Charlie March 30, 2010 March 30, 2010 I have a 46 gallon bow front (36" wide) that I'll be bringing up from my parents' house this weekend. Since I want this to primarily be a reef tank, lighting is a major concern. I find the reliabity and the low cost of ownership of LEDs very attractive. How much light in LEDs would you recommend and what kind of design pattern would you recommend?
zygote2k March 30, 2010 March 30, 2010 You could do exactly like mine. I use 3) PAR38 bulbs from nanotuners and I have excellent light penetration all the way to the bottom of my 24" deep tank. 3 bulbs will set you back about 300 plus you have to make your own light fixture from Home Depot or use a chandelier or any other king of household light fixture. They run on regular 110v current and are truly "plug and play". Check out my lights on the dedicated tank forum under "60 cube".
Sikryd March 31, 2010 March 31, 2010 You could do exactly like mine. I use 3) PAR38 bulbs from nanotuners and I have excellent light penetration all the way to the bottom of my 24" deep tank. 3 bulbs will set you back about 300 plus you have to make your own light fixture from Home Depot or use a chandelier or any other king of household light fixture. They run on regular 110v current and are truly "plug and play". Check out my lights on the dedicated tank forum under "60 cube". Charlie - I think a lot of it depends on the amount you are willing to spend, and the desired "look" you are going after. Zygote - Doesn't it look kind of funny with them being more like spotlights? From the video you showed, the spotlight effect looked really pronounced and kind of awkward. I'm wondering if it looks that way in person, or if it is from being on video, or one or more of the lights being off.
lanman March 31, 2010 March 31, 2010 You're in the general neighborhood - talk to El Cameron, and see if you can't go take a look at his tank. Pretty awesome LED lighting, and locally manufactured lights. bob
thewire March 31, 2010 March 31, 2010 For that size, you can either do a DIY which is probably cheaper but you can go for the easier way..it's not dimmable yet but Maxspect has some nice complete 3W LEDs http://www.fish-street.com/maxspect_programmable_led_aquarium_lighting?category_id=126
zygote2k March 31, 2010 March 31, 2010 Zygote - Doesn't it look kind of funny with them being more like spotlights? From the video you showed, the spotlight effect looked really pronounced and kind of awkward. I'm wondering if it looks that way in person, or if it is from being on video, or one or more of the lights being off. The spotlight effect is VERY pronounced. I have to agree that it is very different compared to conventional light systems. There is hardly any loss of light through the glass but it looks very similiar to the reef at about 20' when you go diving. Some people won't like the spotlighting, but you can make very dramtic lighting effects that only put light where you need it instead of blanketing the whole tank with light. On the flip side, if you were to use the same bulbs with 60 degree or 80 degree optics, you would get more spread and it would look like a conventional light system, but with diminished par values. The 40 degrees have considerable penetration down to 32" in my tank. The monti patch is growing at a greater rate than with the mh at the same depth.
Charlie March 31, 2010 Author March 31, 2010 What I'd like to do is a DIY. I know that I'll need a heat sink, a controller, heat sink compound, fans and a bunch of LEDs. I'm pretty good with a soldering iron and a drill press. Where do I get the stuff and color specs?
Brian Ward March 31, 2010 March 31, 2010 What I'd like to do is a DIY. I know that I'll need a heat sink, a controller, heat sink compound, fans and a bunch of LEDs. I'm pretty good with a soldering iron and a drill press. Where do I get the stuff and color specs? Go to the DIY forum and look for chucelli's post. He did a complete breakdown with parts list, suppliers, and instructions for building a fixture.
Brian Ward March 31, 2010 March 31, 2010 It's actually in the General Forum. Here are the posts: http://www.wamas.org/forums/topic/35740-inline-led-design/page__p__308429__fromsearch__1entry308429 http://www.wamas.org/forums/topic/33691-high-powered-led-pendent/
El Camaron March 31, 2010 March 31, 2010 just talk to Rovert aka chucelli, let him know what your looking for and he can build you something that you will be happy with, his lights have been running for a few months in my tank and the corals love it, fish love and best of all I love it.
Charlie April 1, 2010 Author April 1, 2010 I really, really like Robert's set up. I'm thinking that a pair of those would be about right. El Camaron, I'd love to see yours in person, maybe I could bring a six pack for your time?
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