LED... Build or Buy?
 

Okay, so definitely still in the research and decision phase on this one but figured I would throw this up in here and see what people think.

I am dealing with a 72x18x24 tank with a center brace. Leaving me 2 openings 16x33 to get lighting into the tank. I have been looking into LED fixtures and there are some pretty good options out there I think, some of them get pretty pricey though and based on tank construction for effective lighting I am probably looking at running 2 fixtures so lets say if I keep it cheap $1000 for Lights i will be happy with for a while and will support my desire to keep some more SPS corals.

That got me thinking... what can I do for $1000.

After reading though as much DIY LED stuff as my brain could take this morning I started looking around at materials. I'm thinking will probably go with 10W LED's very readily available on the good ole ebay, haven't looked for actual heat sinks yet but I am thinking they will be fairly easy to find as well.

To be fair my biggest hesitation when it comes to the DIY fixture is the automated control. Running separate channels and dimming LED's are nothing new to me but i have never DIY'd a programmable controller. Is there readily available DIY stuff out there for this, or am i better off looking into something like an APEX controller (lets just ignore the budget reasoning for DIY if that is the case) With a bit more reading I'm sure I could track down drivers with the 1-10v dimming control APEX uses, and how to actually wire that up. Just wondering if anyone has any advice on the automated/programmable control side of the DIY process.


Lets assume I am building a 32" fixture for the purposes of these questions as i can simply build 2 or double up for a longer fixture.

How many 10W LED's would you recommend?
I am thinking for each 32" fixture between 15-20 LED arrays
8-10 x 10,000K
4 x 6000-7000K (i'm not 100% certain on these, but worried without them the tank will be too "blue")
4 x 450-455nm Royal Blue
Wondering about adding another colour in here, something maybe in the violet spectrum... lots of commercially available lights throw in greens too, im guessing just for colour balance. I have to say from pictures I actually really like the colour blend in Mikes thread here

I actually feel like that may be way more light than I need now that i look at the list.... hence the desire for the programmable dimming... upside to overkill now is wont need to upgrade lighting anytime soon. Haha

Hopefully some good advice comes out of here, the prospect of a new DIY project related to the tank is pretty exciting itself.

Anyway, thoughts and ideas definitely welcome as well as sources for material would be awesome.

My DIY fixture consists of 3 rows of 10 watt multichip LEDs of various colours. I chose to keep it fairly simple using several 12 volt power supplies & manual dimmers. Auto control would be nice, but things get complex fast. There are some Arduino solutions out there if you wish to go that route. Changing from a Halide/T5HO combo with little in the way of control, I figured my livestock wouldn't notice a whole lot of difference if the new LED lighting just came on & off like the old fixture. After running the LEDs for at least a couple of years now, I suspect I was correct. Auto dimming, lightning storms etc. are cool, but does the livestock really care that much?

A link to my build is at the below my name down there.... not too many pages, so not a whole ton of reading, but there's a good bit of info in there, including some of the changes I've made during the build. I wanted to keep the fixture fairly light, so no massive heatsinks. Originally I started with small heatsinks with built in fans, but the fans were beginning to fail after a while & although I had spares, it became tedious. So I switched to larger heatsinks & built a cover that has 4 fans built into it to move some air. The larger heatsinks are supposedly enough to cool the 10 watt LED without a fan, but I think I made the right call with the fans in the cover. More info in my build thread. Have fun.

Tryed diy LEDs hated them won't go back

If you are serious about DIY LED's I would recommend you invest 30 mins of your life and watch this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7rp...vg8NwXIxydJ86A

Why type of corals are you planning to keep under LED's?

Yeah had a great read through your build thread, was actually thinking of using the same heat sinks you did. For now the fixture will likely remain open since it is all mounted behind a wall. Adding fans to the rig is something i would plan for in case they are needed.

The programming and control is from me being lazy, and accustomed to sunrise/set cycling with my current fixtures (current USA) No real reason I couldn't use manual dimmers to adjust the look and intensity of the tank and go back to timers. Part of the awesome of the DIY would be the ability to change it down the road. I would agree too that the natural lighting cycle is likely more for us visually than for the livestock.

was just doing some looking at Mean Well LED drivers, can dim them with some controllers but taking that route may defeat the financial side of the DIY, unless I can justify the controller as something I should have anyway for dosing and monitoring the tank :twised: Muwahaha???

Hard to say Specifics at this point but I do know that I want to start being able to move towards a more sps dominated reef. My existing lighting is great for LPS and softies. The potential lighting upgrade is part of a larger project to turn my tank into what I've always imagined my reef tank could be rather than what is easy to keep. The build on the lights will be a little ways off as I have some other tank issues to address before I get there. As for look and functionality i am going for the Evergrow IT2080 is the main contender for purchasing a fixture but was thinking for the same or less i could probably build a better light (light ramping control aside)

Have you looked at places like rapidled.com or Steve's led

I've had rapid leds over my tank in both my 30gallon and now my 125g love them and for 1000$ You can cover your tank and get the same if not better par for fraction of the price you'd pay

I have not looked at those sites yet but will definitely add them to the list of places to check out. :)


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I thought about DIY LED too and was put off by the idea of needing many individual drivers to control the lights. I don't have the room in the stand or the patience to run it all tidily.

I ended up going for a single hydra 52 which has one transformer and only uses one outlet on my apex and is pretty easy to use.

I really like it but do miss T5 to some degree.

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