We have a pretty active DIY LED movement going on here at Nano-Reef and it's starting to become a little hard to find all of the fantastic builds that everyone has done so far. We have a lot more builds coming in the future, so it would be great to get a comprehensive list of everyones projects so far. Even if you have purchased a fixture from myself or somewhere else, I'd like it listed.

What I would ask of you is one or two pictures posted, with a brief description of the setup with a link to your build thread if you have one. I will try and categorize everything in this post as they get submitted.

Please, this is not a thread for discussion or questions. If you have questions, post on the members thread or PM them. There are lots of other threads discussing LEDs. This is not one of them.

BC8 Retros
DarkDevil

BC14 Retros
deepdvnarq
crs2k
Maddevil1
dhraakoxr
Waterproof
Crazy Tiki
bpkenn
Bamato
shmoopy
autopro
djprofd
stixchicken
MedicBMC
vresor

BC29 Retros
C Jerome
Bonsai
firebirdude

NC6 Retros
gunguy05

NC8 180 Retros
Qwiv

NC12 Retros
ccLansman
theloveablebum
npain316

NC24/28 Retros
neelix
Minadin
Sherman

Aquapod 12 Retros
deepdvnarq
thecowkid

Eclipse 3 Retros
deepdvnarq

Barrier Reef/Nanowave 9 Retros
Rodney500
TheStar

Resun DM500-PL Retros
davce99

XCube 26 Retros
Dave_Uk

Fixture Retros
evilc66 Current USA 12" Single Satellite
Saiyan LED addon to Outer Orbit
Marteen Current USA Orbit Retro
mmike1992 Actinic add-on to Lumenmax reflector
HeyLookItsCaps Current USA Single Satellite Retro
Kidrobot Current USA 20" Orbit Retro

Custom Standalone
evilc66 Custom 1.6g pico
McJosh13 Oceanic 30g cube
cdelicath Custom 1g pico
cdelicath Standalone over BC14
C Jerome Custom 3.5g pico
Not_Sponsored Unknown tank
evanski Current USA Betta Cube
sweevo 24" cube
reeftankguy CAD12
ryan110484 75g AGA
M@rine_lover 2ft cube
Sammy113 Custom Cube
Gdubsvdubs@gmail.com 3g Pico
Sammy113 3g Pico
Ron99 iCube
M@rine_lover 60g Cube
theloveablebum AGA 10g
deepdvnarq Custom 10g AGA canopy.
stmccool Custom Canopy for 20H.
jewbilee Custom Pendant over NC12
Dave_uk Custom Fixture Over Fluval Osaka 320
DennisJ Custom setup over 470L tank
ir0n_ma1den AGA 10g
moovinfast Custom 20x20x15 Tank
kratie LED Actinics for a 70W Astralux, 13x13x30 Custom Tank
sammy113 20" Cube
RedfishSC Actinic Supplimentation Over 25g
arioch Custom Fixture Over 5.5g AGA
nowlan Custom Setup Over 36" 30g
supernips Custom Pendant
Cheetos Custom Fixture over JBJ Picotope.
jtl2 46g Bowfront
apoptosis 2.5g AGA bowfront

not mine but would liek it to be hahahha

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...p;#entry2169558

It is sharp, but please keep the posts to your own setups. If you feel the owner of something should post, drop them a PM and ask to post here.

My turn I guess







http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...=176627&hl=

Most of you have seen this already, but this was originally a Current USA 12" single 18W Satellite. It houses 10 LEDs and two drivers. It's fully dimmable and has a lot of power. PAR readings are equivalent to a 70W MH, with about half the power consumption.



Time now to get into the Way-Back-Machine!





http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...=134394&hl=

This is what started it all for me. Completely custom from top to bottom, including the drivers. It's still up and running over the same tank, although the tank has gone through some changes.

my bc14 led upgrade
6 rb @ 1A buckpuck driver
6 cw @ 1A buckpuckdriver
potrans 24v 6.5a power supply
3 50mm fans and one 120mm fans for cooloing and extracting heat. 1 50mm is blowing on the buckpucks powered off the potrans
4 leds moonlight from measure explorer
i will post better pics later
enjoy



i'll post the others soon (37 gal not finished yet)

Here is my bc14 led upgrade: (link to my build thread: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...;hl=biocube+led )

6 royal blue cree xr-e
6 cool white cree xr-e
1 80mm fan top mounted with the hood drilled (fan extracting air out of hood)
2 power supplies (to create dawn/dusk effect on timers)
2 1000mA buckpucks
Stock biocube moon lights


Click to view attachment

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Here is an update (Nov. 20, 09)

Click to view attachment

Good. We have a start.

Come on fellas. I know there are more of you out there. I'm callin' you out Minadin and Waterproof

Light for 30gal Oceanic Cube
20 Royal Blue Cree XR-E
19 White Cree XR-E
3 3w UV
1 Royal Blue Moon Light
2 Meanwell Dimmable ELN-60-27P (1 for blue, 1 for white)
2 LM13 Dimming Circuits to control Meanwells







http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=199877

Still love that fixture.

Keep them coming guys.

3 gal eclipse modified hood
4 royal blues @ 1a (buckpuck driver)
3 cool whites @ 1a (buckpuck driver)
120mm fan
potrans 24v 6.5a powersupply

this was the experimental tank that started it all for me.

You forgot the one freshwater build that's been done here

This is my Barrier reef 400 which i believe is the same as a nano wave 9.
6 royal blue cree xr-e
6 white cree xr-e r2
3 40mm fan top mounted with the hood drilled (fan sucking air in and exiting out side of hood)
2 1000mA buckpucks

What it started as


Gutted


What it looks like now


With some water


And rock


Would like to thank evilc66 for all your invaluable information
Hope you enjoy
Rod

Biocube 29 Retro 24 LED





Custom Stand-Alone 12 LED

Yeah! Now we're talking. MOAR!!!

Maybe this is too personal but do you think its possible to include a rough estimate of time or money associated with the build. It could newbies and insight into the time and effort it takes to create a masterpiece like the ones above. It could also show that it may be more feasible to accomplish than some may think. Thanks.

Time to crack the whip.

Come on guys! I know there are a ton of these setups out there. I want you guys to post YOUR project so you can take some pride in it. If I don't see more posted soon, I'll do it myself. I won't be held resonsible for errors


CHOP CHOP

My Biocube 14 LED Retrofit:

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=195166

6 Royal Blue CREE XR-E
6 Cool White CREE XR-E
1 80mmx80mmx15mm SilenX iXtrema 11dBa-18CFM Fan top mounted with the hood cut-out (fan extracting air out of hood)
2 power supplies (potrans 24v 6.5a) (enables dawn/dusk effect)
2 1000mA buckpucks
R2 Solutions moon lights

Click to view attachment

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JBJ 28 HQI Hood;

12 Luxeon Blues 700ma
4 Luxeon Whites 680ma
8 Cree XR-E Whites 680ma
Upgraded stock fans remote Ebay constant current drivers.Click to view attachment

You seems to forgot mine... my setup is in my link

Seems like everything I did will get forgotten one way or another, interesting...

It's not that I forgot. I have been letting people submit their own creations to the list. If you guys won't take offense, I'll start adding them myself, but I wanted you to have the honors

Here's some pics of my LED build-

Did you end up selling that? That was a really nice build.

I guess this would go under fixture retros.

Take the red pill by clicking my sig. No good pics yet and just a lot of talk, but I will make it all up to you when I get all the parts and put it together.

Special thanks for CDelicath for the idea (betacube for pico tank + LED lighting) and to Evil for answering all of my noob electornics questions...Dammit Evil, I am a biologist, not an engineer! lol)

Tank
- Betacube
- 1.5" black sand
- ~1 lb live rock (man-made from LFS...good stuff)
- Topfin 10 HOB filter unit
- Recessed acrylic cover into top wood trim

Lights (All LED Supply unless noted otherwise, ~$85)
- 1x Q4 White
- 3x XR-E Royal Blue
- 1x 700mA Buckpuck (dimmable w/pot)
- 1x 1000mA Buckpuck (dimmable w/pot)
- 1x 12v, 3A Power Supply
- Hand-made Walnut light fixture w/recessed acrylic splash guard
- 3" fan w/heat sink (CPU fan unit, ~$2 at Radiohack)

Stock
- 1 ceritnth snail
- 1 astrea snail
- 1 nassarus snail
- 1 scarlet-legged hermit crab
- Pale blue zoas
- 1 orange/1green ricordia Fl. sp.

Materials:
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
My fabricated "grid" of lights with ebay purchased heatsinks thermal glued and tapped to the back, centered on each LED



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.

Good idea this thread Evilc. It's great to see how many people have took the plunge since you blazed the trail all those months ago !

After 3 months of success/growth (running at 50%) with my LPS i'm taking the plunge with some SPS frags now. Gonna ramp up the output to around 75% in stages (leanrt my lesson!!!) over the next few months.

Here's the spec of my own DIY

15 x Cree XRE Cool Whites ( 5 R2's + 10 Q5's)
15 x Cree XRE Royal Blues
3 x 700mA Luxdrive Buckpuck
3 x 1000mA Luxdrive Buckpuck
300mm x 250mm Heatsink
Acrylic Mount (custom made) with PETG splash Guard for LED's

Fade in and fade out controlled by ATMega Microcontroller (programmed on Arduino Dev Board) on 24 hour cycle.

All cooled by two Xilence Red Wing Cooling Fans

A few pics








Build thread : http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=174406

Thanks gunguy05.

I would like to add mine to the list...

CAD 12G with LED's

FTS!!!




This is my Redesign of the Enclosure...


NEW FTS...

My 2 months ago Diyed lighting fixture for the 2ft CUBE tank.

Total dimension = 571 X 20cm

12 - Pure white SSC P4
10 - Royal Blue SSC P4
2 - Meanwell ELN-60-48D
22 - 40 degree lens
22 - round metal core PCB
1 - 3mm Aluminum plate
1 - 2mm glass as splash guard
1 - 3 ways RCA jack connecter (cannibalized from unwanted faulty LCDTV)
1 - RCA cable (Red-Fan, Yellow-RB Led, White-PW Led)
2 - 80mm LCDTV 12Vdc fans (cannibalized from unwanted faulty LCDTV)
Customized black 3mm acrylic sheet

Majority wiring was done behind the Aluminum plate so it's hardly visible of the wiring on LEDs side .

Lighting running for 10hrs daily and the temperature is less than 34 degree with the 2 FANs.

btw, New fresh 32 LEDs project with white fixture is on the way. It able to fix another 4 LEDs to total of 36 LEDs for future expansion . Stay Tune !

I'll be sure to post my build thread once I get my project started. Still waiting on my heatsink from heatsinkusa and my leds and drivers from the gawd himself.

post this in the ultimate led guide or start a separate thread.

gotcha thanks...

All I wanted was shimmering effects. I got that and more with just 6 CREE XRE RB, 1A Luxdrive Buckpuck w/pot, 24V 0.85A power supply (home found). NEP and LEDs are 8" above and sandbed is 13" below water level. LEDs are 4" apart with no optics, although I thought I needed them. Here are some pics and a short video.





...LEDs only, with flash

...LEDs only, without flash



...little closer


short clip


Inspired by Evil.

Hi guys, Decided to post my LED build as well for the convenience of those looking to jump to the LED side. Come join us, you will never regret it. Like evil always said, its just impossible to show how much power this things have, pictures don't do justice, its hard to get nice pics with Royal Blues. You have to see it to believe it.

Basically my setup is 12 LEDs total 6/6 powered by 24V 5A power supply and 2 dimmable buckpucks. Using 80 degree optics. Fixture deimensions are 6.5"x6.5"x3.5"
Here are the Pics, build thread in Signature

Very nice Sammy.

I know we lost someone with the site crash, but I can't remember who. Please repost.

Now I know what I am doing to my 7 gallon tank!

Heres mine:-

Upgraded the stock lighting in my xcube 26. (26 litre cube)

5 x CREE XR-E R2 (WC) White
5 x CREE XR-E Royal Blue
1 x 1000mA buckpuck
1 x 700mA buckpuck
24v 2.5A PSU
Arduino etc to follow.





Link to build thread

This was my first light, I made it today, for my 3 gal underneath my 12 gal rimless cube. pictures are from my iphone so their not very good, the iphone really seems to dislike LEDs.
used 2x cree R2 white
3x cree q5 RB
planning on using one more R2
ended up putting optics on all of them, probably dont need them but I like em.

also the tank above has one q5 RB to help the 70 Watt halide

made my own constant current drivers
gonna add a fan tomorrow.

someone was asking about time and money so i figured i'd list it.

time= 2-3 hours, mostly looking for things like screws.
money= around $45
$0 heat sink off an old broken amp.
$10 15v-24v 4 amp power supply (hope it doesn't burn the house down)
$5 x5 Leds
$1x 5 optics
$3 for driver
gonna add one more R2 so +6

Here's a quick post of the lighting for my iReef pico.





And a shot on the tank. It looks much more blue/purple in the picture. I guess I need to figure out the white balance for LEDs

Busted pictures.

Hmmm, not sure what the problem is. They show up on our Canreef forum and I am pretty sure I added them correctly here. Does nano-reef not like Fotki for some reason? Any suggestions?

Photobucket works 99% of the time. Not sure why they are not showing up.

It's weird. If I right click on the broken image icon and choose to open image in a new tab they come up alright. Does that work for anybody else?

Can I post another one?





THREAD

What's this for?

Check out my build thread! Retrofit of a 24" Nova Extreme for my BC29!

Marteen's Retrofit Adventure!

3G Pico

So this is 31 projects listed so far. Not bad, but I know there are more. Looks like I'm going to have to go hunting.

Ron99, your pictures seem to be working now.

Here is mine:)