LED question

[epleeds]

I am wondering if anyone makes a strip of LED's that is 48" in length (mostly blue LED's) I want to add some to my tank, but was wondering if someone makes a single strip that i can place on top of my current tank which is a 75 gallon.

 

if anyone knows of some, please let me know.

 

thanks

 

eric

[Guest thefishman65]

You can buy the parts and do it. I have a group buy that is about to close. How many are you looking for.

 

Worst case here is your heat sink

1x48 Heatsink

For all blue $36 for 12 LEDs and $25.50 for a ELN-60-48D driver. Add maybe $20 in other parts.

 

I can help or even do it for you. I am in Gainesville, but probably closer to Bristow.

[TonyD]

Reefledlights has 6 CREE royal blue led strip that is already mounted and can be prewired and connected together with other strips. I don't know how long it is, but if you string a few together you can get to 48". It's $40 per led strip. Add a driver for your power source.

 

I would agree with fishman and build your own, but if you don't want to DIY and buy it premade, you can go with the led strip.

[epleeds]

Yea. Fishman is going to give me a hand, that way I can get what I want.

 

thanks

[Guest thefishman65]

Tony, ReefLEDLights site is down so I can't see the strip. If it is the one I remember is still requires a heat sink. The only thing it saves is the connecting of the LEDs together. You can get RB LEDs for around $3 or $18 for 6. So to me $40 seems a lot to save some soldering. I also loose the ability to space them the way I want.

[Glenn]

I remember the LED strips from my search - I think their site also says that they are only warranted if used with their heatsink (although theirs seems to be identical to the ones on heatsinkusa.com)

[overklok]

ReefBrites will work for you, they make a 48 inch model.

[Guest thefishman65]

I wish they said what kind of LEDs they used other than 3 watts. They would probably work well but may use more electricity than CREE LEDs to produce the same amount of light. They have 24 for LEDs. So for major component about $75 for LEDs, 2 drivers $50, and heat sink $44 (IIRC) total $169. So they may not even be badly priced at $239.

 

Here is an interest thread from Nano-Reef that may help you decide if they are right for you. Does anyone have PAR reading from one of these?

[trockafella]

I thought PAR was irrelavant when it comes to blue lights.? The blue isnt growing anything, its just for asthetics.

[Guest thefishman65]

Not so at least from what I have read. The corals actually expect blue light since the red is taken on by the water. Corals actually do very poorly under red only lights. On a PAR meter the blue LEDs have almost as much PAR as the whites.