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Yet Another BC29 DIY LED retro - by bboss


BBOSS

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basicfisherman

Bboss any idea to get the switches to work with the LEDs? I was thinking about this at work the other day. What if you wired the power wire to the switch and then ran it to your drivers? Would this work? BTW really glad that I found your pics about your build. I have really enjoyed the light upgrade since it was done. Putting it together was also very rewarding.

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Thank you for sharing this build! Great write-up and great outcome!

 

Ill share my results (no need to do a build thread as i am goin got follow yours!)

like-fish,

I am so glad you like my design and decided to pull the trigger. :D You will be very happy with the final result I am sure. Please let me know if I can be of any futher assistance. Can't wait to see how your project will come out. Yes, the money saved was additional bonus. :lol:

 

 

Bboss any idea to get the switches to work with the LEDs? I was thinking about this at work the other day. What if you wired the power wire to the switch and then ran it to your drivers? Would this work? BTW really glad that I found your pics about your build. I have really enjoyed the light upgrade since it was done. Putting it together was also very rewarding.

Yes, It will work for sure. I thought about doing exactly the same thing as you said with the original on/off switches under the hood, but I was not sure if there were enough rooms; I finally decided against it since my LED drivers are plugged to two separate timers, and the On/Off switch on the timers can be used for manual control.

 

My DIY experience has been extremely satisfing for me too, and really glad my design can be of use to people who have the same interest as I do.

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like-fish,

I am so glad you like my design and decided to pull the trigger. :D You will be very happy with the final result I am sure. Please let me know if I can be of any futher assistance. Can't wait to see how your project will come out. Yes, the money saved was additional bonus. :lol:

 

 

 

Yes, It will work for sure. I thought about doing exactly the same thing as you said with the original on/off switches under the hood, but I was not sure if there were enough rooms; I finally decided against it since my LED drivers are plugged to two separate timers, and the On/Off switch on the timers can be used for manual control.

 

My DIY experience has been extremely satisfing for me too, and really glad my design can be of use to people who have the same interest as I do.

 

I did this on my DIY if you wanted to take a look at it. Looks like yours is taking off too now :)

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I am thinking of doing an LED upgrade also. Do you think the 36 LED is to much? most other BC29 retros are 24 LED. I am not sure what to do.

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I did this on my DIY if you wanted to take a look at it. Looks like yours is taking off too now :)

 

Thanks, Bjbass. I finally had time to glue the 60 deg optics on the moonlight leds last night, the moonlight is now more focused and intense, the result is closer resembleance to your moonlight effect which I envy so much. :D

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I am thinking of doing an LED upgrade also. Do you think the 36 LED is to much? most other BC29 retros are 24 LED. I am not sure what to do.

 

Ray suggested 36 LED kit for my BC29. I think the 24 LED kit for BC29 is probably fine, but I like the extra options the 36 LED kit gives me. With the 36 LED kit, you can try to bring in UV, blue, or any other colored LEDs into your colour mix, without fearing to lose too much of total light output. Be sure to order the dimmable drivers with the 36 LED kit so the LED intensity can be reduced when necessary.

 

Also remember these are not Cree LEDs, which are used by most BC29 24 LED retros. As far as I know, the bridgelux LEDs in the AquaStyles kits are not as strong or intense as the Cree LEDs.

 

I have pretty much settled on my current intensity setting of 100% royal blue and ~85% White. I find at this combination the color is most pleasing to me, and my corals seem to like it too. B)

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Thanks, Bjbass. I finally had time to glue the 60 deg optics on the moonlight leds last night, the moonlight is now more focused and intense, the result is closer resembleance to your moonlight effect which I envy so much. :D

 

Haha. Thanks for the compliments. You are quite welcome!

 

I have pretty much settled on my current intensity setting of 100% royal blue and ~85% White. I find at this combination the color is most pleasing to me, and my corals seem to like it too. B)

 

I switch back and forth. I think I like the way you like it better. However, occassionally I go with the 100% white and ~85% royal blue.

 

Did you use the UV at all? Ray sent me one of these to "try" as he put it, but I didn't use it.

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I switch back and forth. I think I like the way you like it better. However, occassionally I go with the 100% white and ~85% royal blue.

 

Did you use the UV at all? Ray sent me one of these to "try" as he put it, but I didn't use it.

 

lol, I also switch back and forth from time to time, the magic of dimmable driver :huh: .

 

Ray sent me a couple extra LEDs but no UV. One of these day I will order some UV, red, purple, blue and other colours from Ray, I'd love to try them out. ;)

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Here is my two and half months review:

 

Project total cost: ~ $ 175.00.

Current photo period: RB – 2:30pm to 10:30pm., Daylight - 3:30pm to 9:30pm.

Current light intensity – 18 RB LEDs are running at ~90-95%, Daylights (9-10000K and 9-4500K) at around ~80-85%. Back and forth with different intensity levels, but the colour produced by this combination is one of my favourite.

 

General Observations:

The lighting is much better, both in intensity and colour. The florescent colors from corals are simply amazing, pop brightly at you. Colour of my corals usually faded to dull brownish colour under my old PC lights, but now under LEDs they are all colouring back with vengeance.

 

Exhaust Air temperature – maxed out at 95°F, still few degrees lower than PC-R blubs produced prior to LED upgrade. The two SilenX fans I had purchased for this project were not installed yet.

 

Water temperature fluctuation is no longer an issue for me, staying between 78°F to 80°F all the time.

Most corals are reacted to the new lighting very well. It took me about one and half months to reach the maximum intensity and I think that helped a lot.

 

Fish does not seem to be affected by the new lighting at all, all behave the same way they were.

 

Shrimps, inverts and CUC, do not seem to affect by the new LED either. My blue hermit started to lay eggs for the first time but not sure if it has anything to do with the new lighting.

 

Details on Live stocks:

Yuma & Florida Recordea are continued to get their colour back, most of them are growing somewhat larger in size, couple started to split for the first time.

 

Devil’s finger Leather – about 1.5 times of its original size with better polyp extension.

 

Hammer – about double the size, and better florescent colour.

 

Torch – about 1.5 times of its original size.

 

Candy cane – grows from 4 heads to 9 heads within about a month and half.

 

GBTA – no longer stretch itself all the way to the surface of the water. Colour is somewhat more intense. Size is about the same.

 

Duncan coral – open up a bit, but not much.

 

Pulsating Xenia – divided itself repeatedly from one to seven in one month.

 

Zoanthids and polyps – much fuller than before, colour are much better.

 

Plate coral – not much change, colour maybe a bit more vivid than before.

 

GSP – much better in colour, size has not changed.

 

Florescent pink Goniopora – not much change as far as I can see, but it looks so much nicer now, especially under the RB light.

 

Blue sponge – It looks much healthier, but no noticeable growth.

 

Arcopora – My first SPS, a pink Arcopora, is doing fine so far.

 

Negative Side Effects:

Cyano bacteria and HA seem to grow at faster pace than before, perhaps due to the stronger lighting. I don’t have much but they are there. Also need to clean the glass more frequently.

 

Coral such as Xenia, is growing too fast, I will need to frag or trim them soon to prevent overcrowding.

Some corals can be bleached easily if not careful. My Yuma turned white when I had both RB and Daylight at maximum; but has recovered nicely once I lower the light intensity.

 

Other possible improvement: I would like to control the LED lighting by using a DIY controller, to simulate sun rise and sun set. But since my dimmable Maxwellen LED drivers are not compatible with most of existing controllers, additional electronics are needed to make the DIY controller. This will be my 2012 project.

 

I would also like to add a few odd colour LEDs such as blue, red, UV, etc. into my colour mix, just to see how they will affect the final colour. Not that I am not satisfy my current colour, just curious to see their effects.

 

My final analysis after two months is two thumbs up, way up. The best addition by far to my tank since it was setup over two years ago.

:lol:

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Mine just arrived! Time to get building!

 

thank you for the updates!

 

Great, please let me know how it goes. :D

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thank you again for this great write-up. I strayed a bit on my design byt referred here several times. Got a bit hung on on the initial wiring and mounting but nothing too bad. Got confused with the polarity on the transformer wires. Googled and found that transformers dont care! Loving the lights on the tank. Just have to ease my corals into them!

 

thanks again. Pictures soon!

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thank you again for this great write-up. I strayed a bit on my design byt referred here several times. Got a bit hung on on the initial wiring and mounting but nothing too bad. Got confused with the polarity on the transformer wires. Googled and found that transformers dont care! Loving the lights on the tank. Just have to ease my corals into them!

 

thanks again. Pictures soon!

 

You are most welcome. I see your build picture here, great build, job well done. I am so glad my write up was helpful. B)

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  • 4 months later...

Thank you for the great write up. I am about to begin my second Aquastyle DIY project following your guide for the most part for BC29. My first was in-hood of an Aquapod 12 that went very well.

 

Question please:

Could you provide a picture or describe again please how you have the existing fans running from the circuit board? I am not really interested in re-using the moonlights so I was hoping to do away with that transformer and power supply and run the fans from the drivers. Thoughts?

Thank you!

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