TonyD

I think you meant a bala shark, not a black tipped shark right? Black tipped shark like Jaws requires a tank in the thousands of gallons range.

I fit a 55 gallon in my 175 gallon stand. Dimensions of my stand and your stand may be similar.

Here is a parts list. Sorry, I don't really have a part number for some of these items. If there are any questions what some of these things are, I can take a picture if it will help. -Edit- Ugh....made all the columns lined up and it didn't work on this forum. LED Kit Qty $/Unit Total Vendor 24 LED Premium kit 3 $220.00 $660.00 Reefledlights.com - Mean Well ELN 60-48D 6 Reefledlights.com - 36 Cree XRE Ryl Blue 1 Reefledlights.com - 36 XRE R2 Cool White 1 Reefledlights.com - Thermal Adhesive 3 Reefledlights.com 8.46" x 22" heatsink 3 $66.30 $198.90 Reefledlights.com LED Seal 1 $26.99 $26.99 Reefledlights.com 2 Color Dimming Kit 3 $19.50 $58.50 Rapidled.com 12V AC adapter 3 $10.00 $30.00 Rapidled.com Fan Y Adapter 3 $3.50 $10.50 Rapidled.com DC Jack Adapter 3 $3.50 $10.50 Rapidled.com 120mm Kingwin 6 $6.00 $36.00 Amazon.com blue LED fan Wiring Red 18 gauge wire 1 $5.99 $5.99 Advanced Autoparts Blue 18 guage wire 1 $5.99 $5.99 Advanced Autoparts Black 18 guage wire 1 $5.99 $5.99 Advanced Autoparts Project Box 3x2x1 3 $2.49 $7.47 Radio Shack Pk10 small wire clip 3 $2.99 $8.97 Radio Shack 22-18 Red ins disc 2 $2.59 $5.18 Lowes 22-18 Blue ins disc 2 $2.59 $5.18 Lowes 1/8" heat shrink tubing 1 $2.07 $2.07 Lowes 1A fast blow fuses 1 $1.99 $1.99 Radio Shack Blue dial knobs 2 $1.99 $3.98 Radio Shack 3/4" knobs 1 $2.99 $2.99 Radio Shack 4 position fuse block 3 $3.49 $10.47 Radio Shack c clips 3 $0.55 $1.65 Home Depot Mounting hardware 18' chain 18' $0.65 $11.70 Lowes Stanley 2" zinc mending brackets 3 $1.98 $5.94 Lowes Stanley 1-1/2" zinc corner Brackets 3 $2.38 $7.14 Lowes Spring links 12 $2.23 $26.76 Home Depot Colored spring links 12 $0.99 $11.88 Home Depot (6) 2 7/8" eye bolts 1 $5.97 $5.97 Lowes 8x10" plexiglass 3 $3.98 $11.94 Lowes

Heatsink was bought from Reefledlights.com. I chose Reefledlights.com vs Rapidled.com because Reefledlights offered a wider heatsink profile (8.46") than Rapidled (4.25"). Reefledlight told me that Heatsink USA ran out of stock with the 8.46" profile heatsink. They sent me a 10" heatsink instead, free of charge. The heatsink was not pre-drilled. Rapidled offers it pre-drilled; Reefledlights do not. Sure...I can post the wiring diagram.

Yes, I glued using the thermal paste that came with the LED kits. I thought about drilling and screwing each LED, but I looked at the LED contacts and the metal from the screw head would have touched and shorted to the heatsink. I actually made this mistake and glued one of the LEDs to the wrong grid because I wasn't paying attention and the epoxy is on a timer. Lesson learned #10 (Glue LEDs to the right spot). They are easy to pop off with a flat head screwdriver. You will see a white glue residue left behind on the heatsink and LED. These are easily scraped off with a razor blade.

Thanks! The fuse came in handy when I was adjusting the current on the driver. I thought I had turned it all the way down to the lowest setting, but apparently I did something wrong. I saw a flash of LEDs then nothing. I checked the fuse and it blew and saved the LEDs. Another lesson learned from this. You can wire a 1 Ohm ceramic resister to the DC output instead of your LED string. Since V = iR, measure the voltage across the resister and that's how much current you have going out. No more blowing fuses or LEDs.

Sure, I can do that. All parts were purchased at Radio Shack, Lowes or Home Depot, Reefledlights and Rapidled. I'll post part#s and price list. I'm afraid to see how much I spent total, but I think it was worth it. The heatsink was not predrilled. Aluminum was surprisingly easy to drill, just make sure you vacuum all the metal shavings if you have little ones running around. My 1 year old was very interested in what I was doing.

Dave, I haven't put it on the tank yet. I have to build 2 more of these things and then take my old MH fixture out and hang the new LEDs. I'm in no hurry to get this done. I would rather get it done right then rush it and have it be messy. Some lessons learned...1) the power cord for the drivers are really short. They usually come with a plug to connect the wires to. I took some old computer power cable and cut the ends off and spliced it. 2) The computer fans are not easy to mount to heatsink fins. I found some tiny wire clips from Radio Shack that are adhesive backed. The wire clips clipped right onto the fins perfectly. 3) Stranded wires are easier to work with than solid conductor. I used 18 gauge and all wires are color coded to make it easier to identify later. 4) Buying the mounting kits from rapidled is cheaper than going to Lowes and Home Depot and making your own. I'm using spring clips and chains for my mounting hardware. I've probably spent twice the cost rather than buying online, but I can lower and raise the LEDs by adjusting the links on the chain. For now, I put the LED kit I built over a 29 gallon frag tank and the colors are amazing. I have the whites and blues turned down all the way until the coral frags get used to the new light. I had power compacts on it previously and it's a huge difference.

It's a 175 gallon bowfront, 6'x2'x2'. The 70 degree optics are not on yet. I need to mount it first. What I don't like about this build is all the wires laying around. I tried to make it neat and only cut the wires to length, soldered and shrink wrapped. Maybe version 2.0 will make it neater.

This is my first plunge into LED lights. I bought 72 LEDs (36 cool white XRE and 36 royal blue XRE), 3 10" x 22" heat sink, 6 mean well ELN 60-48D dimmable driver, 10V power supply for the dimming circuit, 12 V power supply for the computer fan, various hardware for wiring, mounting, etc. Maybe this will help others who were thinking of building an LED kit and can learn from my mistakes. 1) The 10"x22" heatsinks were marked with grids. My first mark is for 24 LEDs with markings for an upgrade later to 48 LEDs. 2) LEDs are glued with thermal paste and wired. Whites and blues are in a criss cross pattern for even distribution. 3) Drivers were mounted on a peice of plexiglass. I also have a fuse block with 1A fast blow fuses in case my drivers exceed 1A. Then the fuse will blow and I won't fry the LEDs. When I upgrade to 2 parallel lines of 12 LEDs, I'll need to bump the drivers up to 1.3A. If one of the line of LEDs go bad, I don't want 1.3A running through the other string. The fuse will blow and protect my LEDs. I also mounted my dimming circuit with 10k pots. 1 pot is color coded blue for the blue LEDs and 1 is chrome for the white LEDs. I can vary my blue and white LEDs individually to either go 10k or 20k. On the lowest setting, the LEDs had 200mA - 800mA running through them. 4) I added 2 120mm computer fans on the heatsink to keep it cool. 1 down. 2 more to go.

You're not going to like this answer. XP-G R5 cool whites are rated at 1500 mA. The XP-E and XRE royal blue leds are rated at 1000mA. You will fry the XP-E and XR-E blue leds if you drive it with what you are currently using to make the Xp-G R5 leds work. 1) You will need to buy blue leds rated at 1500mA (doesn't exist that I've seen) or 2) Turn down your LPC-60-1050 driver so that it is only putting out 900 mA. That will make your blue leds work, but will also make your XP-G R5 cool white leds dim. How dim? I don't know. You'll have to turn it down now to 900mA on your current setup to see if it's acceptable to you. Putting a resistor in series will not use up some of the current from the driver. The current will still travel across the resistor and the leds with the same current. It will however cause a voltage drop at the resistor so less voltage will be available at the leds. If you want to divert some of the current away, you need a parallel circuit. But if you do that, you might as well tune down your driver and be done with it.

My guess is it's correlated to the number of posts you make.

DIY instructions say to space each led at least 1 inch apart.

From reefledlights, a 48 led diy kit is $394...so approximately $1200. The 8.46" wide heatsink is out of stock from Heatsink USA. Bill from reefledlights gave me a 10" wide heatsink instead at no extra cost. The mean well 60-48D 1.3 A dimmable driver is out of stock also. I ordered my kit on 12/26. He's supposed to get another shipment of drivers in about a week. He sent me another mean well driver 700mA at no charge so I can test out my led lights until my dimmable driver comes in. Bill has been great throughout this and has kept me informed. They say to run 12 leds on a series string with each driver and would just need to dial back to driver so it only outputs 700mA instead of 1.3A. But you can actually run 2 parallel strings of 12 leds (24 leds) with one driver and save you the cost of another driver. But I would recommend putting in a 1000mA quick blow fuse in case one of the led strings goes bad and you don't have the full 1.3A runninig to the other string. That would fry it.

These are XR-E LEDs from http://www.reefledlights.com/led-kits/deluxe-led-kits/. The XRE leds are rated at 1A max and suggested you run them around 700mA. The XPG leds are rated at 1.5A max and can probably brighter, but also more expensive. I read that without optics, the leds alone output 90 degrees. I didn't want to spotlight look with 40 degree optics. I chose the 70 degree optics as a good mix of both. I don't know if it will be enough to penetrate all the way to the bottom of my tank so we will see. You will need 10V power supply and a potentiometer to adjust your driver for each color. Rapidled sells a nice one : http://www.rapidled.com/servlet/the-118/2-Color-Dimming-Kit/Detail. I am by no means an expert on led builds. I've only been looking at it for the last 2 months. I haven't even built my first led diy kit yet....it's still in progress.

Dave, I was in the same situation as you. I posted on here fo advice between the PAR38s bulbs and color temp, and degree optics configurations. Zygotek provided some excellent pictures of PAR38 to compare. After researching further, I decided to go with DIY kits from reefledlights. I had a choice between reefledlights and rapidled. Prices for leds, drivers and optics were about the same for both websites, but I decided with reefledlights only because they offered an 8" wide heatsink rather than the 4.25" heatsink that rapidled offered. I have a 6' long by 28" by 24" 175 tank. I'm purchasing 3 led kits to hang above each section. For each kit, I bought 2 dimmable mean well drivers so that I can adjust the white vs blue individually. Each kit has 24 leds (12 cool white, 12 royal blue) with space to upgrade to 48 leds later. 24 leds is comparable to 175W MH. 48 leds is similar to 400W MH. 3 led kits with 24 leds each, with heatsink and mean well drivers and led seal cost me about $900. Hope this helps...let me know if you need more information. Tony

I had a fairy wrasse that went hardwood floor surfing. Now I'm thinking I put it in the trash too early without trying to bring it back from the dead.

Gilbert, When you mix saltwater, do you let the saltwater aerate and mix for 24 hours? Mixing salt and freshwater creates a chemical reaction when it dissolves. Doing a water change with freshly made saltwater could burn your fish. Maybe some of the more experienced members can confirm this statement...I think I read it somewhere in a book or was told this.

The 72 LEDs might be best for my tank, which is 6'. I would agree that you may not need as many LEDs. Could you combine heat sinks so that you're building like a pyramid shaped heat sink for your half circle tank? Something like 24" long for the base, then 18", then 14" so that the heat sinks take the shape of your tank? I'm not sure how cost effective that would be, but just a thought.

Just to cover all bases, I priced out a DIY LED kit from rapidled.com and reefledlights.com for a 6' tank, and the price came out to be about $1k. It would be about 72 LEDs total. Compared to the PAR38 bulbs with 5 LEDs/bulb x 6-8 bulbs over a 6' tank, it would be about 30 - 40 LEDs over the tank. The PAR38 bulbs is a cleaner look, but if you have a canopy over the tank, the DIY LED kit might be more cost effective.

Gilbert, I looked in my bin of spare fish equipment and I can't find it. I don't recall if I threw it out or not. I'll look again, but I'm afraid I might have trashed it when I didn't have a use for it anymore.

It looks like the green blue yuma from Mr Coral. I have 1 that spreads out about 4".

I have a used SpectraPure 60 GPD RO unit that you can have. It is just a membrane and carbon filter. You'll need to get another carbon filter ($10), but it's yours if you want it.

Deep sand beds are considered to be 6+ inches. Don't get discouraged. It's a learning process of what works and what doesn't work. I still have your blue mushrooms to replace the ones that died. I'll hold off until your nitrate gets better.

Thanks! I will check them out.