I appear to be having problems with the site. The post went through twice without the actually question I wrote, hopefully it shows up here.......
Quick question for anyone out there with experience in building their own LED lighting fixture. Would it be okay to use a 25 gauge, galvanized steel wall stud. It is a very common item found at any Home Depot store, and very affordable at $4.25 for an eight foot stud. I was wondering if it would not transfer heat enough when used for lighting a reef tank and cause the LED's to become damaged or shorten their life span. I built a LED fixture using this material for my 75g freshwater tank. It has been running for 3 years without any problems, however I don't keep the lights nearly as bright as they would be on a reef tank. I tried to attach a photo, however I do not seem to be able to so I will describe what I built. The studs are about 2 inches wide and in a 'U' shape, so I attached the LED's to the inside of the U shaped channel and hung it over the tank. I used 10 royal blue and 10 white LED's. Thank you for any opinions.
Quick question for anyone out there with experience in building their own LED lighting fixture. Would it be okay to use a 25 gauge, galvanized steel wall stud. It is a very common item found at any Home Depot store, and very affordable at $4.25 for an eight foot stud. I was wondering if it would not transfer heat enough when used for lighting a reef tank and cause the LED's to become damaged or shorten their life span. I built a LED fixture using this material for my 75g freshwater tank. It has been running for 3 years without any problems, however I don't keep the lights nearly as bright as they would be on a reef tank. I tried to attach a photo, however I do not seem to be able to so I will describe what I built. The studs are about 2 inches wide and in a 'U' shape, so I attached the LED's to the inside of the U shaped channel and hung it over the tank. I used 10 royal blue and 10 white LED's. Thank you for any opinions.