Step by step LED light help

[luv-the-rics]

I can answer a couple of these for ya

 

1. I get mine from dealextreme, shipping takes a while though. UV can be found on kaidomain, but for a 2g you need 1w at most...I would think it would be better to use royal blues.

2. I got my pucks from luxeonstar.com, becuase I needed them real quick. I know you can get them cheaper though, this is also where I got my royal blues.

3. Optics are only needed if your tank is deeper than 12"

4. A small 80mm computer fan would work, you can find 'em almost anywhere. I've got a 120mm fan over mine (12 leds) and it is overkill.

5. Evil is much better suited to answer this than me, but I'm thinking 3 white and 3 blue, you can get your heatsink at www.heatsinkusa.com.

 

Just my .02$

 

1. can you give me a link for each specific one that would be best? 1w for uv or 1w for all leds?

 

2. i dont need them right away. who knows where the cheapest site is for pucks with potentiometers?

 

3. sweet. less money spent.

 

4. that shouldnt be too hard to find at all.

 

5. yes please evil. answer that.

[Robbb]

I can answer a couple of these for ya

 

3. Optics are only needed if your tank is deeper than 12"

 

I've been following along on this post...

 

Slumph, how much room between the water surface and the LEDs are applicable in this situation? For example, if the lights are between ____ and ____ inches from the H2o surface you don't need optics, but if the distance is greater than ____ and your tank is less than 12" then you need optics.

 

Cold one here in Houston today...what's crazy is that it's supposed to be back in the 70's tomorrow.

 

Thanks, Rob

[evilc66]

Typically, you only need the LEDs a few inches above the water. If you have to have the array higher than that, I'd say that beyond 6" you would need optics to get performance back up to reasonable levels.

 

For 9x6x7, I'd say 6-8 LEDs would work nicely.

[Splumph]

The LEDs on your array should be 3w, the UV should be 1w, if you use the royal blues, you might be able to skip the UV. I recommend the royals on yours since it is a small array so the price difference would not be huge.

Cree Q5 White

Cree Blue or

Royal Blue

 

Buckpucks

1000ma Buckpuck

700ma Buckpuck

 

For some reason Kaidomain isn't loading up, so I can't link the UVs.

 

Yeah the weather here is insane, supposed to be 72 on Christmas

[evilc66]

Kai Domain has the 3W UVs. DX has 1W, but they do not come mounted. A small array, I wouldn't worry about UV either.

 

In case anyone was wondering, I was almost finished with the writeup, but I got a call today from my wife saying that there was water running down the inside of the livingroom wall. I have been tearing out drywall and insulation all afternoon

[luv-the-rics]

that darn water. ripping drywall out sucks.

[evilc66]

Found the leak. Now I'm going to be spending all night putting it all back up. Tomorrow will be fixing the roof.

[luv-the-rics]

a dirty job working on the roof is.

[evilc66]

I know. I was up there a few months ago replacing the front porch. Now it's 20F and I'm going to freeze my nuts off tomorrow.

[luv-the-rics]

well good luck with that. i hope you dont want any kids past tomorrow. lol

[evilc66]

[Marteen]

Throw down a tarp and pray it's too cold to rain . Tell your wife it's the newest in roof patching and wait till spring.

[evilc66]

The leak is at the corner of the second floor where it meets the roof. It's pretty small. We are getting all the ice out of the corner and going to calk the poop out of it until we can get up there in the spring and repair it properly. Still have to fix the big hole in the wall and ceiling though

[Marteen]

Put on a beret and tell your wife it's an artistic addition.

[luv-the-rics]

evil what combination of leds do you recommend for my application?

[evilc66]

I did. See post 53, unless you are talking about something different.

[luv-the-rics]

honestly i didnt even see that post. my bad. do you recommend that i keep the # of blues to whites even?

[evilc66]

Depends on what color you like. 50/50 gives a pretty even 12-14K look.

[luv-the-rics]

i think thats what i'll go for. and of course i can tone down the white to make it more blue? would you suggest 8 for acans?

[evilc66]

Acans are fairly low light. I have some under my LEDs (10) and they are doing great. The larger poly has sprouted 3 baby heads since I put the LEDs over them. My giant ric split after three weeks under the LEDs. It had been under 36W PCs for six months and did nothing.

[luv-the-rics]

for some reason it seems rics arent best under pcs. i have a orange ric that has bleached out. im trying to save it atm. i thought it might have been too close to the light. maybe not. we will have to see if it recovers after the leds get up and running.

[evilc66]

Florida rics are pretty adaptable to high light. I have had 3 florida rics under 64W of LEDs. They split like crazy, but stayed very small. Color was fine. Yumas are a different story.

[luv-the-rics]

yeah i understand that yumas are low lights only.

[shookbrad]

What is your thought on this LED Array on eBay?

eBay LED Item

[Catfishboy747]

useless, those are 5mm LEDs and don't supply enough PAR for plants, let alone corals.