DIY High Power LED Retrofit

[TB!^]

i want my led light to be as powerful as a 150W mh, on this post it says your getting below 70w levels. what would i have to do to get the levels i want, 60degree optics. i have a jbj12 so the depth should be very simalar to yours.

[deepdvnarq]

WP got those LEDs from Led Supply. You have to call and ask for that specific binning code. You might have to wait for awhile for them. There really isn't a big difference. As far as the kelvin, you just eye ball it.

[Waterproof]

Yeah, I'm not sure the higher K bin made much of a difference. I could have just as easily added another royal blue to hit the same color temp.

 

I'm not sure where you read I'm getting below 70w MH PAR values. I'd say I'm getting above 70w MH PAR, especially in the higher areas. If you really want to blast the hell out of your tank, then add 60-degree optics. You'll probably want a heatsink that fills the splashguard a little more. Then, you'll probably have to add a few more LEDs (3-6) to get good color blending at shallow depths and to fill in light towards the corners and edges of the tank. What are you planning to keep in the tank?

[TB!^]

Yeah, I'm not sure the higher K bin made much of a difference. I could have just as easily added another royal blue to hit the same color temp.

 

I'm not sure where you read I'm getting below 70w MH PAR values. I'd say I'm getting above 70w MH PAR, especially in the higher areas. If you really want to blast the hell out of your tank, then add 60-degree optics. You'll probably want a heatsink that fills the splashguard a little more. Then, you'll probably have to add a few more LEDs (3-6) to get good color blending at shallow depths and to fill in light towards the corners and edges of the tank. What are you planning to keep in the tank?

i have a branching hammer and some gsp right now my monti died, i want to be able to house sps and a small clam.

[deepdvnarq]

+1 to what WP said. you'll probably need to have no more than an 1 1/3" between each led with three evenly spaced rows and 60 degree optics. the closer together, the better color blending you will have. i'm no expert but you may need 6 per row if your heat sink is comparable to WP's (8" long by 5.5"wide). Evil will come to the recue if my calculations are wrong. if you can get a 9" long heatsink, you can have 7 per row with 60 degree optics and with 80 degree optics on the end of the arrays to spread the light a little more to the edges of the tank with a spacing of an 1.25".

[evilc66]

You will not need optics to support sps and clams anywhere in that tank. You can follow WPs setup exactly and have a very successful tank. If you want to elevate the levels a little more over what he is getting, go with 80 degree optics. You will easily be pushing 300 PAR, but that will not be good for lps and the lower levels of the tank. If you plan on a mixed reef, ditch the optics.

[rvadub]

Ledsupply order came in. Shipped suuuuuuper fast!

[rvadub]

Where is the best place to get the 60 degree optics? I did not see them at ledsupply.

[deepdvnarq]

Where is the best place to get the 60 degree optics? I did not see them at ledsupply.

etgtech.com $1 ea ask for anna lopez

[evilc66]

If all you are getting from them is optics, you won't hit the minimum order. You will be able to buy them in small quantities from me in the group buy for the same price if you would like. Group buy starts in a week.

[v4mpy]

Can someone tell me if these are just ordinary LEDs.

 

http://www.ledwholesalers.com/store/index....p;productId=407

 

Would they be any good?

[evilc66]

Unknown, but they are only 1W LEDs, so their uses are limited.

[rvadub]

Sounds good. When you do the gb let me know and will be in for 24.

[evilc66]

Unless you hear otherwise, it should be starting Monday April 20th.

[rvadub]

By chance, will you be doing led's too? I was going to order the rest tonight.

[evilc66]

Cree XR-E cool whites (Q5) and royal blues will be in the GB too. I have a good price on them which is better than anyone can get right now. If you can wait a little while, it will be worth your time.

[Maddevil1]

I would like in on the GB as well!! Where do I sign up? I was going to order 6 white and 6 Royal Blue. Currently LED Supply is selling the CREE Q5 Cool Whites for $8.92/each and the Royal Blues for $7.49/each. What price are you getting them for? What Kelvin Temp are you getting the Q5s in?

[evilc66]

GB will start April 20th and last two weeks. My price will be FAR better than LED Supply. Q5 cool whites will be WG bin (6300-6500K) which is the most common, and what LED Supply and others sell.

[Maddevil1]

Cool, I will wait for the GB then. As for 6500K, would 10000K be better or does it make any difference? I would like to keep some SPS coral and would like to achieve the 20K look. I guess if I am trying to go for the 20K look, I would need more Royal Blue LEDs, like maybe 7 RB and 5 White (6500K). If I had the 10000K Whites, would I need more RB LEDs?

 

I am thinking of going with the 12 LED layout from WP (3x4), since he is having success with SPS corals. Do you happen to know the PAR range for SPS corals (400-700?)? My PAR values should be a little better than WPs since I will have an extra LED and running from 1000mA buckpucks. Since WPs PAR values were lower on the outside (due to being outside of the heatsink), what do you think if I put some wide angle optics on the front 4 LEDs and maybe the middle LEDs on columns 1 and 4? Would this allow me to getting better PAR values toward the bottom of the tank and still maintain enough overlap with the LEDs that do not have optics on them? I would like to try to increase my PAR values at the bottom a little bit, to where I can still keep lower light corals at the bottom and maybe some medium light corals as well.

[evilc66]

10K LEDs are very hard to find. 6500K is as common as dirt. Don't worry though. If you want a 20K look, change the ration of white and blue to be more heavy in the blue. We usually go 50/50 to get about a 14K look. PAR performance wont suffer either, as royal blues produce almost as much PAR as cool whites.

 

200-250 PAR at the sandbed is good for almost anything, including monties and birdsnest. PAR will quickly rise the higher you go in the tank. I don't think there is a coral you can't keep with that setup.

 

Adding optics will tighten the beam, not widen it. The natural angle of the LEDs is greater than the optics you can get for it. Make sure to keep the outer most LEDs as far out to the edges as possible to get the most coverage. Darker corners are just going to be a limitation of the BC hood space constraints.

[v4mpy]

Hi,

 

I'm struggling to find a heatsink 10"w x 6"l x 1"h.

Does anyone know where I could source one in the UK, or import one $$$.

I've looked on ebay but nothing big enough.

[Maddevil1]

Nice! Guess I'll go with 6-6500K White and 7-Royal Blues. I'll play around with the extra blue to see how it looks. Wow only 200-250 PAR for SPS! WPs PAR readings were 280 at the bottom. Cant wait to start this and get the tank up and running.

 

What is the maxium spacing between LEDs w/o optics? WPs config looked like the LEDs on the edges could have been pushed to the edges a little more.

 

Thanks!

[Ridefour20]

GREAT idea on the group buy... I no I saw a list of the amount of led's needed for a bc 29 but I can't find the post. I am looking for the most I can fit under the splash guard on the right size heatsink. I have two bc29 one with a sunpod 150w and I cramed all of the lights from both of my stock hoods into one for my own nano 4.36 kind of ghetto but it works. all of ur led post are making me have to try it with the old stock hood I just have sitting around. do I pm evilc66 about the GB?

[evilc66]

Nice! Guess I'll go with 6-6500K White and 7-Royal Blues. I'll play around with the extra blue to see how it looks. Wow only 200-250 PAR for SPS! WPs PAR readings were 280 at the bottom. Cant wait to start this and get the tank up and running.

 

What is the maxium spacing between LEDs w/o optics? WPs config looked like the LEDs on the edges could have been pushed to the edges a little more.

 

Thanks!

 

Don't get too carried away. Low light sps will be fine at 200-250 PAR. They will do better with higher numbers. I wouldn't expect to keep acros at the bottom.

 

I probably wouldn't go more than 3" spacing. Beyond that will start running into spotlighting issues. With 12 LEDs on a small tank like a BC14, you should have much issue there.

 

GREAT idea on the group buy... I no I saw a list of the amount of led's needed for a bc 29 but I can't find the post. I am looking for the most I can fit under the splash guard on the right size heatsink. I have two bc29 one with a sunpod 150w and I cramed all of the lights from both of my stock hoods into one for my own nano 4.36 kind of ghetto but it works. all of ur led post are making me have to try it with the old stock hood I just have sitting around. do I pm evilc66 about the GB?

 

Group buy will be posted in the Marketplace forum starting April 20th. Do not PM me about this, I will tell you the same thing

 

For a BC29, expect to use 18-24 LEDs. More tank area = more LEDs. You will also need 60 degree optics to get the right performance levels.

[mdavis203]

I switched out the stock biocube fans a long time ago to cut down on noise. The in/out fans needed to be trimmed down to fit, but the additional fan (for the heatsink) fits as-is. Any 50-60mm fan will work. I paid more for Silenx to keep it quiet.

 

What size fan did you use to replace the stock ones? 40 mm? Mine are making a hell of a racket and my temp is starting to creep up. I've got two SilenX 60 mm pulling heat off the heatsink, but I still currently have the stock fans moving heat in and out of the hood. I'd like to upgrade them as much as possible.