Rskillz
Active Member
First off, thanks a TON to Bill at Reefledlights.com. That guy is ridiculously nice and always willing to answer his phone and answer stupid questions. I initially wasn't sure who I would do business with to grab my LEDs, but after talking with him on the phone I decided to buy from him.
I know a lot of people are on the verge of moving to LEDs, and in my humble opinion, I think they are the future of the hobby. Once the price comes down for quality pre-made units like the AI-- MHs, T5s and so forth will be the minority.
Honestly, if you enjoy putting hours and hours into your tank and don't mind a little frustration, this isn't THAT bad. If you have no patience and no humility, I'd save up for a AI unit.
For my 180 I decided to go with 3 18x8 inch heatsinks, each with 60 3watt Crees. On each sink, there are 36 Royal Blue Xp-e, 12 white Xp-e, and 12 white Xp-g which are solely for "high noon" effect. I love a lot of blue. The drivers are meanwell 60-48Dimmables, which 5 drivers per heatsink. I went with 4 fans per unit as well. Bill helped me decide on all of this.
First off, I decided to do something a little bit new; I used thermal paste under each LED and a dab of GE Silicone 2 to hold the LEDs on. I found that adhesive was a pain to ever remove and drilling for screws was my personal nightmare. By all research I've done, this is totally safe and I can yank on each LED pretty hard and they ain't budging. The worst part of the whole build was soldering, it is tedious, stinky, and repetitive. I made the outside two rows Blues, with whites in the center and another row of blues breaking them up (hence the weird wiring)
I decided I liked the "industrial" look of the units, so I opted to not make an enclosure at all, but instead mount all hardware ton the heatsink. To do this, I used aluminum strips which I drilled and screwed down into the sink first, then attached the five drivers and four fans onto. It is quite sturdy and ain't budging. I'm using an acrylic cover 1 inch off the surface to protect the LEDS but I didn't get a picture of it attached. Very minimalistic
Next, I used L brackets which I drilled into the heatsink in each corner for hanging mounts. I then attached a latch thingy to each one and strong chain. I will link all four corners up and then hang it inside my canopy tomorrow.
Finally, I hooked one unit up to my Neptune Apex and got it working, success!
It was so bright that its hard to look at!
In short, if I can do this, anyone can. I'm an utter noob at all things electrical. I'll add more pictures tomorrow.
I know a lot of people are on the verge of moving to LEDs, and in my humble opinion, I think they are the future of the hobby. Once the price comes down for quality pre-made units like the AI-- MHs, T5s and so forth will be the minority.
Honestly, if you enjoy putting hours and hours into your tank and don't mind a little frustration, this isn't THAT bad. If you have no patience and no humility, I'd save up for a AI unit.
For my 180 I decided to go with 3 18x8 inch heatsinks, each with 60 3watt Crees. On each sink, there are 36 Royal Blue Xp-e, 12 white Xp-e, and 12 white Xp-g which are solely for "high noon" effect. I love a lot of blue. The drivers are meanwell 60-48Dimmables, which 5 drivers per heatsink. I went with 4 fans per unit as well. Bill helped me decide on all of this.
First off, I decided to do something a little bit new; I used thermal paste under each LED and a dab of GE Silicone 2 to hold the LEDs on. I found that adhesive was a pain to ever remove and drilling for screws was my personal nightmare. By all research I've done, this is totally safe and I can yank on each LED pretty hard and they ain't budging. The worst part of the whole build was soldering, it is tedious, stinky, and repetitive. I made the outside two rows Blues, with whites in the center and another row of blues breaking them up (hence the weird wiring)
I decided I liked the "industrial" look of the units, so I opted to not make an enclosure at all, but instead mount all hardware ton the heatsink. To do this, I used aluminum strips which I drilled and screwed down into the sink first, then attached the five drivers and four fans onto. It is quite sturdy and ain't budging. I'm using an acrylic cover 1 inch off the surface to protect the LEDS but I didn't get a picture of it attached. Very minimalistic
Next, I used L brackets which I drilled into the heatsink in each corner for hanging mounts. I then attached a latch thingy to each one and strong chain. I will link all four corners up and then hang it inside my canopy tomorrow.
Finally, I hooked one unit up to my Neptune Apex and got it working, success!
It was so bright that its hard to look at!
In short, if I can do this, anyone can. I'm an utter noob at all things electrical. I'll add more pictures tomorrow.
