anyone using diy led's anymore?

[coralbeauties]

I am thinking of revamping my diy led system this winter. I currently have a string of 12 uv and violet leds on each of my lights and feel I am not getting much of anything out of them. You can hardly tell they are even on with optics on them. I dont believe the uv are doing anything for the corals and wonder about the violet. what are your thoughts. How about the added expense of optics? I have some optics that are a major pain to attach to the cree leds. I have seen optic holders now that have legs on them that would be glued over the led. Just trying to get a grasp on the latest thoughts on diy built units. I have 3 heat sinks now with 48 leds per sink. Adding optics would be a fair expense if it doesnt gain much. My tank is 180 gallon 24 in deep.
Thanks for any advise and insite.
Jeff

 

[Bradw18]

What kinda drivers are you using? Iv done a complete diy led set up but used the 3 watt bridge lux leds and drive them at about 1.8-2 watts

 

[coralbeauties]

using an ardurino with ldd drivers. I really like the adjustablity of the ardurino. Quite a bit of a learning curve to get it all set up and programmed but in the end it works great.
Jeff

 

[Bradw18]

Iv actually got several of the aundros as I had planned on using them on my diy led set up. But after getting an apex and meanwell drivers I never looked back. Still wouldn't mind learning more about the programming aspect of the aundro for future projects though. As for the uv leds I don't think our eyes pick up that spectrum as clearly as say a blue or white led may be something to experiment with using a lux meter

 

[Donovan Joannes]

I do (arduino controlled, 3 channels non dimming driver) and I love it. A hint of near UV/violet do have some effect on coral coloration, but I don't use that much. In growth, maybe not. Getting a correct blend of spectrum is PITA for non dimmable drivers. If I have to redo my light, i will be using the LDD drivers built for arduino. Here is my tank when all channels are on...

 

[coralbeauties]

I am going to pull each light out and go through them for any bad pucks and add optics to them all.
Oh you have to upgrade to ldd drivers if you are running the arduino. You can control colors and the intensity of each in 15 minute increments. Extremely adjustable to get exactly what you want. Nice photos!
Jeff

 

[Bradw18]

Tank looks amazing btw Iv gotten some green, uv and red leds but havnt installed them yet as I'm about to upgrade to a 220 and will new double the lighting I have now. Wish I could afford the Cree leds lol. Right now I'm running full spectrums white and blues only and I'm pretty happy with the way the tank looks but it's missing something just havnt figured out what yet

 

[coralbeauties]

I have been buying cree LEDs off eBay out of China. I've had good luck with them and are a fraction of the cost.
Jeff

 

[Shigshwa]

I've got a DIY setup, I'm running all Cree LEDs at 5W each, totaling 180W, 1:1 ratio of cool white and royal blue. I get 250 PAR on the sandbed, and everything is growing well. I'm gonna rebuild it and include some violet though, so that I can better target chlorophyll A. It's currently running with an Arduino for dimming, and I'm gonna write some custom firmware for my next rebuild.

For me, I went the DIY route for cost savings and customizibility.

 

[Bradw18]

I'd love to see what yalls programming look like maybe I can give it another shot. I love the idea of using a mini plc to do everything and I'd be able to free up some ports on the ol apex

 

[coralbeauties]

I've got a DIY setup, I'm running all Cree LEDs at 5W each, totaling 180W, 1:1 ratio of cool white and royal blue. I get 250 PAR on the sandbed, and everything is growing well. I'm gonna rebuild it and include some violet though, so that I can better target chlorophyll A. It's currently running with an Arduino for dimming, and I'm gonna write some custom firmware for my next rebuild.

For me, I went the DIY route for cost savings and customizibility.

Do you have optics on your system?

I'd love to see what yalls programming look like maybe I can give it another shot. I love the idea of using a mini plc to do everything and I'd be able to free up some ports on the ol apex

I use the jarduino program for mine. It works really well and easy to adjust everything with a touch screen. Led group buy has the ldd and boards at a decent price. Each little driver will do a string of 12.
Jeff

 

[Shigshwa]

Do you have optics on your system?


I use the jarduino program for mine. It works really well and easy to adjust everything with a touch screen. Led group buy has the ldd and boards at a decent price. Each little driver will do a string of 12.
Jeff

I do, I used to use 60 degree optics, but my lights were too spaced out for good blending, so I switched out to 90 degree optics. I still average 200-250 on the sandbed.

 

[Steven Garland]

Whe I was running my hybrid,is when I notcied the power and performance of violets. I was running 2 B+ and just a bunch of random leds,I had gotten good growth,got bored of it and switched everything out for 4 luxeon royals and 12 violets ranging from 400nm to 430nm and I thought hey,let me run just violet lets and see how coral do. Well,lets say I was surprised with how well everything did.

Zoa's that hadn't grown in months,popped out babies like it was tax return time and startes taking off like crazy. My Acan's got deeper colors and started showing colors I hadn't seen before.

Violets are naturally dim,due to the spectrum but pack a lot of power and par. Changes happen over time and they weren't a overnight success story.

How high off the water is your light ?! With that many leds,I feel like optics wouldn't be needed for a 24" deep tank. Unless you run violets by themselves you won't noticed the violets are even on,but like I said they still will pack a punch.

 

[coralbeauties]

I have three sinks above my tank. One has 90% of the LEDs with optics and my second one has no optics. I checked par the other day and was seeing close to 200 par difference between the two. I ordered sixty 80 deg optics for when I go through each light.
I believe my lights are no more then a foot off the water.
Jeff

 

[dacianb]

The dotted line in image bellow (photopic curve) is what human eye can see (sensitivity of human eye); As you notice in range bellow 450 we barely see anything... But violets (400-430 nm range) are very well absorbed by clorophil A and Beta-carotene. On top of that, those LEDs are very powerful (as radiometric power) comparing with visible LEDs; Luxeon UVs are classified as photobiological risk Class II - with other words are so powerful that can harm your retina badly if stare into them.

I always used DIY lights.... always used violets. But not ebay cheaps thou;

 

[Brian W]

Anyone know where to get 48" x 2" x 1" heat sink?
All I can find is 12-24" heat sinks.
Using 24 3w Cree Blue leds.
Thanks

 

[Shon]

Im planning a 120mm pinfin sink with citizen 3.5k cob on a manual dim pot for a fuge light. So thats technically a diy led.

Anyone know where to get 48" x 2" x 1" heat sink?
All I can find is 12-24" heat sinks.
Using 24 3w Cree Blue leds.
Thanks

http://www.heatsinkusa.com/1-813-wide-extruded-aluminum-heatsink/

Closest I know of. Its 1.81x1.25 They sell and cut it to desired length.

 

[Brian W]

Im planning a 120mm pinfin sink with citizen 3.5k cob on a manual dim pot for a fuge light. So thats technically a diy led.


http://www.heatsinkusa.com/1-813-wide-extruded-aluminum-heatsink/

Closest I know of. Its 1.81x1.25 They sell and cut it to desired length.

Nice! Appreciate it!!

 

[hart24601]

I personally wont buy or make a fixture unless they have near UV and violets in them although they look dim to our eyes. Not that you can't grow coral without them, but they are a valuable part of the spectrum for growth and color IMO.

 

[FunkEngine]

Its probably not ideal, but in my fixture I have about half of my PAR from 410nm, 420nm, and 430nm peak LEDs.