frag tank with LED's

[FRY]

hey chris yours look very good i just experiment with this dont know if this is enough lite source for reef tank i was trying to use leds because of the heat has on jbj tank allso i lack the the experance that all you guys have about reef tanks still learning, i dont think these leds whould be good for deeper tanks soon better led are comeing frank

 

[loismustdie]

I added 4 more bulbs today. Looks much better. It's basically a track light system. Easy to put together. Here are some pics. I beat the reflector for a little while to give it that wrinkled foil look. I don't feel the reflector is doing much. LED's are directional. A reflector that high above it is pretty senseless. I'm sure something else can be made, but I think I lack the metal and experience building reflectors. All I can do from this point on is to keep everyone posted on actual growth.

 

[loismustdie]

Frank, I don't think this will do on deeper tanks either. I'm sure the guys developing LED's for aquariums will have a better product to work with. Since my frag tank is small, I wasn't afraid to try it here since guys have been using LED's on nanos for a few years. I hope this works out.

 

[FRY]

chris looks great how much was fixturefrank

 

[loismustdie]

$20 for fixture, $6 for the adapter and $15 per bulb. Superwhite and blue. Obviously the need for additional bulbs increased my overall cost, but I don't feel I dropped too much.

 

[FRY]

thats not bad at all do you need the fixture at all. you can solder the lamps togeter, how many leds in each lamp

 

[loismustdie]

30 LED's per bulb. I'm sure you can solder them into something, but the track light is only $20 and snaps together. Much easier and less time consuming than soldering. They bulbs are 2 pin. I noticed that I had to bend the pins a little to get a better hold into the socket, otherwise, they fall out pretty easily. With 30 LED's per buld, I was expecting a better spread on the light, but that's not the case. That would be my biggest complaint. Here are some pics of the track light system.

 

[jhale]

that's a great experiment Chris.

does it seem that the light is hitting the bottom of the tank with enough par for the coral?

 

[loismustdie]

John, the light up front on the bottom looks dim because it's shaded a lot by rocks and eggcrate and the PVC is pushed into the corners. I'm really not sure if they are getting enough PAR. I've got shrooms, zoo's and Kenya tree on the bottom shelf and all look good. Top shelf has monti digi frags, pavona and xenia. The xenia is being shaded by the drain, so I'll need to move it. All looks good so far. I may check to see if there is any growth in the monti digi before I attempt to put acro frags in there.

 

[prattreef]

Icecap will be demonstrating their Beta LED fixture( the same fixture Tullio had at NERAC) at the Frag Swap. Should be interesting. Randy

 

[loismustdie]

Yeah, like many others, I'm very interested Randy. I love Ice Cap. Unfortunately, I will not be at frag swap, hopefully you guys can get pictures and prices. I wouldn't consider it a high jack if you posted them here. I think I'm more concerned with the cost once the aquarium industry really gets a hold of them. "Aquarium" LED moonlights on line prices are in the area of $40 for 1 to 4 LED's. The blue bulbs I got run at the same nm and it costs $15 for 30 LED's. Plus another $3 for the adapter. You can get 3 and 4 LED arrangements for under $5. 2 of these arrangements will work over a 4 foot tank.
John, I'm told that the yellow from 10,000k XM MH bulbs provides the best PAR for growth that you can get. I'm wondering if superwhite LED's can provide much PAR. People are running tanks much more in the white and blue spectrums and seem to be doing quite well. Do you think a light meter would help out?

 

[jhale]

for what it's worth I have a light meter for photography, I know it's not the same thing as a PAR meter but it would let you have some kind of comparison. I works out of the water, I never tried it in a ziplock

 

[Doc]

This is really great work. I think I'll try to buy/make one for my sump.

Doc

 

[loismustdie]

John, I wouldn't be willing to dip your light meter in water, even in a ziploc. Maybe we can try something like putting tank water in a glass or lexan container and the light meter under it? I don't know.

 

[FRY]

how about puting the meter in a glass jar with tite cover

 

[joseney21]

do the leds have the plastic light diffuser(plastic cover)??if so i would take it off and see how much more light i get without them. do you know the wattage/bulb (can this change)??

 

[Doc]

What kind of LED bulbs are reccomended? I want to try this for my sump, just a reg sump, not a frag tank.

Thanks in advance,
Doc

 

[loismustdie]

Jonsey, no diffuser. They are just a narrow angled beam of light. Also, from what I understand about LED's it's not so much in the watts as it is in the output. For example, a 3 watt LED actually putting out as much light as 50 watts of MH. I guess it's all in the technology of the microchips they use. The better the chip, the more costs go up. Ive got a total of 270 LED's over the frag tank. It's using less than 18 watts. According to the company, you get about the equivalent of 25 watts of MH per 30 bulbs. They said that is a high ball estimate and I agree with that. It doesn't look to me like I've got 200 watts of MH over this frag tank.
Doc, I bought blue and superwhite bulbs. The blues burn at around 455nm, they did not have a nm rating for the white. I get the typical light film of algae on the glass of the frag tank, and I've also got a small piece of culerpa in there too. The culerpa has grow, so this light may do for a fuge. I don't see why you can't use it in a sump. I did a mix of 4 blues and 4 whites.

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

I actually want to turn my P330 into a fuge and was thinking that those lights would be perfect. Where did you get them?

 

[loismustdie]

Cheif, autolumination.com
Click on LED fixtures for home and RV. Scroll down and you'll see the tracklight I bought. 3.5 watt transformer will be good for 4 of the MR16 bulbs.
PM me if you need any help.
I was reluctant to post this thread since I knew a lot of people would want info on where to get stuff and get it started. I know how limited patience is in this hobby. I don't know how well this will work on frag tanks, fuges or sumps. I don't want to get blamed if it doesn't work out too well for you. I prefer to go down in a ball of flames on my own.