Are DIY LEDs still a thing?

[firechild]

I've been out of the hobby for about 8 years (though I worked in the industry for some of that time) and before I left, DIY LEDs were all the rage. I built the unit for my last tank using Cree XP-G/XP-E emitters. I've started building a unit for my new tank but there doesn't seem to be any real discussion about LED builds since about 2015. Controllers like the Storm X and Typhon from around that time seem to be the latest. Am I missing something or have people just generally moved in another direction?

 

[Fishyfish22]

I think it might be because the cost spent making an intense LED build is almost as much as buying an already built powerful fixture

 

[brandon clow]

DIY led user here, my build is only 2 years old and using a reef pi for a controller. While some of the latest offerings look great I knew I could easily DIY the equivalent in spectrum/par for under $1000 on my 220 gallon. I love the blend and I know exactly how to maintain/upgrade them no matter my desire.

 

[AbjectMaelstroM]

DIY led user here, my build is only 2 years old and using a reef pi for a controller. While some of the latest offerings look great I knew I could easily DIY the equivalent in spectrum/par for under $1000 on my 220 gallon. I love the blend and I know exactly how to maintain/upgrade them no matter my desire.

Got pix?

 

[brandon clow]

Got pix?

I do! Snapped these here this morning and it's a bit of a mess as I removed it for some back of the tank inspection. I have more details (LED's, psu, drivers, lens) if desired. Three of these arrays over my 220.

 

[AbjectMaelstroM]

How many channels? That's a Lotta wires. How are the lenses held, friction?

 

[brandon clow]

How many channels? That's a Lotta wires. How are the lenses held, friction?

4 Channels per fixture. Whites, blues, violets/UV (which has one red and green..I want to either break these out someday) and moonlights. I could always break out the channels further and get more control but with the mix I have I was pleased enough not to. All driven by mean well. Lenses are held on with a clear epoxy..I would have to dig through my supplies to find the one I used. I originally used a thermal epoxy that I got from rapid but anytime I moved a wire in there it would bump it off. I would potentially use a hot glue gun in the future.

 

[AbjectMaelstroM]

4 Channels per fixture. Whites, blues, violets/UV (which has one red and green..I want to either break these out someday) and moonlights. I could always break out the channels further and get more control but with the mix I have I was pleased enough not to. All driven by mean well. Lenses are held on with a clear epoxy..I would have to dig through my supplies to find the one I used. I originally used a thermal epoxy that I got from rapid but anytime I moved a wire in there it would bump it off. I would potentially use a hot glue gun in the future.

Gotcha. I have a bunch of K16s and some others that I was going to play with, but without lenses they're a bit unruly with spread.

 

[Silent]

If anyone plans to go the DIY route I have equipment that I would sell. 4 Meanwell drivers, 48 cree 5 wt leds, optics, heatsinks, and the typhoon controller.

 

[reefinnewb]

I'm rocking a DIY on my 36" tank. I have three Lumia 5.2 pucks, o2 Surplus board, bluefish controller. Works fantastic. I may add some supplemental colors soon as I'm lacking any reds. Maybe add mint. Undecided. I only use 5 of the 6 channels available to me.

I don't really see any recent movement on the DIY front anymore. Chances are that if my controller doesn't go, I'll probably stay DIY since I can change it the way I want. I do with the bluefish interface would get an update though.

 

[vtecintegra]

I think DIY was strong when there were few manufactured choices. Today, LED fixtures have flooded the market, and the black boxes have made LEDs affordable for anyone.

I'm still DIY. Makers controllers, 5up driver board, dimming board, Cree Lumia 5.2 pucks, and Makers heatsinks. I've got the Apex lunar module with moon LEDs installed that follow the moon rise/set/intensity for my area. I ramp the Lumias for sunrise and set, and intensity varies throughout the day with simulated clouds passing. No computer control, but I can instantly adjust any of the five channels with the manual dimming boards on the end of the heatsinks. Similar set up on my quarantine, with 3 watt individual LEDs. I figure this cost just over half of what todays Radions would have.

 

[Bugeater281]

I would say it’s not as common. But it can still be worth it. While I probably won’t build a nice cree powered led for my 6ft 135g tank(probably metal halides with diy led supplemental lights).

I mainly used China leds, I have to replace them more often. But I can build a 60watt custom led light for ~10$. I have homebuilt led on all my small tanks. Problem being heatsinks start to add up when your talking about 300w builds. Though I am tempted to mess around with some pc water cooling parts. I bet it would be cheaper than massive heatsinks and more efficient.

I actually started doing for my planted tanks. I hate all commercial lights. They are all 7600k based, which really isn’t ideal for carpet growth. Plus the blues really bring out some color while 10k give a beautiful white.

Here’s some tanks with homemade China leds. Including some coral pics.

 

[garbled]

I still use my big 100W cannon-style LED's over my main tank. The only issue with them is the size, but the light output is amazing. (There is an article about them in the article section)

 

[blasterman]

The prices have come down so much on reef lights (some of them) it's not worth the time. It is nice to have the skills to mod stuff though, like black boxes. Also, you really need to get some 460-470nm blues in there to balance the dense 'purple' cast of typical 450nm royal blues. The problem is that 460-470nm LEDs are darn near impossible to find in Cree or Luxeon bins unless you order an entire reel. 7-8 years ago they were far more common. With an AI prime costing around 2 bills it's just not worth the hassle to DIY, IMO.

I've built some cool 'artsy' lights though. The mission style light here I made from scrap parts uses a 1200lumen bridgelux reflected onto a square piece of milk glass. The light quality in the room is amazing.

 

[AbjectMaelstroM]

The prices have come down so much on reef lights (some of them) it's not worth the time. It is nice to have the skills to mod stuff though, like black boxes. Also, you really need to get some 460-470nm blues in there to balance the dense 'purple' cast of typical 450nm royal blues. The problem is that 460-470nm LEDs are darn near impossible to find in Cree or Luxeon bins unless you order an entire reel. 7-8 years ago they were far more common. With an AI prime costing around 2 bills it's just not worth the hassle to DIY, IMO.

I've built some cool 'artsy' lights though. The mission style light here I made from scrap parts uses a 1200lumen bridgelux reflected onto a square piece of milk glass. The light quality in the room is amazing.

Also, pretty much this.

 

[garbled]

I think the black-box style ones, where you throw a bunch of 1W/3W LED's on a panel, are kinda done for DIY, like other people here say. But if you want to do fun things with the big COB panel style ones, I think there is still a ton of room for playing with those. IME they are generally really good lights, and you can get a lot of power out of them at a low price, which matters if you need alot.

Also, I'm a *huge* fan of MeanWell drivers, so I kinda would prefer to use a meanwell over anything else in most cases.

Finally, most black boxes and other stuff use fans. I really feel that fans and saltwater is basically waiting for death. The fans always die on me. This is just my personal opinion, but if you can do something fully passive, then you can eliminate that failure mode. If you want this, you more or less need to do DIY.

 

[ajjw0828]

Did DIY lighting for my 70 and 210 build. Way better price and they grow acros so I can't complain. I think its worth it. I used quality COB leds and haven't had any issues with them burning out and they're powerful. Used meanwell dimmable driver and am able to control with Apex.

 

[Ratherbeflyen]

My I built a 440 watt light for my 220 gallon. I used 10 watt led chips on 5 channels. All controlled by a tc421. I rounded it out with some 80 watt T5 bulbs. I would run LED + T5 even if I bought an off the shelf LED.

It's been trouble free for ~3 years and I'm pleased with the results.

 

[garbled]

Yeah, I have old 20W 45mil Epistar COB's over my 120, on passive heatsinks. They've been running for 5+ years now, and only this week one of the LED's died. Could not be happier.

That 10W build is super nice. I have to ask, what did that sink cost you?

 

[AbjectMaelstroM]

Do you have any par measurements for the LEDs only? I'd be curious how much penetration you would have without lenses.

I busted out my old tinker build. 6x12 beefcake sink. I've got two 4 channel boards with various meanwell drivers. I'd like to make a 4 (maaaaybe 5) channel light, probably use it on my coral QT. I've got a bunch of K16s and a couple of these LumiLed Fresh Fish cobs which are full spectrum. Playing with idea of 4xK16, 2xFreshFish, 4-6xSteves Led HyperViolets. Also got some mints I can throw in there and maybe some blues to bring down the "purple" look.

Ideally I'd like to run it off of 1 4 ch board but I'd have to run the K16s and FF in parallel which I'm not a huge fan of... But hey, for science!