Lairds 180

Claird · Oct 3, 2012

Great tank build! I just got back from MACNA and LED lighting was my goal. Acan and Orpheck were the best there. After playing with all the others I kept going back to these 2. The Orpheck had the highest PAR of all at the show, but the Acan was the easiest to use. The rep at acan suggested a few smaller units over a long tank instead of the longer ones; could adjust height as needed for particular coral placement. Just a thought! There were tons of AIs there for sale and weren't selling very fast.

Laird · Oct 3, 2012

Claird said:
Great tank build! I just got back from MACNA and LED lighting was my goal. Acan and Orpheck were the best there. After playing with all the others I kept going back to these 2. The Orpheck had the highest PAR of all at the show, but the Acan was the easiest to use. The rep at acan suggested a few smaller units over a long tank instead of the longer ones; could adjust height as needed for particular coral placement. Just a thought! There were tons of AIs there for sale and weren't selling very fast.

Claird huh? Cool name.

I've seen a couple tanks that have Acan lighting and I didnt like the looks or the results. I thought long and hard about the Orpheck, and Vegas but decided to just do another DIY. I just have had so much success with DIY that I thought why risk going to a more expensive fixture and maybe having worse results.

I finally got my LEDs ordered and will have them this week. I'm going to build 3 fixtures. Each fixture will have 24 XRT Royal blues, 14 XPG cool whites, 4 Cree XRE Blues, 4 Cree UVs, 3 Cree Greens, and 3 Cree Reds on a 20in black heatsink with a splash guard.

Totals, Drivers, and Optics.

Cree Royal Blue XTE 72 Driven by 1 HLG-185-42B and 80 degree lens on the inside, and 60 degree on the edges

Cree Cool White XPG 42 Driven by 3 ELN-60-48D and 80 degree optics

Cree XP-E Blue 12 Driven by 1 ELN-60-48D and 80 degree optics

Cree UV 12 Drive by one 1 LPC 35-700 and 80 degree optics

Cree XP-E Green 9 Driven by 1 ELN-60-48D and No optics

Cree XP-E Red/Amber 9 Driven by 1 ELN-60-48D and No optics

They will be dimmed/controlled by my apex. My Royal blues and blues will be on the same variable speed port, the whites on another, the greens on another, and reds on another. The UV will not dimmed because I don't think they need to be.

Claird · Oct 4, 2012

I'm glad you gave me the info on the LED's. I'm keeping just lps and zoa's right now under t5's. I need to make a change before sps and I'm not much DIY. I'm kinda OCD so if it doesn't look right it will bother me. My wife has kept my new build plans on hold until bigger house. Imagine that! Looks like I may just order new bulbs for now and hold off on the LEDs. It will be cheaper anyway.

Did you say your tank was a regular marineland? I have been looking at rimless but a huge one is very pricey.

My last name is Laird and I stumbled upon your build thread. There is not many Lairds out there.

Laird · Oct 4, 2012

Yes it is a marineland. I originally wanted to do a rimless as well but the cost to do a 180 or bigger rimless is ridiculous.

Cool, i've met a few last name Lairds, but only one other as a first name.