DIY LED to light refugium?

[MPevine11]

right not i have an Ekio 23w flood light lighting my refugium. it works fine.....

but i love doing DIY Leds ever since i did my biocube 14 and want to do another Led light build so thinking of making a light for my refugium


this 1.1'' X 18'' heat sink would fit very well over the refugium area
http://www.rapidled.com/servlet/the-137/1.1"-x-18"-Aluminum/Detail

i could probably get 9-12 leds to fit on it?

how many should i go with? what colors would work well?
should i try lenses? i haven't used them before but they may be helpful?




any ideas on doing something like this?

 

[aiaman]

I got my heatsink from http://www.heatsinkusa.com/
mine was designed with 2-1/2" spacing oc with 1" from the edge
as for lens it depends on how narrow a beam you want or how deep your tank is.
I don't use a lens and my tank is only 18" deep from the leds that sit right ontop of my tank on a glass cover
as for color, it depends on if you want more blue or white, I use 14 blue & 13 white and there is a bluer color, also one controller can manage 14 leds max and you should get the dimmable controller.

everyone has a different opinion when it comes to leds and various reasonings exist.
I suggest that you check out some DIY fixtures and check on how their color of the tank compares to what you wanted
also remeber that the suggested led is 3 watt and not 1 watt
red leds have not had enough exposure or trials to determine if they are warranted yet but you can always add or change out quickly as they are soldered together.

 

[johntan]

I am on my second DIY led rig with diy controller. The lenses make a gigantic difference - lenses are to LED's what reflectors are to PC/MH/T5.

 

[MPevine11]

refugium Dimensions:

Width: 17.5" (44.45cm)
Height: 14" (35.56cm)
Depth: 8.5" (21.59cm)

Gallons: ~9.0 U.S. gallons


how many LED's would you guys use? and personally what colors?
doesnt cheato grow best under certain color lighting?

should i use some color Leds?

 

[johntan]

I believe chaeto has pretty low lighting requirements, but the cree cool white top out at like 8500k which is pretty yellow imo. I would think you could get away with 3 or 4 cool whites easily, either together as a spotlight or spread out evenly. Technically since it's a plant red light is beneficial but I doubt a red led would be necessary.

For reference I run 5 royal blue and 3 cool whites at 50% and they put my 14000k pheonix MH to shame. And at $3/$4 per LED you can't really go wrong.

 

[MPevine11]

how does plan look?

 

[aiaman]

your dimmer can carry upto 14 leds I believe
but remember led's don't spread as much as other light types so you may get some shading in the corners
You can always add 4 more led's and then dim them if too bright.
also unless you have a seperate unit there is no moonlights or actinics, neither is required but you may want in the future

 

[MPevine11]

this is for a refugium so primarily just leds.

i would like the blues/reds on one dimmer and the whites on another