DIY LED Light Fixture

DRC Archive General Saltwater Discussion
1

So, I have been looking around the internet the past few days, trying to get a good idea of what it would take to make my own LED Light kit for my tank. I have a few good resources, and a couple of places that have really nice DIY write-ups. What I am looking for is a resource to help calculate the number of LEDs I would need. The one DIY write-up is specifically for a 75gallon tank, which is overkill for what I am looking to do. The other one that I found says it was designed to exceed the light produced by a 250watt 20k Metal Halide. I have a 55 gallon tank, so I would assume I would need something very close to what that writeup is doing, I’d just like to take a closer look at the calcs before I start buying the pieces. I was hoping to get 5-6 watts per gallon.

Based on the writeup on Frugalreef.com, which wrote up the DIY on the fixture that exceeds the 250w MH, he built his fixture for right around $300. I’d assume with the correct optics, I could get something like that to work on my 55. Here is the link to that:

http://frugalreef.com/wiki/DIY_LED_Aquarium_Lights

If I end up doing this, I plan on taking loads of pictures and putting something up on our forums, maybe not quite a DIY but at least some pictures to show my progress.

2

IIRC, the Cree LEDs are ~3.7W each (@ 1000mA, which is the buckpack used there).

The fixture detailed on frugglereef wiki uses 24 Cree’s, so (not accounting for losses) you’re looking @ ~89W for that one moduule. If you were to simply double that and build two of those modular units, you would be @ ~180W, which would be well under the 5-6W per gallon number you’re talking about.

According to that article, that should be like hanging two (2) 250W MH’s over your tank.

And, I’m not sure, but I think those modules are ~12"x8.5", so you could actually hang three over a 55G. That get’s you to ~4.4W/gallon. To cram any more than that over a 55 might be tough, since you only have so much real estate to use up there.

Or maybe I’m missing what you’re asking …

3

Im not real good at the DC power supplies and stuff. but these XRE-Q5 LED pucks only put out about 100 lumen each. it would take 30 of them to equal one 32watt normal output T8 3000 lumen Zoo Med bulb. Wouldnt it? or 50 of them to equal one 54w T5?

4

many long threads on rc
here’s one from manhattan reef

toward the end some people start talking about cree and soldering and other tech stuff

5

Watts per gallon is a useless measurement. you aren’t putting the watts into the water, so how do they matter to each other? lumens, lux, spectrum and PAR are what is needed to be known.

6

Yup, i think that CREE unit runs on 3.7 V not watts. its only 100 lumen output. LEDs get about 50-100 lumen per watt depending on brand, make and color temp. it would still take 50 of them to equal the output of one 54W T5. about 5000 lumen. Maybe something like this one would work better. 900 lumen per puck on 10 watts with a color temp of 6300K.
http://www.goldengadgets.com/led-lights/led-light-bulbs/do-it-yourself-led-bulbs/ssc-p7-white-900-lumens-10w-light-led-diy.html

5 of these would equal a T5, or a 4 x 5 array grid of 20 of them woulb be about the lumen output of 4 T5 lamps. about 18,000 lumen. hmmm but this ad says a Phoenix 150w DE 14,000K MH bulb puts out 33,000 lumen.

http://store.bulbstock.com/20621.html

Hey, Im using one of those on my frag tanks. Nice blue wihite light. but that lumen rating cant be right. a 250w mh is around 20,000 lumen. it should be about 12,000-14,000 for a 14k.

7

watts per gallon do not matter when it comes to LEDs. LED fixtures can not be compared to MH or T5HO by using watts alone, they must be compared by light quality(par,spectrum,lumens etc). since LEDs are incredibly effecient, most of the power is used directly on the light and only say 10% to heat (arbitrary percentage, dont know real numbers) but this can be the opposite for MH much power is lost to heat production there for they need to make up for the lost light by pumping more power into it. i would check out nano-reef.com and look for posts by Evilc66. he is the self(and hobby) proclaimed LED genius, and is doing wonders on the LED front. from what ive read for a 55 you would prob need 2 modules of about 24 each 12-royal blue and 12-cool white. at a 1:1 ratio you will get the color temp of approx 10000k-14000k and with a 2:1(rb:white) you will get about a 20000k look. and since RB LEDs push out the same power and penetration as the white LEDs do, you will have about the same par numbers with any combination.

good luck, do your research. the shimmer and florescence on the corals is quite nice from the leds, but really hard to capture in photos.

8

Just an FYI even if you knew the PAR it may not help… PAR was known for the salaris fixtures. Try to find a single person using one of those and bragging about how great there tank is doing… It wasn’t just hobbyist using them either and no one had good results.

9

[quote=“kaptken, post:6, topic:2779”]
Yup, i think that CREE unit runs on 3.7 V not watts. [/quote]

You’re right, Ken. The Cree’s are rated @ 3.7V. And @ 1000mA - that’s 3.7W.
3.7V * 1A = 3.7W (P=VI) :GEEK:

[quote=“Gordonious, post:8, topic:2779”]
Just an FYI even if you knew the PAR it may not help… PAR was known for the salaris fixtures. Try to find a single person using one of those and bragging about how great there tank is doing… It wasn’t just hobbyist using them either and no one had good results. [/quote]

There are still people using them. And some DO boast of them. I know of at least one LFS (well, local to my driving habits … ) that had a tank set up with one for a few years, and LOVED it.

Customer support is kind of lacking now, but there are still some units out there, Jon.

[quote=“TimH07, post:5, topic:2779”]
Watts per gallon is a useless measurement. you aren’t putting the watts into the water, so how do they matter to each other? lumens, lux, spectrum and PAR are what is needed to be known.[/quote]

[quote=“Kdino, post:7, topic:2779”]
LED fixtures can not be compared to MH or T5HO by using watts alone, they must be compared by light quality(par,spectrum,lumens etc).[/quote]

Couldn’t agree more with these two statements. The OP asked specifically about Watts, so I tried to answer that question. But, at the end of the day, it really does come down to the light @ the coral.

10

Thanks Ted. Like i said, i’m a little rusty on my DC power. LEDs are a little more efficient than T5s, but not much in terms of lumens per watt. so they still use more power than people think. Its a step in the right direction.
But like i posted in an earlier thread, The new Plasma bulb will be even better than LEDs.
http://www.oceanathome.com/more-detail-on-lumix-lifi-reef-lighting/

according to their video here, LEDs only make 70 lumen per watt on average, some a little better, and their Plasma lamp does about 140 lm per watt. I asked Sanjay Joshi at the NPARCs frag swap a couple months ago if he was going to test them. and He smiled and said yes, He was looking forward to testing them, just as soon as they send some ready for market. These could be a big improvement, providing they get the spectrums correct for reef tanks.

11

Ted do you have any links of people using the Solaris and loving them? I have a years worth of hands on expense with them now and will say I would never use them unless I was offered one for free and even then I would only use it on a FOWLR system as they won’t grow corals well in my experience. I did see some zoas grow at a decent rate under them, but the amount of food in the water could explain that.

Calfo was given one for free because someone else was having rough luck with them and he couldn’t get anything to grow under them.

Just curious. I’d love to hear some great long term results from LEDs. Waiting to see some growth rate images, but so far I haven’t seen any.

12

“just curious. I’d love to hear some great long term results from LEDs. Waiting to see some growth rate images, but so far I haven’t seen any.”

for kicks and giggles you should do a search for nanocustoms par38 led bulb or maxspect led fixture growth rates on nano-reef(only place ive actually looked at led stuff) some of them are quite nice and the coloring up on certain sps is quite nice.

one thing that i have heard is that rics and zoas and palys will get really small due to the increased light output but the growth rate has skyrocketed.

13
for kicks and giggles you should do a search for nanocustoms par38 led bulb

agreed. these are the style bulbs used heavily in Japan typically in a “spotlight” fashion. A lot of people seem to be happy with the results in smaller tanks. A lot of the setups ive seen actually use them in track lighting fixtures.

interesting enough, i noticed the exact same style bulb in Lowes the other day(standard socket with heat sink housing). unfortunately the spectrum for these bulbs was “cool white” which was somewher around 2500K if i recall.

14

I just came across these LED plant grow lights. Floriculture also relies on a blue spectrum for certain phases of plant growth and enhancement.

http://www.thegreenleaf.biz/LED_Lights.html

But you will note the spectrum. These units can be had as full blue 460 nm peak blue LEDs. pretty high lumen/par output. low price. If you also look at the chlorophyl absorption spectra chart, clhlorophyl-a peaks at 420nm and 665nm, and chlorophyl-b peaks at 460 nm and 640nm something. Same dominant chlorophyl in corals. But when we look up the chart for a 460 nm led elsewhere it shows its a pretty narrow blue peak at 460 nm between 430-475nm. and almost no 420 nm light. so thats a minus. but we could use some of these plus true actinic T5s together and a couple daylights.

the 90w and 120w look good.

most blue leds are around the 460 nm type. its hard to find one as a true 420 nm. I think there might be some. but not sure.

on the other hand, when you look at most of the spectra charts for MH bulbs that Sanjay makes, most MH bulbs above 10K have a blue peak at about 450-460 nm and almost no 420 nm blue actinic light. as fer instance ,you have to look up your own bulb choice, his website is protected from links or copy.:

http://www.manhattanreefs.com/lighting

Which is probably why we like to suppliment MH light with VHO 420 actinics to make colors pop. the good thing is the chlorophyl in zooxanthalae photosynthisize over the broad range of blue, 400-500 nm. they are just most efficient at 420, 460 nm. I think having a broad spectrum blue light is much more stable for them, as bulbs age, and shift red. small change for the coral over all, just on the upper and lower edges of the blue spectrum.

ergo, mixing 420 and 450-470 blue bulbs is probably a good thing.

Now, can we do that in LED alone?

15

[quote=“Gordonious, post:11, topic:2779”]
Ted do you have any links of people using the Solaris and loving them? [/quote]

If that’s not a loaded question, I don’t know what is. :slight_smile: Without ANY possible customer support, I don’t think anyone is loving Solaris fixtures anymore.

I don’t keep a ready stock of links in my back pocket, and you can use google just as well as I can. But if you get to Ocean Gallery II in Jersey, ask the guy who runs the fishroom. They quit using it when the patent infringment suit killed the Solaris, but he said he loved it.

BTW, that’s a great store for corals, IMHO. HJack

16

Agreed. When they first came out i remember reading thread after thread of people raving about these fixtures. These fixtures were plagued with problems even before the lawsuit that Ted mentioned. The B/S/T forums on RC were filled with units that started to malfunction almost immediately after purchase. Ironically there is a guy right now on RC-DVRC selling two “almost new” fixtures that had electrical problems since day one. I know that there is now a lot of performance data out there for LED’s where the was once very little but i dont think these things every worked long enough to determine how well they could or could not grow corals. With so many other factors affecting coral growth it would be very difficult to draw any conclusions anecdotally about these fixtures or LED’s in general without some pretty comprehensive testing.

LEDs are a little more efficient than T5s, but not much in terms of lumens per watt. so they still use more power than people think. Its a step in the right direction. But like i posted in an earlier thread, The new Plasma bulb will be even better than LEDs.
Ive got to agree with Ken. Im not so sure that LEDs are the right direction to go with all the low cost T5 options available. My gut feeling tells me that LED fixtures are going to go the way of Betamax and HD-DVD. There were just too many false starts and plasma fixtures seem to be gaining steam very quickly. Small custom LED fixtures for nano tanks is really the only use i see for LED's in the future when costs come down a little. The small size will help negate much of the costs associated with larger LED arrays. Being more cost effective should make LED's a worthwhile investment for the benefits of lower heat at higher efficiencies that are so important for nano tanks.
17

so those par38 bulbs by nanocustoms that we mentioned earlier in this thread…well i pulled the trigger on them today. part of a group buy from utah reef club (not a member, well kinda am now but found them on google and they were doing it and let me jump on board)

so ordered 3 12000k bulbs. cant wait till they get in. they will be going on my new-ish 29 review and coverage of my new tank build coming soon. hopefully they ship out quickly.

18

I want to thank all of you for the great information. It seems that I may wait just a little, keep researching to see what people that have been using them are saying, and then go from there. I am getting more and more interested in these plasma bulbs. But I’d guess that they have to put out an enormous amount of heat. If they are anything like the plasma TVs? Any good websites to read up on these plasma bulbs? I don’t imagine it is something I’d be doing to my current 55 setup, but down the road, I’d like to break into the triple digit tank size and would be something I’d be looking for at that time.