30gal tall lighting

Discussion in 'LED Aquarium Lighting' started by reefstew, Oct 22, 2012.

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  1. reefstew

    reefstew Astrea Snail

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    Hi everyone,

    Very new to LED for reefs I know all the benefits but not the technical info... Meanwhile I'm in the process of getting a 30 gal tall reef started. I want to do LEDs and would really like to try a DIY build. My main problem is trying to find out what would be a good light for the depth as I am looking to have all types of corals. The tank is 24hx25wx12d. Any suggestions? As I already said I would really like to try DIY especially if that is the cheaper way to go...

    Thanks!
     
    reefstew, Oct 22, 2012
    reefstew, Oct 22, 2012
    #1

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  2. oyf709

    oyf709 Bristle Worm

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    i think you have a wide range of choice between bridgelux or cree. CREE is more efficient but higher cost, bridgelux is lower initial cost but less efficient. However, any 3w chip from these companies would work fine for your tank. It is not that tall so 3w would be enough to get to the bottom of the tank.
     
    oyf709, Oct 23, 2012
    oyf709, Oct 23, 2012
    #2
  3. 1.0reef

    1.0reef Giant Squid

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    CREE or Rebels, use a 1:2 ratio of NW and RB with a few TV (aka UV) and maybe a few reds/cyans
     
    1.0reef, Oct 23, 2012
    1.0reef, Oct 23, 2012
    #3
  4. reefstew

    reefstew Astrea Snail

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    Awesome this helps a lot!! Thank you both for the info! I'm such a noob about LEDs it ridiculous! I'll look into everything you guys mentioned and hopefully I'll have a bomb diggity light functioning here pretty soon!
     
    reefstew, Oct 23, 2012
    reefstew, Oct 23, 2012
    #4
  5. 1.0reef

    1.0reef Giant Squid

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    I would get a rapidled solderless led kit, LEDgroupbuy has good equipment to.
     
    1.0reef, Oct 23, 2012
    1.0reef, Oct 23, 2012
    #5
  6. oyf709

    oyf709 Bristle Worm

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    Well, he did mentioned he want to do DIY, and there aren't many option out there provide DYI LED kits and is well known. You really don't want to get some reproduction LED chips and claim to be "CREE" but burn out 2 weeks after you done your hard DYI work.

    If he chooses go premade fixtures, then there are many options
     
    oyf709, Oct 29, 2012
    oyf709, Oct 29, 2012
    #6

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  7. 1.0reef

    1.0reef Giant Squid

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    A 2:3 ratio of NW:RB is better for a more 14k look
     
    1.0reef, Oct 29, 2012
    1.0reef, Oct 29, 2012
    #7
  8. kriv4o

    kriv4o Astrea Snail

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    I'd write to RapidLed. They have great customer service. Tell them what you are about to set up and they will give you all the info you'd need: how many leds, what kind of lences, color combo, how to achieve it,what drivers to get(dimmable non dimmable etc), hestsink, fans and whatever else you might need.
     
    kriv4o, Oct 29, 2012
    kriv4o, Oct 29, 2012
    #8
  9. reefstew

    reefstew Astrea Snail

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    Ok planning on writing to RapidLed about 12 seconds after I post this because that sounds like a great idea. Also I'm open to pre-made fixtures but everything that I've found either seems too big, too small, or won't reach the depth of my tank(so basically too small again) but I'm open to suggestions... Aquastyle.com seems to have some good setups and I have been reading on other posts about them that boast good reviews. Here is a DIY kit I found on there and I don't know anything about, too big? too small? By the way my main concern is price if DIY is cheaper I'm in...

    aquarium DIY 36 LED kits with optics

    I just want to make some corals happy.

    By the way thanks for chiming in and discussing love the help I can find on this site...



    UPDATE: RapidLed guy responded to me this morning suggested I go with 12-14 LEDs with 60 degree lenses and a 6"x20" heat sink... Do you concur?

    http://www.rapidled.com/12-led-plug-n-play-retrofit-kit/

    UPDATE AGAIN(sorry for the frequent updates): Found this on aquastyle looks like the same thing as above almost exact however the aquastyle uses bridgelux... but its almost half the price...

    http://www.aquastyleonline.com/products/Aquarium-12-x-3-watts-DIY-LED-Kit.html
     
    Last edited: Nov 6, 2012
    reefstew, Nov 5, 2012
    reefstew, Nov 5, 2012
    #9
  10. reefstew

    reefstew Astrea Snail

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    Planning on going with the 12solderless kit from rapidled and adding 2 uvs as well... Would you guys agree? I'm excited to put it all together and see how it all looks in the end if i finally pull the trigger on it!
     
    reefstew, Nov 10, 2012
    reefstew, Nov 10, 2012
    #10
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