Custom build LED fixture
 

Well I have been thinking of getting more lights for the tank but the options for T5HO and metal halide are not financially feasible for me. Adding two more T5HO would cost me around $50/7-8 months and with halide, I will need two pedants (to cover 30") and I am pretty sure my landlord wont tolerate any drilling in the wall/ceiling.

So I am setting a budget of around $40-$50 to make a DIY led.

Current lighting: A coralife T5HO 30" fixture with 1x 10,000k light + 1x actinic light. A total of 62W.

LED basics: As far as I know, LEDs should be around 2.5 to 3.5 W/gallon as a rule of thumb. But since I already have 62W over the tank (3 W/gallon), I am aiming for something like 2W/gallon at max. That means, a highest of 40W LED system. Will that be good enough? Should I go for more or lower wattage?

LED fixture: Since I don't have any option for drilling or handing kit, I am thinking of sticking the fixture at the back of the current fixture like shown in the figure. I am thinking whether I should get a shinny surface or just regular plastic. Do I need reflectors? Do I need heat sinks? If heat sink is required, how would I mount the heat sink with the fixture if it's plastic.

LED orientation: I am trying to achieve a full spectrum along with good color pop. I have selected 14k LED, royal blue LED, 420nm UV purple and red. Does that give enough spectrum? Will it help with the color pop along with grow? And what should be the ratio? I have just created an outline of the orientation that is shown in the figure.

http://i1304.photobucket.com/albums/...ps335bbbab.png

Driver: After all the lights and orientation are corrected, I will select the driver. Possibly two drivers with one being regular one (to run 14k) and others being connected to dimmable driver. Or should I do the opposite?

Any suggestions are welcome. I am familiar with DIY but I am not familiar with LED lighting for reefs.

Thanks :)

$40 aint much of a budget for leds but im curious to see what you come up with all the same :) goodluck!

Thanks :D

Actually I am not aiming for anything fancy. Hopefully will be possible within the budget. I can pump up the budget a bit (atleast there won't be any upkeep like extra T5HO).

I am confused about heat sinks and which LEDs and how much to use.

Hoping someone will enlighten me :)

You will need a heatsink for sure and that alone will take up half if not more of your budget. My LED build just in LEDs, driver, connectors, lenses and such cost about $2200 over an 8' long tank so roughly $275 a foot not including te heatsinks I built.


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Will the small star-like heat sinks for power LEDS work?

Once I get suggestions and finalize the number of leds required, I will make a budget to see how much it costs. I won't be using CREE (since my tank already has T5HO, LED will be more like suppliments and currently, with my plan, it should be somewhere between $50-$60. But since I am not familiar with reef led lighting, I may be wrong.

And that's why this post :D

I would go with mainly blues and whites, and not so many reds (these promote algae growth from what I've been told). Maybe an RGB emitter or two.

I used 10w emitters and am happy with those (and so are the corals).

And yeah, $40 won't get you much except the emitters. The heatsink, power source, dimmers, etc. add up. Even the cheap eBay power supply is $22, a heatsink is probably going to run you about $26 with shipping (not even 30" long but something that could handle say 12 x 3w emitters) and when you're buying just small quantities of different coloured LEDs, that will be more expensive per emitter than if you bought bulk. A dimmable power supply will cost even more.

So realistically, your budget won't come close to getting you what you want. You could build your own Aluminum heatsinks to save some money and find used parts, but even doing that will not guarantee coming close to the $40 budget.

Personally, if you're going LED, I would replace your entire lighting with LED and maybe just keep the T5 for supplemental instead of the other way around.

I'm admittedly biased though because I'm switching over to LED over my tanks, my home & even my tv. The energy savings is huge. Went from 3x150w mh & 4x96w PC actinic to 280w (max - but usually only about 200w) of mixed LED over my main 165g mixed reef.

Switching my 150w MH over my 2' 60g "nemo/anemone" cube tank to 50w of LED.

Anthony

Those star-like bases should then be glued to a proper, bigger, more effective Aluminum heat sink.

Thanks for the suggestions :D

Well I was wondering what would you suggest me to do if I want to make LED primary and the T5s secondary? Like how the LEDS should be placed above the tank, how many rows and columns should be there, etc. I am really confused about the placement and orientation. I have found a 30"x 0.7" heatsink for $20 but with that, I can have a single row of LEDs.

I guess I will stick to white and blue then. Will 420nm UV purple be of any good?

Should I go for a linear setup or the typical 2/3 rows of LED?

You'll have to research the results others have had with violet/purple LEDs over their reef tanks. I have never used them so I can't say from personal experience. Lights in the 420nm to 470nm range (violet to blues) are supposed to be more efficiently used in photosynthesis, so 420nm violets should be good but again, no personal experience.

I use 445nm & 455nm blues, 6500k, 10000k, and 20000k whites on my big unit. Debating about whether to retro RGBs in.