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Cultivated Reef

Setting up led cluster


ryhiem

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Im looking for some help with the order of my clusters.

Im going to have three clusters on a 32x1.5inch heatsink from heat sink USA.

Attached is a diagram of the cluster I am thinking of going with. Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks

 


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jedimasterben

Wonder where you got the idea? ;)

 

I'd skip out on the red, they really aren't needed.

 

I would also add significantly more heatsink than that and use at least 90mm fans. Yes, it works, but running at higher currents produces much too much heat for small fans to reliably get off of the heatsinks.

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HeatsinkUSA doesnt have a 1.5 inch wide heatsink. Smallest is 1.8.

 

So we will assume you mean one of the 1.5 tall heatsinks(the 5.886 is 1.27 tall).

 

Going with Bens recommendation, the Noctua 92mmx14mm is thin enough to fit in the fin section of their 5.9x1.27 heatsink. You can go wider for even more passive cooling.

 

Its a PWM fan, virtually silent at full 12v. Comes with a 9volt resistor harness to slow it down and make it unhearable inaudible.

 

Personally, I have moved away from the cluster design, it retains a point source light effect. Long rows of puck LEDs give a very diffused light simulating a T5 tube light if it had shimmer. Color blending is awesome when the pucks are densely placed in rows. You would need a minimum of 4 pucks for that length, 6 would be better.

 

Youre NOT adding more LEDs for intensity, but for coverage and quality of the light. You'll want to run these lights at much lower(and cooler) than their maximum.

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I have the cheapest heatsink usa fan which is $0.98/inch and is wide enough for a 120mm fan. It's 24" long and I have 4x nanobox pucks and 4x rapidled quad core violets and it's cooled by 2x Noctua NF-P12-1300 with no problems. The fans are also silent at 12v and push a lot of air.

 

Unless size is an issue go with a wider heatsink.

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Jedi - lol ya, followed your recommendation to a tee. Already have the reds part of the 3 - ups - so they are going in haha. If not needed wavelength wise, will they still add some visual pop, say for my rbta?

 

frakwar - I was only guessing the width, I do actually have the 1.813", same as gus. My original plan was to have the 3 clusters evenly spaced with 3 small fans blowing down on each cluster.

 

Is this under sized cooling for this light?

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jedimasterben

Jedi - lol ya, followed your recommendation to a tee. Already have the reds part of the 3 - ups - so they are going in haha. If not needed wavelength wise, will they still add some visual pop, say for my rbta?

No. Bubble tips usually have RFP and GFP that absorb blue light and release green and red, typically any other part of the spectrum will 'dull it down'.

 

Is this under sized cooling for this light?

Yes, I would not use the 1.813" wide heatsink, as this will limit your fan choice. A 92mm fan is ~3.6" wide, a 120mm fan is ~4.7" wide, so I would use a heatsink at least that wide so you can use better fans. I have basically that same heatsink size running my four arrays, 35" long. This heatsink is only good for ~120 watts dissipation with 3-4x high flow fans, and in this case high flow means loud as hell.

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Those are some tiny 120mm fans to fit into 1.8".

 

120mm is roughly 4.7 inches.

 

I only have the 140mm(this was too thick, it went into my comp) and 92mm Noctuas, I dont think you could get them even audibly noticeable above MP10, WP25, or skimmer noise. Even if you somehow overclocked them.

 

What you do hear from them is the air itself moving, not the motor.

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Ps, you dont really need your violets in the clusters. They are so visually dim, that they dont add any color separation/banding/disco.

 

I dont know how youre planning on powering this light, you could fit 5 of LGBs violet 3 ups on a 48 volt power supply. 4 would be symmetrical if you spaced them between your clusters and one on each end.

 

That way you could space the LEDs that do color separate closer to each other.

 

And take a look at the Luxeon K arrays before you buy your LEDs.

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jedimasterben

+1 to the Luxeon K's. I went with those over the 12w Luxeon M's for mine and I couldn't be happier with them.

Over tanks less than 24-30", it's not really an issue - remember more power in a smaller place means more hotspots.

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I have already bought all the leds so not going to change anything from that stand point.

This set up is going over a 125g, the plan was to have 2 x 30" heat sinks with 3 clusters on each.

each cluster has:

1 vero 10 4000K

2 Luxeon M

4 violet (400nm + 430nm)

2 lime

2 blue

1 cyan

1 red.....

Now the plan is to have wider heatsinks

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Well, if you have already bought them, whats the question?

 

Make the clusters symmetrical.

 

Spread them out the length of the tank symmetrically.

 

Put violets anywhere, they dont really contribute to disco. Run them in one long line, if you like.

 

Noctua fans are really quiet.

 

Use waterproof genuine Meanwell power supplies.

 

Dave posted a link to really nice looking Rapid heatsink, check them out, unless youve bought the heatsinks already.

 

Thats all I got.

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Ok so I purchased 2 6*20 rapid led heatsinks . Will these 2 be good enough to hold 6 clusters? And cover my standard 125 gallon? I have xilence 120mm red wing series fans to attach as well .. should I attach 1 or 2 to each heat sink ??

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