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DIY LED FIXTURE

I thought I would share my DIY LED fixture I made a few weeks ago. This one is not going over any plants but rather over a reef tank. Lighting corals and plants is the same idea we just use different spectrums for both.

My fixture measures 12"X9" it has 24 LEDs 12 are white 10K and 12 are Royal blue 450-465nm wavelength. The Leds I ordered from China and cost around $1.30 each. I used C-Channel aluminum for my heatsink. I am using 2 Mean Well ELN-60-48D dimmable drivers and 60 degree optics.

Total cost for this built was around $160 or less since I had alot of stuff laying around my shop. It is not hard to do I had never any type of soldering or electrical work before. I seen my friend do another fixture for me and I seen how easy it was to do. It seems really complicated and overwhelming, had I not seen my friend working on my fixture I would have never attempted to do this.

I thought I would share my fixture here in this forum and now that I found this place I think I will do one to light some chilli plants. If anyone has any questions about my fixture feel free to post.

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here are a few videos of my big reef tank full of nice colorful corals. I use solartubes and T5's to light this one
[ytubehd]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmlTtBf9nh8[/ytubehd]
[ytubehd]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYbCLMVF9TM[/ytubehd]
 
hey that's pretty awesome.
i like how you used those standoffs and the acrylic, looks nice.


i think you need to use [.media][/media]
 
The LEDs I ordered from China came in today. I am going to make an LED fixture for my new DWC system I'm starting. The fixture is going to be similar to the one I made for my fish tank but its going to be 8"x24". Its going to have a total of 48 3 watt LEDs. 12 are going to be Red 640-650nm , 12 Red 650-660nm and 24 450-455nm Royal blue. The only other wavelength I am missing is the 430nm but that one seems to be very hard to get and very expensive. I will use 60 degree optics over the LEDs. I am picking up the C-channel alloy tomorrow and all I need are the drivers. The LEDs will be dimmable to control the intensity of the light.
 
are you on SCR...? or RC...? that's an awesome build... but i'm anti LED for reef tanks... until they start making higher wattage RGB diodes, i'm gonna stay away from it all... T5HO + german bulbs
or life... LOL...


btw guys, rapidLED's also has red and soft white LEDs too...
 
are you on SCR...? or RC...? that's an awesome build... but i'm anti LED for reef tanks... until they start making higher wattage RGB diodes, i'm gonna stay away from it all... T5HO + german bulbs
or life... LOL...


btw guys, rapidLED's also has red and soft white LEDs too...
I'm on RC with the same nic...... This is what the hydro LED fixture is gonna look like
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that's tight... i got banned from RC... the mods straight out hated me... all i did was try to help people... you in socal...? you should join socalireefs.com... way better local forum... what kind of LED's did you use for your hydro setup...?
 
I'm using Red LEDs 640-650nm and 650-660nm. For the blues I am using 450-455nm. I'm still not sure if I should go 50/50 or if I should go with more reds than blues. They will be dimmable so I will be able to lower or higher the light output.
 
how nice would that thing look if you could get the top of those optics flush with a niece piece of aluminum and some standoffs... then i guess build an aluminum bezel around that or w/e.
 
Got all my LEDs wired up and tested, they are all working. I just don't have the drivers. This small driver I used was just to test it out and they are only working at about 25% strenght.
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