Building your own light--worth it?

paphater · Mar 2, 2018

Currently I've got three SB Reef lights, one 32" and two 16." The two 16s were picked up used and the 32 was new. One 16" is visibly less bright than the other two and I'm getting the best growth out of the middle of the tank which is under the 32" that was bought brand new.

I built the light I used on my planted freshwater tank and I'm toying with the idea building stripping it down and using what I can (Storm x controller, meanwell drivers, 250w power supply, etc.). I haven't really looked in to it much but my worry is that the spectrum will be quite a bit more involved than what I needed for a planted tank. I really don't want to sink more than a couple $100 in to it considering the pieces I already have. Any thoughts on if it's worth it?

The tank is 96"x22"x22".

Crabs McJones · Mar 2, 2018

paphater said:
Currently I've got three SB Reef lights, one 32" and two 16." The two 16s were picked up used and the 32 was new. One 16" is visibly less bright than the other two and I'm getting the best growth out of the middle of the tank which is under the 32" that was bought brand new.

I built the light I used on my planted freshwater tank and I'm toying with the idea building stripping it down and using what I can (Storm x controller, meanwell drivers, 250w power supply, etc.). I haven't really looked in to it much but my worry is that the spectrum will be quite a bit more involved than what I needed for a planted tank. I really don't want to sink more than a couple $100 in to it considering the pieces I already have. Any thoughts on if it's worth it?

The tank is 96"x22"x22".

My uncle built his own led fixtures using some of the parts you listed. They work amazingly well. He has had amazing growth with them. I'll see if I can get some pictures of them and post them for you later

Halal Hotdog · Mar 2, 2018

Financially it typically makes more sense to purchase a Chinese black box light rather than building one.

Crabs McJones · Mar 2, 2018

Greybeard · Mar 2, 2018

Lighting is one of those questions everybody has an opinion on, and none of them are wrong... or right...

You'll get 'buy a Kessel' or 'Radion'... Nothing wrong with those answers, if you can afford it. On a smaller tank, i'd probably even agree, at some level, buy an excellent quality light, pay good money for it, and you're done, hopefully for a good long time. On your tank? You'd need 4 of them. That's going to be a very expensive purchase, and NOBODY can say that spending that money is going to grow corals better than with a less expensive option.

You're likely to get someone with Chinese black box lights off Amazon or Ebay... a much less expensive option, for sure, but I for one don't want a non UL listed electrical product running unattended in my home, and disco lighting bugs the heck out of me.

DIY is another perfectly valid choice... I'm running an open top system, no canopy... I'm capable of making it work, but making it look good? Questionable, at least.

There'll be some old fogies like me talking about Halides (I _love_ halides, but eventually got tired of fighting heat issues) and T5's (haven't found a downside to T5's yet).

Me? I bought a used 8 bulb T5 unit from Tek. Replaced the ballasts, polished the reflector, and installed new ATI bulbs. Total cost, just over $300. Looks great, IMHO. More than sufficient lighting for any coral I might want to grow, ready to hang, nothing else required. Cost less than one of those Kessel or Radion lights. One would not have done it... Probably 4, maybe 6. Yes, electrical will be a bit more than with an LED... but we're talking a few bucks a year, max. Yes, I've got to replace my bulbs every other year... but I can do that for over a decade before I'd match the cost of 4 Kessel 360's, plus a spectral controller, mounting hardware... How many folks around here using 10 year old LED's? You think the Kessel's will last that long? If so, why do they have a 2 year warranty?

I firmly believe, one day in the future, this argument will be moot. There will eventually be excellent quality modular LED lighting solutions available at a reasonable price, and discussions like this will be a thing of the past. IMHO, we're not there yet.

paphater · Mar 2, 2018

crabs_mcjones said:

Looks like a pretty nice setup. Pretty polished for DIY.

Crabs McJones · Mar 2, 2018

paphater said:
Looks like a pretty nice setup. Pretty polished for DIY.

He is very precise and meticulous lol. He has two of them.

paphater · Mar 2, 2018

Halal Hotdog said:
Financially it typically makes more sense to purchase a Chinese black box light rather than building one.

I essentially already have black boxes with the SB Reefs. My only issue with them is that growth is noticeably different between the unit that is 6 months old and the two units that are 22 months old. Assuming the seller gave me an honest answer on how old they were.

oreo54 · Mar 2, 2018

paphater said:
I essentially already have black boxes with the SB Reefs. My only issue with them is that growth is noticeably different between the unit that is 6 months old and the two units that are 22 months old. Assuming the seller gave me an honest answer on how old they were.

Well you actually have most of "the expensive" parts...don't see why it would not be economical to go DIY..

Problem is more on what you want to do w/ them.
If you want to build one to "match" what you have, well that, honestly w/ those,is a bit more difficult.
Secondly you aren't going to replace all existing lights for $100 over that big of a tank..

More curious as to why one would go "dim"... Not really a failure mode of most LEd's..
One possible problem would be a malfunctioning driver.. which would be an inexpensive fix.
Another is a few dead/discolored diodes (if shunts are there since most of these are in series). That is a cheap fix as well.. even going a replacement board from sbreef..
https://sbreeflights.com/sbox-upgrade-retro-kits/6-sbox-replacement-pcb-board.html

Not that sbreef would honor a warranty transfer but they are warrantied for 2 years..

also, are these basic, timer or wifi units?

paphater · Mar 2, 2018

oreo5457 said:
Well you actually have most of "the expensive" parts...don't see why it would not be economical to go DIY..

Problem is more on what you want to do w/ them.
If you want to build one to "match" what you have, well that, honestly w/ those,is a bit more difficult.
Secondly you aren't going to replace all existing lights for $100 over that big of a tank..

More curious as to why one would go "dim"... Not really a failure mode of most LEd's..
One possible problem would be a malfunctioning driver.. which would be an inexpensive fix.
Another is a few dead/discolored diodes (if shunts are there since most of these are in series). That is a cheap fix as well.. even going a replacement board from sbreef..
https://sbreeflights.com/sbox-upgrade-retro-kits/6-sbox-replacement-pcb-board.html

Not that sbreef would honor a warranty transfer but they are warrantied for 2 years..

also, are these basic, timer or wifi units?

That's kind of what I was figured. I'm good with spending ~$250 but probably not more. That should be attainable with all that I already have. My real worry is screwing up the spectrum.

I don't think it is necessarily a failure of the lights, although I have't checked them over in awhile. When I noticed that one was visibly dimmer I hit up the sb reef facebook group and multiple people had issues with lights purchased at different times putting out different amounts of light. And sometimes it was the brand new light that was dimmer so I think it is more of a manufacturing inconsistency than anything else. They are all basics controlled with an apex.