Neto September 13, 2013 September 13, 2013 (edited) Hello All I currently have an LED fixture that I built like 4 years ago and while it worked very well for my previous tank (10 gallon aquarium) I am not very happy with it over my 22 shallow aquarium. Some of the issues I am currently facing is not enough PAR for SPS corals, no equal spread across & lacking of spectrum that some corals need for growing. Also, my tank is 24"x24" and the layout of these leds is rectangular so 2 sides of the tank get more light than the other. All this said, I am going to be building a new LED fixture with the following LEDS: 08 CREE XT-E Neutral Whites LEDS 16 CREE XT-E Royal Blue LEDS 04 LEDgroupBuy OCW (Ocean Coral White) LEDS 08 LEDgroupBuy Hyper Violet 430nm LEDS I am hoping I can achieve 500 PAR at some area's at least and have an equal spread across all the tank.. I will be installing these leds into a 10"x10" heatsink from heatsinkusa and will group the leds into 4 identical clusters with the purpose of mixing the led colors as good as possible. Also, I will be building a jarduino along the way so that I can control the output % of each led channel separately by hour, this way you can create a sunrise & sunset effects. I might expand this controller leater to add some of the other pre-programmed features such as moonlight (with schedulle by area), temperature sensors, heater control, etc.. I already created a post on how to put together the LDD drivers to power these leds located here. Here is a picture of some of the parts that will be used to put together this project, notice that I am still waiting for some parts such as the Power supply and the TFT monitor for the jarduino. LED Cluster Cluster with 60 degree optics "Arduino" and shield from ebay Thanks for watching and any suggestions or ideas to help me on this project would be appreciated! Edited September 13, 2013 by Neto
AlanM September 13, 2013 September 13, 2013 What optics are those? I got 60 degree optics from LEDGroupBuy but they were the white ones with the prismatic diffusing tops that Milad normally sells. Why Jarduino instead of Storm X? I am running an O2Surplus arduino 10v-PWM converter board to go from Apex to LDD on mine, but I think I am going to go with Storm X as soon as I won't get in trouble from my wife for tearing out the stuff I already did.
Neto September 13, 2013 Author September 13, 2013 What optics are those? I got 60 degree optics from LEDGroupBuy but they were the white ones with the prismatic diffusing tops that Milad normally sells. Why Jarduino instead of Storm X? I am running an O2Surplus arduino 10v-PWM converter board to go from Apex to LDD on mine, but I think I am going to go with Storm X as soon as I won't get in trouble from my wife for tearing out the stuff I already did. I got these optics from stevesleds.com, I read somewhere that they offer better PAR compared to the other but IDK, they are cheaper, like $0.45 each.. I chose Jarduino because I want to control some other features not related to LED in the future like heater control, ATO, fish feeder (already programmed), dynamic speed control for LED fans..... The storm controller was my second choice though, jarduino currently does not offer clouds and or storm effects and this is something I might want to add in the future..
AlanM September 13, 2013 September 13, 2013 Nice. If you end up with too much disco from your lights and want to add a splash guard with diffuser film under them I have some extra of this stuff down the road from you: http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/296282-great-diffusion-material-tested-only-5-light-loss-through-water/
zygote2k September 13, 2013 September 13, 2013 classic checkerboard and enough spread is all you need to grow anything with only blue and white. works every time on every tank. nuff said.
Neto September 13, 2013 Author September 13, 2013 Nice. If you end up with too much disco from your lights and want to add a splash guard with diffuser film under them I have some extra of this stuff down the road from you: http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/296282-great-diffusion-material-tested-only-5-light-loss-through-water/ Thanks!
Neto September 13, 2013 Author September 13, 2013 classic checkerboard and enough spread is all you need to grow anything with only blue and white. works every time on every tank. nuff said. lol
Neto September 28, 2013 Author September 28, 2013 (edited) Wired whites Edited September 28, 2013 by Neto
AlanM September 29, 2013 September 29, 2013 I like how you are keeping the wire on the finned side of the heatsink.
Neto September 29, 2013 Author September 29, 2013 Looking good so far.. thanks I like how you are keeping the wire on the finned side of the heatsink. Yeah, I like to keep things clean so I am running all the wires through the heatsink. I will post more pictures soon
Neto October 1, 2013 Author October 1, 2013 Wonderful work Please I need wiring scheme/ diagram If you want to build the controller, then you can find the information here: https://code.google.com/p/jarduino-aquarium-controller/ If you are interested in the LEDS wiring diagram then let me know..
Neto October 1, 2013 Author October 1, 2013 (edited) So this project has itself has many options such as LED dimming, heater, PWM fan, chiller & pump control, auto feeder, alarms and wave maker.. I am going to divide this whole project in two phases like this: Phase 1 - Jarduino Build - LED fixture Build - 2 x 80mm fans on LED housing (on all the time) - new 1/8" acrylic splash shield for my current led housing. Phase 2 - 2 Heater Control - Water Temperature Sensor - Heatsink Temperature Sensor - 2 x 80mm PWM Fan for automatic speed controll depending on temperature. - Pump control (shut off while feeding) - Auto feeder For phase 2 I will be building a housing with 8 outleds to be controlled by an 8 channel 5v relay module such as this & arduino control. Edited October 1, 2013 by Neto
Neto October 5, 2013 Author October 5, 2013 One serial will go to the light hood and the other to the outlet box I will build on phase 2.
howaboutme October 5, 2013 October 5, 2013 Looking a little chunky there buddy!.. Just kidding! Very impressed that you've decided to tackle this project. Looks good and good luck!
Neto October 5, 2013 Author October 5, 2013 Yeah i had to house some components so i needed a bigger box lol
zygote2k October 12, 2013 October 12, 2013 It is too chunky but I do applaud the build. Couldn't you integrate the box into part of the stand or canopy?
Neto October 13, 2013 Author October 13, 2013 It is too chunky but I do applaud the build. Couldn't you integrate the box into part of the stand or canopy? Yes but then i would have to run cables from the cannopy to the sump for temperature, pump & feeder control. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free
Neto October 13, 2013 Author October 13, 2013 Almost done, here are my latest Installed a 48v - 12v module to power up the existing fans on canopy. Installed drivers on canopy Made some holes in heatsink to screw it to the canopy All put together Replaced the old splashguard with 1/8" acrylic sheet. ( no pic ) I am almost done, only need to work on some small issues! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free
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