Blueacro LED Build

RedneckReefer68

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This was my first build, so I was a little in the dark, but after I got started it was pretty simple.


All parts came in today. I will be controlling it with the reef angel controller
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The half stars

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The blueacro driver with a razor blade for comparison
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Mounted star at the center of heatsink
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All Stars are mounted and space evenly
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Wiring will go like this:

Driver Channel 1 A -> Puck 1 Channel 1 A
Puck 1 Channel 1 C -> Puck 2 Channel 1 A
Puck 2 Channel 1 C -> Puck 3 Channel 1 A
Puck 3 Channel 1 C -> Driver Channel 1 C

Rinse and repeat for channel 2 across all the pucks and driver

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Hole drilled for power supply adapter

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Adapter mounted

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We have light

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To be continued later tonight. Mounting fans, hanging kit, and connection to RA
 
almost went with blueacro for my setup, but I really wanted violets and he ran out of the pros around xmas so I just built my own "evil cluster" but I really kind wish I went this way its so nice and clean. what are you using for dimming?
 
almost went with blueacro for my setup, but I really wanted violets and he ran out of the pros around xmas so I just built my own "evil cluster" but I really kind wish I went this way its so nice and clean. what are you using for dimming?

Thanks.. I'm using the reef angel to dim them. The makers heat sink was the most expensive part which I think gives it the clean look. The blueacro drivers are small and can be mounted on the sink with the LEDs.
 
Thanks.. I'm using the reef angel to dim them. The makers heat sink was the most expensive part which I think gives it the clean look. The blueacro drivers are small and can be mounted on the sink with the LEDs.

yes I love the makers heatsink I used a 12inch one for my build as well.

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Great job with the Blueacro's. You are right about the heat sink. Looks good and also sadly the most expensive part of most DIY :( I wanted something wide like what you have but couldn't find anything reasonable. Really glad he is back because his chips are pretty solid. I have 4 of the acrostar pros and they are pretty intense I must say. The violets are nice. Will be interesting if I can replicate any of the Coral Lab settings with these. I'm using a ReefAngel with my existing tank which controls PWM with Storm/Cloud features. Moving it to the Apex. We'll see.

Anyway I like the power plug adapter you have. Is there a name? It is pretty clean. Also how are you powering up your fans? Single power source / wall wart?
 
Great job with the Blueacro's. You are right about the heat sink. Looks good and also sadly the most expensive part of most DIY :( I wanted something wide like what you have but couldn't find anything reasonable. Really glad he is back because his chips are pretty solid. I have 4 of the acrostar pros and they are pretty intense I must say. The violets are nice. Will be interesting if I can replicate any of the Coral Lab settings with these. I'm using a ReefAngel with my existing tank which controls PWM with Storm/Cloud features. Moving it to the Apex. We'll see.

Anyway I like the power plug adapter you have. Is there a name? It is pretty clean. Also how are you powering up your fans? Single power source / wall wart?

Thanks , I'm pretty happy with it being my first diy. I'm happy I was patient and waited to see what was going with his site. I checked out everyday and last Tuesday they was listed again as in stock. I love them now that I've seen them in person.The adapter you can get on his site. I actually ordered one from him. I got my power supply from Amazon and when I opened it up it had one also. The exact one he sells also.

If your able to replicate the coral lab of be interested in knowing your settings
 
You bet, I will. It may not be possible with pro's though since they are already pushing 20K. The CoralLab report shows UV, B, RB all at 100% with white at 15%, green at 20%, and red at 25%. His royal blue are blended across the channels so it won't be has easy has I thought. Doing what I can so far across what I have it is a bit more violet than what I would expect but it is due to the quality of led's he is using. Anyway I'll be toying with it to see how it works while the tank continues to cycle :)
 
I've tried a few different things but not so far not able to replicate it to my satisfaction. My rose bubble tip anemones started acting weird with the lights at 80% so I dropped them down to 70% and only holding at that intensity / power for 1 hour. Prior to and after I have them slowly ramping up and down every 30 minutes. The Apex doesn't have a very good Parabola function like my Reef Angel controller but these lights (the blue acro's) are not on those. Apex is controlling them.

Ignore the Apex varspd channel to Blue Acro channel mapping - I need to swap the wire to match. On my todo list. The thing with the pro's is that each of the channels has some form of blue which gets them to the 20k range. Trying to adjust up or down the intensity of them doesn't match to the coral lab layout. Channel 2 though - with those violets - are pretty intense. Solid LED chips - I like them. I don't have any SPS corals but I think I found a frag pack on ebay finally that has each frag for about 10 bucks. So going to try it.

So I apologize - I didn't find a way to mix properly but still like them. I'm going to get a seneye par meter I think this month and see how everything - to include my two Rapid LED multi channel chips are working with my 30" tall tank.

Varspd_3 = Channel 1: 4x Royal Blue (450nm), 1x Warm White (2700k, 80+CRI); 1A max current, 15V required
Varspd_4 = Channel 2: 2x Royal Blue (450nm), 1x 425nm Violet (Luxeon UV), 1x 415nm Violet (Luxeon UV); 1A max current, 12V required
Varspd_2 = Channel 3 1x Lime, 1x Warm White (2700k, 80+CRI), 1x Royal Blue, 1x Neutral White (4000k, 80+CRI); 700mA max current, 12V required
Varspd_1 = Channel 4: 1x Blue (485nm), 1x Royal Blue (450nm), 1x Cyan (500nm); 1A max current, 9V required.
 

IF YOU HAD TO TAKE A REEFING EXAM, WOULD YOU PASS?

  • Yes!

    Votes: 32 45.7%
  • Not yet, but I have one that I want to buy in mind!

    Votes: 9 12.9%
  • No.

    Votes: 26 37.1%
  • Other (please explain).

    Votes: 3 4.3%

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