Anyone using DIY leds for their reef tanks

[jasona]

So not only am i into blinky flashy things I keep a reef aquarium.  I use metal halide lighting which is very inefficient in the areas of energy use and heat output.  The amount of light output i have, will eventially have to buy a chiller, which makes things even further inefficient.  I have seen the viability of leds and am thinking about a DIY led switch.  Any fish people out there done a DIY job, instead of buying the retail stuff?

Jason


edit: ...typing on sundays without coffee is always a bad thing

[rrawlings]

I as the engineer geek designed and built an led fixture a few years back using Luxeon Rebel LEDs.  13 royal blue and 12 cool white.  This is not a DIY friendly project though the way I did it. Using the Luxeon star LEDs has been done by a number of DIY guys in my local reef club.  My setup made for better growth with 75 watts of LEDs than a 250 watt halide.

[John K]

I converted to leds about 6 months ago for my 150. I could not be happier. Here is what I have:

72 XR-E Royal Blue Bin D316
48 XR-E Q5 Cool White
BJB solderless connectors with Carclo frotsed wide optics.
3 30" heatsinks from HeatsinkUSA
72" housing from Catalina Aquarium
5 Meanwell 60-48D Drivers

(Rough equivelent to 3 250 watt Radiums)

I installed them in a 72" housing I got from Catalina Aquarium. Also added plexi glass & a few fans in the unit. The end result came out great.

I got everything but the housing and the plexi glass from: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login


John

[lortiz]

Hi,

I'm highly interested in this topic as I've considered doing this for some time now.

Can you please post some pictures of your setup, if you have them ?

Thanks,

Leo

[John K]

Here is mine

[rrawlings]

WOW John, that fixture looks awesome.  i have a tank that is going to be a planted  freshwater tank that I think will get one similar to yours.  My first light was a very dense packed fixture with an intensity of a 250W in about the same area.  I like that yours sn more spread out.

[jasona]

Thanks for the info guys!  I was at someones house yesterday that had an amazing led system.  I am definatly gonna make the switch.  Those halides have to go.

I'm gonna start looking for a DIY solution after the holidays, found a few on reefcentral that have had success.

Jason

[DennyMo]

Found this .pdf file, might be helpful:
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

[jasona]

Thanky you Denny, thats a good writeup that gives a good overview!

Jason

[TAdamsOK]

Odd, I was going to post the same type of queston like a week ago.  I am starting to put my reef back together after being down about umm 12 years!   I was looking at lighting to see what was going on and there is starting to be alot of commercial led hoods available.  I was wondering if you could use the RGB's to make a very close like (450nm peak) to actinic blue (420nm peak) and daylight spectrum.  Didn't realize there would be a few reef keepers on here as well.

Anyway just getting the refugium set up.  Didn't have one of those last time so that is a new 30g tank with a deep .2mm to 1mm aragonite bed (like 110lbs of live sand).  Also a few pounds of live rock to help seed the system, though the water is still so cloudy you can't see anything.  Looking forward to trying my hand at propogating some soft corals and maybe try to keep a few LPS's.  SPS just seem to be a little above my experience at the moment.  Also have a 20ish gallon sump with a 75g display tank.  Just gotta go get it from storage at the farm...  and take an inventory to see what all has grown legs over the years...

[rrawlings]

No need to go RGB, just do royal blues and cool whites, with dimmable supplies you can do a sun up to sun down curve that will look awesome.

[jasona]

The royal blue and cool whites I saw looked awesome.  I run 14k halides and they looked very similiar, maybe slightly less blue.

Not a very good pic, but you get the idea.  Darn blinds in the reflection.