GU10 LED Build Thread (Chinese Ebay Lights)

[bulldogpet]

Tiny ,

 

looks like I am not the only one the Tang Police are looking for lol...

[TinyGiant]

lol. yeah screw the po po. I'll keep all the tang i want!

 

if i could find a healthy hippo i would have one. I dont want one from a LFS though.. i want a hobbyist kept one. I have plenty of swimming room. 4ft tank is like 10ft of swimming in circles since i have it open with columns ;P

[Neya]

Thanks for the compliments. Yea I agree on what you are saying in regard to the LFS...lol

 

The LFS that I go to has a 60g Marineland Cube setup with 2 of the Marineland Reef Capable Fixtures on them and these bulbs blow them away. I was talking with the owner and he says that he is not a sold on the LED's yet. He had several nice pieces of coral in the tank that he lost due to what I think was a lack of light. So he is going to be replacing the LED fixtures with MH. lol..

I find this funny. Our Lfs recenty swapped all their mh to nice LEDs recently. They love it.

[Lucas in alaska]

I just put in an order for 7 bulbs all 5x1 watt and 60 degree optics. 4 blue and 3 cool. I plan on experimenting with them in different bulb combinations to try and get the color I want.

 

W B W B W B

 

B W B

 

B W B W B

 

B W B

B W B

 

I'll come up with a bunch of different combinations and take photos and post them.

 

My only concern is that I plan on mounting these about 6" above my 40 breeder tank and I am wondering if I the bulbs might be a little too bright. I primarily have softies and I plan on having a few SPS when I get the tank set up.

[dlogfx]

Tanks look good Bulldog and Tiny!

 

dlog, nar (and others asking for recommendations)- you need to give us the dimentions of your tanks!

 

yeah, after having these LED's over my tank and seeing the crisp bright lights... when i go to the local fish stores, I'm surprised how dim/dark their lights look in comparision. except for the halides of course but close.

 

so, I might have gone too far! I swaped out the 4x1w bulbs i had been running and put the 5x1w bulbs in place yesterday... they are SIGNIFICANTLY brighter! everything looked good except the torch coral i got a week ago that had been very healthy started to look bad in the afternoon... i immediately swaped back to the 4x1w bulbs thinking I might have cooked it... but guess the damage was done.. I had to remove the torch this morning as it was fouling the water and affecting other corals.

 

now, i'm not saying the light was the cause.. could have been many other reasons.. I did also dose alk and calcium that morning after my weekly water change. just weird that nothing else was affected at all but the torch died.

 

so I'm not sure if 30watt of LED over a 4gal tank is just too much...? for now, I'm going back to 4x1w 60degrees.

 

Hey Tiny, with all the different wattage bulbs people are using now, maybe its more fitting to change the original title from "3w LED build Thread.." to "GU10 LED Build Thread..."?

 

Phil.

That's a really good point.

So here are the dimensions of my 10 gal tank 45x28x30mm or 17.71"x11.02"x11.81". I hope the 10 4x1w I ordered will be good enough lighting

[nar_luvsu]

Here are the dimensions of my 75 G tank 48 1/2 x 18 1/2 x 21 3/8. Please help me in bulb combination diagram and which bulbs to order.

[Philip271]

dlog, yep. 10 in two rows should cover that nicely.

 

nar, i'd get between 25-30 of the 4x1w bulbs in 3blue:2white ratio for your tank. a few more if you go with 3x1w, few less if 5x1w. it also depends on what you plan to keep in the tank. soft corals/LPS don't need all that much light unlike SPS corals.

 

bulb placement also depends on how you plan to arrange the corals in your tank.

 

Phil.

[nar_luvsu]

dlog, yep. 10 in two rows should cover that nicely.

 

nar, i'd get between 25-30 of the 4x1w bulbs in 3blue:2white ratio for your tank. a few more if you go with 3x1w, few less if 5x1w. it also depends on what you plan to keep in the tank. soft corals/LPS don't need all that much light unlike SPS corals.

 

bulb placement also depends on how you plan to arrange the corals in your tank.

 

Phil.

 

Thanks Phil, i want to go with 3x1w, is it fine if i have 30 ?

[dlogfx]

Ok thanks Phil.

 

So for the hood I was thinking of making a 18"x8"x4" box out of wood and hanging it from a conduit pipe.

 

The other idea that I had was buying this Metal Hood and retrofitting the 10 GU10 somehow. I would also paint the hood black.

 

What do you guys think would work/look best?

[Neya]

Ok thanks Phil.

 

So for the hood I was thinking of making a 18"x8"x4" box out of wood and hanging it from a conduit pipe.

 

The other idea that I had was buying this Metal Hood and retrofitting the 10 GU10 somehow. I would also paint the hood black.

 

What do you guys think would work/look best?

 

I made a 17x8x4 box. The husband ended up looking at it and having one made at his woodshop. If you're good with diy I'd say make the box, it looks good and is exactly what I wanted.

[Philip271]

Nar, 30 of the 3x1w might work... If I had your tank, I'd go with 4x1w bulbs since your tank is 21" deep... Tiny can probably give you a better answer. what do you plan on keeping in the tank?

 

dlog, i agree with Neya on building your own hood out of wood. probably would look nicer and way cheaper than that $60 metal hood.

[bulldogpet]

What do you guys think of maybe throwing 1 or 2 of the red LED's in the mix ? Would it help or hurt the overall color of corals ?

[spoinkster]

I cannot for the life of me get an exact representation of how it looks with my DSLR but so far this is the best I can come up with... I completely give up trying to figure it out for all blue photos.

 

Running with 7 Cool white 3x1W and 10 4x1W blues for now.

 

[JeffYoshiyuki]

how many do you think ill need for a 40B with no SPS

[Neya]

Does it really take 2 weeks to get them? How yellow is the white? 6-7k is pretty yellow! Have you tested the par on the 55?

IME with these, and philips led bulbs(for my dads house) is the whites arent as yellow as claimed.

 

Im trying to build an order with a friend to one, replace the bulb that died on me. it still lights.. when it wants to.. including when DISCONNECTED from power source. O.o Its obviously a driver/wire issue because all the leds still work. I imagine the remaining 3x3w will die sooner or later too.

Im thinking of 11 4x1w blues with 45 optics from led HK and 11 3x1w 30 degrees from another seller. Wondering what others think

Edited August 3, 2011 by Neya

[Philip271]

all the cool white bulbs I've ordered are all pure whites with no hint of yellow at all. any yellow you see are because the rocks in the tank are yellow/green/brown.

 

also Neya, I was told by LED-HK that the 30 and 45 degree lens are the same... and why different wattage bulbs? are the 3x1w going to be the whites?

 

again, when asking how many bulbs to get, you guys need to include the dimensions of your tanks and what corals you plan on keeping.

 

oh yeah, bulldog, i tried a red over my 4gal tank and it was way too red... you have a 55gal right? maybe it'll be ok. *shrug* but I wouldn't bother.

Edited August 3, 2011 by Philip271

[Neya]

also Neya, I was told by LED-HK that the 30 and 45 degree lens are the same... and why different wattage bulbs? are the 3x1w going to be the whites?

 

again, when asking how many bulbs to get, you guys need to include the dimensions of your tanks and what corals you plan on keeping.

 

oh yeah, bulldog, i tried a red over my 4gal tank and it was way too red... you have a 55gal right? maybe it'll be ok. *shrug* but I wouldn't bother.

 

If it was 1x 1w red it might be nice, considering how much light the gu10 throw it would prob be too much red in a spotlight.

 

4x1w for blues and 3x1 for whites, mostly due to pricing but also to have slightly more blue then white.

 

For the friends tank (18"x18"x23") we were thinking 12 bulbs total - 3 rows of 4. Given his budget thats what he can afford in 4w & 3w combo.

 

Mine is a 10gal - 2 rows of 5 plus the 3x3w until it dies.

[bulldogpet]

Thanks for the input. After giving it some thought I think I will try a 1watt LED bulb and see how it looks. I know when I had my 40b set up with T5's I was running Wave Point bulbs and they had what's called a Coral Wave bulb it has a red spectrum to it. I used it in my 4 bulb fixture looked good to me.

 

What about a Violet or Purple ? I have seen them on ebay in 1 watt GU10 any thoughts ?

[Neya]

Thanks for the input. After giving it some thought I think I will try a 1watt LED bulb and see how it looks. I know when I had my 40b set up with T5's I was running Wave Point bulbs and they had what's called a Coral Wave bulb it has a red spectrum to it. I used it in my 4 bulb fixture looked good to me.

 

What about a Violet or Purple ? I have seen them on ebay in 1 watt GU10 any thoughts ?

 

I personally would pickup a violet or purple. I love the look of it. That would be personal preference - either youll love it or hate it.

[bulldogpet]

So I just ordered 2 violet bulbs Just to satisfy my curiosity. Not much lost if I don't like them only 8.99 each with free shipping only bad thing is waiting on them to come from the other side of the world..lol

[spoinkster]

So I just ordered 2 violet bulbs Just to satisfy my curiosity. Not much lost if I don't like them only 8.99 each with free shipping only bad thing is waiting on them to come from the other side of the world..lol

 

Where did you find 110V Violet GU10 bulbs?

[bulldogpet]

Here

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...e=STRK:MEWNX:IT

 

They are not as strong as the 4-1w I think they are 1 watt total just wanted to see what they look like without it being too over-powering.

[spoinkster]

Here

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...e=STRK:MEWNX:IT

 

They are not as strong as the 4-1w I think they are 1 watt total just wanted to see what they look like without it being too over-powering.

 

That's a 12V bulb... i wouldn't try it in a 110V system.

[dlogfx]

Can someone give the length of a LED-HK 4x1w bulb installed in a ceramic socket. I also need the diameter of the socket and the diameter of the thickest part of the bulb. Im trying to build my hood since I have to wait about 2 weeks for my bulbs to come in.

Edited August 4, 2011 by dlogfx

[nar_luvsu]

dlog, yep. 10 in two rows should cover that nicely.

 

nar, i'd get between 25-30 of the 4x1w bulbs in 3blue:2white ratio for your tank. a few more if you go with 3x1w, few less if 5x1w. it also depends on what you plan to keep in the tank. soft corals/LPS don't need all that much light unlike SPS corals.

 

bulb placement also depends on how you plan to arrange the corals in your tank.

 

Phil.

 

Mostly soft corals.