midna Posted December 31, 2008 Share Posted December 31, 2008 I noticed you used the Cree blue from deal extreme. The Cree royal blues at ledsupply are twice the price. I was thinking of ordering from dealextreme because of the price difference. Do the dealextreme blues work fine for you? Link to comment
Marteen Posted December 31, 2008 Share Posted December 31, 2008 DX doesn't carry Royal Blue they only carry regular Blue LEDs. Royal Blues broadcast in the 410nm range regular Blue LEDs do not. I think that's where the price difference comes from. Royal Blues are supposed to be better for maintaining light loving corals in your reef. I haven't seen any spectral graphs on it so you'll have to wait till Evil can chime in on their differences. Link to comment
npain316 Posted December 31, 2008 Author Share Posted December 31, 2008 Hey guys, sorry for the delay in the response. I've been busy with the family with the holidays. Thanks for the kind words! I'm glad someone is finding it usefull...that was the hope. Midna & Marteen, Here is some info from Cree on the difference b/w the blues and royal blues that I used. You can go to page three and see the differences. Its only 15nm...is that significant? I dont know? Is it worth 2x the price? apjohnson, I did think about using the stock splash guard, and it would cover my array. But it would hang in the water if I mounted it to the heatsink. To put the HS inside the splash guard would be risky b/c it is so heavy! I would guess 6-7 lbs. I just don't trust those screws into plastic. Hence the mounting bracket. I would have liked to do it that way, but I wasn't going to risk it. I'm hoping to get some PAR readings in the new year. Stay tuned. Snowlancer, I love the pic in the signiture. Let me know if you guys got any more questions. I'll try better to replay quicker. Thanks again, Nick Link to comment
evilc66 Posted December 31, 2008 Share Posted December 31, 2008 The bigger issue isn't the 15nm between the two, but what total spectrum the LEDs cover more. 430nm is the important wavelength for photosynthesis, and it happens that the royal blue has higher output on that wavelength that the regular blue. Does that mean the regular blue will not be effective in coral growth? No, it should work just fine. The whites will be doing most of the work. The reason the royal blue from LED Supply is so expensive is because it is an XR-E LED, as opposed to an XR LED that the blue from KD and DX is. Max drive current is different, and lumen output is different, but not by much. You don't want to drive the XRs any higher than 700mA. Link to comment
npain316 Posted December 31, 2008 Author Share Posted December 31, 2008 ...and the great one has spoken. lol. So after hearing Evils response, IMO, it is not worth the 2x price at LED supply, and I think the PAR reading I get will reinforce that. Thanks Evil for clearing that up. Also, I've got about $225 into it...but I have the blues not the royal blues. Link to comment
Splumph Posted December 31, 2008 Share Posted December 31, 2008 I added some royal blues to mine (got them from luxeonstar.com). I just wanted to try them out and make the light a little more blue. Oddly enough, when I ordered them they said 700ma, but the packaging said 1000ma (1000 is the max from what I read on the specs) I run them on the same line as my blues. All the corals are very fluorescent when just the blues are on. Unfortunately, i didn't have the corals when I just ran the standard blues, so I have no idea what it would have looked like before the royals. However, it did tone the blue up in general a little bit. Link to comment
evilc66 Posted December 31, 2008 Share Posted December 31, 2008 There will be less PAR with the regular blues, but it's not going to be earth shattering. I like the royals for the depth of color they make. In the volume I'm ordering in, I only pay about a dollar more per LED than the blues from KD and DX. Next time I'm doing a group by, maybe I can get some royals on the cheap for those that want them. It will be easy enough to swap them out for the regular blues. Link to comment
npain316 Posted December 31, 2008 Author Share Posted December 31, 2008 There will be less PAR with the regular blues, but it's not going to be earth shattering. I like the royals for the depth of color they make. In the volume I'm ordering in, I only pay about a dollar more per LED than the blues from KD and DX. Next time I'm doing a group by, maybe I can get some royals on the cheap for those that want them. It will be easy enough to swap them out for the regular blues. sweet, I may be interested in swapping out a few. Let me know! Link to comment
evilc66 Posted December 31, 2008 Share Posted December 31, 2008 Keep an eye out for when I do another group buy. I'm sure it will be obvious. There was quite a commotion last time I did (1800 hits in 36 hours ) Link to comment
apjohnson Posted January 2, 2009 Share Posted January 2, 2009 I did think about using the stock splash guard, and it would cover my array. But it would hang in the water if I mounted it to the heatsink. To put the HS inside the splash guard would be risky b/c it is so heavy! I would guess 6-7 lbs. I just don't trust those screws into plastic. Hence the mounting bracket. I would have liked to do it that way, but I wasn't going to risk it. Yeah, I hear ya. I have that same concern. I know that there are multiple places in the hood that screws can go into and maybe if you took advantage of *all* of them, that might distribute the weight load out enough to make it possible. I just don't know. And not only is it just the screws in the plastic of the hood, what about the hinges, can they withstand the added weight? I wonder how much the heaviest Nanotuners customization weighs in comparison. Maybe the guys at Nanotuners would be willing to lend their expertise to this and give us their opinion. Great stuff, I'm looking forward to seeing the PAR readings. If I convert my lighting, I'm going to try using the stock hood and I'll make sure and let you know how it goes and what sort of modifications were made to accommodate it. Thanks again for the info and your response. --AJ Link to comment
npain316 Posted January 3, 2009 Author Share Posted January 3, 2009 Yeah, I hear ya. I have that same concern. I know that there are multiple places in the hood that screws can go into and maybe if you took advantage of *all* of them, that might distribute the weight load out enough to make it possible. I just don't know. And not only is it just the screws in the plastic of the hood, what about the hinges, can they withstand the added weight? I wonder how much the heaviest Nanotuners customization weighs in comparison. Maybe the guys at Nanotuners would be willing to lend their expertise to this and give us their opinion. Great stuff, I'm looking forward to seeing the PAR readings. If I convert my lighting, I'm going to try using the stock hood and I'll make sure and let you know how it goes and what sort of modifications were made to accommodate it. Thanks again for the info and your response. --AJ Good idea with calling nanotuners. IF you go the mounting into existing holes route, I suggest using something like this. They will only help. I have used a product similar to them, HeliCoil, for repairing threads on aluminum engine heads (another hobby). I considered them, but you cannot buy them off the shelf anywhere like the HeliCoils. I found only a few distributers in the US and if I recall they had a minimum order of like $25-30....which would probably get you more than you need. The only other thing is to find out which insert will work best for this application. Good Luck! Nick Link to comment
evilc66 Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 You can get those at McMaster Carr. You can get EVERYTHING at McMaster Carr. Link to comment
apjohnson Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 Great information. Thanks guys! Link to comment
npain316 Posted January 5, 2009 Author Share Posted January 5, 2009 Arrangments have been made to get some PAR readings on Thursday afternoon. Stay tuned...... Link to comment
evilc66 Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 npain316, did you end up getting lenses for your LEDs? Can't remember if you did. I got some goodies for my array in today, including 30 and 40 degree lenses. 4 Q5s and 5 XR-E royal blues with 40 degree lenses hit 200 PAR at 24". Thats 250W MH territory. Wonder what the 30 degree lenses would do? Link to comment
npain316 Posted January 7, 2009 Author Share Posted January 7, 2009 No I did not use any lenses for mine. 200!!! impressive!!! I'm interested in seeing what mine will produce in a few days. Have you done any research on the the < degree of the optics vs casuing a > spot light effect. Further, can this, if happening, be overcome by mounting the LEDs closer together? Link to comment
iso_n Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 I did a modified version on my NC12, and have the HS fitted under the hood. Basically what I did was trimmed the HS at the plastic stick out on the hood (where originally the plastic screw mount for the PC and the ballast). To do that, you need to cut ~7 places on the top of the HS fins. this will leave around 3/8 inch clearance between the HC and the splash. To fit the heatsinkUSA 12 inches under the NC12, you have to 1. shorten the frist 3 fins at the front side (facing the glass of the tank) 2. shorten the last 2 fins at the back side (facing to the filter side) 3. cut 2 groove (1/2 inches each) on 2 of the fins at the front side (which mount the PC) 4. cut couple long grove at the back side of the fins (which mount the ballast and fan board) To resolve the heat problem on the LED/splash, I also cut out some air channel on the side of the HS so the fan on the side can draw the hot air out between the plastic and the LED. Here is the link for the full description: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=182258 Link to comment
Splumph Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 I did a modified version on my NC12, and have the HS fitted under the hood.Basically what I did was trimmed the HS at the plastic stick out on the hood (where originally the plastic screw mount for the PC and the ballast). To do that, you need to cut ~7 places on the top of the HS fins. this will leave around 3/8 inch clearance between the HC and the splash. To fit the heatsinkUSA 12 inches under the NC12, you have to 1. shorten the frist 3 fins at the front side (facing the glass of the tank) 2. shorten the last 2 fins at the back side (facing to the filter side) 3. cut 2 groove (1/2 inches each) on 2 of the fins at the front side (which mount the PC) 4. cut couple long grove at the back side of the fins (which mount the ballast and fan board) To resolve the heat problem on the LED/splash, I also cut out some air channel on the side of the HS so the fan on the side can draw the hot air out between the plastic and the LED. http://www.flickr.com/photos/33444754@N05/...in/photostream/ Nice rig ya got there 27 LEDs over a 12g? Must be hella bright. Link to comment
apjohnson Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 I did a modified version on my NC12, and have the HS fitted under the hood.Basically what I did was trimmed the HS at the plastic stick out on the hood (where originally the plastic screw mount for the PC and the ballast). To do that, you need to cut ~7 places on the top of the HS fins. this will leave around 3/8 inch clearance between the HC and the splash. To fit the heatsinkUSA 12 inches under the NC12, you have to 1. shorten the frist 3 fins at the front side (facing the glass of the tank) 2. shorten the last 2 fins at the back side (facing to the filter side) 3. cut 2 groove (1/2 inches each) on 2 of the fins at the front side (which mount the PC) 4. cut couple long grove at the back side of the fins (which mount the ballast and fan board) To resolve the heat problem on the LED/splash, I also cut out some air channel on the side of the HS so the fan on the side can draw the hot air out between the plastic and the LED. http://www.flickr.com/photos/33444754@N05/...in/photostream/ Thanks for adding to this thread iso_n. That looks great! Exactly what I plan on doing. I hate to hijack this thread to discuss your build (maybe a new thread is more appropriate), but I would absolutely love to hear more about your project. Photos of everything, wiring scheme (which LEDs are connected to what), heatsink mods to get it to fit into the hood, LEDs, pucks, power supply, etc. Do you have pots for controlling the intensity? How did you decide on the number of LEDs that you used? I tried taking a close look at those pics and I'm not able to see how you attached it to the hood. How did you pull that off? What screw holes are you attaching the heatsink to? And did it require modifying the hood (i.e. to add thread inserts, etc)? It also looks like yours is a newer version of the hood. I think mine is a 2005 DX model where the fans and lights are under the same splash guard. It looks like you have 3 LEDs for moonlights. How do you wire things in such a way that you can control turning off the main lights and turning on the moonlights? Also, has anyone thought about adding a small array of LEDs to the back so that one of the chambers can be used for chaeto? Maybe run off of the same circuit as the moonlights so they can be on at the same time. Great information! I'm really looking forward to starting my own build project! --AJ Link to comment
npain316 Posted January 9, 2009 Author Share Posted January 9, 2009 Sweet job iso! I bought a HS that is 8.5" wide, It looks like you got the narrower one. That alone would probably lighten the load significatly for mounting in the the stock hood locations. I would've gotten the narrower one if I could do it again. You do have quite a few LED in there. How are your heat issues. I only have 14 (at the moment, plans to +1 UV shortly) and have really no issue. Just curious what 2x would have. Again, Sweet Job! Nick Link to comment
apjohnson Posted January 12, 2009 Share Posted January 12, 2009 Sweet job iso!I bought a HS that is 8.5" wide, It looks like you got the narrower one. That alone would probably lighten the load significatly for mounting in the the stock hood locations. I would've gotten the narrower one if I could do it again. You do have quite a few LED in there. How are your heat issues. I only have 14 (at the moment, plans to +1 UV shortly) and have really no issue. Just curious what 2x would have. Again, Sweet Job! Nick Hey Nick, Did you ever get that PAR meter and get your readings from your light? I would love to hear what it ended up at. --AJ Link to comment
iso_n Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 Hey Nick,Did you ever get that PAR meter and get your readings from your light? I would love to hear what it ended up at. --AJ I want to know too. and how to measure it?? I want to see the output compare to MH. Here is the updated thread http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=182258 Link to comment
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