Help with LED retrofit

[alexwbush]

I picked up a DIY LED set from a friend already wired up and was planning to retrofit it into my 12g nanocube hood. I know the basics behind the setup, but I have some specific questions. The white and blue LEDs are on the same driver. The driver is dimable, but as I understand it, to dim if... you have to open the driver and adjust it with a multimeter.

 

1. Do the LEDs need to be dimmed?

2. Do the LEDs need optics mounted? They're already mounted, so if no harm, no foul... and if they fit in the hood, I'll likely leave it.

 

The light is the Deluxe Nano Kid from Reef led lights .com

Link: https://www.reefledlights.com/your-a...luxe-nano-kit/

 

I don't have any coral in my tank as it's cycling with 36w or 48w of stock PC. Thanks in advance!!

[alexwbush]

no thoughts?

[evilc66]

Your link is broken, so that doesn't help. Do you need to dim it? That will depend on the LEDs used, the drive current for the driver, and the corals you are looking to keep. You don't need optics of any kind with a tank like this. Take them off, as it will just cause more problems in a tank this shallow.

[alexwbush]

Your link is broken, so that doesn't help. Do you need to dim it? That will depend on the LEDs used, the drive current for the driver, and the corals you are looking to keep. You don't need optics of any kind with a tank like this. Take them off, as it will just cause more problems in a tank this shallow.

 

evil, thanks for the reply. How do you run optics on a nanocube? It's so close to the water in the cover. When I had the optics on it looked like I was running a bunch of spot lights.

[andru24]

I think that's what evil is saying... You don't run optics on a tank that shallow when the LEDs are that close to the water. They aren't needed so why bother.