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Innovative Marine Aquariums

My BC29 Led Build


racerfreak

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I'm going to be building a BC29 LED hood, figure I would share the build. My hood is coming Friday (if not delayed to weather) and I am expecting the hood to be done by March. I'm doing 18 LEDs because I feel 24 is just too much at 1000mA. You may say otherwise, but if 12 leds is comparable to 150W MH, then I'm sure 18 are enough. My setup will allow me to have dawn/ dusk, daytime, and mid day. Plus I'm also throwing in a moonlight.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Here is my new plan for the LED build. I decided to throw in some violet LEDs and nix the warm whites.

 

RB CW --- RB --- CW RB

------- CW CW

CW V RB---V---RB V CW

------- CW CW

RB CW --- RB --- CW RB

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What about using the nanotuners new drivers and driver enclosure? I believe it's between $120 and $140 and you get a sweet looking enclosure. (they are a few weeks away for the DIY crowd)

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Yes I too am most interested in the new drivers. Also, the reason for 24 LED's on the biocube is footprint. With 24, my tank is perfectly covered, and I think if I went with any less, the edges would suffer greatly - but if you dont need the edges lit, then by all means, go for it.

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  • 1 month later...

Sorry for the long delay to anyone who is following. I just now purchased the leds and drivers and power supplies. Hopefully it will all be done by the end of the month, and I have decided to go with a 12rb and a 12cw setup.

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  • 2 months later...
racerfreak

Build is 90% done, I can't decide if I should use blue or white moon lights. White moon lights will look more realistic, but the blue is more calming.

 

Pics will be posted soon.

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racerfreak
why not use both with diffusers so that it is a cool blue white? (have your cake and eat it too) :happy:

 

Not reallytoo sure about the color I want. I have some factory BioCube leds I'm thinking about hooking up, but I'm still undecided :huh:

 

I am basically 95% done with the build, just have to wire the moon lights and put on knobs. I ordered some nice matte black aluminum knobs, cost me $35 but I think it will be worth the look. Should have picture up Sunday morning :lol:

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racerfreak

Here is my build in picture form :happy:

 

First I labeled the led pads white and blue in configuration to how i wanted my LEDs setup, this allowed me to play with designs.

5897741114_4c9dfe44b9.jpg

Stuck the pads in the spots where I wanted and begun to place the LEDs, after testing the of course

5897175697_618d9254df.jpg

My lovely workstation at the dining room table :lol:

5897176389_c50c5beea8.jpg

Quick idea placement

5897175981_68fe890cf8.jpg

Did some final testing before final soldering of the main wires B)

5897742832_3b51393054.jpg

I used 18 gauge wire and 3/8" vinyl tubing for the main wires, got tubing at Home Depot and wires at RadioShack

5897176835_816ce9b0bb.jpg

LEDs and SilenX fans all wired up, still no moonlights -_-

5897175329_537ecd2e63.jpg

No knobs yet either <_<

5897177457_8b3132b29d.jpg

Obligatory FTS with lights on

5897177073_5e7b8d6465.jpg

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Maroon Clown
Here is my build in picture form :happy:

 

First I labeled the led pads white and blue in configuration to how i wanted my LEDs setup, this allowed me to play with designs.

5897741114_4c9dfe44b9.jpg

Stuck the pads in the spots where I wanted and begun to place the LEDs, after testing the of course

5897175697_618d9254df.jpg

My lovely workstation at the dining room table :lol:

5897176389_c50c5beea8.jpg

Quick idea placement

5897175981_68fe890cf8.jpg

Did some final testing before final soldering of the main wires B)

5897742832_3b51393054.jpg

I used 18 gauge wire and 3/8" vinyl tubing for the main wires, got tubing at Home Depot and wires at RadioShack

5897176835_816ce9b0bb.jpg

LEDs and SilenX fans all wired up, still no moonlights -_-

5897175329_537ecd2e63.jpg

No knobs yet either <_<

5897177457_8b3132b29d.jpg

Obligatory FTS with lights on

5897177073_5e7b8d6465.jpg

this DIY looks great man, good job B)

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Milad LEDGroupBuy.com

Nice clean build, interesting you went with WW instead of NW all around if you are mixing them with CW.

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racerfreak
Where'd you order your LED's?

 

I got just the LEDs from rapidled.com

 

Nice clean build, interesting you went with WW instead of NW all around if you are mixing them with CW.

 

 

Thank you, I ended up just going with CW and RB LEDs, was the easiest and got more bang for my $$. In my build the blue wires link to all the RB LEDs and the white wires link to all the CW LEDs.

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I'm not 100% happy with the color, seems very violet to me. I wish it was more blue hue with a pop of pink, like using all blue t5's with a fiji purple look.

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I'm not 100% happy with the color, seems to violet. I'm probably going to add regular Blue Cree LEDs to get that blue green tint. Also I was considering throwing in a red for that Fiji Purple T5 look. If you look at the spectrum for the Fiji Purple you will see it peaks at 660nm and 440nm. My Royal Blues cover the 450nm (close enough to 440nm) but I have nothing touching the red spectrum. Even the Cool White peaks in the 450nm and 550nm range. The blues should pickup the that 500nm range and the reds should pick up that 600nm+ that I'm missing from both RB and CW LEDs. The only color I'm missing is the 300nm-400nm UV / Violet range and those are the tricky LEDs to find, so I may just get a stunner strip or a simple 1w led strand.

 

Fiji Purple range:

giesemann%20fiji%20purple.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Well I got more LEDs :lol:

 

4x 405UV 1W

8x Cree XR-E Blue 3W

1x Cree XR-E Red 3W

 

6011183948_6ec56eeafc.jpg

 

6010636009_9294348941.jpg

 

6011183902_5094ccf43d.jpg

 

I swapped 4 RB or 4 UV, I tell you removing those star pads is a PIMA :lol: I had to use a razor blade, screw driver, and fine grit sandpaper (didn't want to score up the heat sink too bad). I haven't wired the 8 B, 4 RB, and 1 R yet. I'm excited to see what it looks like, hopefully next week :huh:

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  • 6 months later...
  • 10 months later...

Well I've decided to up the anti a bit and add some more LED's. I really hate missing red spectrum and haven't seen anything till now that I like. So I've decided to add 2x 3W Pink LED's. Also I'm planing on replacing the 1W UV LED's with 3W 420nm True Violet LED's. I'm hoping this will give me a useful spectrum.

 

No I am not going to add green or cyan as I feel they hold no real importance in absorbed wavelength and make tanks look horrible. Most of the color spectrum in those area's is taken care of by my white LED's.

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Well I've decided to up the anti a bit and add some more LED's. I really hate missing red spectrum and haven't seen anything till now that I like. So I've decided to add 2x 3W Pink LED's. Also I'm planing on replacing the 1W UV LED's with 3W 420nm True Violet LED's. I'm hoping this will give me a useful spectrum.

 

No I am not going to add green or cyan as I feel they hold no real importance in absorbed wavelength and make tanks look horrible. Most of the color spectrum in those area's is taken care of by my white LED's.

 

Cyan/ turquoise (~495nm) is actually missing in most whites - call up a spectrum chart for most whites and you will see the lack of it. It also hits the photosynthetic peak of certain carotenoids...I (and others like Ben) agree with you on the green however...

 

Have you considered using some warm whites to help in the red end of the spectrum?

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My count is still 42, I'm planning on switching the 1w to 3w LED's. This means my wattage will go up.

I am contemplating the cyan, but IDK... it scares me a bit that it will make too much green. My blue's already blend a bit and I like to have some white pop too. As far as adding WW or CW, I already find the CW pretty warm IMO. I actually removed the red LED in the center and swapped it with a Q4 CW LED. I want to add more red but not have it be so in my face red like the 1 red center led was. Maybe some WW will give me a closer magenta look I want or not? I'm also contemplating just adding more red uniformily to the tank, such ass 4 diodes instead of just 1. I love the magenta LED's and they might do the trick, I'm still unsure of how to get the color I want.

I really can't add any more LED's than what I have so anything else I'll be swapping. I guess if I swapp out LED's it'll force me to go DIY on my 20H tank.

 


Last time I had my lights running this is how they looked with my 3 settings (no red).

6899620038_1b7f3d4821_c.jpg
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6899620288_eeffcb5b64_c.jpg

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I have not heard of anyone thinking cool whites are too warm... :o:lol:

 

Sounds like you may have to play around with a few options to find what you like - maybe try Steve'sLED adhesive to mount your stars, as it allows one to remove diodes more easily, and without damaging them... :owned:

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All I can think about the CW being to warm is that I have light green (used to be blue and sometimes change back) eyes and apparently that allows you to see colors better than people with darker eye colors. This also means lights at night blind me more :angry:

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