Jump to content
Cultivated Reef

Fluval Edge 12 Gallon: LED DIY


Cnebo

Recommended Posts

Hello everyone,

 

After many days of gathering some guts and doing this mod.. it finally became a reality the other day. The stock lighting was "ok" but definitely not up to par. So, I decided to go with RapidLED and ordered a kit that I would have to custom fit.

 

What I ended up getting was the Biocube 14 Retrofit Kit with two dimmable drivers. The kit came with a 4.25" x 9" drilled and tapped heatsink, 12 CREE LEDs (6 Royal Blue, 6 Cool white), 2 Mean Well ELN-60-27D dimmable drivers (to control blue and white separately), fan, etc. Here's the link.

 

http://www.rapidled.com/servlet/the-259/Bi...ofit-Kit/Detail

 

The only thing the kit did not come with was a dimming controller, so I purchased two potentiometers and a power supply. Below is a picture of the RapidLED order straight out of the box.

 

IMAG0387.jpg

 

I was not intending on making a DIY since I had no idea how it was going to fit my tank, but this is what I ended up with:

 

IMAG0388.jpg

 

Above is the CREE LEDs mounted on the heatsink. I decided to go with the whites along the outside and blue in the inside. (Cant really explain but if you look at the wiring you will see what I'm talking about.)

 

I then constructed a controller box with the potentiometers.

 

IMAG0396.jpg

 

I then mounted the drivers on another project box (where I hid all the wiring). When I adjusted the SVR2s (I think it was..) I set the output current to a max of 0.75amps to avoid burning out the LEDs, I could adjust them to be brighter, but I am happy with the results at this setting.

 

IMAG0395.jpg

 

Now came the big question. How am I going to fit this unit inside the hood. Well, the solution I came up with was... turn the hood 90 degrees (so the long side is the front) and cut the hell out of it. You will see what I'm saying in the next pic.

 

IMAG0393.jpg

 

IMAG0404.jpg

 

So after a strenuous 2-3 hours.. Here is the final product..

 

First I will do a comparison.

 

Off:

IMAG0397.jpg

 

Original Lighting:

IMAG0389.jpg

 

50% RB 50% CW CREE LEDs:

IMAG0398.jpg

 

100% RB 100% CW:

IMAG0399.jpg

 

100% RB Only

IMAG0400.jpg

IMAG0401.jpg

 

100% CW Only:

IMAG0402.jpg

 

 

IMAG0405.jpg

 

 

The pics dont do it justice, its sooo much more vibrant in person.

 

 

All in all, I love the hell out of it. I love the ability to adjust the lighting to my preference and the brightness that make my corals pop! Let me know what you think... If you have any questions, feel free to ask as well.

Link to comment

Looks good my set up was given to me so I don't have a second driver or dimmer yet but I hope when I can afford it I can make my lights look like yours.

Link to comment
  • 1 month later...

Sweeeeet! That is the same idea I was contemplating. I first thought of turning the hood while looking for something that I could fit in place of the stock bar. I looked at the led kit last night and was curious how the lighting would b on a 12g as opposed to the 6g that I have seen. Excellent job.

Link to comment
  • 4 weeks later...

Nice! I have a 6 gallon that I'm using for a quarantine. Lost my temper with that small little hole in the top and having to syphon water out. Took the top glass of today. So, I payed $120 for a basic rimless tank :(. Like what you are doing with yours.

Link to comment
  • 3 weeks later...
Hi Cnebo!

 

Your tank looks great! What type of tool did you use to cut out the hood?

 

Thanks.

 

M

 

I actually used an acrylic cutter and scraped the crap out of it until it separated. Would have been a lot easier with a dremmel, but i wasn't able to use one since mine broke.

Link to comment
  • 4 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

I'm just setting up my 12 gal edge! Was wondering, as asked earlier how is the light spread in your tank after doing the mod? Trying to decide what to do with mine.....I was looking at the Kessil lights, but they are so expensive and it doesn't really do anything to solve the "spotlight" effect. Thinking I might end up doing what you did!

Link to comment
  • 2 weeks later...

Archived

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

  • Recommended Discussions

×
×
  • Create New...