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GU10 LED Build Thread (Chinese Ebay Lights)


TinyGiant

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more pics I moved half of my frags to the system today.

 

IMG_20120110_154400.jpg

 

IMG_20120110_154407.jpg

 

IMG_20120110_154419.jpg

 

IMG_20120110_154439.jpg

 

Hey Tiny. Spent the last few days plowing through this thread. I'll be doing a GU10 build on a setup i'm working on. Thanks for all your work on this!

 

Question, In these pictures it looks like you have the bulbs arranged in a "puck" formation. How did that work out? Do you like it better than the line formation?

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Hey Tiny. Spent the last few days plowing through this thread. I'll be doing a GU10 build on a setup i'm working on. Thanks for all your work on this!

 

Question, In these pictures it looks like you have the bulbs arranged in a "puck" formation. How did that work out? Do you like it better than the line formation?

 

 

I think the only way to get a perfect light blend is to do the rows of lights. That way they blend really well. if you dont you'll get spot lighting. it seems the closer the bulbs are together the better blend .

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I think the only way to get a perfect light blend is to do the rows of lights. That way they blend really well. if you dont you'll get spot lighting. it seems the closer the bulbs are together the better blend .

 

 

What led you to change that thought with the fixture in the pics? I'm referring to the reflection on the first pic

Edited by cdance
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The red and blue will give a purplish hue, similar to a fiji purple t5.

 

:lol:

 

Before the magic of modern marketing, that color combo was called a "grow light".

 

Never thought about the Fiji Purple that way until you spelled it out like that. Nice!

 

-Matt

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Hey Tiny, Just found this thread and I must say... awesome work. I'm upgrading from a BC29 with 178W of output (150W MH+ 2 T5s) to a 50g (Dimension 36L x 18W x 20H).

I wanted your opinion on the best setup for my new tank. I was thinking of keeping the MH fixture and just adding some of the GU10 LED bulbs to the sides. The fixture itself is 18" which leaves 9"s of room on either side. How many bulbs would I need to cover those two spaces?

 

Alternatively, if I decided to not reuse the MH fixture, how many bulbs would I need to get good coverage of my 36"x18" footprint?

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check the 2nd link in my sig to see a pendant i made from a local guys BC29

 

i used 16 bulbs total for the build.

 

The lights are for my 50g 36x18, not the BC. I figure if you use 16 for a BC then 30 should be fine for the 50 right?

 

Here's what I'm thinking so far, 30 LED bulbs wired in three rows of 10, two rows of white, one row of blues. Would that be ok?

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i would say do this

 

take the length in inches and divide by 2.. then take that number and minus 2.

 

so 180c is roughly 71" so you probably have a 72" long tank..

 

so 36-2= 34

 

and since you have 18" of space I would two two rows..

 

 

so a total of 68 bulbs.

 

BWBWBWBWBWBWBWBWBWBWBWBWBWBWBWB

 

WBWBWBWBWBWBWBWBWBWBWBWBWBWBWBW

 

something like that.

 

I would do only 14-16 bulbs per plug.. so you would prolly have four plugs. . or blue and white banks on each row.

 

you'll get a perfect blend of color this way :)

Edited by TinyGiant
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Thanks Tiny

So i don't have to use leds on the whole 90 cm (36'')of width

 

Do you think i can get a good deal on 68 led?

Could you recommend a seller on eBay

Edited by Osama
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i would recommend starting with less and add more if you find you need it. no need in spending extra cash if you dont need to.

 

worse case you just order another 34 bulbs and do another row. :)

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Hey tiny, I am planning on doing a 4 chamber sump on my next build. It will be:

drain/skimmer zone 9"| refugium zone 7"| Propagation/frag growout zone 8"|return zone 6"

 

I was contemplating a gu10 fixture that is 2 rows and 15" or so long

 

 

Since it would go length wise over both the fuge and growout zone could i go :

 

 

wwwbwbwbw

... w w bwb

 

Any reason not to do this? It would put 5 white bulbs over the fuge and 9i over the frag zone 5b 4w but i am assuming there would be some white spill from the fuge too.

Edited by C.I._Reefer
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that sounds good.

 

on the refugium zone i would do a mix of cool white and warm white.. you want to encourage crappy algae growth :)

 

 

just outta curiosity have you intentionally grown any macros/algae with these bulbs? I have read lots about LEDs in general being a much more defined/specific/narrow spectrum than other bulbs.

Edited by C.I._Reefer
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I have had some macros growing in my tank (until my tang decided to eat everything) I had red fern, dragons breath, and a couple others growing very well.

 

I just recently added red fern red and green gracilaria and cheato into my 33L frag system to start growing. Hopefully in the next couple days i will have 3-4 mangrove pods in there too :)

 

I recommend some warm whites if you want the algae growth the 3500k will help get the algae growing better :)

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I have had some macros growing in my tank (until my tang decided to eat everything) I had red fern, dragons breath, and a couple others growing very well.

 

I just recently added red fern red and green gracilaria and cheato into my 33L frag system to start growing. Hopefully in the next couple days i will have 3-4 mangrove pods in there too :)

 

I recommend some warm whites if you want the algae growth the 3500k will help get the algae growing better :)

 

I have a couple WW i ordered by mistake anyway.. Ive been scoping and buying any gu10 bulbs that go for less than $3 bucks a pop for a while anyway. I probably have close to 50 cw already.

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The lights are for my 50g 36x18, not the BC. I figure if you use 16 for a BC then 30 should be fine for the 50 right?

 

Here's what I'm thinking so far, 30 LED bulbs wired in three rows of 10, two rows of white, one row of blues. Would that be ok?

 

Funny someone else with a 50 gal would chime in just now. :-) I had just prepped this drawing (see below) for a post for my own 50 gal which is currently lit by 2 x 150w Radiums on magnetic ballasts (= 2 x 170 watts of bright).

 

mattslightdesign.jpg

 

All to scale. The border is the inside measurement of the tank rim.

 

If you can make out what's happening, all the bulbs are lined up right next to each other like Tiny's drawings and pictures. The larger circle around the bulb represents the 9 inch diameter of coverage that a 30º lens will give you at 10 inches from the water surface.

 

This will give you a visual of one place to start. Haven't built one yet, but my first order to Cn is in for a small order of 3*1w warm, cool and blue bulbs to sample quality. Paid between $3.50 and $6 per bulb. I'm hoping the place will also sell me some alternate optics to try out, but I'm starting with all 30º like TinyGiant. If it works out, they have a good selection of power upgrades I may try as well.

 

Quick side note: I picked up 3 dimmable Cool White
. They are 9 watters that run at 6 watts (by my
). Rated for 430 lumens. (That's from the link...they don't list the cool white on their website, but IIRC from the box my cool whites were rated for 500 lumens.) $9.99 each. Great price for a locally available option! (The alternatives are still $20-$30 bucks for about the same performance.) I have only my eyes to measure with, but they're bright as heckk! Will be good to have these to compare with the new bulbs.

One thing I'll have to potentially deal with is all the light-spill over the sides that appears to be likely in the above plan. I'm already desensitized by living with MH right behind me, so it may actually be a lot better than what I'm used to due to the acute downward angle to all the light. Maybe I'll have to lose the end bulbs. We'll see! :)

 

If you design your hood with flexibility in mind, there's obviously a lot of space left in there for more rows or color if you should decide such is needed.

 

Good luck and keep us in the loop!

 

-Matt

Edited by mcarroll
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Funny someone else with a 50 gal would chime in just now. :-) I had just prepped this drawing (see below) for a post for my own 50 gal which is currently lit by 2 x 150w Radiums on magnetic ballasts (= 2 x 170 watts of bright).

 

mattslightdesign.jpg

 

All to scale. The border is the inside measurement of the tank rim.

 

If you can make out what's happening, all the bulbs are lined up right next to each other like Tiny's drawings and pictures. The larger circle around the bulb represents the 9 inch diameter of coverage that a 30º lens will give you at 10 inches from the water surface.

 

This will give you a visual of one place to start. Haven't built one yet, but my first order to Cn is in for a small order of 3*1w warm, cool and blue bulbs to sample quality. Paid between $3.50 and $6 per bulb. I'm hoping the place will also sell me some alternate optics to try out, but I'm starting with all 30º like TinyGiant. If it works out, they have a good selection of power upgrades I may try as well.

 

Quick side note: I picked up 3 dimmable Cool White
. They are 9 watters that run at 6 watts (by my
). Rated for 430 lumens. (That's from the link...they don't list the cool white on their website, but IIRC from the box my cool whites were rated for 500 lumens.) $9.99 each. Great price for a locally available option! (The alternatives are still $20-$30 bucks for about the same performance.) I have only my eyes to measure with, but they're bright as heckk! Will be good to have these to compare with the new bulbs.

One thing I'll have to potentially deal with is all the light-spill over the sides that appears to be likely in the above plan. I'm already desensitized by living with MH right behind me, so it may actually be a lot better than what I'm used to due to the acute downward angle to all the light. Maybe I'll have to lose the end bulbs. We'll see! :)

 

If you design your hood with flexibility in mind, there's obviously a lot of space left in there for more rows or color if you should decide such is needed.

 

Good luck and keep us in the loop!

 

-Matt

 

Hey, LMK if you find a solid source of alternate optics for a good price. I would love to play around with some 60s and 80s so i can mess around with coverage.

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great post :)

 

 

I have my tank in the wall So i dont have any light spill. I do have some bulbs mounted further out to spot light.. but the flaps that enclose the tank in the wall protect from the spill.

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This is what I did with 4 GU10 leds.

 

IMG_0406.jpg

Looking down in the hood

 

IMG_0410.jpg

The mod I did to the lights, 50/50 white/blue and also 25/75 white/blue

 

IMG_0404.jpg

A FTS on my cycling 3,2g

 

Jbowser

 

Jbowser, where did u order your bulbs from? I got mine from LED-HK and I had a hell of a time trying to get the solder to melt in order to swap the LED's like you did... I really like the effect of the 50/50 but I only managed to get one bulb like that. I tried another bulb and the solder wouldn't melt because the heat was being transferred to the heatsink, so i took the heatsink off. It still took a lot of heat from the soldering iron to melt the solder and it turned back to solid very quickly. I ended up damaging the LED and the electrical trace on the circuit board that attaches to the heatsink shroud.

 

How many watts is your soldering iron? Any tips you can pass my way regarding this?

 

Thanks!!!

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Hey, LMK if you find a solid source of alternate optics for a good price. I would love to play around with some 60s and 80s so i can mess around with coverage.

 

My understanding is that the fit of the optics can be/always is dependent on the particular LEDs in use, so it's better to get them from the same vendor at the time of purchase with your bulbs. Less chance of em just not fitting.

 

I'll definitely be chiming in if/when I find one who will cooperate though. :) PM me if you want me to message you directly. :)

 

-Matt

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Funny someone else with a 50 gal would chime in just now. :-) I had just prepped this drawing (see below) for a post for my own 50 gal which is currently lit by 2 x 150w Radiums on magnetic ballasts (= 2 x 170 watts of bright).

 

mattslightdesign.jpg

 

All to scale. The border is the inside measurement of the tank rim.

 

If you can make out what's happening, all the bulbs are lined up right next to each other like Tiny's drawings and pictures. The larger circle around the bulb represents the 9 inch diameter of coverage that a 30º lens will give you at 10 inches from the water surface.

 

This will give you a visual of one place to start. Haven't built one yet, but my first order to Cn is in for a small order of 3*1w warm, cool and blue bulbs to sample quality. Paid between $3.50 and $6 per bulb. I'm hoping the place will also sell me some alternate optics to try out, but I'm starting with all 30º like TinyGiant. If it works out, they have a good selection of power upgrades I may try as well.

 

Quick side note: I picked up 3 dimmable Cool White
. They are 9 watters that run at 6 watts (by my
). Rated for 430 lumens. (That's from the link...they don't list the cool white on their website, but IIRC from the box my cool whites were rated for 500 lumens.) $9.99 each. Great price for a locally available option! (The alternatives are still $20-$30 bucks for about the same performance.) I have only my eyes to measure with, but they're bright as heckk! Will be good to have these to compare with the new bulbs.

One thing I'll have to potentially deal with is all the light-spill over the sides that appears to be likely in the above plan. I'm already desensitized by living with MH right behind me, so it may actually be a lot better than what I'm used to due to the acute downward angle to all the light. Maybe I'll have to lose the end bulbs. We'll see! :)

 

If you design your hood with flexibility in mind, there's obviously a lot of space left in there for more rows or color if you should decide such is needed.

 

Good luck and keep us in the loop!

 

-Matt

 

Wow thanks for the info!. I plan to order my lights this week. I am currently building a stand for the tank and I have enough left over plywood to build an enclosed fixture. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

Question: in your diagram, how far are the sockets from each other? Reason is I plan to have the sockets mounted on the top of the plywood and install the bulbs from the bottom though drilled holes.

 

Any links to those $3.00 bulbs? The cheapest I've seen them was $4.25 for the whites and $5.29 for the blues

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