zemuss Posted September 20, 2013 Share Posted September 20, 2013 So what is the final build going to look like? I am thinking of upgrading my Solana 34 to the 80 g Deep Blue. I can get the tank for about 300 and custom made stand for 270. Going there after work to take some measurements. Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted September 20, 2013 Author Share Posted September 20, 2013 Hopefully I'll be productive this weekend (and not just sit on my ass, no matter how awesome that would be after this busy week) and have it all up by Sunday night for a big reveal. Unfortunately, I don't know if my thermal adhesive from Steve's is still good. Has never been opened, but I know that it goes bad fairly quickly (and when it goes bad, it just never sets). I think I'll take some tonight and try and stick something together, and if it's stuck hard in the morning, then it's still good. Link to comment
zemuss Posted September 21, 2013 Share Posted September 21, 2013 Cool. Starting the MakerLed again tomorrow. Lets hope i can get all the LEDS on the Heat sink tomorrow.. I wonder if I should store the power support in a project box with a fan or just leave it out ? Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted September 21, 2013 Author Share Posted September 21, 2013 What all do have for power? And how enclosed will it be? Link to comment
Reefed419 Posted September 21, 2013 Share Posted September 21, 2013 Hey ben kind of a silly question but how are u powering the Luxeon M's? Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted September 21, 2013 Author Share Posted September 21, 2013 Meanwell LDD. Link to comment
Reefed419 Posted September 21, 2013 Share Posted September 21, 2013 Are you running them at 1000ma? How many of the M's can you run off one LDD? Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted September 21, 2013 Author Share Posted September 21, 2013 The M have a forward voltage of around 11.4v each at 1000mA, so four per LDD. Right now I'm running them around 400mA maximum. Link to comment
zemuss Posted September 21, 2013 Share Posted September 21, 2013 I have the Meanwell SE-450-48 (48v) 7.3 A power supply. I purchased it here http://www.powergatellc.com/ Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted September 21, 2013 Author Share Posted September 21, 2013 Yep, I was right - all of my thermal adhesive has gone bad now, so apparently not going to be able to do anything until next weekend. Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted September 21, 2013 Author Share Posted September 21, 2013 Also, I was finally able to sit down (well, you know, stand) and take some PAR numbers from the array one channel at a time (so that I can easily correct for wavelength). Got the following numbers on the sandbed (were fairly even except for the corners): NW (4x Bridgelux BXRA-40E950-B-00 at 500mA, Ledil Brooke W reflector) - 79 RB (12x Luxeon M RB at 700mA, Ledil Minnie WWW reflector) - 240 HV (28x LEDGroupBuy HV at 700mA, Carclo 60 degree lenses) - 77 The LEDs are about 16" off the top of the tank, and another 14" to the sandbed, so around 30" distance. A bit excessive Link to comment
Semisonyx Posted September 21, 2013 Share Posted September 21, 2013 Do you feel the coral compulsion you are testing, and your current setup, are missing anything by not having cyan? Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted September 21, 2013 Author Share Posted September 21, 2013 My setup uses six cyan without lenses. In my tests this morning, having just them on fills the entire tank with light, and gives about 10 PAR lol, but I don't count that in my numbers above since corals don't use hardly anything in that range. As far as the CC bulb, I don't really have a way to test that anymore. My only corals that contained non-fluorescent red proteins were lost a few months back. Link to comment
CrazyEyes Posted September 22, 2013 Share Posted September 22, 2013 Oh so, almost 400 par with what like 228w of light at 30", 14" of that which is water. Oh and, damn you and your shallow tank. Mine has to go through 22" on water. How is the spread with the 60's and 50's from 16" above? Link to comment
NirvanaandTool Posted September 23, 2013 Share Posted September 23, 2013 No pics during said PAR test? Come on Ben, letting us all down. Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted September 25, 2013 Author Share Posted September 25, 2013 Oh so, almost 400 par with what like 228w of light at 30", 14" of that which is water. Yeah, it's slightly ridiculous. Oh and, damn you and your shallow tank. Mine has to go through 22" on water. How is the spread with the 60's and 50's from 16" above? The water isn't going to matter unless you have a load of particulates in the water. Spread isn't what I'd like it to be, but it's close. If I run all the LEDs at full power, it does a better job, but since I'm running them at way less than half power, it leaves something to be desired. I would need to hang them a higher to alleviate this. If I ran them all in a row across the middle, I don't think the issue would be as bad, especially since the back isn't too noticeable since there are rocks and things in front of it, I really only care about the left and right sides. Since yours has more water to go through, it will have more refraction and should spread the light out better than mine. I'm actually having to resort to a redesign (what's in the white canopy right now) to help out with it. No pics during said PAR test? Come on Ben, letting us all down. I know, I know. Tank still isn't looking the best, still trying to get filtration to stop sucking so much. I guess since I did promise that the reveal would be this weekend, I guess I'll reveal the two :ninja:s hiding in the canopy. Ya'll are probably going to be very disappointed, but this build is going hybrid for now. I thought long and hard (hehe, hehe) about how to deal with the tank not being very evenly lit like my last array. I could make an LED strip on each side that would be run at low currents and without optics just to increase spread, but the light spill would be nuts, and it's one thing that I absolutely love about the array as it is now - I can stand next to the tank and look at it without being blinded by a bunch of class 2 lasers. Some of you out there are thinking that this is me admitting that LEDs can't color up coral - and frankly you're incorrect. My old array kept red acans and a purple stylo looking far more vibrant than the Radiums they were kept under, and this one is built on nicer white LEDs. If you need proof of that, you can look through my Photobucket account. I think that now I'm going to do a more 'halide/T5'-like array. Two 950B clusters with one 950 and four RB M all at 1000mA (well, on 1000mA drivers, anyway)and those surrounded by violets, like this: The two T5 bulbs are ATI Coral Plus - and by themselves they look like dick. I hung them up over the tank to see how well they light it at full power and they light it very evenly, but color is really shitty without any blue light. 15K my ass. The ballasts they're on are HEP SD218-40 UNI ballasts, the same used in the ATI Sunpower and Powermodule fixtures. They are 0-10v dimmable down to 1%. Not sure if I'll need to run them on a relay or if they'll turn off like the LDD, that would be pretty sweet if they did. I'll also be keeping tabs on how long they last being dimmed like that (should theoretically increase life by quite a bit). Still not sure if I'll wind up doing the LEDs like that. It would sure cut down on the amount of LDD I need and on power, but would definitely make hotspots in those areas (again, so would halides, which is what this is to mimic). Hmm. I wish it were easier to test all of this out without having my main tank lighting offline. Link to comment
Horerczy Posted September 25, 2013 Share Posted September 25, 2013 Going hybrid isn't a bad thing. T5 bulbs replicate the even diffused light the sky provides while the leds act like the sun. It's a good idea. Especially with dimmable ballasts. Link to comment
Giga Posted September 25, 2013 Share Posted September 25, 2013 T5 I'm ashamed, jk I thought about using them but there two bulky for my taste Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted September 25, 2013 Author Share Posted September 25, 2013 Going hybrid isn't a bad thing. T5 bulbs replicate the even diffused light the sky provides while the leds act like the sun. It's a good idea. Especially with dimmable ballasts. I sure hope so. I did end up ordering a second 12" Makers heatsink to make it a fuzz easier to change if I decide I don't like the arrangement. That makes seven (maybe eight) Makers heatsinks in my house right now lol. T5 I'm ashamed, jk I thought about using them but there two bulky for my taste They also need to be really close to what you're lighting to be effective, or have a large amount of them, which is just shitty. Link to comment
Horerczy Posted September 25, 2013 Share Posted September 25, 2013 They also need to be really close to what you're lighting to be effective, or have a large amount of them, which is just shitty. You sure you're not just thinking about t12s Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted September 25, 2013 Author Share Posted September 25, 2013 Well, considering that these two Coral+ have the second best reflector one can purchase and PAR is around like 10-20 from both bulbs at 24"... Link to comment
Horerczy Posted September 25, 2013 Share Posted September 25, 2013 Wow. Good thing those aren't your main lighting. Why the coral plus? I like a blue plus with a GE 6500K White. Saw it at an lfs i never go to anymore. Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted September 25, 2013 Author Share Posted September 25, 2013 I would need to use 4-6 total bulbs to have the light blend properly if I used more than one color, otherwise, like now, the front of the tank would be white and the back would be blue, and that would look terrible. Link to comment
GHill762 Posted September 25, 2013 Share Posted September 25, 2013 the jedi is using t5's? has hell frozen over? I'm so confused right now Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.