DIY LED Reef Lighting

[ReefGod]

I know there has been previous threads on this but I decided to do another one! I just started my first Reef aquarium 3 months ago. I need new lighting as my CF's wont cut it for corals! So here is a list of what I have ordered. I will post pics and videos with PAR readings later on. I attached a couple pics of my current setup and a quick drawing of my vision for this fixture. Ill have better quality pics as I go. Let me know what you think!



36 Premium LED Kit

18- Cree XPG Cool White
60 degree optics

18- Cree XRE Blue
65 degree optics

4- Cree MC-E Cool White (Noon Blast)
Wide Angle OPtics and holders --- Rapidled.com ----

2- Ball Bearing PC Fans

4 Meenwell dimmable drivers
1 Meenwell 700ma driver

47" Heatsink (heatsink USA)

12 Blue 5mm pirahna LEDs (moonlight)
12 cool white 5mm pirahna LEDs superbrightled.com

12 Red 5mm Piranha LEDs

[Chasman]

Reef God

Look forward to seeing your project. Just the other night I watched a 4 part video on you tube done by Rickets Reef. He does a pretty good job of showing how he did it. May be worth a watch as his layout looks alot like what you will be doing.

Chasman

[ReefGod]

Reef God

Look forward to seeing your project. Just the other night I watched a 4 part video on you tube done by Rickets Reef. He does a pretty good job of showing how he did it. May be worth a watch as his layout looks alot like what you will be doing.

Chasman

I have watched those videos many times! lol. There are a few good ones on there as well. Another good one is done by reefledlighting.com. He has a great write up on his site and there are you tube videos but I cant remember who the user was that posted them.

[Chasman]

I guess I should have figured you did your homework since you ordered the parts. Duh!
Anyway...Will be great to see your handywork as you go along. Keep the pictures coming.

Chasman

[ReefGod]

I guess I should have figured you did your homework since you ordered the parts. Duh!
Anyway...Will be great to see your handywork as you go along. Keep the pictures coming.

Chasman

you never know! lol I have know people to dive in head first not knowing what what was going on! The parts came today! RapidLED is freakin fast and the best prices I could find on the net! The only thing was I had to order the optics for the MCE LEDs from ledsupply.com. I am going to take before and after PAR readings to. I cant wait to get this thing going!

[ReefGod]

Well I was able to lay out the LEDs and got the 4 Cree MC-E LEDs wired. I ran out of time but took a quick video of them on. This is a crappy video but oh well, what can you do! They are beeing driven at about 50% here. They are freakin brighter than I ever thought! Anyways, I hope to get better pics and videos this weekend!

YouTube - DIY LED Reef Light

[ReefGod]

I took a quick video of what I have done so far with my cell phone. Its not the best video but it kind of shows the layout. The ones that light are the MC-E's at about 40% power with no optics. They are so freakin bright!

[ReefGod]

Ok... My fixture is pretty much done. I didnt have time to take real good pics yet but I did snap a few with my cell phone on my way out the door! THe pics dont do it any justice. This light is crazy bright! I have it temped up on some wood blocks so I can play with how high I want to build it into a canopy. All in all it looks great! I will do PAR reading and take better pics of te fixture tomorrow.

[ReefGod]

Pics of the fixture and PAR Readings.

[MyNameIsJoe]

If you don't mind me asking, how much did it cost you to put this together?

[reeferbill]

I know there has been previous threads on this but I decided to do another one! I just started my first Reef aquarium 3 months ago. I need new lighting as my CF's wont cut it for corals! So here is a list of what I have ordered. I will post pics and videos with PAR readings later on. I attached a couple pics of my current setup and a quick drawing of my vision for this fixture. Ill have better quality pics as I go. Let me know what you think!



36 Premium LED Kit

18- Cree XPG Cool White
60 degree optics

18- Cree XRE Blue
65 degree optics

4- Cree MC-E Cool White (Noon Blast)
Wide Angle OPtics and holders --- Rapidled.com ----

2- Ball Bearing PC Fans

4 Meenwell dimmable drivers
1 Meenwell 700ma driver

47" Heatsink (heatsink USA)

12 Blue 5mm pirahna LEDs (moonlight)
12 cool white 5mm pirahna LEDs superbrightled.com

12 Red 5mm Piranha LEDs

I like the way you set up and balanced out the rock , plenty of swimming room for your fish additions!!!!!!!!!!!! Happy Reefing

[ReefGod]

If you don't mind me asking, how much did it cost you to put this together?

The 36 LED kit is 350 I think. It comes with 3 drivers, the LEDs, Fans, and Lenses. I think the 48 LED is a better deal. It comes with more LEDs obviously and you get a 4th driver which I bought seperatly! The LEDs I used for the noon blast are 20 bucks a pop. and I got 4 of them. so all in all I am around 450 with wire and the heatsink and everything. Also I am going to add more Blues, it looks good but I want a more deep water look. and those XPG I used for whites are crazy bright! so more blues are needed.

[userx]

I am drawing up a plan to DIY an LED light fixture. I was curious how yours has worked out for you? DO you have any additional advice? I am initially putting the light on my 75 then on my 120 once I get it up and running. Thanks

[chrisfont23]

Userx, since this thread is 2 years old, I will try to answer the question for you based on my experience. Plus a lot of advances have been made w/ LED lighting since 2010. I have a 90 gallon reef, mostly LPS, under 6 Panorama Pro 12k/445 nm Ecoxotic LEDs. If you check out my build thread here: 90 Gallon Build Thread - The Official Play by Play you will get an idea of what I did.

I admit I am not the most conventional reefer out there and I like to try new things. These LEDs are completely capable of growing corals, assuming you take it slow and do it right. I torched the hell out of a few corals b/c the lights were just too bright. It's a good idea that you a dimmer, as you will need one. This will help acclimate your corals slowly to the onslaught of light these produce.

I think the crees are 3w LEDs where the Ecoxotics are 1.5w LEDs,so make sure you get everything acclimated slowly. If you have any more questions in general about LEDs, please let me know and I will do my best to assist.

[ReefGod]

I am drawing up a plan to DIY an LED light fixture. I was curious how yours has worked out for you? DO you have any additional advice? I am initially putting the light on my 75 then on my 120 once I get it up and running. Thanks

You will love it! I have had no issues so far! I do have a couple of suggestions though! For your setup I would do 2 separate fixtures, one for each side. That way you can just adjust the optics and highth of the fixtures to suite your change in tanks! I have heard of people getting bleaching but u have not had this issue yet! I took par readings throughout the tank so I wouldn't have this issue. The other thing is to make sure you use a splash guard!!! I have not had any splashing on the fixture but have had major salt creep! A splash guard would solve that for sure. They have come out with even better LEDs now! So make sure you do your homework! Consider using both blues and royal blues, this will pull out even more colors in your corals! Also I am going to be adding 4 UV LEDs so you may want to check those out to! I have had great coral growth for sure! I have an open brain that was under a 400w MH and is thriving on the sandbed! My clowns even hosted in it! Feel free to ask whatever you want to know! I have a ton of web sites and light research I can share to help you get where you want to be! I will mo it or the thread more closely! Good luck!

[userx]

ReefGod thanks for the info and I am glad yours worked out so well. I look forward to being able to keep a brain, haven't had much luck with the T5 fixture and those kind of corals. Links would be awesome. I have been looking at kits from rapidled and also someone from CFT turned me onto satistronics leds and a groupbuy web site. What do you think of these 3UP CREE XT-E Royal Blue XP-G Neutral White ? I wondered if these would be good to ensure nice like coverage? I am trying to keep it under $1000 and have realized that dimming to prevent frying some corals is a must. I am going to put my brain to some paper today and see if I can come up with a layout and a list of parts. Thanks again.

[Reefing Madness]

3W High Power LED Pure White 110-130LM [SS-3WW] - US$1.99 : Satistronics Store, China Electronic Components Online Store - Wholesale Development Tools and Components from China
3W High Power LED Blue 25-35LM [SS-3WB] - US$1.89 : Satistronics Store, China Electronic Components Online Store - Wholesale Development Tools and Components from China
50pcs 60 degree lens for CREE LEDs(SS-CREE-60) [SS-CREE-60] - US$25.99 : Satistronics Store, China Electronic Components Online Store - Wholesale Development Tools and Components from China
50pcs 70 degree lens for CREE LEDs(SS-CREE-70) Black [SS-CREE-70B] - US$13.99 : Satistronics Store, China Electronic Components Online Store - Wholesale Development Tools and Components from China
Switching Power Supply - Mean Well Switching Power Supply Manufacturer

[cadency15]

I wish you could build me a fixture for my 125 gallon!!! I like your light fixture and i wish i was a diy person and had the know hows to do that. I would love to get leds instead of my 150w metal halides but i dont have 700 ish per fixture to spend on leds right now. if you decide ever to build and sell units i might be intrested in buying one from you

[chrisfont23]

Www.Ecoxotic.com

[cadency15]

I was looking at getting the EcoTech Marine Radion LED Light Fixture but i cant afford them at 749.00 a piece. I like the cree leds.