Water cooled LED fixture

[mcarroll]

Any chance you could put a lux meter at the water surface under the old light? Or at least to measure lux at the distance where the light would've been - it doesn't have to be actually over the water.

It would be very useful to you at least in theory to know how much different the two fixtures are. Me too. [emoji3]

 

[Paul B]

I meant to do that before I removed the other fixture but I forgot. I didn't destroy it so I can still light it up when I get time. I am also curious as to the difference. But I did like the look of the other more blue fixture better.

 

[mcarroll]

Just a footnote when I ran a significantly more-white light, I ended up with yellow/brown corals, so be on the lookout for that. Didn't hurt anything, but didn't look very good.

 

[Paul B]

Yuck, I hope that doesn't happen. If it does I will add some "Crest super whitening" toothpaste to the tank.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Paul, lenses are coming your way. USPS tells me that you'll have them tomorrow.

 

[Paul B]

Wow, that was fast, Thank you. I will install them as soon as they arrive. If they fit, there is another guy near here that has a bunch more so I can put lenses on all of my 72 LEDs. Very nice. I am also going to build a small LED fixture on copper for my algae scrubber so I can use the extra lenses for that.

 

[redfishbluefish]

If I'm not mistaken, I believe red LEDs are what folks are using for premium algae growth.

 

[Paul B]

Yes I know, but I have whites and blue so that is what I will use. The algae will just have to get over it. That growth on the screen above was just with a cheap, white very dim fixture.
I use what I have

 

[Paul B]

Paul, I got the lenses you sent. Thank you, very nice. I can't just push them on to the LEDs as they are designed because on my fixture the wires come off the side of each LED and go to the next LED. The original design of these LEDs are for them to be attached to a printed circuit board and not have wires running along side them. I tried cutting off the sides of the lens housing but that makes the connection weak and the lenses fall off. I found a solution which is to remove each lens from it's housing and epoxy each one to an LED. This would have been so much easier if I had the fixture up side down so I could just lay each lens on a LED. Now I have to tape each one on as the 5 minute epoxy dries. I did about 10 of them and if they stay on with the LEDs lit, I will attach the rest. From what I can see, these lenses are going to make a huge difference in performance and I think I will like the result. I can easily break off the lens if I need to change the LED. It is time consuming but I will take a finished picture when it is all done.
Thank you again, this is great.

 

[Paul B]

RedFishBlueFish gave me fifty lenses for my new water cooled LED fixture. They made a big difference and now I don't go blind when I open the front of the tank. They also cut down on the scattered light that was going all over the place as I hate to see the back of the tank. I still need about 20 more lenses and I did drop some in the water, they don't float and I can't find them. I will eventually.
The lenses didn't push on like they are supposed to because I didn't wire them the way they were meant to be wired. They came off a printed circuit board and I have wires soldered to them that does not allow the lens to fit. I solved the problem by cutting off the sides of the lens to make room for the wires. That allowed the lens to fit but they were very loose so I had to epoxy them to the LEDs which was easy.
Here is the cut lenses along with one that is not cut.


The lenses once again let the back of the tank go dark as I like it. I still need more lenses but all of the front and rear LEDs have lenses on them

 

[totion]

Looking awesome, such a cool build.

 

[Paul B]

That picture has about a foot cut off on both sides but they are both well lit. This light has 72 LEDs where my old light only had 35 so it is much brighter. The only difference I see so far is that there is a layer of cyano forming on the gravel. This does not bother me and makes me feel that at least there is a difference. I will see how it goes in the near future and I want to try some SPS that I had difficulty keeping with the old light.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Paul, I got the lenses you sent. Thank you, very nice. .............Thank you again, this is great.

Paul, I'm glad you could use them. Knowing me, I had already put them in a container, never to be opened again, and hanging around until I die. My kids would then find them and wonder, "What the hay are these plastic things." I just figured I'd saved them a step. Enjoy!

 

[Paul B]

They are working out very well. Thanks

 

[mcarroll]

I don't know if it will be any better but sometimes those lenses can be popped out of the holders - might avoid the cutting if not the gluing. I have had some lenses that were just snug enough to fit statically.

 

[Paul B]

Mcarrol. Thanks. As you can see by the picture in post 129, I did pop out those and glue them on. The tape is temporary. I did that until I figured out how to cut the housing to make them fit.

 

[mcarroll]

How's the hand?

How's the fixture?

 

[Paul B]

The hand is not to good, but it is still swollen so that is probably normal. The fixture is working better than my wildest dreams. Well, maybe not my wildest dreams as that involves two Supermodels, an Oldsmobile and 3 tickets to Tahiti. But it is running excellently (if that is a real word) The thing stays relatively cool, much cooler than my old school air cooled fixture did. I really like the concept and may make another one all self contained over the tank. I also may make a tiny one for my algae scrubber if I can find such a small pump.
Merry Christmas and thanks for asking.

 

[Paul B]

Here is the completed water cooled LED fixture with the re-designed splash guard on it from above.

 

[Paul B]

I started Building the heat exchanger for my water cooled algae scrubber LED light. Of course I could have bought one for half the price, but anyone could do that.