GU10 LED Build Thread (Chinese Ebay Lights)

[Nitro Reef]

I finally got all my new led beads soldered in and installed. I have to say that I'm really happy with the color of the light. It's brighter and a little whiter. When I have my AC50 running I could see the separation of the colors but when I stop the filter and the surface rippling stops, the color is just white. I have never seen my red mushrooms open up as much as they are now!

 

FTS

 

Red Pimple Mushrooms

 

Blue Mushrooms

 

Ric

 

 

 

 

[Belac]

So what ended up being the finial bead count and configuration?

[Nitro Reef]

I have a total of 7 bulbs with 3 beads in each. I have 7 cool white, 7 royal blue, 3 violet, 2 aqua, 1 red and 1 green beads.

 

[Belac]

Thanks for the layout picture. Should help when I finally get around to ordering beads.

So how bad does the ripple effect make it look?

[Nitro Reef]

Not bad at all, I kinda like it.

[mcarroll]

I finally got all my new led beads soldered in and installed.[...]

 

(With the usual caveats about judging from photos...)

 

It looks great!

 

What do you have for optics and height off the water in the final config? (I'm guessing the 30º's are gone?)

 

Thanks for posting!! :-)

 

-Matt

[Nitro Reef]

Thanks Matt, the lights are 12.5 inches off the water. I still used the 30 degree optics and have the bulbs practically touching each other.

[mcarroll]

Thanks Matt, the lights are 12.5 inches off the water. I still used the 30 degree optics and have the bulbs practically touching each other.

 

 

Wow!

 

Again, it obviously looks great in the pics - hard to believe there is enough spread on the green and red to not have a spotlighting effect of sorts. Do you get any sense of that in person so far? Would be interesting to see what you thought (in person) of 60º or even 90º lenses just on those two diodes (or maybe the aqua and violet too). Curiosity killed the cat! LOL (In fact, I've got some stripe/elipsoid lenses - 25ºx75º I think - that would probably be fun to try in those positions.)

 

Anyway just to be repetitive (again), it looks great! ;-)

 

-Matt

[mcarroll]

Finally finished the new fixture last night.

 

48" Current fixture with 20 GU10 3w bulbs with 60d optics

 

 

Dunno how I missed this post - great build! Corals look great in the camera shots as well!

 

It's so nice having the "civilized" power entry and grounded chassis to start with. I've thought of converting a regular shoplight for the same benefit.

 

How do you like the coverage with the 60º optics? By the math (and assuming you've got about 6" between the bulbs and water) it seems like it should be about perfect. In practice?

 

-Matt

[Chino]

Were the purples the gu10 bulbs? Just wondering because I have been thinking about having him make some Blue (maybe red)/green/purple gu10s with wide optics to make a more full spectrum setup.

 

Sorry for the late reply. Yes, the purples were gu10 bulbs. I had him make 2blue:1purp bulbs but his purple LEDs were very very dim plus the 2blues were over powering the purple through the optics inside the bulb. I did not notice any purple with 3 of these bulbs under 30degree optics in my tank. He went on and on about his purples being dim and expensive because they are better quality than other seller's purple LEDs. After a few emails he gave me a 4.5% refund. Also, his purple LEDs were only 395nm-405nm. Maybe 2purple 1red bulbs would be better or all purple. Not one purple.

[--chris--]

Ive been working my way front to back on this thread, so im sure there is a good idea i just have not seen yet...but does anyone have some wooden DIY ideas for me?

 

Link with my ideas in it, skip to the last post...

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/319536-low-energy-cost-prop-tank/page-2#entry4201246

 

Ive started making a frame of 1x2, but i am not sure where to take this until i have something figured out.

[ChouDawg]

Sorry for the late reply. Yes, the purples were gu10 bulbs. I had him make 2blue:1purp bulbs but his purple LEDs were very very dim plus the 2blues were over powering the purple through the optics inside the bulb. I did not notice any purple with 3 of these bulbs under 30degree optics in my tank. He went on and on about his purples being dim and expensive because they are better quality than other seller's purple LEDs. After a few emails he gave me a 4.5% refund. Also, his purple LEDs were only 395nm-405nm. Maybe 2purple 1red bulbs would be better or all purple. Not one purple.

 

Purple/Ultra Violet/Hyper Violet/True Violet and all the other names for this type of LED are naturally going to "appear" dimmer to the naked eye because of the spectrum they emit. Blues and whites will always overpower purples because of this but the PAR the purples put out is still there. Also, depending on the source they should be driven between 500-700mA max...I think the GU10 drivers run at 700mA or something close to that so depending on what LEDs you got and their rating you may be over driving them.

[Nitro Reef]

Wow!

 

Again, it obviously looks great in the pics - hard to believe there is enough spread on the green and red to not have a spotlighting effect of sorts. Do you get any sense of that in person so far? Would be interesting to see what you thought (in person) of 60º or even 90º lenses just on those two diodes (or maybe the aqua and violet too). Curiosity killed the cat! LOL (In fact, I've got some stripe/elipsoid lenses - 25ºx75º I think - that would probably be fun to try in those positions.)

 

Anyway just to be repetitive (again), it looks great! ;-)

 

-Matt

 

When I turn off my AC50 filter and the surface rippling stops, the light is just white but when I start up the filter, the rippling on the surface separates the colors a little. I am also going to get some 60 and 90 degree lenses.

[JeppeC]

How many 3w cool white would you recommend for a 10g sump/refugium growing cheato with optimal lighting conditions?

[--chris--]

Id do 3-4 with either optics removed or order some 90's to put on them.

Ive been searching high and low for PAR readings aside form OP's first post and the one guy who posted in here with really dismal PAR readings (120 at 14"). Anyone else know what kind of numbers people are seeing? My concern is ill be keeping all the corals on the sand bed in the tank im setting up, which is about 12" under the surface. The bulbs will be about 10" above the surface with 30 degree optics.

 

If im getting under 200 par at the depth, i need to find another lighting option.

[dafil]

Hi,guys,

do you think that 2 rows x 8(3x1w),60deg will be enought for 25x18x17H FRESH water planted tank???12`` over the tank.

10x and sorry for offtopic

[ChouDawg]

Id do 3-4 with either optics removed or order some 90's to put on them.

 

Ive been searching high and low for PAR readings aside form OP's first post and the one guy who posted in here with really dismal PAR readings (120 at 14"). Anyone else know what kind of numbers people are seeing? My concern is ill be keeping all the corals on the sand bed in the tank im setting up, which is about 12" under the surface. The bulbs will be about 10" above the surface with 30 degree optics.

 

If im getting under 200 par at the depth, i need to find another lighting option.

 

I think someone mentioned bringing their GU10 fixture into a LFS that had a PAR meter but I don't know if that ever panned out. I don't have PAR ratings but I can tell you I was running mine, 6" from the water's surface on a 12" tall tank, so 18" to the bottom and I was growing SPS on the bottom and none of my zoas, acans, ricordea were reaching for light at all, that's with 60 degree optics too. If you're running 30 degree optics you should have zero issues punching down to the bottom.

[TinyGiant]

Its ghetto looking right now but I finally got the whole thing installed and running. Which was way over due.

 

Comparison shot done with the same F-stop and shutter speed.

 

I may go more blue eventually but for now I am just going to finish getting the tank updated for its 1 year b-day, and enclose the light the rest of the way.

 

 

 

 

very nice comparison!

 

Id do 3-4 with either optics removed or order some 90's to put on them.

 

Ive been searching high and low for PAR readings aside form OP's first post and the one guy who posted in here with really dismal PAR readings (120 at 14"). Anyone else know what kind of numbers people are seeing? My concern is ill be keeping all the corals on the sand bed in the tank im setting up, which is about 12" under the surface. The bulbs will be about 10" above the surface with 30 degree optics.

 

If im getting under 200 par at the depth, i need to find another lighting option.

 

 

 

i have elkhorn monti and a few different challices on the sand in my 55g as well as a crocea clam.. all doing very well.

 

i've never had any concerns with there not being enough light. Zoas grow well in the tank at any height and sps do the same. I have a green birds nest about 6" off the bottom of the tank and it grows like a weed.

 

 

[--chris--]

Thanks chou and tiny, thats what i wanted to hear. I spent a long time google searching this thread, AFAIK the person a few pages back who said they were going to have their LFS test it never posted the results.

 

Chinese new year should be over soon right? I cant wait to get my bulbs shipped!

[--chris--]

The store is still empty

 

http://stores.ebay.com/luckzdl2008

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1pc-GU10-3Watt-1pc-White-2-Blue-Led-3x1W-Epistar-3W-Led-Bulb-For-Tank-/281027899802?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item416e91719a

[TinyGiant]

shoot luckzdl a message and ask him to put the bulbs back in the store.. they might be empty for the chinese new year thing too

[--chris--]

Yeah its the chinese new year slowing it down. Says it will be back up today, which is why I posted it. Aren't they about 20 hours ahead of us, so really is tuesday AM there?

[TinyGiant]

I reworked my frag display system to include a sump and two k-nanos. Last year i had trouble keeping the temperature where it should be. With the heater in the bottle sump i should be ready to rock.

 

[--chris--]

Cool setup, how large is that? You call it a frag display, not a frag tank...is it used solely for photographing?

 

I sent luckzdl a message asking about the 50/50's and getting them with 60 degree optics and when they would be able to ship.

[--chris--]

They are back!!!!!!!

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1pc-GU10-3Watt-1pc-White-2-Blue-Led-3x1W-Epistar-3W-Led-Bulb-For-Tank-/271159423293?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f225c713d

 

 

Just ordered up a dozen. The seller said if you want different optics, just leave a note when you pay. I asked for 60, they said no problem.