The Modified Black Box Thread

[reeferfoxx]

Love this thread!
What it the value or difference in lighting with the different lense options?(beaded 90s, clear 90s, 120s)

It's all dependent on the depth of tank. You can raise lights for more coverage or lower them for more par toward the sand bed. With lens swaps you can keep your lights at the needed height while allowing more focus light towards the sandbed.

This is may be the worst representation for the lenses but maybe it will make it clearer? I wanted to take a picture of the 90 degree clears and with the beaded but I've used all the clears.


The beaded lenses seem to give a sharper fluorescence on coral. At least that is what I witnessed when going from a Mars Aqua with all 90 deg beaded lenses VS. my populargrow with all 120 deg lenses.

Now, Do I think there is a notable difference mixing the beaded and clears? Not really. However, I was able to achieve more lux and par from the lens swaps. I also gained maybe in inch or 2 in tank coverage.

Here is a video of the sandbed and it's led disco. The light is 9.5 inches above water with a lot of surface agitation. Please excuse the algae. Tanks been going through a phase. BTW I didn't adjust tank lights for the video. I did however do a color grade to remove some blue.

 

[Amoo]

Man there is some serious light nerding going on in here. I'm in. Think I'll contribute by adding the PAR and LUX of my DIY LED sump fixture which I setup to grow chaeto like a madman and it does exactly that.

 

[Ben Weaver]

It's all dependent on the depth of tank. You can raise lights for more coverage or lower them for more par toward the sand bed. With lens swaps you can keep your lights at the needed height while allowing more focus light towards the sandbed.

This is may be the worst representation for the lenses but maybe it will make it clearer? I wanted to take a picture of the 90 degree clears and with the beaded but I've used all the clears.


The beaded lenses seem to give a sharper fluorescence on coral. At least that is what I witnessed when going from a Mars Aqua with all 90 deg beaded lenses VS. my populargrow with all 120 deg lenses.

Now, Do I think there is a notable difference mixing the beaded and clears? Not really. However, I was able to achieve more lux and par from the lens swaps. I also gained maybe in inch or 2 in tank coverage.

Here is a video of the sandbed and it's led disco. The light is 9.5 inches above water with a lot of surface agitation. Please excuse the algae. Tanks been going through a phase. BTW I didn't adjust tank lights for the video. I did however do a color grade to remove some blue.

Thank you! This was what i was looking for!

 

[Amoo]

Layout is

The Red Channel I'm driving at 100%
The Blue/Green/Warm White channel I'm driving at 30%

I'm measuring 174Par at the surface
I'm measuring 107PAR at the Chaeto about 6-8" below the water line. Lights are hung right about 12" above the sump.

Measuring using the Apex APM.

I'm measuring between 6000 and 6100 LUX on my Dr. Meter LUX meter at the water surface.

I'm going to have to really do some digging to see if I can find the data on those warm whites, but I know I chose the warm whites over the cool whites for the spectrum bleed to fill gaps in with this setup because it's a sump light and not a tank light. I also need to look around to find the info on the reflectors as this whole setup is a few years old now.

That puts my conversion factor somewhere around 35ish.

 

[reeferfoxx]

Layout is

The Red Channel I'm driving at 100%
The Blue/Green/Warm White channel I'm driving at 30%

I'm measuring 174Par at the surface
I'm measuring 107PAR at the Chaeto about 6-8" below the water line. Lights are hung right about 12" above the sump.

Measuring using the Apex APM.

I'm measuring between 6000 and 6100 LUX on my Dr. Meter LUX meter at the water surface.

I'm going to have to really do some digging to see if I can find the data on those warm whites, but I know I chose the warm whites over the cool whites for the spectrum bleed to fill gaps in with this setup because it's a sump light and not a tank light. I also need to look around to find the info on the reflectors as this whole setup is a few years old now.

That puts my conversion factor somewhere around 35ish.

What type of chips/diodes did you go with?
Did you purchase a DIY kit for this?


Is it UL listed?;Nailbiting(<--kidding ;Hilarious)

Jokes aside. I've been contemplating a DIY light and with a few different controller options available on the interwebs, it makes the idea a little more appealing.

 

[Amoo]

What type of chips/diodes did you go with?
Did you purchase a DIY kit for this?


Is it UL listed?;Nailbiting(<--kidding ;Hilarious)

Jokes aside. I've been contemplating a DIY light and with a few different controller options available on the interwebs, it makes the idea a little more appealing.

No I purchased specific LEDs from different places. Most all of it was purchased in 2014 as I made up multiple fixtures. If I'm not mistaken though

These are the lights that are in that specific fixture:

And I'm driving them with stuff from this order:

 

[reeferfoxx]

I went to Rapid leds site and checked out there DIY kits. My only issue with them is the limited number of led chips. It may sound crazy but I want a 55 chip setup with a 8x16 heatsink lol

 

[Amoo]

I thought rapid swapped to the slotted heatsink so you could cram as many chip on it you wanted? Maybe I'm thinking of a different site let me look.

 

[Amoo]

Yeah their 6 x 20 and 6 x 12 is slotted. Let me check some of the other placed I got LEDs at and see what they're carrying.

 

[Amoo]

Check this place @reeferfoxx

https://reefledlights.com/shop/8-46-profile-heatsink/

Bill was a sponsor here at one time, I'd have to check to see if he still is, but he was very active in the lighting discussion on these forums for a while. Let me see @ReefLEDLights , yup tag still works so maybe

 

[reeferfoxx]

Has anyone messed with their led layouts lately? I've been thinking about changing mine up. After watching the BRS video on the Orphek V4, I kind of want something similar.

Started looking at the Compact V4 and the normal V4.




Though, I can't mimic the channels I can some what mimic the patterns. I started with the percentages of white leds vs everything else. Anyway, this is what I came up with. I added a lot of 460nm to the white channel since I reduced whites by 12% from the normal 33% on the 165w black box. Doing this should allow me to increase the white channel more.



If you want to contribute what you might think is better, please let me know! You can download this grid to share.

 

[Tigweldpro]

I have 1 galaxy hydro(yellow fans) and am buying another one. I cannot find what angle the stock lens are I'm assuming 60. So to get better spread on these I should get 120's and swap some led chips out? doing the mods is no problem but what to put and where is the question.

Clear vs beaded vs frosted lens....?

 

[reeferfoxx]

I have 1 galaxy hydro(yellow fans) and am buying another one. I cannot find what angle the stock lens are I'm assuming 60. So to get better spread on these I should get 120's and swap some led chips out? doing the mods is no problem but what to put and where is the question.

Clear vs beaded vs frosted lens....?

Actually, I think the GH comes with 120s.

The white, red, and green leds create the most disco effect if that is what you are trying to eliminate. Having uniform patterns makes it more pronounced. I kept the reds and greens with 120s and I alternated the whites between 90 clear and beaded and then some 120s. It may not make sense at first but getting an even blue channel distribution with 120s can help reduce a noticeable disco. So, just food for thought.


I ended up mimicing the SB reef light layout from my layout and I will say the SB layout gave me more disco. Honestly though, you don't really notice it until you start taking video.

 

[Tigweldpro]

Actually, I think the GH comes with 120s.

The white, red, and green leds create the most disco effect if that is what you are trying to eliminate. Having uniform patterns makes it more pronounced. I kept the reds and greens with 120s and I alternated the whites between 90 clear and beaded and then some 120s. It may not make sense at first but getting an even blue channel distribution with 120s can help reduce a noticeable disco. So, just food for thought.


I ended up mimicing the SB reef light layout from my layout and I will say the SB layout gave me more disco. Honestly though, you don't really notice it until you start taking video.

Ok maybe ill try and find some frosted 120's for all leds to diffuse and replace the red and green with 390-395nm as i think it is missing those..... I find i dont get very good color florescents with the stock galaxy hydro.
(was bought from amazon.ca under the name lightimetunnel) same thing i think

 

[reeferfoxx]

Ok maybe ill try and find some frosted 120's for all leds to diffuse and replace the red and green with 390-395nm as i think it is missing those..... I find i dont get very good color florescents with the stock galaxy hydro.
(was bought from amazon.ca under the name lightimetunnel) same thing i think

Ok so make sure you keep the two green and two reds. Doing this will give visual appeal as well as support all the chlorophyll needs. Also, the 390nm UV range I dont suggest. Only because they burn out quickly. They produce a lot of heat. I would suggest either 410nm or 420nm(420 is safer bet than 410 tho i dont have experience yet with the 410). If you want to get more creative, replace the green diodes with cyan or turquoise diodes.

 

[Tigweldpro]

Here is stock galaxyhydro.

4 red 2 green. Maybe ill put 2 the reds where the green are and put 4 of somthing else where the 4 reds are... There are already 410nm violets. The 6 warm whites are wierd tho. I havent seen a cyan or turquoise led, do you have a pic or link?

 

[reeferfoxx]

There are already 410nm violets

Yeah, I looked up your light and it does! That's pretty cool. I didn't know they made a BB with 410nm.

This where I order my diodes. Not sure about canada though. But the drop down list shows what they offer.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/322537983189?var=511516562720

 

[Tigweldpro]

Yeah, I looked up your light and it does! That's pretty cool. I didn't know they made a BB with 410nm.

This where I order my diodes. Not sure about canada though. But the drop down list shows what they offer.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/322537983189?var=511516562720

Do they ship from us or china? I ordered 10 cyan & 10 cold white but asked for 8 cyan & 12 cold white.... we will see

 

[reeferfoxx]

Do they ship from us or china? I ordered 10 cyan & 10 cold white but asked for 8 cyan & 12 cold white.... we will see

The one I linked to, ships from California.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Yeah the 390's don't last long at all. If anything I would switch out two 450nm for 420nm. I was going to order some 420's but other tank issues arose.

Edit: or better yet, switch the two inner 3,500's for two 420nm

Concerning UV burning out quickly, did you replace with UV? Not sure I understood above @reeferfoxx Do you gurus find that UV is useful? As low as 395nm?

Love this thread. I was always a metal halide user but I know how to solder