Marineland LED MOD!!! idea's

[richiewwhite]

Ive been searching for a fixture and Id figure id go with marineland led since it is cheap. I know I know its not the greatest but for price its good. The reef capable light I do not like because its nearly all white but the double bright is 2x1 white to blue ratio. Now I know that the reef capable has about double the led's but its more than double the price. For my application of it I need a 20 inch light. the 18-24 model only has 9 led's 3 rows of 3 and the next model up has 4 rows so 12 led's my idea is to get a larger fixture now the 36-48 inch it jumps to 24 led's 14 white 8 blue. the reef version of the 18-24 inch has 18 white and 3 blue and so on 23/4 36/6 now the only difference i do see on the site is that the double bright white leds in the double bright are 6000k and the reef capable are 10000k color spectrum. I have had a 6000k t5 unit in the past and the color was great. Now the lumens are about the same 1200 from the double bright 36-48 and 1305 from the 18-24" which i want to recreate. I figure it has more because there are more whites than blues. Now in the past Ive cut down a t5/metal halide combo down to size for just the halide. I think I can cut down the shell this led fixture nicely. then take my time and drill the extra circle holes inbetween where there is space and then see how the guts are if they are all on one heat sink or in rows and then figure that out and mount it all in there nicely even if i could stagger the blues instead of just being in the center. Ive been searching online if someone has opened one up yet but havent found one. the overall price would be cheaper and I would have better color i would think. I was going to get the small double bright and just add some 3watt crees to it to get the color and lumens I wanted but i think it would be cheaper and easier to go ahead and buy the larger fixture and remake it to a 20 inch . I could reuse all the guts and then stick it back into the smaller cutdown shell. anyways I was thinking about this and anyone have any thoughts? I know its hard to read when i type like this I just kinda ramble on and laziness to lack of grammar and punctuation but thanks for looking if youve made it this far

 

[NYreefNoob]

would be cheaper to just buy a diy kit.

 

[batt600]

would be cheaper to just buy a diy kit.

+1

 

[richiewwhite]

I doubt it would and plus there wouldnt be an enclosure of the sort I found this link to someone got one apart http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1989666

I think i could mount the whites on teh green board where there is space then I could wire them from behind turn 2 boards into 1 the inner blues maybe tricky but they dont have to be mounted i guess

 

[NYreefNoob]

you would still have to buy drivers ect for the additional leds and then would have wire's coming out of them for the drivers. btw i had the regular one the 18-24" and it wouldnt light my ap 24g tank my single exotica led par 38 put's out more light then it did

 

[richiewwhite]

im going to have the drivers and leds from the rest of the light fixture. its going to be from the 36 inch light turned into a 20 inch light. THe reef capable fixtures are able to keep all softies to low level sps . Im just going to have softies only. I would have all the parts I needed to make the smaller light just maybe some wire and some time I do have some experience with greenboard work and think those boards can be played with wince there is room. the blues maybe require a tiny green board for each to be positioned right and depends on the clearance. I dont want a regular double bright fixture I want to gather the led's into the small 20 inch space just like the reef capable but without the price and without so many whites

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

how much is a NON-reef ready Marineland 20" and a 36" nowadays?

 

[richiewwhite]

the double bright 24-36 i had quote just under 100 bucks but its only 12 led's 8 white 4 blue I could cut that down to 20 inch no problem just take 2 inches off each side but i figure cutting down the 36 inch fixture for 24 leds 14 white /8blue would be much better in the 20 inch footprint..

 

[batt600]

One is the leds are 1w if you switch to 3w thay will frie . Thay put out way more heat then the 1w so you will need to buy a heat sink that plate not thick to cool off the 3w leds

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

the double bright 24-36 i had quote just under 100 bucks but its only 12 led's 8 white 4 blue I could cut that down to 20 inch no problem just take 2 inches off each side but i figure cutting down the 36 inch fixture for 24 leds 14 white /8blue would be much better in the 20 inch footprint..

12 LEDs will most likely be too weak even though I do not know the rest of the dimension of your tank besides 20" length. I assume you are using a 15G

From your previous descriptions, they are using constant current drivers and thus as long as your parallel chains are even, they will be all good, there swapping out the white with blue should be OK if done properly.

 

[richiewwhite]

One is the leds are 1w if you switch to 3w thay will frie . Thay put out way more heat then the 1w so you will need to buy a heat sink that plate not thick to cool off the 3w leds

Im not going to be using 3w led's and if i were to add them they would be powered seperate. I want to make the double bright 36"-48" 24 1 watt led's and condense the fixture so it is 20 inches long with all the 24 led's 16 white and 8 blue. the reef capable of the same size only has 3 blues and 18 whites what i am basically going to do is turn the 36-48 double bright fixture into a reef capable 20inch fixture but with better blue/white ratio and less expensive.. edit. the tanke is an eclipse 12/14 i guess glass same footprint as 10 gallon but little taller maybe a 16h

 

[richiewwhite]

ok now there are 2 of these boards in the 36 inch fixture with some space on either side so I figure the boards gotta be somthing like 15 inches long. now i would use the other board and either lay it over this board if there is enough clearance or if there is some way just to wire up the led's to connect them in series to the led's already on the board. the red's would be like the white ones so they can screw to the heatsink along the slot behind the board and the blues i maybe just get in there creative above it with insulation so it nothing could short the board.