Milad's 72in LED build

[Milad]

Lets get this party started! ---- WARNING THIS IS MY FIRST LED BUILD ----
I knew as much as you did before i started this build, but its actually quick pickup after knowing nothing about aquariums and building a 180g i think LED is easier.


So i needed something to do during the Christmas break so what better way to spend my time than building a nice 72in LED for my 180G tank.

Link to my tank build is in my signature but there are a few things to know about the tank.
No canopy
2 dividers every 24in
peninsula!


So basically I have to work with the parameters above. Having no canopy is good and bad, I probably wont need fans if I have good heatsinks because its open air above it but I have to make it look clean since everyone can see it! gota hide those wires.

Dividers suck because I have to pick the correct optics so shine the light and the correct size of the modules.

What I will be building is 3 module system. Each module will be plug in play. Currently im going with only 2 drivers for all the modules. This could change. The drivers will be dimmable and attach directly into my apex controller.

I will be buying LEDs from the group buy I started which is located:
http://www.LEDGroupBuy.com

sick deal hey?!

im going with
XP-G CW 60
XP-E RB 84

+ 144 40degree optics

Total of 144 emitters

To run the whites I will be going with:
Mean Well HLG-240H-42B

To run the royal blues I will be going with:
Mean Well HLG 240H-54B


That will give me a 42% cool white 58% royal blue to achieve something in the 14-15k color range, equivalent to 250-400w MH.


Here is a preliminary idea of what the fixture will look like (will probably incase everything in black plexi):
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aquarium%20build/LED/LED1.jpg


more to come soon

Quick Links:
Initial wiring diagram with parts list (http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=570324&postcount=12)

[martinmcnally]

Sounds good. I tried building an LED bar to supplement my T5s unfortunately I failed miserably. I found it really really hard to solder wire onto the CREE LED points. The solder would not stick properly unless I scratched the little metal solder point on the LED, then it kind of worked but would also easily break off with a little nudge. I might try another experiment but maybe I am missing something with the soldering. I was thinking maybe you needed to drill a whole in the solder point and feed the wire though it like you would see on a circuit board with components soldered on.

Martin

[Milad]

Sounds good. I tried building an LED bar to supplement my T5s unfortunately I failed miserably. I found it really really hard to solder wire onto the CREE LED points. The solder would not stick properly unless I scratched the little metal solder point on the LED, then it kind of worked but would also easily break off with a little nudge. I might try another experiment but maybe I am missing something with the soldering. I was thinking maybe you needed to drill a whole in the solder point and feed the wire though it like you would see on a circuit board with components soldered on.

Martin

i haven't soldered for years but if i remember correctly its like an art.
just takes a few tries soldering a few together

also did you have pretinned wire? you dont want to heat up the led solder too much otherwise boom goes the led.

[Bloodasp]

You need to use flux. If you have to scratch the copper clad in order for the lead to stick to the board it means the copper has a thin film of oxidation that you need to clean out, otherwise you get a cold solder or it won't even stick.

[DiverDude]

Using a flux-core solder should be fine unless the LEDs are old and/or been improperly stored -in which case the copper pads may be oxidized.

Most soldering difficulties come from improper technique. It's important to remember that you are joining TWO metal surfaces with a 3rd metal (solder) and therefore BOTH surfaces must be hot enough to melt solder. A decent soldering iron is also good to have. A reasonable iron will cost a good $50 at Active. Good brands include Hakko and Weller.

-And try not to breathe the fumes from the solder; NOT good for you.

[Bloodasp]

I agree that a lot has to do with improer soldering techniques. I have yet to see solder meant for electronics without a flux core, even the lead free ones I have used always contain them, from the sound of what he said though that he had to scratch the component to get some soldering to happen he definitely needs it.
And also boring a hole through the track of an smd mounted component is not a good idea as they are normally too small that drilling a hole through them would likely cause it to peel off.

[martinmcnally]

So I just checked out my solder and its Rosin core! ah ha! Maybe I need to try this again with flux core?

I wonder if I fried the driver in the process :o$

[martinmcnally]

Oh no wait, Rosin is flux haha so back to squire one.

[makana]

pure solder doesn't work well, the resin core is a cleaning agent that helps remove impurities and allow the solder to stick. If you are having to scratch at the metal to get it to stick then it isn't clean. You could try cleaning it with alcohol or scuffing it up with a scotch brite. You need to get the metal hot enough for the solder to bond without overheating it. When the temperature is right if you dab the solder on it will travel along the metal. If you are soldering to surface mount copper pads on a circuit board be carefull. If it is clean it shouldn't take much to heat it up. Too much and it will lift the trace from the board.

[mseepman]

Looking forward to seeing this...I am planning an LED build myself for my 290G peninsula once I finally get the damn house built.

I was planning on doing a blend of CW and RB crees but after researching for countless hours, it appears to me that there is a real need for some Neutral Whites and even a few standard blues in the mix to give you the coloration that we are used to with MH and or T5.

Where are you getting your heatsinks? Where are the big meanwells coming from? Are you planning to balance the forward voltage on your parallel setups or are you just going to keep the voltage low enough to handle an issue if it arrises?

I plan to do about 200 LED's and that would mean a lot of the small ELN meanwells which is a problem. My issue is that all the threads over on RC seem to put the fear of GOD into people who plan to go parallel on their LED setups rather than serial.

Looking forward to hearing how you plan to do all this.

[Milad]

from my first post you will see im going 2 drivers only for all 144 leds.
one for CW and one for RB so i can dim them seperatley

im actually doing a diagram right now to handle any issues with the parallel design, it should be fail safe. I should have it up within next couple hours.

Drivers are coming from cdiweb.com
Heatsinks are coming from heatsinkusa.com
Extra odds and ends are coming for digikey.ca

ill be posting links to each of the parts too for others reading.

[Milad]

So here is the wiring diagram and parts list

The resistors are there to easily measure the amps since this is a parallel design.
Fuses are in for "o ****" protection
Terminal blocks for ease of wiring

Doing this setup doesnt really give me plug in play modules but rather a full 72in fixture.

Resistors x 12: $1.05 ea
http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=UB5C-1.0-ND

1A Fuses x 12 (for Royal Blues): These are 1A. And could be used in most cases in 700ma up to maybe 900mA setups. $0.83 ea
http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=F3169CT-ND

1.5A Fuses x 12 (for Cool Whites): could be used in most cases in 1.2A up to maybe 1.4A setups. $0.83 ea
http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=F2319-ND

Terminal Block x 4: These are 12 position $3.80ea
http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=A98510-ND

Terminal Block Jumper x 20: $.025 ea
http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=A0139-ND

10x10 Heatsink x 3 $31.17 ea
http://www.ledgroupbuy.com/products/Heatsink-10-inch-x-10-inch.html
*note might be changing this due to weight issues

****NOTE THIS DRIVER HAS CHANGED BECAUSE IT WILL NOT DIM UNDER 50%**********
Cool white dimmable driver (HLG-240-42B 42v 5.72 amps) $118.31
http://wattsupply.com/s.nl/it.A/id.3056/.f

****NOTE THIS DRIVER HAS CHANGED BECAUSE IT WILL NOT DIM UNDER 50%**********
Royal Blue dimmable driver (HLG-240-54B 54v 4.45 amps) $118.31
http://wattsupply.com/s.nl/it.A/id.3056/.f

#6-32 3/8 Length Nylon Screws (100pc) x 4: 4.64ea
http://www.smallparts.com/nylon-machine-screw-slotted-drive/dp/B003R7JD88/ref=sr_1_4?sr=1-4&qid=1291591373
or More expensive but in Canada:
http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=H556-ND

#6-32 Tap x 1: 11.25ea
http://www.smallparts.com/butterfield-high-speed-spiral-finish-chamfer/dp/B003JY6C6K/ref=sr_1_1?sr=1-1&qid=1291772847&filterBy.chamfer_type-bin=Plug&filterBy.size_name=%236-32
*I might buy this locally and order the nylon screws through digikey

Thermal Grease 2.5g x 5: 4.83ea
http://www.ledgroupbuy.com/products/Arctic-Silver-Matrix-2.5g.html

22awg 600v pretinned stranded wire: $7.50 50ft
http://www.ledgroupbuy.com/products/Wire-22awg-pre%252dtinned-stranded-(600-volt).html


LEDs
XP-G cool white in 10 LED series (http://www.ledgroupbuy.com/products/CREE-XP%252dG-Cool-White.html)
XP-E royal blue in 14 LED series (http://www.ledgroupbuy.com/products/CREE-XP%252dE-Royal-Blue.html)


Ill probably end up buying 3 times as many fuses just in case.

wiring on between LEDs is 22awg
wiring from driver to blocks is 20awg

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aquarium%20build/LED/LED%20Wiring.jpg

[mseepman]

Wow, you did a really nice job putting that diagram together.

I was hoping to do the parallel thing but avoid the resistors and fuses as I start to feel like it's getting past me in my electrical knowledge. Hadn't thought of doing a terminal block but it's a really good idea.

[Milad]

the resistors and fuses are simple once you know why you are putting them in and undersatnd whats happening on a parallel string.

ill try to explain it.

most of the simple designs you see are one driver per 12 LEDs
These are usually powered by something like the meanwell LPC-35-700
This driver puts out up to 48V and .700amps

the LEDs are rated to have about 3.5 volts each and .700 amps per series.

12LEDS * 3.5ea = 42V. The driver above will adjust itself down to 42v

so the above driver can only handle one series (.700amps) and 12 LEDs (48v).

Now lets say you got a big bad driver that does 2.1amps and 48V

So now you can only still have series of 12 LEDs (48v). But since you have 2.1amps you need to balance that out between 3 series of 12 LEDs which gives you .700 amps per series.

The reason you start needing resistors and fuses is to be "safe"

So, if for watever reason one of those 3 series decides to stop, and other two keep running, you are dividing 2.1amps between 2 series instead of 1! Thats 1.050amps per series. If the LEDs cant handle it, boom goes the LEDs. This is why you put a 1amp fuse in before each series. As soon as one series goes, the 1amp fuse blows and your LEDs are safe.

So what is the resistor for?
Well for you to measure the amperage on each series you need to un-solder and put a multimeter inline with the leds. Well of course this sucks. If you put a 1ohm resistor at the beginning of each LED series then you just measure across the resistor while its inline and it will tell you the amperage.

From my understanding the amperage can vary per series so you want to switch LEDs out and get them as close as you can to each other. Over time it can change also, so having the resistors in there for quick tests works great.

[mseepman]

Thanks for the quick explanation. I will end up putting in both the resistors and the fuses now that I know where to get them and why. You should make sure you take some detailed pictures of your wiring to the terminal blocks, how the jumpers are setup and your wiring of the fuses...(so that I can copy of course:lol:)

Any luck with the info from ETG on Neutrals and Blues?

[StirCrazy]

why did you decide to run them at 0.7amp instead of 1 amp? just curious.

Steve

[Milad]

why did you decide to run them at 0.7amp instead of 1 amp? just curious.

Steve

running the LEDs lower than max Amp (so 70%) makes them last longer..

[mseepman]

Although I agree wtih you about the lower ma rating generating less heat and therefore extending the life of the LED, I am hoping to find a way to push the XP-G's up to 1000ma as their max is 1500 and 1000 should still leave a very long life.

I know you have found all the other items you need...but have you ordered them already?

[Milad]

Although I agree wtih you about the lower ma rating generating less heat and therefore extending the life of the LED, I am hoping to find a way to push the XP-G's up to 1000ma as their max is 1500 and 1000 should still leave a very long life.

I know you have found all the other items you need...but have you ordered them already?

thanks for pointing that out! I knew i saw 1500 somewhere. XP-G cool white are 1500
XP-E royal blue are 1000.

I might switch up my design to handle 1000 for the cool white.

[StirCrazy]

running the LEDs lower than max Amp (so 70%) makes them last longer..

not realy unless you exceed there max spec. the max operational is 1000mA but that will not burn them out. the problem comes in with heat. so if you up the current and don't provide an efficien way to remove the extra heat then yes the life will be shortened. If you deal with the heat then no effect.

I would personaly go with 1000mA for both as you are also using fuses and resistors to safe guard and dimable ballasts so the chances of you ever comming close to a situation where you would pump enough current/voltage to dammage the LEDs are going to be very very slim to none.

most people just run 1000mA dimable meanwells and nothing else and are not having problems. but I do like the idea of the fuses. not sure I like the parallel idea but I guess with the resistors you put to rest any concerns I have there.

Steve

[mseepman]

The problem with a large build and not running parallel is that you would need a massive amount of the ELN-60-48 meanwells and they are not power factor corrected. As such, the In-rush current when/if you turned them all on at once has been considered dangerous for overheating the wiring at the receptacle.

[mseepman]

Did you ever get a price and/or an expected delivery date on those HLG drivers? In looking on the cdiweb site, they all say "out of stock" and "call for pricing".

[Milad]

Power Supply:
well im not going with CDI because they wont ship anything but UPS and the guy seemed grumpy and he said 14weeks on everything

soo... i called meanwell, tried to find a distributer in Canada. I found one on the east coast which I emailed for prices. I also found one in cali that will ship via USPS if i ask nicely but they are about 30% more than CDI but cheaper than anyone else i found
http://wattsupply.com/s.nl/it.A/id.3056/.f

the girl was really nice and she said she would help me out if i need it USPS and could get it to for me in a couple days because her warehouse had a couple.
(i seem to have better luck with the girls than the guys)

so $114ish vs $85ish but no waiting 3 weeks.

Heatsinks:
ive also started hunting down heatsinks. for me to get the heatsinkusa heatsinks its something like $70 for shipping of all the heatsinks. They will do USPS for me though. Anyone know anywhere in Canada to pickup heatsinks?

Soldering Iron
I seem to be having a hard time finding a decent prized 40w-60w soldering station. Anyone have a lead on these? Seem to be expensive in Canada, lol. And I cant get amazon to ship them to Canada.


btw most of the other parts on my list are from digikey and they have warehouse in canada.

[Milad]

fyi parts list and wiring diagram updated
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=570324&postcount=12

switching to 1.5fuses and bigger driver
added parts for grease, nylon screws, tap

[mseepman]

Have you tried these guys for the soldering station?

http://www.mainelectronics.com/solderstn.htm

I think they carry many of the ones that Amazon does.

Hope that helps.

[gucci17]

Taggin' along! :mrgreen:

[Milad]

Have you tried these guys for the soldering station?

http://www.mainelectronics.com/solderstn.htm

I think they carry many of the ones that Amazon does.

Hope that helps.

thanks for the link, im probably just going to go with the 29.95 one that is 50w
i would like the 180 one but i think ill start small! lol i mean, all i need to do is solder a few leds... a few as in 144... cant be that hard or time consuming.

[monocus]

if you need wire ,i found a large roll at work of alarm wire-i'll be using that for my build

[mseepman]

One option you might want to look at is going to princess auto, picking up one of their soldering irons (with temp control) and picking up their wireholder with soldering iron holder and magnifying glass. Here are some links:

http://www.princessauto.com/workshop/hand-tools/specialty-tools/hobby-tools/8068793-heavy-duty-third-hand-with-3x-magnifying-glass

http://www.princessauto.com/workshop/garage/welding/accessories-components/8103590-soldering-iron-with-adjustable-control

Almost like building your own soldering station.

[roblarss]

I ordered both my drivers through future electronics as well as my LEDs. They may be a bit more than the states but shipping was relativly inexpensive and the service was great

http://www.futureelectronics.com/en/Search.aspx?dsNav=Ntk:PartNumberSearch|HLG%2f-240H|1|,Ny:True,Nea:True

[Milad]

mseepman,
nice find on the soldering but im going to stick with the first one you found. dont really need the holder and glasses considering ill be soldering when all the stars are bolted to the heatsinks.


roblarss,
its a tough call. whats frustrating me is that cdiweb.com has them for half the price futureelectronics sells them for and $40 cheaper than wattsupply.com BUT cdiweb.com doesnt keep them in stock and the guy was rude. so i could take my chances with wattsupply out of the US and hope I dont get dinged at the border or use futureelectronics.... decisions decisions.

thats something like 20 LEDs i could buy if CDIweb had them.



did i just start using LEDs as monetary unit? WTF

[Milad]

so, it looks like im not going with the big aluminium heatsink design for two reasons
1. it gets heavy fast and is hard to hang
2. shipping gets expensive really fast ($150 for one 10x20 heatsink!!! to my house)

so, instead, ive following some advice of the larger builds and i think im going with aluminium u channel with small CPU heatsinks + fans attached (around 12). Once i narrow down how im going to do this, ill post some more models.

[roblarss]

I ended up making my own heatsink also as the shipping costs were crazy. I used a 1/4" aluminum plate and the fins are 1/8" aluminum angle. I just used some heatsink compound between the 2 pieces and riveted the angle to the plate. Made it nice as all the leds are on the plate and can go exactly where I want them. I then have 2 12v computer fans on top of each module. Havent had any problems yet.
With channel you can probably just mount the stars to the bottom face and then connect all the channel together on the ends. You just need to make sure you have plenty of heat dissipation for the heat. Mine starts to warm up slightly when I turn the fans off. Going to put a high temperature cutout on it soon..

[monocus]

to hang your heatsink-go to grandview rona in the specialty bolt section,and get bolts with a hole drilled at the end of the thread(or there are other bolts that you can use)drill a hole in your heatsink to fit your threaded shaft,and drill a larger hole over it to fit the head of the bolt.if you need to you can come over and use my drill press

[KevinK]

any link's ore pictures of DIY heat sink

at this time I stil have 4 left (6x10), however would need more, and are wondering what would be best, as now my unit is nice 6x 24 with 28 LED and first had in mind to make all units like this

maybe one big one

other alternative is to use 1 ore 1.5 inch square aluminium pipe, mont them on there and blow air in the pipe, you can even derect this air out of the room!

[Bblinks]

TAGGING ALONG. :biggrin:

[mseepman]

This is funny...today I saw a thread on RC asking about this build and why it had been deleted off of RC. I had heard that you had been banned Milad but what I didn`t realize was that by posting on that thread where they were asking about you, I would get penalized myself.

Talk about Tyranny. So glad Canreef is not like that.

[DiverDude]

As someone who's owned an online electronics company that sold soldering irons and who's done a LOT of soldering, I'd say if you can afford $100, buy this: http://www.hvwtech.com/products_view.asp?ProductID=209

I have 2 of them.

If that's too rich for you, get this:

http://www.hvwtech.com/products_view.asp?ProductID=207

I have one of these too (in the toolbox).

The station has adjustable temperature (which you'll never adjust) and a nice stand to hold th iron. It's heats up in seconds and is excellent quality and a very good price. The second one is also very good -just without the adjustability and stand.

Those links are to a Calgary company. Good people, reasonable shipping. It's worth noting that they also sell a whole range of microcontrollers and their development tools, like the Arduino -if you're inclined to go that route.

[Milad]

This is funny...today I saw a thread on RC asking about this build and why it had been deleted off of RC. I had heard that you had been banned Milad but what I didn`t realize was that by posting on that thread where they were asking about you, I would get penalized myself.

Talk about Tyranny. So glad Canreef is not like that.

thats hilarious. I just saw that on there. Water under the bridge for me but they seem to still hate me.

dividerdude, those stations look nice. might have to add that to my list.

[DiverDude]

Yeah, they are the 'proper' tool for the job. Maybe a bit much to justify the station for a single project but you really do get what you pay for and the $20 - $30 'no-name' irons you'll get at the corner electronics place really aren't worth the $.

[GMGQ]

FYI, you can ship stuff to a place in Point Roberts, WA, and just drive over there to pick it up and bring it back yourself. The US border guards there know that's what you go there for, so they just ask you straight up "what are you picking up?" Then when you come back, just be honest, and you may not get dinged. I ship stuff there all the time, and havent been dinged (knock on wood!).

This is one of the places I use:
http://www.thelettercarrier.com/

You basically register on their website, then mail stuff there under your own name, but use their address. When your package arrives, they'll either email you or give you a call, and you go pick it up (just bring photo ID). It costs $3-4US per package to use their service (price depending on the weight of each package).

From Burnaby to Point Roberts takes like 30minutes.

You save a LOT of money over 'international' shipping from the states. There's a place in Blaine, WA that does this too, but they just started charging a one time annual fee now in 2011.

And you wont have to deal with brokerage fees from UPS :P

Just another option for you to consider :)



roblarss,
its a tough call. whats frustrating me is that cdiweb.com has them for half the price futureelectronics sells them for and $40 cheaper than wattsupply.com BUT cdiweb.com doesnt keep them in stock and the guy was rude. so i could take my chances with wattsupply out of the US and hope I dont get dinged at the border or use futureelectronics.... decisions decisions.

thats something like 20 LEDs i could buy if CDIweb had them.



did i just start using LEDs as monetary unit? WTF

[abcha0s]

<deleted post - may have contained inaccurate information - sorry!>

[mseepman]

I understand your thoughts on Ohm's Law and it seems right. The issue seems to be between the theory and what really happens when a string fails. Others who have done parallel builds have found that without the fuse, the amperages accross the remaining strings increase and either shorten the life of your LED's or destroy them. Could this be based upon how the first string failed? Maybe the worry is if the LED fails open?

[abcha0s]

<deleted post - may have contained inaccurate information - sorry!>

[abcha0s]

I did a little more reading and perhaps my quick assessment of the behaviour of these circuits is in error. I figure that I better acknowledge my simple analysis before someone else points it out. As I said, I don't know anything about LEDs.

I'll do some more reading before posting again. Sorry if I derailed the thread. I think it's important to really understand what's going on here, but perhaps I'm not the guy to explain it.

My explaination is accurate if a diode were simply a resistor, but of course they are not. The electrical charecteristics are different and that is what I need to better understand.

- Sorry!

[GMGQ]

Milad,

Am I correct to assume that on the left side of the terminal blocks, they are all jumper together?

Thanks.

So here is the wiring diagram and parts list
wiring on between LEDs is 22awg
wiring from driver to blocks is 20awg

[Milad]

Milad,

Am I correct to assume that on the left side of the terminal blocks, they are all jumper together?

Thanks.


Not all jumped together, the ones for each driver are jumped together.

Ive also changed the design and im not using the meanwell 240s because they dont dim all the way. they only dim to 50%

[KevinK]

hi milad,

gust checking what the progress is !!

any updates ?

[Milad]

Im going back and forth and back and forth of the heatsink design

the latest rendition is a linear design with two long skinny heatsinks. until I nail this down its not moving. Give me another month or so before you see pictures.

[Bblinks]

Malad, just curious on the progress?

[Milad]

Heatsink is in, went with a solid piece 6 feet long

For the LEDs I decided im going to use myself as a genuine pig for a new board design we are working on. I should have the new board within the next two months. Once I have the LEDs on the new board, it will literally be a 30min install process.

I will be going with the new XM-Ls NW/CW and XP-E RB.

[Bblinks]

Cool, thanks for the up-date. looking forward for the finished product.

[viperfish]

I've never seen a build thread without any pictures at all. It appears you are waiting for the end result but most people like to show how they got there. For the LED newbie, all that technical talk without photos just creates confusion.

[Milad]

I've never seen a build thread without any pictures at all. It appears you are waiting for the end result but most people like to show how they got there. For the LED newbie, all that technical talk without photos just creates confusion.

Well build thread was happening, stopped, redesigned, redesigned, redesigned, and now its getting back on track. The only thing I have to take pictures of is the heatsink.

I like to really plan things out before I do them!

This thread isnt going to be your standard build thread such as one for a for a tank where it lasts days/weeks. Since the design is going to simpilized as much as possible so anyone can follow it, i expect it to be lots of planning and 30-60min of building.

[StirCrazy]

. The only thing I have to take pictures of is the heatsink.




well.... where is it :mrgreen:

Steve

[phi delt reefer]

updates?

[Milad]

updates?

Only update I have is im waiting on the new LEDs/Boards to get to me. I was assured they would be ready for production within the next 5 weeks.

I do have to say, ive done much more research into corals and what they need in terms of light and this build is going to be interesting.

[KevinK]

Only update I have is im waiting on the new LEDs/Boards to get to me. I was assured they would be ready for production within the next 5 weeks.

I do have to say, ive done much more research into corals and what they need in terms of light and this build is going to be interesting.

I do have to say, ive done much more research into corals and what they need in terms of light and this build is going to be interesting


do you mind to share this info, and background, to bad for that knowledge to stay wihit you, while you could share !!

[Milad]

I do have to say, ive done much more research into corals and what they need in terms of light and this build is going to be interesting


do you mind to share this info, and background, to bad for that knowledge to stay wihit you, while you could share !!

For you Kevin, ill share. But you must understand im not an expert on what im about to talk about, ive just been really sticking my nose in books, articles, studies to get the information I need.


There is alot of science behind plants/corals growth. They have what is called chlorophyll A and Chlorophyll B. There is much more A than B but there both important.

A peeks at 425ish 453ish and 660ish. B peeks at 455 and 660.
The LEDs we bring in are the Royal Blue which peeks @ 455. This is great. We also now have an ultra violet that peeks at 425. Again, amazing for the corals/plants.

What we currently don't have is something that peeks at 660. We are working with a manufacturer to bring in a 455 + 660 LED. This would be an LED that is mixed, which is also called magenta. So very pink, not super nice to look at but in theory should make corals go crazy - Similar to a fat kid in a candy store.

What im going to be testing is running these magenta LEDs when I am not home. Basically right in the middle of the day so the corals can color up and grow. Before I get home, they would be off so you see the nice pleasant 14k look. In the future I may also add a motion sensor to have the magenta LEDs shut off is someone is near by the tank.

So what everyone has been doing works great. Royal Blue and Cool Whites are really popping corals, making them grow, etc. What im going to try to do is take it to the next level and see if I can get the correct mix of Royal Blue and 660red for "off hours" to make the corals pop even more and grow even faster.

Here is the activation spectrum im talking about:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/LEDGroupBuy/Spectrum/Spectrum.jpg

It is the mix of A and B.
So as you can see, having the ability to "dial in" the LEDs is a huge bonus over other lighting.

[imisky]

hey Milad,

In theory 660nm should make the corals grow while 450-460nm (blue and royal blue) makes them color up and I've tested the concept with a custom built PAR 38 bulb, the result were far from pleasing.

The test was done in 1 system, where I had put a custom (5RB, 3CW, 1R) into the sump with adequate flow and movement and only limited the spot for corals to 6x6" with the PAR 38 hung above it at 6" so I'm getting a ton of PAR. The display uses PAR38 with 5RB and 4CW only. Since its the same setup the parameters are the same for the test and what I found was this.

Almost every SPS coral I put under the custom red PAR38 bulb had turned a brown color. There is a bit of color but majority of them lost that shine they had when they were under the none red LED. The test was started since last christmas and it is still going on today since i had a few times where I had gotten busy and the parameters were not optimal. But now that I have stablized the paramaters and my display is coloring up, the corals in the sump under the custom red PAR38 is still the same.

Which leads me to think that corals dont need as much red spectrum as we think they do. Infact from reading a few papers green spectrum seems to do more for corals then reds,and from my experience at 660nm everything just turns brown. Theres no point imo to bring in magenta colored multidie LED when in the end it'll turn all the SPS brown. Even if i was to cover up the red LED in that PAR38 bulb the result of the colors dont come back instantly, chances are they wont come back for a good 2-3weeks.

[mike31154]

Read up a little more on the Orphek line of products. According to them, they've teamed with marine biologists to produce LEDs specifically designed to provide the spectrum certain corals need and do well under. So the engineering/experimenting appears to have already been done by some highly educated and specialized individuals. Too early to tell whether it's smoke & mirrors but I'm inclined to believe them. Still, no personal experience, but feedback from customers with Orphek products appears to be mostly positive.

[Milad]

hey Milad,

In theory 660nm should make the corals grow while 450-460nm (blue and royal blue) makes them color up and I've tested the concept with a custom built PAR 38 bulb, the result were far from pleasing.

The test was done in 1 system, where I had put a custom (5RB, 3CW, 1R) into the sump with adequate flow and movement and only limited the spot for corals to 6x6" with the PAR 38 hung above it at 6" so I'm getting a ton of PAR. The display uses PAR38 with 5RB and 4CW only. Since its the same setup the parameters are the same for the test and what I found was this.

Almost every SPS coral I put under the custom red PAR38 bulb had turned a brown color. There is a bit of color but majority of them lost that shine they had when they were under the none red LED. The test was started since last christmas and it is still going on today since i had a few times where I had gotten busy and the parameters were not optimal. But now that I have stablized the paramaters and my display is coloring up, the corals in the sump under the custom red PAR38 is still the same.

Which leads me to think that corals dont need as much red spectrum as we think they do. Infact from reading a few papers green spectrum seems to do more for corals then reds,and from my experience at 660nm everything just turns brown. Theres no point imo to bring in magenta colored multidie LED when in the end it'll turn all the SPS brown. Even if i was to cover up the red LED in that PAR38 bulb the result of the colors dont come back instantly, chances are they wont come back for a good 2-3weeks.

Thats good too know. Ill keep it in mind when im doing the testing. Im going to be testing several different versions of intensity of the 660nm mixed with the 45nm. Its supposedly proven by their biologist to work but I want to test it out in person to see if its smoke and mirror or what.

[Milad]

Read up a little more on the Orphek line of products. According to them, they've teamed with marine biologists to produce LEDs specifically designed to provide the spectrum certain corals need and do well under. So the engineering/experimenting appears to have already been done by some highly educated and specialized individuals. Too early to tell whether it's smoke & mirrors but I'm inclined to believe them. Still, no personal experience, but feedback from customers with Orphek products appears to be mostly positive.

Actually the LEDs we are bringing in our designed by the biologist/specialist not me. Their customers are huge industrial grow houses. What do the orphek guys use?

[Milad]

And just to give everyone the idea how im going to test it is that (depending on if the fish room is up when I get the LEDs in) I will have different areas of the tank or even in the fish room covered by the different LEDs to see how much of a difference they make. So same water. Im going to try to have the same flow also as much as possible.

so my 180g will be broken down into 3 sections. 1st Section with even 660nm 455nm. 2nd section with more 660nm than 455nm. 3rd section with basic 14000K look.

[martinmcnally]

I hear a lot of people talking about ratios of 2:1 blue to white and such an I wonder if that is based on fact or hearsay or optimized for color rather than growth.

I can only speak for my own personal experience which is 1:1 Cool White to Royal Blue. I've never seen growth like I am getting right now with 1:1, I maybe have my Cool White turn down just a little to make the corals look nicer.

Although could also be down to getting a new Reef Octopus skimmer haha. Too many variables in Reef keeping to really get the best test results I think. With two identical tanks one can go astray with with just simple small anemones stinging your corals at night and throwing your results completely.

I also think back to the "solid recommendations" various store owners would give for T5s and how they were all completely different haha. I think after changing the bulbs multiple times over the years the only thing changing was how the tank looked and not the actual heath or growth of the coral. Moving to LED was most definitely a very significant change for growth and color but I wonder if you end up getting back into the same argument about the different T5s only now with LEDs. Is changing the color slightly really affecting coral growth or is it just more pleasing on the eye. It would be great to see some solid test results the only problem being by the time you are done the testing those LEDs are obsolete and a new range are on the market.

Cant loose sight of the fact also that light is only one portion of how corals feed, depending on the coral of course. So the perfect LED setup in a tank low in nutrients may not be as good as the wrong setup in a nutrient rich tank.

Martin

[Milad]

I hear a lot of people talking about ratios of 2:1 blue to white and such an I wonder if that is based on fact or hearsay or optimized for color rather than growth.

I can only speak for my own personal experience which is 1:1 Cool White to Royal Blue. I've never seen growth like I am getting right now with 1:1, I maybe have my Cool White turn down just a little to make the corals look nicer.

Although could also be down to getting a new Reef Octopus skimmer haha. Too many variables in Reef keeping to really get the best test results I think. With two identical tanks one can go astray with with just simple small anemones stinging your corals at night and throwing your results completely.

I also think back to the "solid recommendations" various store owners would give for T5s and how they were all completely different haha. I think after changing the bulbs multiple times over the years the only thing changing was how the tank looked and not the actual heath or growth of the coral. Moving to LED was most definitely a very significant change for growth and color but I wonder if you end up getting back into the same argument about the different T5s only now with LEDs. Is changing the color slightly really affecting coral growth or is it just more pleasing on the eye. It would be great to see some solid test results the only problem being by the time you are done the testing those LEDs are obsolete and a new range are on the market.

Cant loose sight of the fact also that light is only one portion of how corals feed, depending on the coral of course. So the perfect LED setup in a tank low in nutrients may not be as good as the wrong setup in a nutrient rich tank.

Martin

There is no question from what ive seen that LEDs are a hot damn for growth. The 2:1 people are suggesting is more for aesthetic then anything for growth - I dont think most people would notice a major difference between the two but it does make it cheaper because Royal blues are much cheaper than Neutral Whites. What im trying to do is push the limits on growth and still have the aesthetics piece.

The whole system is modular also so if I start seeing the brownish colors imisky is talking about then I can easily swap out the LEDs.

[ScubaSteve]

Thats good too know. Ill keep it in mind when im doing the testing. Im going to be testing several different versions of intensity of the 660nm mixed with the 45nm. Its supposedly proven by their biologist to work but I want to test it out in person to see if its smoke and mirror or what.

660 nm makes the corals grow, yes... but... it does so by promoting the growth of zooxantellae, which in turn the coral feeds on. Unfortunately zooxantellae is brown which makes the corals brown out. It's kind of like giving a plant a ton of nitrogen fertilizer: yes, it grows fast but ends up all long and leggy... You get the effect you were looking for but you lose out elsewhere.

If you break out the physics textbook you can figure out how much red light there actually is at a certain depth where you find the corals. You loose a lot of red quite quickly as you go deeper. We are essentially keeping our corals in tide pools compared to their natural habitat, so to get the best behavior out of them you want to simulate the spectrum of light they experience at the depths they naturally reside rather than giving the zooxanthellae what they want (more red).

If you tell me what corals you are experimenting with, I can take a pretty good stab at which zooxanthellae clades are in your corals; from this I could give you pretty much the exact spectrum that clade absorbs (most importantly the absorption peaks). I'd echo the above comment of trying more green than red.

One thing to bare in mind is that all of this will make them grow better but not necessarily look better. You see the coral based on whatever light is not absorbed by the coral (it's own pigmentation + the zooxanthellae) or the light that is re-emitted through florescence. You need to strike a balance between the coral's health and growth and this left over amount to get the best of both worlds.

[imisky]

660 nm makes the corals grow, yes... but... it does so by promoting the growth of zooxantellae, which in turn the coral feeds on. Unfortunately zooxantellae is brown which makes the corals brown out. It's kind of like giving a plant a ton of nitrogen fertilizer: yes, it grows fast but ends up all long and leggy... You get the effect you were looking for but you lose out elsewhere.

If you break out the physics textbook you can figure out how much red light there actually is at a certain depth where you find the corals. You loose a lot of red quite quickly as you go deeper. We are essentially keeping our corals in tide pools compared to their natural habitat, so to get the best behavior out of them you want to simulate the spectrum of light they experience at the depths they naturally reside rather than giving the zooxanthellae what they want (more red).

If you tell me what corals you are experimenting with, I can take a pretty good stab at which zooxanthellae clades are in your corals; from this I could give you pretty much the exact spectrum that clade absorbs (most importantly the absorption peaks). I'd echo the above comment of trying more green than red.

One thing to bare in mind is that all of this will make them grow better but not necessarily look better. You see the coral based on whatever light is not absorbed by the coral (it's own pigmentation + the zooxanthellae) or the light that is re-emitted through florescence. You need to strike a balance between the coral's health and growth and this left over amount to get the best of both worlds.

It pretty much covers everything for SPS. LPS and softies under the 660nm spectrum does absolutely nothing, they dont lose there color nor do they seem to grow faster.

Ive been testing and playing with PAR38 custom versions for about a year and a half now. What I find is what plants need is NOT what corals, especially SPS needs. Coming from a heavy planted tank before my first sw tank, and reading a ton of hydroponic papers it is evident and tested that blue spectrum make the plants grow short with more nodes of leaves while red makes them shoot upwards with fewer nodes of leaves.

Though corals use the red spectrum it just browns them, from the lighting scheme you described earlier of turning the reds on while you are away and turning them off while you are there definitely wont work 100%. That's just not how corals and there symbiotic algae work. If only that was the case we would all be doing that, the chances are you'll be staring at brown corals even with the reds off.

Ron99 and I have tested with green LEDs a little while we were working on an LED light, and it's quite interesting because the green LED florescent some orange, pink and red corals while the red LED did absolutely nothing in enhancing color.

As for the intensity of the red spectrum, it didnt change the outcome. I couldnt adjust via ramping down the LEDs power, what i did test though was coving up the 1 red emitter 25% at a time, and even at 3/4 covered the corals didnt recover from the brown.

Another thing to keep in mind though milad, the more spectrums you add the more "bands" of color is going to show up in the shimmer. The PAR38 with only RB and CW has white and blue shimmers. The one with the red emitter is tri banded white, blue and red shimmers. and adding in a green made it 4. IMO that makes mixing LEDs a bit weird, since the spectrum is so narrow mixing them + the physics behind refraction of the surface agitation = a tank that looks like a disco ball. haha, its hard to get used to that, as it is hard for some to even get used to the white and blue colored shimmers from RB and CW emitters alone.

[Milad]

Great stuff guys. So what happened when you had the green on for extend amount of time?

[imisky]

Great stuff guys. So what happened when you had the green on for extend amount of time?

I've never had the green LEDS on for an extended amount of time due to the sheer fact that it just made the tank look epic weird. Would you like to see green colored tank? :) Maybe the intensity of the green was too strong at 3w and i never checked with it running at 1w or less, perhaps that would be something to test out. But 3w green is definitely overpowering and should probably be used just enough so you cant see any effect in the overall change in color of the water but still enchance the colors.

[Milad]

So now the question in my head is, how well would a 660nm Reds work on an algae turf scrubber that is going into the new fish room.....

[StirCrazy]

Great stuff guys. So what happened when you had the green on for extend amount of time?

one thing you have to remember as the spectrum goes up the lower the penatration into the water.. so in reality the corals that we get in the hobby (typicly deeper water corals) never see any magenta or green wave length, so adding them to our tanks is pretty much a waist of money.

now where the magenta is good is for terestreal plants, there are several companies out there making LED "grow lights" one of the bigger ones is run out of kelowna or vernon (can't remember what they said) but I was suposed to get togeather with them and work on a tank light. I decided on working on my own as I have a contact with a LED manufacturing company in china (went to high school and am good friends with one of the owners) as of now I am still designing but that might be where it stops with the production of only one proto type. the problem is the patent BS, we can't sell into the US unless I want to pay huge royalties and quite frankly with out the US market I will most likly lose money on the venture. Milade, you are in a perfect spot with your group buy venture as you don't have to worry about that and if ou keep your boards as parts that is awsome also.

the only recomendation I would have is to forget about the magenta and green.. they have been tried and found to be a waist of time, but rather concentrate on the blues and whites.. I am probably going to be ordering a couple of each color from you so I can play with the "look" for my prototype build I am trying to combine TV, RB, and a nutral white or maybe even a warm white, which reminds me.. you don't have a minimum order do you? I am probably looking at 2 of each.

oh and your 4 channel controler, can it run 8 leds? and do you need anything else with it or just plug it into the wall?

Steve

[Milad]

one thing you have to remember as the spectrum goes up the lower the penatration into the water.. so in reality the corals that we get in the hobby (typicly deeper water corals) never see any magenta or green wave length, so adding them to our tanks is pretty much a waist of money.

now where the magenta is good is for terestreal plants, there are several companies out there making LED "grow lights" one of the bigger ones is run out of kelowna or vernon (can't remember what they said) but I was suposed to get togeather with them and work on a tank light. I decided on working on my own as I have a contact with a LED manufacturing company in china (went to high school and am good friends with one of the owners) as of now I am still designing but that might be where it stops with the production of only one proto type. the problem is the patent BS, we can't sell into the US unless I want to pay huge royalties and quite frankly with out the US market I will most likly lose money on the venture. Milade, you are in a perfect spot with your group buy venture as you don't have to worry about that and if ou keep your boards as parts that is awsome also.

the only recomendation I would have is to forget about the magenta and green.. they have been tried and found to be a waist of time, but rather concentrate on the blues and whites.. I am probably going to be ordering a couple of each color from you so I can play with the "look" for my prototype build I am trying to combine TV, RB, and a nutral white or maybe even a warm white, which reminds me.. you don't have a minimum order do you? I am probably looking at 2 of each.

oh and your 4 channel controler, can it run 8 leds? and do you need anything else with it or just plug it into the wall?

Steve

Ya I think im in a great position and really what im trying to do is help the community. The website has been running for a year and I havent made a cent off it yet (and let me tell you ive put in so much time into it). Ive just been putting the money back into inventory and contracting people to make new products that people want (DIM4 controller) and trying to streamline the whole process as much as I can for everyone and get the prices lower.

We didnt have min quantities but Im starting to put them in place as of yesterday. Everything is going to be at least in a 6 pack or 12 pack. This is going to allow us to reduce the group buy time to every week. Almost 95% of the orders are above 6 LEDs so its not a big deal I don't think. Im also going to try to get the Canadian shipping lowered somehow.

The controller is really nifty. Its designed to run either 3 LEDs in series (CREE LEDs) or bunch of controllers PER CHANNEL. So that gives you huge potential to mix it up. We have some nano guys running 4 different types of LEDs on each channel and they use them for main lights. We also have the big tank guys running 3 channels of drivers and using the 4th channel for moonlights. So lots of configurations.

[Milad]

So here is a video of the controller:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91Skk4QJg_Y&feature=player_embedded

I will be using this on my build instead of the Apex controller I currently have for couple reasons. I needed something to control the fans and something to control the moonlights. This is going to do both. I also didnt want to spend the extra cash to get the moonlight module and the additional variable speed ports on the APEX.

So I have the heatsink and controller, just waiting on the LEDs to get into production so I can get them in and start wiring things up.

[StirCrazy]

interesting. since you built the board from scratch did youmake it so you could just plug it into 120v or do you need to power it with 12v?

Steve

[Milad]

interesting. since you built the board from scratch did youmake it so you could just plug it into 120v or do you need to power it with 12v?

Steve

It needs 12v. Most people have a 12v around the house. We also gave the flexibility to them to use different current for different setups. So if you are just doing drivers, you need a very low current power supply (500mA). If you are doing LEDs directly then you can get a 5A power supply.

I also got the update on the new LEDs. Prototypes are in route to Vancouver as we speak. I should have them early next week if not tomorrow. I have a PAR meter in route also. Im going to run some numbers comparing a CREE Setup vs the new LEDs (i might do some 150w MH just to get an idea.

If everything looks good they will go into production and I should be getting them sooner than later.

[ignobolis]

It needs 12v. Most people have a 12v around the house. We also gave the flexibility to them to use different current for different setups. So if you are just doing drivers, you need a very low current power supply (500mA). If you are doing LEDs directly then you can get a 5A power supply.

I also got the update on the new LEDs. Prototypes are in route to Vancouver as we speak. I should have them early next week if not tomorrow. I have a PAR meter in route also. Im going to run some numbers comparing a CREE Setup vs the new LEDs (i might do some 150w MH just to get an idea.

If everything looks good they will go into production and I should be getting them sooner than later.

HiYa Milad

Its been a while between updates on this and I was curious to see your advancements and progress to date.

Any chance you could share were your at please.

Thanks
:biggrin:

[lockrookie]

HiYa Milad



Its been a while between updates on this and I was curious to see your advancements and progress to date.



Any chance you could share were your at please.



Thanks

:biggrin:


Milad moved to regina and had to sell his tank... Dwerbs now owns his tank. Bu plans to build something I believe are in the works


Sent from nowhere in particular

[ignobolis]

Milad moved to regina and had to sell his tank... Dwerbs now owns his tank. Bu plans to build something I believe are in the works


Sent from nowhere in particular

Oh -ok thanks for the update:idea:

[lockrookie]

i retract my comment i havemilad mixed up with another reefer i know my bad ..not to surewhere milad is now i was tired when i replied sooo notsure wherehe is sorry

[Milad]

Sorry this took so long. Only 2 years right? Just got caught up with a bunch of different things.

The designed changed several times but here is what ended up over the tank:

This 72" Full Spectrum LED Build is going over a peninsula tank. This adds a little bit of fun trying to make sure I get the right optics/height on the fixture.

Build materials:
27x XT-E 3UP LEDs (http://www.ledgroupbuy.com/cree-xt-e-3up/)
27x 60degree True Violets (http://www.ledgroupbuy.com/true-violet-led-420nm/)
12x 120 degree Ocean Coral White (http://www.ledgroupbuy.com/ocean-coral-white/)
27x 40degree 3UP Optics (http://www.ledgroupbuy.com/3up-xt-e-optic-40-degrees/)
4x 25feet 24awg Solid wire (http://www.ledgroupbuy.com/solid-wire-24awg-300-volt-25-feet-white/)
1x Arctic Silver Ceramique 2 (http://www.ledgroupbuy.com/arctic-silver-ceramique-2-25g/)
1x 72" MakersLED Heatsink (http://www.ledgroupbuy.com/makersled-designer-heatsink-kit-professional-grade/)
1x 4 pot LEDGroupBuy Dimming Kit
1x DIM4 (http://www.ledgroupbuy.com/dim4-4-port-led-sunrise-sunset-controller-v1-0/)
1x Dim4 Relay (http://www.ledgroupbuy.com/dim4-relay/)
1x DIM4 Relay Socket (http://www.ledgroupbuy.com/dim4-relay-socket/)
5x 75w 700mA Inventroincs Drivers (http://www.ledgroupbuy.com/inventronics-75w-driver-700ma/)
5x AC Plug for Drivers (http://www.ledgroupbuy.com/ac-plug-for-drivers-3-prong/)

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/LEDGroupBuy/72in%20Full%20Spectrum/DSC00558-001.jpg
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/LEDGroupBuy/72in%20Full%20Spectrum/DSC00557-001.jpg
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/LEDGroupBuy/72in%20Full%20Spectrum/DSC00560-001.jpg
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/LEDGroupBuy/72in%20Full%20Spectrum/DSC00559-001.jpg
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/LEDGroupBuy/72in%20Full%20Spectrum/DSC00561-001.jpg
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/LEDGroupBuy/72in%20Full%20Spectrum/DSC00562-001.jpg
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/LEDGroupBuy/72in%20Full%20Spectrum/DSC00564-001.jpg

Additional tools:
Solder and Soldering iron
Multimeter
Wire Cutters
12ft of wire to make extension cable
And somewhere big enough to hold a 6foot heatsink!!

The basic idea of this setup is to have the controller do the sunrise/sunset and use the 4 pot dimming kit to manual tune the color of the light as the sunrise/sunset is happening. The sunrise sunset keeps the ratios the same and I just tune the dimming kit to pin point the color I want.

Wiring is like this:

CH1 2x 75w Driver - 54 XT-E Royal Blue LEDs
CH2 1x 75w Driver - 27 XT-E Neutral White LEDs
CH3 1x 75w Driver - 27 True Violet - 1x 75w Driver 12 OCW (This channel is maxed at 6.5v to keep the 75w drivers under 500mA at all times
CH4 nonthing



Probably the boringest part of the build is getting these screws lined up
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/LEDGroupBuy/72in%20Full%20Spectrum/DSC00579-001.jpg

Layout:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/LEDGroupBuy/72in%20Full%20Spectrum/DSC00575-001.jpg
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/LEDGroupBuy/72in%20Full%20Spectrum/DSC005771.jpg

At this point taking snap shots every 2min got annoying as I had to deal with the grease so I didnt take any pictures of wiring it up.
Finished look with LEDs on:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/LEDGroupBuy/ATS%20Build/DSC008091.jpg

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/LEDGroupBuy/ATS%20Build/DSC008101.jpg
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/LEDGroupBuy/ATS%20Build/DSC008111.jpg

As you can see from the picture, I hid all the 5 drivers inside the heatsink. To do this, I removed 3 of the 6 fans. The heatsink still stays cool with just 3 fans.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/LEDGroupBuy/ATS%20Build/DSC008121.jpg
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/LEDGroupBuy/ATS%20Build/DSC008131.jpg

Corals super happy:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/LEDGroupBuy/ATS%20Build/DSC008001.jpg


It should be noted I neglected this tank for much too long. MH where over the tank and the corals slowly started dieing. The same day I got the LEDs over the tank, my bubble tip anemone finally started looking like a bubble tip anemone and it spread out huge. And it split within a week.... well thats what I thought. Turns out, the anemone I thought that died last year was actually still alive and now its also out and gleaming. Its a GTBA so I know its not the RBTA split.

All and all, very happy with the build. The LPS just look amazing under the OCW. If anything different, I may add more OCW to the build. The details in the fish also pop under the OCW. The Sohal orange accents are insane. Never even knew he had orange all over his body.

[ignobolis]

Awesome - thanks for the update....

So in your view the colours/full spectrum not only enhance the look, but is more beneficial for the coral life?

Any full tank shots .....

[sphelps]

Oh man I love that heat sink! Everything looks great!

[Milad]

Awesome - thanks for the update....

So in your view the colours/full spectrum not only enhance the look, but is more beneficial for the coral life?

Any full tank shots .....

My research with the Exotic wavelength LEDs has mainly been trying to get the most color out of the corals. The basic ratio of RB to NW CREE LEDs (2:1) does enough to sustain good growth in the corals. I cannot tell you if the new colors helped with the coral life (I switched this tank from Metal Halides straight to full spectrum LED build) but I would imagine it has some impact.

Just the LPS in the tank is STUNNING after the full spectrum LEDs went up.
Again thats not to mention the color in the fish I hadnt seen before.


Oh man I love that heat sink! Everything looks great!

The heatsink looks better than most cars! Plus its wife approved...

[mseepman]

Looks Great! Would love to see a FTS as well!

[claymax]

PICTURES PICTURES PICTURES!:twised:

[Milad]

FTS but the tank is still cloudy after the full re-aquascape
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/LEDGroupBuy/72in%20Full%20Spectrum/DSC008391.jpg


Best I can do, if someone want to walk me through how to setup my Sony Nex 5N in the correct mode to take the picture, I can try to get a better one.

[Milad]

More pics
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/LEDGroupBuy/72in%20Full%20Spectrum/RBTA.jpg
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/LEDGroupBuy/72in%20Full%20Spectrum/Rots.jpg
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/LEDGroupBuy/72in%20Full%20Spectrum/Acan2.jpg
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/LEDGroupBuy/72in%20Full%20Spectrum/Acan1.jpg
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/LEDGroupBuy/72in%20Full%20Spectrum/zoa2.jpg
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/LEDGroupBuy/72in%20Full%20Spectrum/zoa1.jpg
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/LEDGroupBuy/72in%20Full%20Spectrum/Frogspawn1.jpg