jaesun September 1, 2009 Share September 1, 2009 I want to build this to supply additional blue supplementation instead of using T5s.I am a glitter junkie and want to avoid fluorescents at all costs. Anything wider than a thin strip will not fit next to my halides comfortably. You might have problems with the 3W LEDs. While these LEDs won't heat up your tank, the actual LEDs get really hot and will require a heatsink. Even if you could fit a strip of LEDs on a 1" aluminum, you might never get them to cool below 100F because of the adjacent halides. The 3W LEDs are more for coral growth. If you want to supplement some blue, you could get away with lower wattage LEDs that also run at lower currents. It won't add anything for PAR, but they will add blue. If you want to experiment, I have a bunch of blue 1/2W 100mA LEDs and only need 2 for my moonlights (if I ever get around to setting it up). You could try them out to see if they'd work in your setup. I got them on eBay and noticed that they're already obsolete since the same supplier is selling similar ones with much higher outputs. 10 PCS 10mm 40 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jager September 2, 2009 Share September 2, 2009 Several of te Rc guys have all royal blue leds on computer heatsinks with fans mounted in their hoods . they use the 3 leds per star rebels to get better light out of the smaller space , but they have had no issues with heat, and are happy with the color addition. again its the royal blue 3w leds, they tend to make the corals fluoresce more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaesun September 2, 2009 Share September 2, 2009 (edited) Several of te Rc guys have all royal blue leds on computer heatsinks with fans mounted in their hoods . they use the 3 leds per star rebels to get better light out of the smaller space , but they have had no issues with heat, and are happy with the color addition. again its the royal blue 3w leds, they tend to make the corals fluoresce more. Wow, I didn't realize that these had 3 on a star. I'll keep this in mind for my future upgrade. Royal-Blue EndorStar I got my 5 Cree XR-E Royal Blue LEDs from LEDSupply, and my corals really pop under them. I hope to find out the difference with regular blue which I've set aside for my moonlights. As for the heat, I'd be a bit worried because you could easily fry the LEDs and easily shorten the lifetime from years to weeks. My heatsink has its own thermometer, so I've been keeping an eye out on temps. So far, so good. Oh, I would highly recommend LEDSupply for DIY projects. I had problems with my buckpuck drivers, and they sent me new ones without any issues. They might cost a little more than having your items shipped from Hong Kong, but I doubt any overseas supplier can match the customer service of a US company. Plus you get your items in days as opposed to 2-3 weeks. Edited September 2, 2009 by jaesun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chucelli September 2, 2009 Share September 2, 2009 (edited) The standard LED blues do not contribute anything to coloration once the halides are on. Adding blue color without par is useless, which is why those standard LEDs usually don't work. They are not in the correct spectrum range. I currently am running 72 DIY 420nm standard LEDs. At the time, the Cree X-Lamps were not available and all other blues were in the 470nm range. While they look nice by themselves, they might as well be off when the halides come on. The Cree royal blues provide a much better spectrum than the other high wattage blues with more punch than my 420s. It would be ideal if someone can come up with some high powered 420nm leds. They will probably be available as soon as I build the royal blue setup... Here is a shot of my current LED setup: Edited September 2, 2009 by chucelli Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaesun September 3, 2009 Share September 3, 2009 The standard LED blues do not contribute anything to coloration once the halides are on. Adding blue color without par is useless, which is why those standard LEDs usually don't work. They are not in the correct spectrum range. I currently am running 72 DIY 420nm standard LEDs. At the time, the Cree X-Lamps were not available and all other blues were in the 470nm range. While they look nice by themselves, they might as well be off when the halides come on. The Cree royal blues provide a much better spectrum than the other high wattage blues with more punch than my 420s. It would be ideal if someone can come up with some high powered 420nm leds. They will probably be available as soon as I build the royal blue setup... Here is a shot of my current LED setup: wow, 72 LEDs! that's a lot of soldering! good to know that. one less experiment that I have to mess around with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chucelli September 3, 2009 Share September 3, 2009 yes it was a lot of soldering. My neck hurt for days after. Color is very nice when the halides are off however.. And you get that glitter that you don't get with fluorescents Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaesun September 5, 2009 Share September 5, 2009 nanoreef.com September tank of the month You can see the heatsinks he used in the photos of his halide/LED set-up. You might want to try hitting him up for his source. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sikryd September 5, 2009 Share September 5, 2009 I want to build this to supply additional blue supplementation instead of using T5s.I am a glitter junkie and want to avoid fluorescents at all costs. Anything wider than a thin strip will not fit next to my halides comfortably. Same here - I would love to add some LED's. I even bought some off of ebay that were DIY. They came in a strip of speaker wire and a wall plug. They are all connected about 8" apart and are soldered and heat shrunk together. I have been looking for a way to add them that wouldn't detract from my setup, but haven't figured anything out yet. I have the Aquamedic 4x250w Ocean light - so it pretty sleek looking and I don't want to mess that up. I miss having a moon light with the shimmer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chucelli September 8, 2009 Share September 8, 2009 (edited) Not all LEDs will create shimmer. I ordered one of the LED tubes from ebay just to see what it was like. The color was wrong and the output angle was too wide. It did not create the shimmer I was hoping for. So far, these cree 3 watters seem most promising, but the need for active cooling puts limits on design... It is very hard to find blue LEDs with color spectrum under 470nm. IME, anything 470nm and above does not supply the correct blue spectrum light, and also will not bring out the fluorescent greens and reds like true actinics will. Edited September 8, 2009 by chucelli Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chucelli September 8, 2009 Share September 8, 2009 These are the only 420nm LEDs I could find anywhere: http://www.superbrightleds.com/specs/v1015_specs.htm These have a slight peak in the red spectrum as well, which adds alot to coloration. However, output is dismal. This, combined with equal numbers of 470nm blues is what I have over my tank now. The color is perfect but too weak to contribute anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jager September 8, 2009 Share September 8, 2009 besides the royal blue 450-470nm i am told there is a 3w 410nm version that is also a coral color popper. that being said I am not sure whether mixing the 410 and the 450's will help anything, however it will attempt to cover more of the spectrum. might be worth a shot. the nanoreef guys havea diy sticky and one of tehir guys is probably the led guru to talk to, even the RC guys lean on him for advice since he seems to have the most success. soundwave on RC is also a good guy to talk to since he did his on a 75 gallon tank with less leds then the leds/inch that seem to be the norm, yet he is growing sps like weeds so something he is doing is working. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chucelli September 11, 2009 Share September 11, 2009 (edited) That thread at RC is perhaps the longest thread I've ever seen. Haven't finished reading it yet... Definitely some good info. I wouldn't say Soundwave is growing sps like weeds yet, since most of what he is growing seems to be montis and one banzai. Like I said, I haven't reached the end yet. Makes me want to try it out though. Edited September 11, 2009 by chucelli Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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