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40 gal breeder 36" high light LED Project

25K views 81 replies 22 participants last post by  zemnar 
#1 ·
Hey everyone, so after seeing my friend raidendex upgrade his lighting to LED and how easy it was I've decided to take the jump and upgrade myself

I have a rimless 40g breeder that is in desperate need of an upgrade. I've had the current fixture for over two years and I can definitely tell the bulbs have decreased in output. This is what it looks like now


you can see that sometimes the light isn't all that even but two years ago it was the best I could do.

I've been researching for a while on the best LED's for the lowest amount of money. At first I thought I'd go really cheap and just get the XP-Gs however I've noticed that the XM-L U2 lights produce the max amount of light per dollar spent. They're great

For my 36" fixture I've scouted out two aluminum bars that I'll mount the LED's to. I'm getting them local so it's going to save on shipping.
1/4 X 2-1/2 Aluminum Rectangular Bar 6061T6 come out $21.57

from www.myaluminumsupply.com

The optics will be bought from www.ledgroupbuy.com
I'll be using 40 degree optics at $21.48

The rest of the supplies will come from www.rapidled.com who also seems to have great prices. Has anybody worked with them before?

How are the meanwell drivers? quiet?
i'll be getting

2 Mean Well LPC-60-1750
constant current drivers at $52
some adhesive stars, 20 for $20
the 12 XM-L U2 LED's will be $96
and the wires i'll be getting from a friend locally.

with shipping, I'm estimating for everything to come around $214.84


I'll be spacing the LED's every 5.14 inches and then 6 inches between the two rows.

Since I like keeping everything close to the tank I think i'll keep the fixture around 20" from the substrate.

According to the excel calculator from hoppy I'm estimating around 113 par at the bottom using this set up. If it gets to be too high light and I start seeing algae then I'll raise the fixture or cover the LEDs since the driver isn't dimmable.

So what do you guys think? I haven't seen too many high light LED set ups. most of them are set up to be medium light
do you think i should change from 40 degree optics to 60 degree optics? i'll get more light splashing out but it'd reduce the spotting, and I'd save $13:red_mouth

give me some feedback :)
 
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#2 ·
I was calculating how much this build was going to save compared to my normal set up

I pay $11.135 per 100 KWH
If I keep my current fixture which takes in 220 W for 7 hours a day, each year its going to cost me about $62.59 to run. If I upgrade and get this fixture then it should cost me about $18.82 a year. a savings of $43.77. This should pay for itself pretty quick :)
 
#5 ·
Thanks BS87, what size tank do you have? thinking about building something similar?

BTW, i just realized that i'm overshooting everything

i can do everything just fine with 10XML u2s and it can all run on a single driver. saving me more money!

so updated amount will be
10 xmls $80
optics $17.90
adhesive $5
driver $26
heat sink $21.57

everything in total comes out to $163.55
even better than i thought!!!
 
#9 ·
Well when I saw my friend's tank I really liked the all cool white color. Right now I have a mix of 10,000k and 6,500k and I like that blend so if the spectrum on the led's runs around 8,000k that'd be perfect!

Did you remove the black trim yourself?
No actually, it didn't have a trim. I bought this tank from a guy for $20, the glass is pretty thick so it doesn't bow or anything.
Last year, the tank exploded

and i had to replace the entire back panel. I used super strong silicone and pretty thick glass and it looks great, doesn't need a rim or anything.

I'm following, got a 36" 50 gallon that I would like to go LED on eventually. Good luck and keep posting!
Awesome! a 36"x18"x18"? good dimensions
I'll try and document everything. That's the biggest challenge i found when starting the project, not that many people had documented their builds properly so I had to research everything myself.
 
#10 ·
Alright, I made a little diagram of what 10 LEDS will look like, how much overlap and how much spill over was going to occur.

i noticed that i should be moving the rows to 4 inches closer to each other, that'd give better spread laterally



the angles of the cones are only 20 degrees, I wanted to model how the bright spots will overlap. since the brightest light will only be in the first 20 degrees in a 40 degree optic.


you can see the 2 inches at each end where the tank isnt getting bright light. oh well

this is how the overall image looks.I changed how the LEDS are spread out on the bar, not every 6 inches but every 5.75 inches leaving 6.5inches on each end. that way more of the light is focused on the tank

 
#14 ·
It'll take 4 years to pay yourself back in energy savings. How is that quick? Interesting build regardless. I'm not sold on the LED thing just quite yet. They look great and definitely use less power. Just not into having to build one from scratch at this point. Eventually a company will realize the market and start making usable planted tank LED fixtures.
 
#19 · (Edited)
Actually the fixture should pay for itself in 2 years considering electricity use and 2 bulb changes ( $60 for 4 pc bulbs each time)
If I sell my current pc fixture I should be able to pay for the project instantly

GitMoe if things go well with this fixture I might start a small side project of building similar fixtures for low prices, similar to what AH supply is doing but I'd assemble everything. would you be interested? :)


I really like the ability to light my plants at a cheap price and never having to change a light bulb again!
 
#22 ·
I to want to build out a planted tank light. About to order a build from Rapidled for a nano Reef. They have a superb reputation in the Reef community. Here is where I would really need the help with LED's is the color selection. Your idea about removing the lenses is great. So if anyone has some input here with adding color would help us all greatly. Another company sells heat sinks that have the channels already built in for a splash guard & I believe they are in black. Not sure if Rapid is doing that or not?
So good luck Oscar with your lights
 
#23 ·
Thanks Cocobid, hopefully it turns out well!
the heat sinks are big part of the build, I want to make sure that the LEDs are properly cooled.

I went to Tractor Supply today to buy some mini pig food and stopped by their aluminum section. They had a good range of products but I think they're too thin for my needs
most of the bars were only 1/8" thick, they had one that was 1/4" but it was too narrow


The prices were pretty good if I was only running them at 700mah, here are the narrower choices. I could have gotten two of these for $8



considering the LEDs are going to be running at 1750mah they're going to put out a significant amount of heat, since I don't want active cooling such as a fan I think a thick aluminum bar should do just fine.
I'll be ordering a 1/4" x 2-1/2"x72" bar from a local aluminum supply store and using that. Its going to run about $20.25.

However I was looking at the other choices, 1/4" x 2"x72" is only $16.20. Do you guys think that extra 1/2" will make a big difference? easy way to save $4 :icon_smil

Also I think i'm going to be suspending the fixture from the ceiling (if my other half doesn't complain:hihi:) and i'll be using this wire
 
#25 ·
Are you going to have "fins" on your heatsink? They allow the heat to dissipate from what I have read, and mount your fan atop. Rather cheep to. Surf the reef forms they are the front runner is builds. Found a heat sink the other day with channels built in that allow you to slide the LED's if needed for light adjustment.Bet that is the direction HS will go in. Just makes sence. Wow has aquarium light moved in such a cool direction. Had my first salt tank in the early 70's. I following you..and good luck. :)
 
#26 ·
to fin or not to fin, i've been thinking about this issue for a while. I'm a mechanical engineering student and i'm taking heat transfer right now. I approached my professor after classed and talked to him about the project and the conditions of the LEDs. He said as long as it's a good solid piece of aluminum that it will be able to spread out the heat pretty good. I think i'm going with the 1/4"x2-1/2"x36" bars. It's pretty thick and wide so i'm hoping that the whole bar will uniformly distribute heat rather than using fins and fans. This is only costing me $20.57 for both bars, usually fin heat sinks are much more expensive!

my backup plan if the bars get too hot is to get a small computer fan and make the air circulate above the bars. Lets hope i won't need it though :red_mouth

Very good planning, you will be a very nice LED light. Can't wait to see when it finish:icon_surp
Thank you Linsanity, I actually really like your 36" fixture! i can't believe you had to attach the LED's to the stars themselves! you're hardcore! how are things growing in your tank?
 
#27 ·
I'm very excited !
In preparationfor this fixture I went out and bought a few goodies that I'll be needing. I went to the local hobby shop and tried to look for materials and spent about 2 hours there. They're awesome! They had no 1/4 inch aluminum bars so I'm going to go to the aluminum shop this week and pick them up. I did find some really cheap multi meters ,a 60 watt soldering iron, some cheap solder, and electrical tape. Then I went out to home depot and bought myself a dremel 3000, which is an amazing tool everybody should have!
I picked up 13 feet of 1 16th of an inch aluminum wire that I'll be using to hang the fixture, I also picked up 8 linear feet of 1 inch by 4 inch primed wood plank. Only about $11 worth of stuff.

Hopefully rapid led will have the U2s that I need and I'll be getting my orders really soon:)
 
#31 ·
I was lazy and went with some manufactured LED strips from vertex. worth the money? YES. with no other changes made to the house, my power bill has come down nearly $30 a month, plus no more freaking bulbs to change!





the tank is 2 weeks old now and will soon be ready for the first round of stocking :D

good luck on your build!
 
#34 ·
Oh I agree with you on that one hoppy
we studied heat sinks in thermodynamics. a large body of water, molten salt, those are all heat sinks( something that can store heat). but I think in real world application and in the electronics field then a heat sink is just a medium to transfer heat to a fluid, a basic heat conductor.

I'm hoping that the 2-1/2" wide bar will be enough to cool the leds, even with passive air cooling.
I just looked at the specification sheet and it said the Peak/Classification Temperature (Tp) is 215 °C.

I'll drop by Dr. chens office and see what he thinks.

I was lazy and went with some manufactured LED strips from vertex. worth the money? YES. with no other changes made to the house, my power bill has come down nearly $30 a month, plus no more freaking bulbs to change!

the tank is 2 weeks old now and will soon be ready for the first round of stocking :D

good luck on your build!
omg Algae Beater did you really spend $349.99 on each fixture??:icon_eek:
 
#33 ·
I love to debate!! Your definition of a heat sink is a definition of a heat conductor, an entirely different function. A heat sink is a something that absorbs and stores heat. A heat conductor just transfers heat. Electronic "heat sinks" aren't heat sinks, but devices to transfer heat - heat conductors. Heat conductors need high conductivity alone, but heat sinks need high conductivity, and high heat storage capacity ( specific heat and density ). Aluminum is a great heat conductor, and when you provide a means of removing the heat from the aluminum, like fins and moving air, or water, it is a good way to cool something.

Do an experiment. Heat up a piece of aluminum foil, then touch it. It doesn't burn you because it doesn't hold enough calories of heat to raise your skin temperature. Do that with copper foil and you get burned.
 
#35 ·
eeek

FINALLY rapidled.com got some of the XMLs! I've been waiting for a while but the wait paid off (saving nearly $25)

I made my order of all the leds, optics, pads, heatsinks and hanging supplies.

I'll swing by the aluminum shop and pick up the heat sinks this week and i'll try building the fixture this weekend. then hopefully the supplies will come in next week and i'll get the fixture hung and take pictures of everything soon!

I'm very excited!!
 
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