GU10 LED Build Thread (Chinese Ebay Lights)

[Neya]

my lights showed up yesterday! well...I got a slip saying I had a registered letter from Hong Kong, and unless I ordered something and don't remember it this has to be the lights. Course, by the time I got home last night the post office was closed. I'm going to get them on lunch, so excited I can actually get this light built this weekend. Neya, I hope your lights show up soon too. These were the one's from HK_LED. I'll be taking pictures of the build and have them in my tank thread come monday, don't forget to take a peak!

 

 

Awesome. Mine still havent moved. Ebay notified me I only have until sept 13th to open a case. So I sent one last message telling the seller these are most likely lost in customs and that usps has expired the tracking information according to my information. I said I'd like a refund or to resend with tracking again, his choice.

I really didn;t want to be on his case about it, but Im running out of time.

[TinyGiant]

pretty much done with the custom build I am doing for a club members 28g nanocube

 

he has the stand with the metal risers so there is a dead space the cross on the bottom of the arm will slide into to counter lever and lock it into place.

 

All i need now is the fans to show up so i can mount them on the rear and the led strips to use as moon lights. This has been a fun project.

 

The metal arm is a TV wall mount stand arm inverted. The kind of thing that mounts an old crt tv to the wall.

 

 

 

[bulldogpet]

Tiny fixture turned out good ! Question , Do you know if the blue bulbs are Royal Blue or Regular Blue as far as spectrum ? Has anyone done any testing to see if they are the same or not ?

[TinyGiant]

i think they are 460nm .dont get caught up in made up names lol

[bulldogpet]

Yea I hear you..lol just curious on how they compare to CREE's Royal blues

[Neya]

Yea I hear you..lol just curious on how they compare to CREE's Royal blues

 

The chinese "knock off"s (most leds are made there anyways) usually arent as good as consistent with whites, however everything I read suggests they are the king with blues for our uses.

It will be more consistent color and closer to actinic range than CREE. Although this is based off of information I gathered a year or so ago, so maybe that has changed.

At the time, to save money and have a better overall color I was considering using imported blues and cree whites (I never went through with it though). Cree's are obviously more efficient - that cannot be argued - with efficiency and consistency in target nm comes the higher price.

 

I get a great purple/blue color with these bulbs and actinic pop like no other. It doesn't look windex-y at all which I would assume would happen with cree (non royal) blue

Edited September 6, 2011 by Neya

[bulldogpet]

Thanks Neya for the info ! Just want to make sure I understand your experience. Are you saying you like the GU10 Blues better than other name brands ? I am going to be upgrading my tank in the livingroom to either a 75g or 120g still deciding. I am just not sure which route to take with the lighting. I was thinking of using the GU10's like I did on my 55g in the kitchen but wanted some feedback on other choices.

[Lalebeq]

Ok lights are coming in yeah!! got my 2 whites and sockets now just waiting on 4 blues

 

wanting to configure lights

 

what would be the configuration ya'll would use

 

i have 11inches x 9.75inches surface area to work with

 

any thoughts??

[Neya]

Thanks Neya for the info ! Just want to make sure I understand your experience. Are you saying you like the GU10 Blues better than other name brands ? I am going to be upgrading my tank in the livingroom to either a 75g or 120g still deciding. I am just not sure which route to take with the lighting. I was thinking of using the GU10's like I did on my 55g in the kitchen but wanted some feedback on other choices.

I personally have not seen the difference(cree vs chinese) in front of me. Im only saying what Ive read/heard from others who have tried multiple LEDs. I think its one of those things that if you have a friend running a cree setup you should ask if you can check it out, and make your own choices from there.

I've seen the commercial setups with blues at LFS(not sure on brand of led) and also a DIY cree build in a store, but not sure which temp blues they used, and personally I like the gu10 bulbs blue a LOT more. IMO of mine vs there, mine has almost an indigo tint, and a lot more pop.

Edited September 7, 2011 by Neya

[TinyGiant]

a friend of mine did a build with the cree bulbs and honestly i like the gu10 way better. Especially with the blues. The whites were a little more white but over all the color in my tank is far more natural than it was in his tank. he just ordered 2 commercially made apollo LED fixtures. they should be at his house in the next couple days. at $350 a pop i hope they are worth the money.

[whiteheadfamily2415]

Tiny,

Have you seen any of the red bulbs used to balance color in the tank? I've seen several Cree builds where a red LED is used with like an 80* lens to "balance" the look of the tank lighting. I thought of ordering a few red ones for my build just to see...

[TinyGiant]

i think someone in this thread tried that and it was WAY WAY too red. I really dont think its needed anyways

[bulldogpet]

Well finally found a tank to replace my 34g Solana in the livingroom. It's a 50g breeder I wanted a 75 or bigger but the deminsions of the breeder are awsome ! I will be picking it up this weekend

 

Should I go with the GU10's ???

Edited September 7, 2011 by bulldogpet

[TinyGiant]

i vote yes. its cheaper in the long run and the colors are great

 

 

I just got my hands on a nice 20g or so eclipse tank I am going to mod with the gu10s and turn the above tank filter into an above tank refugium

[bulldogpet]

sounds cool Tiny good luck keep us posted ! Is HK still the best seller to buy from on ebay ?

[TinyGiant]

i made a post on the last page with a seller who has the same bulbs but i got my shipment in 9 days. which was really nice. I ordered more from the same seller so we will see if its just as quick

[red206]

Thanks to this great thread I added some gu10 leds to my system

Its so much brighter then the ecoxotic panorma strips,wish I new about these first

 

I added a few gu10 leds to the tank 4 cool whites and 4 blues all 3x1 watt leds,been reading good stuff on them

 

theres 4 sockets on each side,but only 4 bulbs in the pic

 

 

the sides of the tank are so much brighter

before

 

after

 

Also added 4 to my refugium all the macros are growing,well with the leds

I add 4 3 cool whites and 1 blue

 

Sorry for the crappy pictures

 

Thanks =)

[Evanski9]

so i have a nc 24 and i wanna know how many light would i need to light it. looks like he jacked up prices but so would you say 12 cool whites too 20 blues would be enough. that would be 32 total on a little cube maybe do 8 whites and 12 blues?

[TinyGiant]

i just built a hood and used 16 total for the 28jbj nc

 

10 blue and 6 white

[sentenza]

I use 4 gu10 bulbs with cree leds, 9 W each bulb and a 14 W bulb. I have modded each bulb, so each one has 2 white cree leds and 1 blu

 

 

[zydeco69]

Finished up mine this weekend. 4 blues and 3 whites over 10 gal. 3 more on order 2 white and 1 blue.

 

 

Zy

Edited September 8, 2011 by zydeco69

[driftsaru]

i found a vendor that makes these bases with 3x 3w crees....9w GU10 LEDS for under 25$... i wouldnt mind buying 4...

[wildmanzeke]

I dont get how everyone's tank's look like the color's are blending so well together.... My tank looks half blue and half white. I have them in one blue line and one white line right next to each other.... I dont get it.

[zydeco69]

I dont get how everyone's tank's look like the color's are blending so well together.... My tank looks half blue and half white. I have them in one blue line and one white line right next to each other.... I dont get it.

 

 

Try overlaping them some and adjust the height. that's what i had to do. one of my rows has one screw on each end. so, I can adjust the angle to make to overlap some. also, the higher u raise it the less noticeable the spot lighting affect.

 

zy

[wildmanzeke]

yeah but the less intensity you get.... I keep some SPS and dont want to lose any of them.