questions about homemade led fixtures vs. already made.

[fishstick41]

I am debating on buying already made fixture or make the system myself. I am wondering if anyone purchased a fixture from buildmyled.com? I see the 20000k reef spectrum xb seried is only $240.00 for the 30" model(one fixture). Is this a good led fixture or can I make one that is better? Or... is there a better fixture around that price. All I have seen are fixtures that cost over $350. My tank dimensions are 30w" x 30l" x 14h".

[tibbsy07]

For that size tank, you'll need a good bit of light. 1 BML fixture isn't going to be enough.

 

As far as building your own light, I find that to DIY with the same features as a pre-made light, you save only a bit and often spend more in shipping and parts or tools that you may not already have. Then you must consider how much your time is worth. IME (I've never built my own light, but I have put together many builds in shopping carts on sites to figure out estimated costs), the more expensive the pre-made light, the more you save making it yourself. I looked at buying a Razor from Maxspect, and when I designed two DIY fixtures, one to compete with the 20" fixture and one to compete with the 27" fixture, I saved more money compared to the actual Razor with the 27" fixture. It still cost more than the 20" fixture/DIY overall, but because the parts are largely the same (tools, wire) and the larger unit only needs a bit more, it ends up saving more compared to the pre-made larger unit than the smaller DIY vs smaller pre-made.

 

I suggest looking at this thread: http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/311998-full-spectrum-led-layouts/ for a general idea of the light layout you'll need (note it IS a bit old, so there are new options, namely the lumia 5.2 for DIY). You might do something like buy 3 or 4 of the 13-ups that Dave Fason from Nanobox here sells (check out the sponsor forum) and making your own that way in a square formation, 1 13up for each 15x15" square of the tank.

[fishstick41]

I am also looking at a reef breeders superlux. It is 16" long and 10.5 wide. would this work for the size tank?

[tibbsy07]

I am also looking at a reef breeders superlux. It is 16" long and 10.5 wide. would this work for the size tank?

It depends on what you are keeping, but if it's coral then nope. For 30", you'll need way more coverage. For a 30" 20L tank, I was looking at the 27" Maxspect razor.

 

You'd need 2 of the reefbreeders lights, minimum.

[fishstick41]

Thank you

[GHill762]

advantages of DIY:

you can have exactly what you want

somewhat future proof (you can change/update diodes when color trends change, or try new colors)

[fishstick41]

I have done research on leds and I believe I know the basics and how many leds I need. I may need custom heat sinks

[Nano sapiens]

advantages of DIY:

you can have exactly what you want

somewhat future proof (you can change/update diodes when color trends change, or try new colors)

 

^^ this.

 

With the availability of solderless, it's just a few minutes work to change, add or remove emitters.

[jabeuy]

Interested in what you end up doing. I need new lights soon as well.

 

I've gotten spoiled by the ramp up/down and ability to adjust white and blue channels on my Current Orbit Marine controller, so I wouldn't want a light without that capability. Adding a controller and all that to a DIY might make it pricey enough to just get a ready made one.

[fishstick41]

Here around next month I'm going to start building my tank and make a topic about it. I already got my overflow .. I'm just confused about the lights. I don't know if it will be better at first go to with t5s and then upgrade to leds. What do you guys think? I want to be able to grow sps

[farkwar]

T5 is less expensive startup. Maintenance of tubes and using more electricity are the cons.

 

If youre looking at the Superlux.

 

I seriously doubt you could build that for its cost.

 

BML would be awesome lights if your tank were 4 inches front to back. For a real world tank youre looking at 3 or 4 strips.

[fishstick41]

Well Il sit down after doing some networking homework and do the math