LED lighting on a budget

Ok, so i have a 29 gallon reef tank and i would like to know if anyone can recomend an affordable LED set up for my tank. I have a RBTA and a few other small zoas... Also some green striped mushrooms. I was looking at some of the beamswork fixtures. Definitely within my price range. Also the odyssea quad t5 with lunar LEDs interests me. Any insight on these? Thanks in advance...

 

DIY is the cheapest way to go if you are competent with soldering and figuring out how to wire it up, it is fairly easy once you get the hang of it.

Ebay 3w leds are a very cheap alternative to cree and phillips rebels. If you go to DIY route that is. Phillip rebels come in at $3 a piece and are good leds. Pick up 2 meanwell 60-48d driver for $24 x 2, thermal paste for $5, 2 dimmers $5, 2 10v wall plugs(most cell phone chargers will work here), a heatsink for about $15(depending on size) and some 22 ga wire and have at it.

 

Thanks for the quick reply. Can anyone else chime in? Anyone currently using one of these types of fixtures? Any advice on how many watts of LED for a Standard 29 gallon tank? Any and all advice would be appreciated....

 

I have a Beamsworks double bright (IIRC) on my 46BF, but it is basically a FO tank, with a couple of softies. I do not think this would provide the required lighting for an RBTA though. I think DIY would be the way to go.

 

My nems, including my RBTA, as well as my coral and all my sps seem to thrive under my bargain basement TaoTronic LEDs with no dimmers, and only 2 colors. It's hard to get anyh cheaper than that, well maybe a DIY- maybe

Lots of lights out there, lots of choices

 

One way you can save money sometimes is by using a universal laptop power supply. They are like $5 on ebay and each can go up to about 24V, and you can change the voltage on them to adjust light output. You can buy the female end to the plug of them at radioshack for a couple bucks so you can disconnect the system whenever you want.

 

Take a look at Reef breeders. I used to have one, the value fixture is $180 shipped.

 

Anyone know any good sites for ordering heatsinks? I'm really starting to consider this. My tank is 30" long. I assume the heatsink i need should be 30" as well?

 

eBay is the way to go like everyone mentioned if you are good with soldering and wiring. I've even seen cree LEDs for like 15 bucks for a pack of 5. I did my tank with an aluminum plate as a heat sink and those china LEDs. so far so good and I have extra LEDs incase they burn out. I haven't got SPS in the tank but I do have LPS and they are growing great!

 

Aluminum plate, huh? Did you hand the light from the ceiling?