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
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