DIY LED Reef lighting

[mrunlucky07]

I decided to switch out my planted tank to a reef tank in August. The last few months I have been just getting it stabilized out and set up. As a planted tank I was running 175w of PC light, but decided to switch to LED for the reef. All the info for the build came from a couple forums. (primarly nano reef) The positives are LEDS are low power, last 10 years, low heat, fully adjustable color temp and intensity since they are dimmable, give a crazy shimmer, and should put out a PAR level comparable to MH. There is a lawsuit hindering led reef technology righ now, but I think in the next few years it will really take off.


The Basics,

10x Cree Q5 3w 6700k Leds
10x Cree Royal blue
20 thermal adhesive pads
20x 80 deg lenses
4x 1000ma adjustable buckpuck drivers
2x potentiometers and knobs
2x 32v 2.4A power supplies
6x24" aluminum heatsink
Basic hookup wire, solder, glue, paint


Aluminum I used for a heatsink

LED drivers

LEDs

Drilled the heatsink for connectors and pots.

Wiring up the LEDs. Each driver is capable of running 6 in series. I wired each color using two drivers with the reference lines connect to one pot for dimming.

80 deg lenses. I am just using them on the whites for now

20 wired up

Aluminum kobs for intensity of each color.

Blues full low

Whites

Whites and blues running at 10w

Running at 45w. They max out at 75w.

Let me know what you think and if you have any questions.

 

[The1and only]

I am curious what the cost of this would run.

 

[Danger_Chicken]

I am curious what the cost of this would run.

me too and where to get the parts.

 

[mr.reef24]

look's good please keep us posted on growth of corals and other results in the tank.

mr.reef24

 

[mrunlucky07]

I am curious what the cost of this would run.

The initial cost seems large up front, but should balance out. I already had everything but the Leds and drivers and it was still about $250. If you change bulbs out as you should it pays for itself pretty quickly.

Rapid led has retro kits that are about the same as the componet preices, you just need a heatsink.

http://www.rapidled.com/servlet/the-27/24-LED-DIY-Kit/Detail

me too and where to get the parts.

My drivers came from led supply and leds from nano tuners

http://ledsupply.com/buckpuck.php

http://www.nanotuners.com/index.php?cPath=71&osCsid=jg83mv21n98295ndceal22dg46

look's good please keep us posted on growth of corals and other results in the tank.

mr.reef24

Will do. I am 4 months into it and still have a ways to go before I am ready to start growing. I won't have a base comparison for the leds, but from what people are saying they are the ticket.

 

[KLee79]

$250? Thats still pricey...But i guess compared to a store bought one, that would save lots of money. I saw one at Aquarium Adventure for a couple grand. Dont remember the specs but it had programmable lights to stimulate dusk, dawn, full sun and what not....nice clean build tho. I bought christmas led lights and plan to build a fixture with that. 50 led's for $6 only using 3.8 watts!

 

[Bizarroterl]

Where did you get the heatsink?

 

[Yanbbrox]

Great work so far subscribed and interested to see how it goes.

This remind I've a question for you, but I'll pm you to save derailing your thread.

 

[duke33]

Thanks for the info.

 

[mr.reef24]

LED are extraordinary in the reef setup I believe they are the future and will take over MH just as T-5's did with PC's

mr.reef24