~|~ Night-rida's New 55g reef tank #2 Build ~|~

oh yeah at night, the corals glow like crazy.. I just need some more blue leds or t5 blue to supplement my white mh lighting..

 

Those are pretty nice frag racks, dude. They look solid.
As far as the blue lights, it is awesome. I had to turn mine off because my fish won't go to sleep. They're 3 strips of 48 super bright LED's each... maybe too much for the tank. I bet you would love the blue look though!!! wanna trade? I'll take a pic tonight to show you..... waaaaaay too blue

- Mag.

PS: that's a lot of frags!

 

Next up, DIY Cree 3w blue led light strip.

Well Ive been bouncing around ideas for the last few weeks on what I was going to use for actinics on my setup. my 2 10k mh bulbs are just tad to yellow. I was thinking about pc,t5,and led.

Power compacts = heat issue, power usage, short bulb life, no room in canopy

T5 = only enough room to mount 1x54w around my mh reflectors, if mounted 2one would be hanging outside of the tanks top edge. $175

LEDS = no heat, bulbs last forever, could easily put 1 48" strip in the front of mh reflectors.

reefbrite Led: 48" blue led strip $250+ (to much for my blood right now)
current usa powerbrite led: qty (2) 12" strips $120 only 8x1w leds.

and after reading some easy diy options I decided to go this route: 8)

8 CREE XR-E Royal Blue 3W LED on Star @ $5.75 = $46.00
1 Mean Well LPC-35-700W constant current driver @ $15.00 = $15.00
8 60 Degree CREE XR-E Lens/Optics (black) @ $1.00 = $8.00

Total w/ shipping: $75.00

also I already have: ;D
soldiering gun
soldier
wire
self tapping screws
3-prong power cord
thermal compound
cooling fans in canopy

I plan on spacing them 5" apart, and the driver can run up to 12x3w cree leds, so if 8 isnt enough I have the ability to add 4 more with little modifications. I also plan on having the leds about 6-8 above waterline. and with 60 degree lens, I hope not to have any spotlight effect. just want a nice wide full blue color to help fight again my white/yellow mh bulbs.

so to some it up: basically what it would cost me for 8w total of 2 current usa powerbrite strips, I can have 24w of DIY cree lighting.. Do everyone think 8 leds will be enough for what i'm trying to get? any tips?


thanks will keep everyone posted as the build takes place.

 

lol your welcome for the awesome deal on those bad boys
but the color will have to do with how much light in certain wavelengths (red and yellow) are put out by your halides. The light output of your LEDs will be constant at 465nm and very high if you compare wattage for wattage... But to get the true representation of the color you have to compare apples to apples, lol that means you would need the measures in lumens of both the LEDs and the halide bulbs :/
Im just going to take a stab here but ill say it will be like an 11-12k? but your corals will still get a visible pop because of the LEDs being there.

 

good, anything 11k-14k will be great. if its not enough blue I can always throw another 4 leds in there and play with different lens too. btw, thanks for the hookup saved me a few bucks! K+++ ;D

 

well everyone, little update:
I had to go buy a 48"x1.5"x1/8" aluminum flat bar for my heat sink. I also bought a 2x2" wood @48" to mount heatsink to and inside my canopy. I already drilled most of the holes (for running wires) &, just need to drill the mounting holes for each led. I downloaded a paper templete so I know where to drill. I hope to get the leds in the mail saturday. so I may have them done saturday night. I got some pictures already and will keep everyone updated with progress. so far the budget is at $90.00 I think I should have maybe $100 into it when all said and done.

 

you could always get a 14k bulb for the halides ;-)

 

yea if these leds dont do the job, I'll be upgrading to phoenix 14k bulbs.. if the leds do work good, then my next mh bulbs will be the 175w iwaski 15k (for max par)..

 

here's a picture to compare the new 8" lunar strip (leftside) to my pc fixture lunars on my old tank (rightside).. not bad for $11 bucks..

 

well in case any missed my DIY led light thread, the cree led strip project is completed! very happy about it.. only $100 in materials and about 5-6hrs labor..