DIY LED - 36 LEDs on a 23" heat sink

[hddtran]

My LED lights

After so many online readings, I decided to do LED light.
I really like the AI modules but I would need 2 modules for my 57g tank so buying them was out of question. Too expensive.

Rapid LED Items

4 CREE XP-E Blue 3W LED with 80 degree White Lens @ $3.90 = $15.60
14 CREE XP-G R5 Cool White 3W LED with 80 degree White Lens @ $4.70 $65.80
18 CREE XP-E Royal Blue 3W LED with 80 degree White Lens @ $3.75 = $67.50
3 Mean Well ELN-60-48D dimmable driver @ $27.20 = $81.60
1 Thermal Grease (5g) @ $4.40 = $4.40
1 DIY 2 color dimming kit @ $24.00 = $24.00
1 AA Battery LED Tester @ $2.00 = $2.00
4"x23" tapped and pre-drilled heat sink ($38)

Sub-Total: $298.90 (Shipping: $0.00 (USPS Priority Mail (DHL for international))

here we go

 

[hddtran]

more pictures

 

[hddtran]

more pictures

More pictures on this LED build can be found onmytran.shutterfly.com/pictures

 

[boxer]

good job

 

[jtl]

Those are not the prices that I am seeing on their site. For example the driver is priced at $34. How are you getting these prices?

 

[hddtran]

Those are not the prices that I am seeing on their site. For example the driver is priced at $34. How are you getting these prices?

ohh I forgot to mention. I got them during the Thanksgiving black friday sale.

I still have the invoice here with me if you want to see. Or you could ask Mike at RapidLed ([email protected]) to see if those the correct price that I paid him.

 

[Sahin]

Hey man, thats a nice tank. The centre overflow doesnt look bad at all. If you do rescape, just go thin with the rocks around the overflow; but from the looks of it now, I like how it looks.

Based on your tank now; I'd say let things grow. Over time various dominant shapes and colours will form. At that point get rid of stuff that hasnt coloured up or takes your fancy no longer. This will allow to to get rid of some of the distraction that is currently there due to all the different frags etc. Remember: your scaping isnt the rockwork: its the almost final stage when corals have grown in proportion to the space of the tank and rocks. It will never be final as growth continues, but for the time being let things grow and then weed out what you dont want.

This is a nice tank to be honest and I would say hold on to it. Carry out twice monthly water changes (ie set aside an evening every two weeks to get the water done). This tank can be very manageable; just work out a routine.

You will appreciate the larger tank as opposed to say a 20G once things are settled in 6-9 months time and its more or less auto pilot other than water changes.

 

[jtl]

TG sale would explain it. You got a pretty significant discount. Just makes me have to shop around more. Your tank looks very nice.

 

[hddtran]

Hey man, thats a nice tank. The centre overflow doesnt look bad at all. If you do rescape, just go thin with the rocks around the overflow; but from the looks of it now, I like how it looks.

Based on your tank now; I'd say let things grow. Over time various dominant shapes and colours will form. At that point get rid of stuff that hasnt coloured up or takes your fancy no longer. This will allow to to get rid of some of the distraction that is currently there due to all the different frags etc. Remember: your scaping isnt the rockwork: its the almost final stage when corals have grown in proportion to the space of the tank and rocks. It will never be final as growth continues, but for the time being let things grow and then weed out what you dont want.

This is a nice tank to be honest and I would say hold on to it. Carry out twice monthly water changes (ie set aside an evening every two weeks to get the water done). This tank can be very manageable; just work out a routine.

You will appreciate the larger tank as opposed to say a 20G once things are settled in 6-9 months time and its more or less auto pilot other than water changes.

Thanks Sahin. I will give smoe more thoughts on the downgrade and maybe rescape the rocks as I go.
I think you are right, should get rid some stuffs that I do not want or not color up. My corals lost a lot of colors with the T5 that I had on there before.
All started to pop just the last 2-3 weeks with the new LED. I just can't wait to see.

thanks Sahin

 

[hddtran]

TG sale would explain it. You got a pretty significant discount. Just makes me have to shop around more. Your tank looks very nice.

Hi all,
thank you all on the comments. it was a great small project for me and my first electronic project as well. Mike at RapidLed helped a lot as well.

yes it was a black friday sale. (~15% discount)

I really like the hanging kit that I did. it cost me around $3 from home depots ($.99 on the wire and the $2 on the aluminum knobs). total cost around $2-$3 on the hanging kit.

if I were to do it again, I would probably go with just 2 drivers instead of three drivers and with 28-29LEds. 28-29LED would be fine for 57/58g, 40g, 30g breeder. There are only 14 Cool white LED on this but it's too bright. a 2:1 of blue to white is a good ratio.

if anyone interested in doing something like this and live locally here (Boston), I could help. I could help on the soldering and the wiring.

thanks