LED Actinic suggestions to attach to a Halide Pendant?

Electrobes · Mar 21, 2013

I am looking to add actinics to my current set up: 40Br with a single 250 HQI halide pendant (Hamiliton). I am currently using a 14K Phoenix, but would love to see a little more actinic pop to the corals.

Things I have looked at are (I want to attach the LEDs to a 12" by 12" pendant.. so the strips have to be 13" or less):

- 2 X 6 watt Stunner strips with reflectors (Not sure if this would do much considering how strong my halide is...)

- 2 X Panorama Pro Modules with reflectors (This is more powerful than the stunner strips, but will it be enough to add to the tank, or get washed out by my halide?)

What do you guys suggest?

Thanks!

Confuse · Mar 21, 2013

I attached two 12" rapid led heats inks to my cayman sun fixture using some aluminum L brackets. It turned out pretty clean looking and suited my purposes.

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Confuse · Mar 21, 2013

I know for sure stunners won't be sufficient; not sure about the panoramas though. I used the rapid led heatsinks and have six Luxeon Rebels on each sink on a dimmable driver so I can adjust through my apex.

Electrobes · Mar 21, 2013

Thanks for showing me that, I think I have the same pendant.. is it an HQI, what wattage? Do the radis kits work well considering the power of the halide?

Confuse · Mar 21, 2013

It's a 250w mogul base pendant, but the DE has basically the same dimensions.

You can definitely tell when the LEDs are on. It'll give the Phoenix a bluer look. But even at 100%, to me, it was too blue and washed out. That's why it's important to get dimmable drivers; the LEDs are very bright.

JP-Reef · Mar 21, 2013

Look into the reef brite tech xho, puts out a good amount of blue!

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Electrobes · Mar 21, 2013

JP - The xho models are actually too big.

Confuse - Thanks for the advice, I plan on getting the solderless 12 LED kit with two 12" heat sinks plus the VDM for my Apex. I wish it weren't out of stock as I would have ordered it. Kills me that the VDM is 100 bucks!

Confuse · Mar 21, 2013

Electrobes said:
JP - The xho models are actually too big.

Confuse - Thanks for the advice, I plan on getting the solderless 12 LED kit with two 12" heat sinks plus the VDM for my Apex. I wish it weren't out of stock as I would have ordered it. Kills me that the VDM is 100 bucks!

Sounds good! Let me know if you need any further info or pictures. I found it to be a satisfying build.

Electrobes · Mar 22, 2013

Confuse, how exactly did you attach the heat sinks to the pendant? I kinda see some nuts and bolts?

Confuse · Mar 22, 2013

I drilled the pendant (made sure the holes were centered) and passed the two bolts from the inside to attach the bracket with the nuts from the outside, in case I have to remove it. Basically, I attached an L bracket on each side. The brackets are angled so the heatsink points in. I also used a nut and bolt to attach the brackets to the heatsink....if you ever owned an AI Sol and had to work with the long mounting screws, it's basically that. The nut and bolt attach to the heatsink.