deepdvnarq Posted May 27, 2009 Share Posted May 27, 2009 I initially was going to do that but I am afraid that I wont have enough PAR for SPS, any thoughts? why would you think that? the blues put out about the same par as the cool whites. par readings are off for the blues because of the color spectrum. either way, with LEDs, both the whites and blue produce good PAR. WP did a 50% mix and only one set was run at 1A and the other color is run at 700mA and he still got over 200 PAR at the sand bed. you should be able to keep what ever you like. if you want to step up the PAR, you might need to use optics or go with 12 leds run both at 1A. maybe even a uv LED or 2, evil will set me straight and that part. check through WP's thread again, he is getting good growth on his sps. Link to comment
Waterproof Posted May 27, 2009 Author Share Posted May 27, 2009 Most likely, you'll be getting cool whites that are in the 6500k range. I'd suspect your layout will result in a color that is on the more "yellow side" rather than on the "whiter side". You'll need the blues to balance the color. Link to comment
evilc66 Posted May 27, 2009 Share Posted May 27, 2009 12 LEDs, 50/50, is lots of PAR. You will be able to keep whatever, where ever. Link to comment
iamborg Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 Can there be a case where the LED is too bright and "burn" the corals. If we say 12 led intensity is equ to 100W of T5 (or is it 100W HQ). For my 12G tank, that seems a lot of light. I was thinking about getting some LED with equ to 150W.. 1) Will it kill my RBTA? Clown? 2) I plan to get some zoas, acan, brain. These will be placed close to the sand bed. My point is, can we overdo ? It is also noted the bright LED is not good for the eyes, esp kids. How do you LEDers solve this issue? thanks again. Link to comment
evilc66 Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 Can we have too much? Yes and no. The biggest advantage of LEDs is the fact that we can dim the brightness to fit the needs of the corals, even if we have more LEDs than is practical for a given tank setup. Provided you get the right drivers, you will never have to compensate the same way that a MH or T5 fixture would (raising the fixture, screening, etc...). Just turn it down. But you can easily inflict damage to corals with too much LED light, just like you can with T5 and MH. Link to comment
Waterproof Posted May 28, 2009 Author Share Posted May 28, 2009 It is also noted the bright LED is not good for the eyes, esp kids. How do you LEDers solve this issue? They are only bright looking directly at them. So don't do that. They are considerable less bright when viewed from the side (say +45 degree angle). The light being emitted from your tank, as viewed throught he glass, is of a normal brigthness. Now, if you plan to use a hanging light setup or one that you can look up into, then you might want some way to block this view. Some studies compare high power LEDs to low level lasers, so you definitely don't want to stare at them. Adults are smart enough to look away. Kids might not be. Link to comment
jlpears Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 Impressive post Waterproof! I am wanting to try building my own led array to light my aquarium, but I thought I'd ask your advice before I go too far with it . I have a cube-ish shaped ~30 gallon aquarium - 22L x 18W x 17H. I need to have enough light for soft and lps coral at depths from the bottom of the aquarium to 6 inches from the top. What type of led array configuration would you recommend for me? e.g. How many white/blue leds? How big should the heatsink be? I am thinking that maybe 8 white and 7 blue led's would be enough. What do you think? Would I be able to use less than 15 led's? Would this be a good layout for the led array? w b w b w b w b w b w b w b w Thanks a lot for such a great post. -jlpears Link to comment
evilc66 Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 You are going to need more than that for a tank that size. It's the extra width that gets you. For a 22x18" area, you should need about 27 LEDs (9x3 on a 8.5" wide heatsink from HeatsinkUSA) for good coverage. Shouldn't be any need for optics. 15 LEDs would do one of two things depending on how you set it up. If you keep the spacing to about 2", you will have much darker spots towards the outside edges of the tank. If you spread them out so you cover more of the tank surface, you will get more pronounced spotlighting and color banding. Link to comment
Maeda Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 Just a random query... Have any of you guys screwed around with the SSC P7's yet? I was thinking about building a light based on it. Link to comment
jlpears Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 You are going to need more than that for a tank that size. It's the extra width that gets you. For a 22x18" area, you should need about 27 LEDs (9x3 on a 8.5" wide heatsink from HeatsinkUSA) for good coverage. Shouldn't be any need for optics. 15 LEDs would do one of two things depending on how you set it up. If you keep the spacing to about 2", you will have much darker spots towards the outside edges of the tank. If you spread them out so you cover more of the tank surface, you will get more pronounced spotlighting and color banding. Hey evil, thanks for the quick reply, looks like I'm going to need a lot more led's than I thought . I appreciate the help. Link to comment
evilc66 Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 Just a random query... Have any of you guys screwed around with the SSC P7's yet? I was thinking about building a light based on it. While the P7 (and MC-E, same thing) are nice and bright, there aren't any royal blues to support it. You would need 4 royals for every white for it to balance, and they would have to be in very close proximity to the P7 for it to blend well. I haven't seen a real practical use for them as of yet. 3W LEDs are cheaper and do more than an adequate job. What I'm looking forward to is the new MC-E Color that will have white, blue, red and green chips in a single package. Could be interesting. Link to comment
Maeda Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 While the P7 (and MC-E, same thing) are nice and bright, there aren't any royal blues to support it. You would need 4 royals for every white for it to balance, and they would have to be in very close proximity to the P7 for it to blend well. I haven't seen a real practical use for them as of yet. 3W LEDs are cheaper and do more than an adequate job. What I'm looking forward to is the new MC-E Color that will have white, blue, red and green chips in a single package. Could be interesting. evil, i'd like to pick your brain. I'm trying to develop a spot light from the ssc to compliment my t5 array. What kind of cooling do you think it'd need to run full blast for 10 hours. Link to comment
evilc66 Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 Heatsink? As big as you can fit! In all seriousness though, it's going to depend on how you want to house and mount it. At ~10W you are going to need a decent sized heatsink, and I'd say forced air is going to be a must to keep the size reasonable. Might I suggest looking into the MC-E over the P7? Same overall performance, but you have the option of how to wire it. The P7 is wired in parallel internally, so you have no options. The MC-E can be configured series or parallel externally and can give you some options. You could run each die on a seperate driver (cheap flashlight drivers) and switch them on and off to change the desired intensity. Running all four dies in series will make it easier to find a single driver. You can now use a 700mA Buckpuck on a 24v supply instead of trying to find a 2.8A driver with all the bells and whistles for a P7. Link to comment
jlpears Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 evil, I had one other question. What would be a good power supply for powering the 27 led's? Do you know any good websites that sell power supplies? Link to comment
evilc66 Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 http://www.mpja.com With that setup you would need 6 Buckpucks, and a 6A minimum power supply. The 24v 6.5A Postran power supply they sell would work, but for the price, you could run two and simulate dawn/dusk effects. Link to comment
Maeda Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 Heatsink? As big as you can fit! In all seriousness though, it's going to depend on how you want to house and mount it. At ~10W you are going to need a decent sized heatsink, and I'd say forced air is going to be a must to keep the size reasonable. You can now use a 700mA Buckpuck on a 24v supply instead of trying to find a 2.8A driver with all the bells and whistles for a P7. Good Point. I was going to use the p7 since I could get my hands on one easier, but getting the mc-e is also no big deal. I was definetly going to do a heatsink with a fan on it... I was thinking something about the size of a cpu heatsink + fan. Think that'll cut it? Link to comment
knockout Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 very cool project... how has coral growth and health been over the last 6 months? may give it a shot next year!!!! Link to comment
Dustin C Mills Posted December 14, 2009 Share Posted December 14, 2009 $7.50 each for the LEDs + shipping = ~$90Drivers are $20 each = $40 total Heatsink was $25 Fans were ~$20 Misc parts = ~$50 I had a power supply I spent about $225. How much would it cost me to have you make one of these for a JBJ 12? lol Link to comment
Waterproof Posted December 15, 2009 Author Share Posted December 15, 2009 How much would it cost me to have you make one of these for a JBJ 12? lol Whatever a standard divorce costs! If my wife sees me touching anouther LED, I'm toast! I think there are a few people around here that have made systems for other people (evil, deepdvnarq). Link to comment
thewire Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 How much would it cost me to have you make one of these for a JBJ 12? lol I have it priced out at 12 LEDs kit + 1 Meanwell driver = $120 +$5 shipping +1 additional driver = $20 for non dim or $40 for dim ( i will go for non dim first as I have planning to get a RKL later) heatsink $30 shipped from heatsinkusa fans - use the one from NC12 power supply - savage somewhere..free wires- free nuts and thermal paste - ~$10? retrofit into the hood under $200, it will cost more if you go for the dimmable one Link to comment
evilc66 Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 If you go non-dimmable now and get an RKL later, you will need new drivers to make them dimmable with the ALC module. Link to comment
thewire Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 If you go non-dimmable now and get an RKL later, you will need new drivers to make them dimmable with the ALC module. thanks for the headups but I don't think I m getting the RKL anytime soon though.......I still debating if to get the dimmable one or not, extra $20..also dimmable is not a big deal to me..what's the benefit btw? Also all LEDs are running at 700mA instead of 1A Link to comment
spencers Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 thanks for the headups but I don't think I m getting the RKL anytime soon though.......I still debating if to get the dimmable one or not, extra $20..also dimmable is not a big deal to me..what's the benefit btw? Also all LEDs are running at 700mA instead of 1A You won't regret going dimmable. Link to comment
thewire Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 You won't regret going dimmable. besides it stimulate sunrise and sunset, what's the benefits of it? I am debating if I want to spend the extra $ for it. As matter of fact, I am thinking even not to buy the extra module for the RKL for dimming just straight up on/off.. Link to comment
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