift slightly with tint bins. Also keep in mind that the common cool white bins are 6300K, which is way warmer than what we typically use in PC/T5/MH lighting (10K and up). Cool white LEDs on their own create a very yellow/orange tint. With 6300K cool whites mixed with royal blues in a 50/50 mix, you get about a 14K look to the tank. Again, refering to what I said earlier, the royals are there for more than just "actinic".



Some worth where? Other than potentially aiding in color rendition, green is absolutely useless for photosynthesis purposes. It's almost 100% reflected away by chlorphyl. Red is more useful, but not by a whole lot. It is still used by photosynthesis, but like you stated, it can create issues with coral health if used in too great a quantity. IMO, the amount of red emitted by the whites is more than enough to satisfy the needs of any tank inhabitant, other than maybe macro algaes.



You may or may not have picked up on this during your stint in the hobby, but color temperature ratings on bulbs are about as accurate and the watts per gallon rule. They are arbitrary numbers slapped on a bulb by the manufacturer. The fact that a 20K bulb can outgrow a 10K bulb is of no surprise. A 20K bulb is always heavier in blue wavelengths of light, which, surprise surprise, is the peak area for photosynthesis in corals and other photosynthetic animals. See why we use royal blue LEDs now?



Give it a shot. I think you are going to add a lot of cost and complexity to a simple setup so you can adjust and blend your color. Again, don't go by what may look natural, but by what is truely beneficial to your tank. An LED like the upcoming Cree MC-E Color (RGBW) would be better suited to what you are looking to do, but you will be paying about $25 an LED.

Yes I agree about the royal blues for photosynthesis and most use it for that intention while others not.That aside the royal blues do however cast an unnatural over saturation of color I have seen in images of more bluer tanks.I am glad you agree about there being something missing from the overall spectral output.The purpose and my point is to try to achieve a more complete light.

True I have not seen a LED lit reef in person, but if one is comparing pic to pic, vid to vid I would say there is a difference for the sake of comparing the quality of light.LED light looks "cleaner" when compared to regular fluorescents, what about metal halide.

While the Cree XR-E charts are approximations it is still something to go by.Clearly the cool whites are higher in the blue, neutral white in the blue/green and warm white red/orange/yellow.So basing it off that would using the cool white alone not create an imbalanced white light?Remember my goal is for complete quality so where the one is lacking the other two white LEDs will make up the difference when driving at maximum.

As for the reports on the green and red light shown that there is some response with green and a red light only
caused bleaching.The red only light in the test was to see if there was any growth benefit.Now the "I think that you are going to get way too much red with using all the different whites" can possibly be put to rest and that brings me back to the test that was conducted with a low and high K MH bulbs.It was intensity alone that gave the best growth response from these full spectrum bulbs.

Yes I never bought into the watts per gallon rule as I am growing SPS with an aqualight mini!The color temperature accuracy is just another damn good reason to use the light combo I have in mind.
"The fact that a 20K bulb can outgrow a 10K bulb is of no surprise" some would argue with that one saying there is no difference.Intensity is key.

"Again, don't go by what may look natural, but by what is truely beneficial to your tank"I believe trying to achieve what is natural will be beneficial to my tank.
I will post results when I get a chance.Thanks for the enlightenment evil.Now on to the next level.

Intensity is a very braod and generalized term when used by itself. The reason that the 20K bulbs performed so well was that it had a good broad spike in it's spectral output in the 410-470 range. "Intensity" can be translated into "visible brightness" which is absolutely useless. The 20K bulb I'm sure looked considerably dimmer than the 10K, although the PAR was equivalent if not better. The trick to great growth is having the right amount of light in the right spectrum. This is something that is perfect for LEDs because of the very tight selective spectral output. This is the reason that you can have PAR levels equivalent to MH lamps, for half the wattage.

Making the light more "natural" will only be of benefit to you. When I mentioned that I do think that there is something missing from the spectral output, I wasn't talking about the visual spectrum. I personally think that adding UV back into the mix will be far more beneficial than trying to fill the gaps in the green/yellow/orange spectrum.

Please don't take this as me trying to shoot you down. I like conversations like this where we start testing the boundaries of what we know about LEDs. The way we have done it so far have been pretty reliable, and the conversation of filling in the gaps has been brought up before, with much the same answers. Try it out. Take measurements. See if it works.

This is a healthy conversation and you are very knowledgeable on the subject of LEDs.These lights are the new thing and while the current trend is showing success (manufacturers and DIY) I feel it can be better.I am very interested in finding a combination that will produce a natural look as well as function.
UV is becoming of more interest from what I have been reading and I will probably throw it somewhere into the mix.Already ordered parts for testing and will see how it goes.I will post results but don't expect anything too soon, these things take time.Here is something related that I found that can be of some value http://www.fishchannel.com/media/saltwater...-light.aspx.pdf.

Are you going to be using discrete LEDs for this, or RGB?

It was a tough call for me to make.I was not sure how well the RGB would come together and whether their individual intensities will be enough as a whole for white light.Another thought on not using RGB is the possibility of those LEDs to spike in their respective color and not be as broad.That would kind of bring me back to square one don't you think.I bought discrete LEDs and I am going with one each cool white, neutral white, warm white and a royal blue.The royal blue I am going to consider as a supplement for actinic purposes.I was going to add a blue and green but I believe those will be covered by the white without going overboard.UV will be added later if any down the road.The LEDs will be arranged in no particular order and I am considering using a large single lens to converge the light into the tank.
By the way where can I get some UV stars?

Kaid Domain is the only place selling 3W UV. Hold off on the UV though. I still don't know if there needs to be a specific range of wavelengths, or what the radiated power should be.

The new MC-E Color (RGBW and RGBWW (warm white)) would be ideal for this. Another alternative would be using Luxeon Rebels on a triple star. Don't have to worry as greatly about color blending when all the LEDs are on top of each other.

My thoughts exactly on the UVs.I'll see later if RGB works out and may use the rebels due to their small size when designing a light fixture and blend capabilities.

What depth "natural light" are you trying to replicate? Most pictures you see of a wild reef are using suplemental light in order to show us something more pleasing. Our blues are pretty accurate to anything deeper than about 6ft.

The "natural light" I am trying to replicate is somewhere between the deep and shallow parts of the reef.
This however is not the true goal of the project as I am more interested in putting together a combination of LEDs that is more "complete".The animals we keep in our tanks have adapted to both deep and shallow waters so choosing one scheme over an other will not make much of a difference only personal preference.

I am into photography and yes a white light is used to bring out the more pleasing colors when capturing some images of the reef.I have developed my share of underwater diving pics and I can tell you there is a lot more to be desired than the light we place over our tanks.That is not to say they do not work, they do and some very well.Have you ever seen an image or video of the reef where white light was not used to enhance what you see?The deep end is blue and gets bluer the further out and down you go until no light penetrates.That being said there is a transition and there is no one point that is specifically 420nm that every other portion of the light spectrum that is able to penetrate just drops of sharply.
Other images of the shallow end will show out in the distance a blue scape but when you look right below to the sand it is a totally different story.What light that penetrates is vibrant and far less selective.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJTFX0YjeMc

I just put together a small LED fixture reminiscent of evil's pico LED for the group buy.First impression is that it is a major improvement over the aqualight mini I used over my 2.5.Being only three LEDs, two cool white and one royal blue I find it bright and covers the small tank with a nice falloff on the sides.Height and even angle affects the way the colors blend as well as the shimmer.The light also has a "clarity" to it that I really like.Everything is running at 1000ma and I wonder if the cool white is showing 10K.There is not much if any noticeable separation in the cool white as I had hoped.This may be the nature of LEDs in general and I wonder if adding a neutral white and a warm white would achieve that effect like natural sunlight.The royal blue I find is an "all out or nothing" blue and spikes heavily with not much of a transition.I am thinking a blue and green LED could help, I'll see and leave that for part two of my project.

evilc66
Aug 25 2009, 11:27 PM

Better. I would stick with the same brand and series LEDs for the entire project though. We typically prefer Cree XR-Es here, but Luxeon K2's and Rebels work also. I wouldn't bother with the MC-E. It's too bright for most applications and makes it difficult to work with blue LEDs to get the right color temp.


But what if i can't find the CREE royal blues.......can i use these LEDS?

Luxeon Star white, 1W, 45lm (500.000mcd), 110°, EC
Luxeon Star royal-blue, 1W, 120.000mcd, 110°

Thanks!

Here are a few questions that I've got while smoke testing. No magic smoke has escaped, but I'm not sure I'm not bleeding off a bit of juice (my blue is not as bright as the white).

I'm using the MPJA 24v supplies with 1a buckpucks with 6 leds in a chain. I ended up with 30w and 24b (had to leave out sections because of tank bracing.

Does this means I should be seeing pretty close to 3v across the + and - pads (3w leds at 1a should be 3v right?)

Is either side grounded to the star internally? I do actually get a reading from - to heatsink (exactly = the + to - reading) so I'm suspecting that it is shorted on the - side, but I want to make sure before chasing all those solder joints.

I think I've got a few sloppy joints (with ~200 I'm sure several are marginal/bad) that are touching the edge of the star as well as the pad (and the edge isn't isolated like the top is it).

Luxeon is good, but I would use something a lot more powerful. Look at either the Luxeon K2 or the Luxeon Rebel.


At 1000mA, you should be seeing about 3.7v across the LEDs. The star is electrically isolated, so you should have no continuity between the star/heatsink and the positive or negative pads of the LEDs.

Where do i have to look at?
Is it the Watts or the lumen? how many watts or lumen does a LED have to be?

I also found luxeon 3 watt leds are these useable?

Oke i found this at a german internetsite (i'am living in the Netherlands)

Luxeon K2, royalblue, 750 mW, 140°
Royalblue Luxeon K2 LED - Emitter

Luxeon K2, white, 130lm, 140° - Rank U00
White Luxeon K2 LED - Emitter - Rank U00

Does it give you what current the LED was driven at for that lumen output on the whites?

No it doesn't matter for me

It should. 130lm at 350mA (good) and 130lm at 1000mA (crap) is a big difference.

If I were wanting to add a bright shimmer to my tank (more than what the Current USA powerbrights can do), would the following combo work? I have a Nova Extreme 4X24 over a 25g (20" tall).

I was planning on putting them about 6-8" apart so the light is more centered. As for optics, I was thinking something a 60* or even wider (would this even need optics?)



Two white (~6500K) CREE MCE-W430
One 3021-A-I-700mA BuckPuck

Power supply (not sure what kind)

heat sink--- I could probably find some aluminum bar stock....



Really I am more wanting to really get the ripples going, as I'm getting enough PAR for my corals right now, so if anyone has any cheaper suggestions, feel free to comment.

I have seen what the Current Powerbright can do, and I don't think they are worth the cost.

Hi everyone,

I am new here but have been following this post closely. I recently came across the Fluval edge tank and thought that the lighting was undesireable for a reef system. One of the only viable solutions I think is LED lighting if one wants to make this a nano tank. So after looking at different products, I wanted to know if anyone had any experience with this product and any opinions on using two of these in the fluval edge tank.

The Edison Opto Linear_Edixeon Module
http://www.nanotuners.com/product_info.php...products_id=610

Thank you and looking forward to being a part of the nano community.
Mark

MC-Es might be a little overkill, and you would need two Buckpucks to run two MC-Es (consider them as equal to 4 LEDs each).

Go to Cutter and order a Q3 WA bin on a 20mm star. The WA bin is the highest color temperature LED available, and will not make the glimmer lines as yellow. Cutter sells Buckpucks, but they want a lot of money for them compared to what is offered in the US.

OK. I suppose even one MC-E would yellow up the tank a lot? If they are that powerful, I'm not opposed to using just one, centered in the tank with a more broadcast angle optics (if even necessary). I suppose I could use a computer fan heat sink for it.



Now as for the Cree's on Cutter, I see where to find the Q3 WA and the 20mm star. Are you suggesting one LED and one buckpuck here, or two (or more) of these Q3 WA's? How many of these can be run on a single Buckpuck?

Sorry, just a total noob on LED's.

If you have any links on "high power LED's for dummies" let me know!

Considering the length of your fixture, I would use at least two of those LEDs. You can run up to 6 on a single Buckpuck.

I think a single MC-E is going to create a nice bright yellow spot in the middle of the tank. I just think it's too much light for what you want to accomplish. The XR-Es will cost you about the same, but will look better and will give you more options on placement and distribution.

Alright, that makes sense.


Do you know what the approx. color temp of these Q3WA's are? Also, if I were to wire up 6 of them on a buckpuck, will these add any respectable amount of PAR in the tank? I'm currently getting 75ppfd on the sandbed in 19" of water--- what would you guestimate these 6 would add? It's not a big issue, this is more for looks than numbers, though.


Lastly, how on earth do I figure out which Buckpuck I need for this? The cool white XRE's seem to be able to take 1000mA, so I suppose I would want the one with intensity control (3021-D-E-1000mA )
Ie, http://ledsupply.com/03021-d-e-1000.php right?


Thanks for your help Evilc66. Between you and Grim Reefer, two guys from "the darkness" are shedding lots of light on stuff!

Nice one.

The color temp isn't exact and sits in a range between 8000K and 10,000K. Cree doesn't tighten up the bins any more than that.

6 Q3s should add a reasonable amount of PAR if driven at 1000mA. Possibly up to 30-40 PAR. You may want to change one of the white T5 tubes to an actinic/blue to compensate.

I would use the 3023 series of drivers (3023-D-E-1000P) for them being wired, and coming with the dimming pot.

if i read correctly you are a "noob" in led's.. does that include soldering too.. cause i was just like you not 1 month ago and i just wired up my fixture yesterday.. never touched a solder iron before.. but after an hours ractice i tackled it and succeeded.. its not very hard to do..

I have done some more research and thought that this may be a decent setup for the fluval edge mods that I am thinking of. I plan on keeping only zoas and mushrooms in this tank. Here goes

2 x Cree XR-E Q5 Star LED
4 x Cree Royal Blue XR-E Star LED
BuckPuck: 3021-A-I-700 BuckPuck, 700mA Output, AC Powered
Power Supply 12VDC 3.0A

I know I will need a heat sink but undetermined on the size because I am not sure how the mod will go.
What do you guys think, is this a step in the right direction?

Thanks for all feed back

Almost there.

The 2 white, 4 royal setup is going to give you a very blue tank. If you want something closer to 14K, 50/50 works pretty well. You can always adjust the color with the drivers.

That driver isn't going to be much good for you. It's an AC input model, and you are connecting it to a DC power supply. Not going to work. I'd suggest the 3023-D-E-700mA. It's wired instead of using header pins, and comes with the dimmer pot already wired in.

You will need a higher voltage power supply. You should use anywhere from an 18-24v power supply, with at least 2A capacity.

OK Evil, I see the BP you recommended. I can also see that Cutter has better prices (and selection) on the XRE's, so I'll assume their shipping prices to America aren't too bad either.

I browsed through this thread for the first dozen or two pages and didn't see anything specifically on how to wire everything together-- do you have a link?


So far, if I am going to do this, I would need this (tell me what I might be missing):

--------6 Q3WA XRE's from Cutter
--------3023-D-E-1000PmA Wired BuckPuck
--------Power supply -- perhaps the 24V 1.7A, 40W in this link?
-------Heatsink (will browse the net, I'm sure there's something on Ebay)
---------Optics? Necessary? Would the elliptical help me spread light 90 degrees from the LED strip (ie, front to back).
---------Wiring, solder, and soldering iron as suggested in the first page of this thread.


Any other parts? I see some folks talking about putting resistors and such in their LED system. I assume since I am using all the same LED at the same current level, this isn't necessary. Right?








I have done "some" soldering. I am fortunate to work with a small group of electricians (well, I work out of the same maintenance shop... I'm a carpenter)--- so they will be ready at arms to help me. I believe they have a schnazzy soldering iron for me to use.

Thanks, I will rework the components list and check with you guys again.