giannone Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 So i have been looking into building a small frag tank and want to try my hand at a DIY LED build. I have seen a lot of good things from Aquastyle online kits. My question is How many LEDs to use? 12x3w 8x3w? I don't have dimensions on the tank but it will probably be a 5g or the standard 5.5g.I know LED can't be converted to Watt per gallon. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks. Link to comment
reefdummy Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 enough to get the color you want. so iono, like 6+ should do it? Just make sure you light the whole tank Link to comment
giannone Posted November 11, 2011 Author Share Posted November 11, 2011 I should have mentioned i want to keep anything in it Link to comment
reefdummy Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 I should have mentioned i want to keep anything in it meaning like anything you want? like sps, clams, etc? 6+ leds should still be enough IMO oh, actually how far are you planning on hanging them from the surface? if you want to be safe just go with 8 Link to comment
giannone Posted November 11, 2011 Author Share Posted November 11, 2011 Yeah Clams all that good stuff. Again I'm not sure how tall the tank is but lets say i have the lights 18 inches from the bottom of the tank. Does that help? Link to comment
Philip271 Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 for a 5g tank, personally, I'd go with 12. 8 blues and 4 white. Link to comment
giannone Posted November 11, 2011 Author Share Posted November 11, 2011 Yeah that sounds good, you don't think 12 is overkill/ Link to comment
reefdummy Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 w/e we're reefers--overkill is what we do put em on dimmers and youre golden Link to comment
rgoodwill Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 If you go with 12 that will def be overkill so turn the light down or you will smoke mushrooms. I really think 16 LED's is too many. also depends on if you get the new cree led's or not because they are 10 percent brighter Link to comment
giannone Posted November 11, 2011 Author Share Posted November 11, 2011 Yeah that makes sense, with this kit. I could just buy a dimmable driver seperate and replace it? or am i missing something http://www.aquastyleonline.com/products/Aq...IY-LED-Kit.html Also I would do the 5 white 5 blue and 2 uv if that makes a difference. With this kit without a dimmable driver. Link to comment
ulver982 Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 If you're able to dim them, it shouldn't matter how many LEDs you have. Just get enough LEDs to get the color/coverage you want. FWIW, I had 12 LEDs on my 2.5 gallon. Link to comment
saltohio Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 Yeah that makes sense, with this kit. I could just buy a dimmable driver seperate and replace it? or am i missing somethinghttp://www.aquastyleonline.com/products/Aq...IY-LED-Kit.html Also I would do the 5 white 5 blue and 2 uv if that makes a difference. With this kit without a dimmable driver. Don't know about that driver...... Link to comment
Trogdor447 Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 that driver is non dimmable if you email ray he will make a deal happen w/ the dimmable driver as well.. 12 should be plenty... i have basically 1 led per gallon over my 40b and my sps is doing fine (only have one right now.. after all the disasters it survived.. and i hope it makes the move cuz it looks really pretty Link to comment
saltohio Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 http://www.rapidled.com/servlet/the-60/12-...mium-LED/Detail Or, for $85.00 you can go 12 CREE LED's (6 CW XP-G, 6 RB XPE) and a Mean Well dimable driver. Link to comment
Trogdor447 Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 http://www.rapidled.com/servlet/the-60/12-...mium-LED/Detail Or, for $85.00 you can go 12 CREE LED's (6 CW XP-G, 6 RB XPE) and a Mean Well dimable driver. ... I stand corrected - that's not a bad deal... you'll still need to find a heatsink Link to comment
saltohio Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 ... I stand corrected - that's not a bad deal... you'll still need to find a heatsink Heat Sink: http://www.rapidled.com/servlet/the-217/4....Aluminum/Detail Heat sink (4.25'x8') is an additional $10.00, otherwise you get the precut wire, optics, Arctic Alumina adhesive, every thing you need. But the botton line is you are going MeanWell / CREE and Rapid LED (Mike) is second to none in customer service. Link to comment
Trogdor447 Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 Heat Sink: http://www.rapidled.com/servlet/the-217/4....Aluminum/Detail Heat sink (4.25'x8') is an additional $10.00, otherwise you get the precut wire, optics, Arctic Alumina adhesive, every thing you need. But the botton line is you are going MeanWell / CREE and Rapid LED (Mike) is second to none in customer service. Ray is pretty well off with his customer service as well - always throws in a little extra off of the purchase too - just in case. The other side.. you wont have to tap all the holes for a CREE setup going with the bridgelux. No one doubts the power of the CREE's... That entire kit upgraded to the Mean Wells would probably total out to be 10-15 dollars less then the Rapid LED kit shipped on this one - in most cases that does not stand true unfortunately. As i said - i stand corrected in regards to the price on this particular kit.. But i wouldn't be surprised if some of the Cree vendors are starting to come down in price to compete Link to comment
new-b-reefer Posted November 12, 2011 Share Posted November 12, 2011 So i have been looking into building a small frag tank and want to try my hand at a DIY LED build. I have seen a lot of good things from Aquastyle online kits. My question is How many LEDs to use? 12x3w 8x3w? I don't have dimensions on the tank but it will probably be a 5g or the standard 5.5g.I know LED can't be converted to Watt per gallon. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks. i am running this kit http://www.aquastyleonline.com/products/Aq...IY-LED-kit.html over my 3 gallon picotope and in just 2.5 weeks have noticed growth in my sps love the kit and the results are great. a standar 5.5 gallon is probably the same depth as the pico tope so i would say the kit would be a good fit for that tank. and the heat sink it comes with is just under a foot long so i would imagine it would be a great fit see my picotope reef thread in my sig for the build hope it helps Link to comment
giannone Posted November 12, 2011 Author Share Posted November 12, 2011 Thanks everyone for the advice. Link to comment
xCry0x Posted November 12, 2011 Share Posted November 12, 2011 If you are getting 12 lights I would recommend getting 5 white 6 RB and at least 1 blue. Link to comment
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