Fluval Edge Light Mod LEDs

[Lludu]

So I had Hagen ship me out a "replacement" base for the 6.6g Fluval Edge, in attempts to try and create this light/hood mod:

Aquaristik Light/Hood Mod

I now have to figure out... what type of lighting I want to put into the hood. The Edge's normal lighting (even with my upgraded Fluval LED bulbs) is extremely low light. I want to try and get this up to around medium, not high enough for co2, but good enough for actual plant growth. So I have been looking around for led bars/discs that have been made already so I can simply put it in place and plug in. Dealing with the DIY lighting and covering the wires, heatsink, and blah blah blah... is not something I really want to do. So with that in mind... Does anyone have any ideas of what to put into this new hood?

I saw these at IKEA, they are rated 3.5w, but I'm not sure how they would work, what do you think?

DIODER Multipurpose lighting
Light color; warm white (2700 Kelvin).
Energy consumption: 3.5W.

I was also thinking about getting the ecopico strips, but I think thats going to cost to much to do what I am looking for...

Please let me know what you think would work, Thanks~

[WingoAgency]

You need 9-12W of LED without lens base on my experience in designing my Edge light

BTW, replacement base idea is great even though it does take away some of the visual area of the Edge. How much they charge you?

Originally Posted by Lludu

So I had Hagen ship me out a "replacement" base for the 6.6g Fluval Edge, in attempts to try and create this light/hood mod:

Aquaristik Light/Hood Mod

I now have to figure out... what type of lighting I want to put into the hood. The Edge's normal lighting (even with my upgraded Fluval LED bulbs) is extremely low light. I want to try and get this up to around medium, not high enough for co2, but good enough for actual plant growth. So I have been looking around for led bars/discs that have been made already so I can simply put it in place and plug in. Dealing with the DIY lighting and covering the wires, heatsink, and blah blah blah... is not something I really want to do. So with that in mind... Does anyone have any ideas of what to put into this new hood?

I saw these at IKEA, they are rated 3.5w, but I'm not sure how they would work, what do you think?

DIODER Multipurpose lighting
Light color; warm white (2700 Kelvin).
Energy consumption: 3.5W.

I was also thinking about getting the ecopico strips, but I think thats going to cost to much to do what I am looking for...

Please let me know what you think would work, Thanks~

[Lludu]

Originally Posted by WingoAgency

You need 9-12W of LED without lens base on my experience in design the Edge Savior.

Even for medium plants? That seems high to me.

Originally Posted by WingoAgency

BTW, replacement base idea is great even though it does take some of the visual area of the Edge. How much they charge you?

I called Hagen directly. The number for the U.S. office is 1-800-724-2436. Since the base is technically not a replacement part and you cannot buy on their website or any other, they simply asked me for my color of my edge (pewter), what model (6.6g LED) and my address. The "replacement" arrived in 3 days and I paid nothing for it, not even shipping. Their customer service has always been wonderful, part of my reason I love Hagen/Fluval.

[samamorgan]

I've actually had a thought on the edge lighting problem for a while in the original hood. Wouldn't it work to angle the leds towards the eges Like from the far left side of the hood, angle the led toward the right side of the tank, and vice versa like the shape of a parabolic mirror? This would allow you to position 4-5 LEDs in a parabolic configuration inside that small square and still cover the entire subsrate evenly. I'm sure i culd figure the math out for it if i had exact dimensions, just a little calculus.

[Lludu]

Well I'm using the standard issue lighting system with the halogen to LED upgrade.. can't really angle these LEDs.

[samamorgan]

Oh i know that, i was referring to building a whole new system. Maybe get a machine shop to make an aluminum heatsink with a parabolic design inside. Actually i wonder if it would be possible to use an actual parabolic mirror and put a single 3w high power LED at the focus point of the mirror. That would give amazing coverage.

[samamorgan]

Actually now that i think about it, you couldn't put the led in the focus of the reflector, that would just reflect all the light directly down.

This might be a fun think to use for experimentation: http://www.amazon.com/3D-Mirror-Scop.../dp/B001TFV4BE

[Milad LEDGroupBuy.com]

To get some good growth and make it custom, DIY is going to be the way to go with this. A small driver and 4 CREE XML Cool Whites will do the job. To hide it all, just slap in a old CPU heatsink (Pentium 2 works nicely)

[flyfshrmn98]

Did you ever complete this project? I ordered a new base as well to try to do the same thing. I'm going to attempt an led setup in mine

[Yianni]

Centerman19, I must say that is probably my favorite light mod to date. How many watts does it add to a tank? I want to know if it can be the final piece to my Edge lighting because I only managed around 10W for my tank under the hood with 2x MR11 and 2x 3W bars, which I do not deem enough for plants, even low light. 80$ + 15usd for shipping is a little high on my budget, i'll have to think about it

[jdmstop]

pricy

[ltra]

I use two of these LED bulbs attach to the EDGE light bar. One's in the front and another's in the back.

[gus6464]

This is my Edge LED upgrade. Looks very minimal and outputs so much light throughout the entire tank.

These are 5050SMD strips


4w MR16 LED's in place of the halogen bulbs


Tons of light

[timfok]

Originally Posted by gus6464

This is my Edge LED upgrade. Looks very minimal and outputs so much light throughout the entire tank.

Old thread I know but do you mind telling me more about your 50/50 strip?

Looks good, but wondering what it's housed in?

All strips I'm finding are bare.