I need a how to guide on a 155 bowfront

[Cjtabares]

After thinking about it I think the one I saw was machined by the person who had. I wish I remembered something more about it but I am not really a fan of bowfronts, give me a headach to look at, so I kind of skipped over it.

IMO it would not be worth going with all of these since you will need more then 100 LEDs, but figured I would put it out there. Unless you did a heat sink then a some of these to get coverage where the heat sink did not cover.
http://www.rapidled.com/servlet/the-158/Single-LED-Aluminum-Heatsink/Detail

 

[Aquaman_68]

hey....I would be willing to look into it with you....That is a future project I would like to tackle...(when led's come down & there are more variaties of kelvin rating....(I still think the 10 year logevity is bunk though) But I think eventually with technology it will get there or close to it....I thgink we are at least a couple years from that!!!

I had a 155 bowfront hood build thread up here but it is now dead....I'm trying to bring it back to life if I can...

the housing was constructed all out of aluminum plate. (natural heat sink & very lightweight) I run it on my tank....

Let me see it they can bring it back up....
B

 

[SteveDola]

if I were setting up a new tank I would definitely get LEDs(AI blue modules). You have so much control over the amount of light and can basically pick what color spectrum you want at any given time of the day. I dont know how long theyll last but light pucks are replaceable however electricity isnt. Once that moneys out of your pocket,it doesnt come back. What ever you pay up front will be offset with savings over the next few years.

 

[Aquaman_68]

heres one for now to get you thinking till I can find the other one!!


http://www.bostonreefers.org/forums...eith-(iffers-tank-slave)&highlight=side+shots

 

[Cjtabares]

Is this the one you are looking for Aquaman?

http://www.bostonreefers.org/forums/showthread.php?63474-155-Bowfront-Hood-build-101&highlight=

I was going to post a link to it in one of my post but forgot to.

 

[Aquaman_68]

here it is!!

http://www.bostonreefers.org/forums...-Bowfront-Hood-build-101&highlight=side+shots

 

[Royalty]

hey....I would be willing to look into it with you....That is a future project I would like to tackle...(when led's come down & there are more variaties of kelvin rating....(I still think the 10 year logevity is bunk though) But I think eventually with technology it will get there or close to it....I thgink we are at least a couple years from that!!!

I had a 155 bowfront hood build thread up here but it is now dead....I'm trying to bring it back to life if I can...

the housing was constructed all out of aluminum plate. (natural heat sink & very lightweight) I run it on my tank....

Let me see it they can bring it back up....
B

It's funny you say that cause I alway look back at old threads related to my current tank builds of questions I loved how you did that build on your amazing hood out of a aluminum frame and I would like all the help I could get for this build down road

 

[Aquaman_68]

anytime...jlmk

 

[Royalty]

So here's the big question?

How many LED's would I need for my 155 bow if I wanted a blue 'er look with 3 creed Red's and 3 Green's the rest white Creed 3w LED's and the other's Royal Blue's creed 3w dimmible And someone posted on this thread that they have seen Heat sinks made custom for bow's is that true? And where can I get em? or what else would be my opitions?

 

[dcforester1]

It ended up costing me almost $1000 to build a light for my 75, I bet it would run you over 2 grand.

 

[sagecx]

Heatsinkusa will get you the lengths and widths on a heatsink for you. not sure if they would custom a curved cut although i am not sure if you need it. just let the led spread reach the bow part on its own. It may lower the par there but that would be a good place for a few lower light corals like brains and such.

When looking at white Leds there is the standard cool white and the newer neutral white. There has been a lot of talk about mixing the cool whites with the neutral whites for an overall better look. My nano uses a mixture(also has a red and 2 non royal blues as well to balnce colors) and i prefer the coloring compared to my other led fixture which is 1:1 cool whites to royal blues. Another thing to consider is a lot of people prefer more blue and go for a 2:1 ratio. I personaly havent done this because you can just dim each side to fit your preference and with the newer XP-E Blues they can run brighter and 20% more efficient than the the XR-E that have been the standard for some time.

start up cost on tank that big with Leds wont be cheap but once you count bulb replacement, power, lack of chiller if you needed it, and other costs the long term benefits definetly make it worth it....just it can really hurt with the upfront cost.

 

[Cjtabares]

If I had to make aN educated guess I would say ~144 LEDs.

 

[Royalty]

I can see your point on the those white opitions. And Im going take my time and buy the basic's fans, wiring controlers, it's a yr project so im hoping the tech has upgraded a bit more and gone down in price and I kinda want to see the longivaty of these led's I know a yr ain't much but at least I can have my mind made up. so 140 ish led's huh?