Building an evil cluster

[uglybuckling]

My heatsinks arrived today, so I finally got started on this project tonight.

 

An Evil Cluster, named after evilc66 (a forum member here and elsewhere who was I think the inventor and definitely the first big fan of this type of light--he demoed one at Reefstock a few years back), is an LED-based light that centers around a large LED array, usually in the neutral to warm white spectrum, with numerous other LEDs thrown in around it to balance the color for use in a reef tank. Or, in the case of this one, a macroalgae tank.

 

I'm guessing if you're looking to replicate this you know where to get LEDs. Here is the parts list for the weird stuff. I got mine from Newark. Be careful with the reflectors...the printed degrees on them is HALF of what you get. So I bought fifty degree Ledil "Brooke" reflectors, which are actually the equivalent of 100 degree optics.

 

Here are my white arrays. They are Bridgelux BXRA-950Bs, which throw 1140 lumens at 500mA, can go up to 1000mA, and are around 4000K color temperature:

 

Here is how I mounted them to the heatsink. It's a bit more involved than mounting a standard LED because the optics for these are rather complicated.

 

 

 

 

 

Note in the last picture that I actually got the - and + right. I know, rocket surgery, right? *rolls eyes*

 

I heard you like OPTICS:

 

Fourteen royal blues, four cool blues (all Luxeons), and four semileds true violets.

 

Aaaand arts and crafts time (Can it be cookie time next? Then recess!):

 

Quick aside on the canopy for this tank: it is a big, dumb wooden box measuring four feet long, sixteen inches front to back (12 for the tank + four for the tank's wall clearance), and twelve inches high. It is open on the top and the bottom. The light will be mounted on aluminum rails (shown in the below photo) which will sit on (and given my level of paranoia, probably be bolted into) stops at the ends of the canopy. Bigmclargehuge 120mm fans on each heatsink because I don't trust that array to stay cool, even at only 500mA.

 

Here are the rails stuck to the sides of the completed heatsinks (note: this was built before I started sticking LEDs in place. I took the heatsinks off in order to be able to manipulate them better while bolting the arrays in place, but all the holes for mounting the heatsinks were drilled first. Not quite THAT dumb. =)

 

 

Will update as the build progresses. Tomorrow I'll be soldering all the connecting wires, and kicking myself for not having ordered drivers yet.

[1.0reef]

Woah that big led is freakin' badazz

[Jacob042426]

i really cant wait to get mine in. i wish i could add some tv's, but i dont want to get another driver.

[MeepNand]

What drivers do you use for the bridgelux arrays? The volages and amperage are weird.

[uglybuckling]

What drivers do you use for the bridgelux arrays? The volages and amperage are weird.

 

They want 21V at 500mA.

 

I'm going to use a standard Meanwell ELN-60-48 to power two of them in series. Should come to 42V at 500mA total.

[jedimasterben]

I heard you like OPTICS:

******* *********** ******* * **** ** I just can't get enough of how badass those optics are.

[Jacob042426]

What drivers do you use for the bridgelux arrays? The volages and amperage are weird.

im just going to be using steve's drivers. one double and one single.

[uglybuckling]

Progress!

 

That's at 500mA exactly. I think 1000mA is the max spec on this thing. I was seeing spots for 20 minutes after doing this....with no optics...so I'm not sure 1000mA is necessary.

 

Also, I apparently work best in utter chaos.

 

 

The tank with its floating canopy.

 

 

This is how the fixture mounts in the canopy.

 

 

And a close-up of one of the clusters. Optics not mounted yet.

[Lingwendil]

What dimensions is that tank, a 33long? Also, have you done a test run of the array yet?

[uglybuckling]

The tank is indeed a 33g long. I'm vaguely considering swapping it for a 40g long since (1) I have an extra one, and (2) I clearly have the lighting to penetrate the whopping 16 inches of depth. This thing could probably penetrate 16 feet of depth.

 

Which brings us to point two: I did test it today. No pics yet because I've got houseguests and no time to upload/white balance/etc.

 

It looks damn good, reminds me of a 10k halide but somehow with better pop. And it is obscenely bright.

[Syn]

Is this something you would recommend doing for a 15 gallon long? I find the simplicity of hooking up only one white quite attractive

[uglybuckling]

Is this something you would recommend doing for a 15 gallon long? I find the simplicity of hooking up only one white quite attractive

 

Short answer: no.

 

This light is mostly experimental, in my case I'm using it to grow macroalgae (though I would think it'd do fine at corals too), and it's almost certainly overkill for this tank.

 

Besides, these white LEDs, while easy to solder, use a lot of power and are actually arrays of many many small LEDs. One big Meanwell only powers two of them. If I had a third, I'd need another driver. =(

[Jacob042426]

Short answer: no.

 

This light is mostly experimental, in my case I'm using it to grow macroalgae (though I would think it'd do fine at corals too), and it's almost certainly overkill for this tank.

 

Besides, these white LEDs, while easy to solder, use a lot of power and are actually arrays of many many small LEDs. One big Meanwell only powers two of them. If I had a third, I'd need another driver. =(

+1

i was going to do 2 of them on a 20l, but decided it would be too overkill. im planning on using them for my 120 when i move.

[uglybuckling]

Over a 120 I think it'll work great.

 

I used one BXRA 950 array, seven Luxeon Rebel RBs, two Luxeon Rebel CBs, and two semileds TV per cluster.

 

Currently I have it set up as follows:

 

BXRA950 = 650mA. I didn't want to turn it all the way to 1000mA because I'm not sure my heatsink can take it and I'm pretty sure it would be blinding/bleaching/overkill.

 

Seven RBs = about 500mA. I turned them up to 1000mA and they make everything WAY too blue. With the array at 650mA, I could probably have gotten away with four or five RBs on each side. I suppose if I turn the array up to 1000mA, I could use all seven at 1000mA and it probably would not look overly blue. Maybe when I get a house with a poured slab and my 120g tank this will come in handy. =)

 

2 CB and 2 TV = 700mA. They really crisp up the blue and get rid of the purple shade completely. On Jedi's advice I used a few cool blues in my first full-spectrum build, and I opted to use them again on this build. Since they were the last ones I hooked up, I got to see what it looks like without them. Daaaaammn I will never build an array without 'em. The hope with including the true violets is that they help out macroalgal growth by hitting chlorophyll A. This particular chain only has eight LEDs on it in total (four CB and four TV), so I can easily add some OCWs or deep reds alone, if I decide I need them. If this thing ever gets hooked into some kind of auto-dimmer, I'm going to run this as the sunset channel. =)

[uglybuckling]

 

 

 

 

You'll get your white balance when I'm good and ready. =)

 

I like how in the last picture you can totally see the difference between the cool blues and violets (middle row) and the royal blues (first and third rows).

[jedimasterben]

 

 

 

 

You'll get your white balance when I'm good and ready. =)

 

I like how in the last picture you can totally see the difference between the cool blues and violets (middle row) and the royal blues (first and third rows).

 

 

Sweet little baby jesus, can't even talk yet.

[Jacob042426]

Sweet little baby jesus, can't even talk yet.

+1000

[uglybuckling]

Yeah, I'm declaring this light an unmitigated success so far. I can dial in gorgeous color temps from about 9000K to 20000K+ without altering the cool blue/true violet channel, or even further into the yellow/orange/red spectrum if I turn that channel down. I suppose with everything off but the white array, it's at 4000K. It really really does look like a metal halide in person.

 

Needs testing with macros now. I added 12 pounds of this stuff to the tank today:

 

 

...along with a fifteen pound bag of aragamax select. Just waiting for the dust storm to settle down now. Then I'll add the rest of the water, the world's oldest hydor powerhead for circulation, and a heater, and start moving macros over from my display / placing orders for more macros (Keysdiver & Kat, I'm looking at you, along with live-plants and those ebay guys out in Cali to pick up whatever I can't obtain from folks here). I'm staying low-tech with this one until I hook it into my main reef system in a month (or more), once it's done cycling (I don't trust it yet, not to dump a bunch of garbage on my nice display tank). Meantime though, I want to use the cycle to grow macros, since they seem to enjoy the crazy nutrient bump.

[uglybuckling]

PS: My dad, upon seeing this tank while driving up to my house to visit this weekend:

 

"The cops are going to think you're up to no good. You can see that thing from a block away."

[jedimasterben]

Yeah, I'm declaring this light an unmitigated success so far. I can dial in gorgeous color temps from about 9000K to 20000K+ without altering the cool blue/true violet channel, or even further into the yellow/orange/red spectrum if I turn that channel down. I suppose with everything off but the white array, it's at 4000K. It really really does look like a metal halide in person.

The cool blues really help with that.

 

Meantime though, I want to use the cycle to grow macros, since they seem to enjoy the crazy nutrient bump.

Finally, someone else that understands this! Macros and plants in general need a nitrogen source, be it ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate! My QT tanks I just set up will be filled to the brim with macros during their two month stint to help out the biofilter just in case it gets overwhelmed (two tangs in a 20 long and three anthias, five chromis, two clowns, four mollies, a watchman goby, and a couple pipefish in a 26g, think I'm overstocked? ).

 

PS: My dad, upon seeing this tank while driving up to my house to visit this weekend:

 

"The cops are going to think you're up to no good. You can see that thing from a block away."

LMAO

[uglybuckling]

Finally, someone else that understands this! Macros and plants in general need a nitrogen source, be it ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate! My QT tanks I just set up will be filled to the brim with macros during their two month stint to help out the biofilter just in case it gets overwhelmed (two tangs in a 20 long and three anthias, five chromis, two clowns, four mollies, a watchman goby, and a couple pipefish in a 26g, think I'm overstocked? ).

 

HAHA, wowsers that's some massive stocking. I'd pick up some phosban and purigen too. Phosban + purigen + macros + lots of water changes and honestly it'll probably be okay, despite the fact that you're going to anger the tang police.

 

As for this tank--I have an extra un-drilled 40g long that I was considering running here instead of the drilled 33g long. If I weren't so determined to gain the benefits of hooking in this display fuge to my main system, I'd run it on a separate circuit and just go nuts trying to get macros to grow faster, using freshwater plant techniques like CO2 and fertilizer (I have a whole lot of white powder in bags for the cops to find when they come by looking to see what is making all that light, but of course it's just KNO3). With it hooked into a display tank, though, I don't think any of that fun stuff is an option. Oh well, at least I can feed reefcleaners FFF at alarming rates like y'all do.

[jedimasterben]

HAHA, wowsers that's some massive stocking. I'd pick up some phosban and purigen too. Phosban + purigen + macros + lots of water changes and honestly it'll probably be okay, despite the fact that you're going to anger the tang police.

I'll be running Cupramine for most of the time, so I cannot run carbon or Purigen. No need for phosphate removal or anything like that, not like the QT will contain corals. Hell, the tangs would LOVE the algae.

 

And if the tang police get pissy, I'll just ask them would they rather me keep them in my display to slowly die from the ich?

 

As for this tank--I have an extra un-drilled 40g long that I was considering running here instead of the drilled 33g long. If I weren't so determined to gain the benefits of hooking in this display fuge to my main system, I'd run it on a separate circuit and just go nuts trying to get macros to grow faster, using freshwater plant techniques like CO2 and fertilizer (I have a whole lot of white powder in bags for the cops to find when they come by looking to see what is making all that light, but of course it's just KNO3). With it hooked into a display tank, though, I don't think any of that fun stuff is an option. Oh well, at least I can feed reefcleaners FFF at alarming rates like y'all do.

Yeah, most corals and fertilizers don't mix (you'll find out really fast that you have to strike the perfect balance between light, ferts, and CO2 or else you have algae-splosions lol.

[jedimasterben]

Buck. Updates. Need. Have to be.

[ajmckay]

+1 updates! I didn't realize you had attempted this type of setup and it's been a while since I've seen a similar one.

 

And those optics get me all hot and bothered...

[dacdaddy]

^Bump...Updates?