quigimon
Active Member
Just wanted to post some pics from my DIY LED build and let you guys see what i'm working with. I wanted to make something that was going to fit the bill as best as i could guess from my lack of knowledge of lighting an Aquarium but with plenty of reading i managed to get some nice results.
This is the concept drawing of what i wanted to do. Fresh cool air is drawn in from the top left side, down through the LED bed(which is mated with a piece of glass for creep and other potential maladies of exposure of electronics to water and helps complete the sealed channel for air flow), then up the other side of the heat sink, through the radiating fins of the heat sink, and finally blown out by A single fan which just as a word of warning keep them off the fins(less noise).
This is the dry fit, just for sizing everything up, no holes drilled glue or paint yet. In the picture you'll notice two tabs on each side, these are what the light uses to sit directly above the tank, mostly to keep ceiling hardware out of the equation until i decide to build a canopy because i hate light leak from the tank(I'd much rather enjoy the tank then be blinded when i walk into the room) and because they are located almost 1.5 inches from the water i have no lenses on them
This is with the LED's attached, i went way overboard and had to reduce drastically, went from 35 LEDs(10 blues, 20 whites, and 5 reds and the blue to white ratio is simply because i like the whiter look but I'm completely satisfied with a 1:1 ratio and the tank doesn't seem to mind it either) down to 10 whites and 10 blues and no reds at this time and am much satisfied at the moment. other colors are to be added at a later date for the "full spectrum effect"(no death warrants for that statement please LOL).
This is with the unit assembled, painted, drilled, and connector added(DB-25 pin connector for PC's, female at the light, male at the project box) complete with the Arduino my fade circuit and wires by the bunches. For paint i wen with Krylon Plastic matte black paint to minimize the impact of it sitting directly on the tank, including spraying the exposed edges of the glass that may have otherwise allowed lots of light to pass through and shine it on my walls like a laser.
This is with 30 LED's lit, no reds and doing some temperature testing with and without the fan in operation and with various strings lit. at this moment the Arduino portion isn't working on it as I've been busy with a bunch of other things to get any work done on the fade circuit since I'm not using drivers but in good time, and hopefully soon.
Here is the tank lit with the fixture, sans fading at the moment(light is stepped up by turning on half of the blues, and half of the whites at first, then later the rest. So far no complaints from the tank mates, Aside from a piece of green star polyp that is a little shaded and doesn't seem to want to come out, i may have to try to pull him off the rock and move him to another location, green polyp has since placing the LED light sprouted 2 new mouths(in the short period of time I've had the LED's on the tank i think less then a month) all Zoas in the tank are open and seem to be happy, and I'm getting a standing ovation from the Xenia
no comments on my Xenia(i like them) lol.
I'm am also currently working on an Arduino sketch to handle simple things, i have the Jarduino code and it's SUPER Spiffy, but I'm in for the automation of a few process i don't want to have to do(light activation and fading, pump power head and filter shutoff during feeding and maintenance, as well as pseudo wave maker, auto top off control, and temperature monitor and data acquisition) I could think of a million other awesome things to do with the Arduino but for each awesome thing i can think of it would only detract from what I'm wanting to enjoy, mah tank.
Feel free to let me know what you think, and if you have any questions let me know, by the way it was only after i was done cutting the glass and plex that i thought to look those very chores up on YouTube to find i could have done better and wasted a little less lol.
This is the concept drawing of what i wanted to do. Fresh cool air is drawn in from the top left side, down through the LED bed(which is mated with a piece of glass for creep and other potential maladies of exposure of electronics to water and helps complete the sealed channel for air flow), then up the other side of the heat sink, through the radiating fins of the heat sink, and finally blown out by A single fan which just as a word of warning keep them off the fins(less noise).
This is the dry fit, just for sizing everything up, no holes drilled glue or paint yet. In the picture you'll notice two tabs on each side, these are what the light uses to sit directly above the tank, mostly to keep ceiling hardware out of the equation until i decide to build a canopy because i hate light leak from the tank(I'd much rather enjoy the tank then be blinded when i walk into the room) and because they are located almost 1.5 inches from the water i have no lenses on them
This is with the LED's attached, i went way overboard and had to reduce drastically, went from 35 LEDs(10 blues, 20 whites, and 5 reds and the blue to white ratio is simply because i like the whiter look but I'm completely satisfied with a 1:1 ratio and the tank doesn't seem to mind it either) down to 10 whites and 10 blues and no reds at this time and am much satisfied at the moment. other colors are to be added at a later date for the "full spectrum effect"(no death warrants for that statement please LOL).
This is with the unit assembled, painted, drilled, and connector added(DB-25 pin connector for PC's, female at the light, male at the project box) complete with the Arduino my fade circuit and wires by the bunches. For paint i wen with Krylon Plastic matte black paint to minimize the impact of it sitting directly on the tank, including spraying the exposed edges of the glass that may have otherwise allowed lots of light to pass through and shine it on my walls like a laser.
This is with 30 LED's lit, no reds and doing some temperature testing with and without the fan in operation and with various strings lit. at this moment the Arduino portion isn't working on it as I've been busy with a bunch of other things to get any work done on the fade circuit since I'm not using drivers but in good time, and hopefully soon.
Here is the tank lit with the fixture, sans fading at the moment(light is stepped up by turning on half of the blues, and half of the whites at first, then later the rest. So far no complaints from the tank mates, Aside from a piece of green star polyp that is a little shaded and doesn't seem to want to come out, i may have to try to pull him off the rock and move him to another location, green polyp has since placing the LED light sprouted 2 new mouths(in the short period of time I've had the LED's on the tank i think less then a month) all Zoas in the tank are open and seem to be happy, and I'm getting a standing ovation from the Xenia
no comments on my Xenia(i like them) lol.I'm am also currently working on an Arduino sketch to handle simple things, i have the Jarduino code and it's SUPER Spiffy, but I'm in for the automation of a few process i don't want to have to do(light activation and fading, pump power head and filter shutoff during feeding and maintenance, as well as pseudo wave maker, auto top off control, and temperature monitor and data acquisition) I could think of a million other awesome things to do with the Arduino but for each awesome thing i can think of it would only detract from what I'm wanting to enjoy, mah tank.
Feel free to let me know what you think, and if you have any questions let me know, by the way it was only after i was done cutting the glass and plex that i thought to look those very chores up on YouTube to find i could have done better and wasted a little less lol.
