Todays exploits $$$$ grrrr...

[Muddskipper35]

So decided today was the day to drop alittle cash on a few things..

First thing -

Ordered my 24 led diy ket with dimmable meanwell drivers from rapidled.com

So then I needed something to that will adjust these from sunrise to sunset and run moonlights- heck while I'm at it might as well find something that wil do everything else too- this resulted in another purchase.

RKL package 3 was purchased and the alc module was ordered.

figure while I'm at it might as well go buy some weldon to work on my diy calcium reactor. This resulted in yet another purchase of-

weldon 16 and 4 and applicator.
4 3/8" 36X24" inch sheets of acrylic in the scrap bins at 20 a sheet.
So now I'll be able to build my new 36X24X18" sump!

So now I'm excited and head over to N prov to an LFS -
This resulted in the purchase of

1 large bag of NP pellets which I thought only 1 LFS in boston had. I was really excited now..

Now have to build a new media reactor for the pellets and put all this together..

Still need to order the heatsinks for the LEDs darn so many projects and so little time.

 

[s_kelley]

Wow was wondering where ya been! Any pics of your red sea project?
Where did ya find the scrap and the tops for the reactor?

 

[Muddskipper35]

Hey.. I'm still here.. Tanks been up and running and been testing a few acros and digis for the last few months and going on a couple more trips this weekend to stock it.. Figuring about 45 pieces total this weekend .. need to make a frag rack in the morning..

Scraps came from modern plastics in warick.. Don't worry I cleared out all the 3/8" and all the 1/4 they had except one sheet of 3/8"..

The top or flanges for the reactor I made myself. Dremels are wonderful, and so many attachments.. I used a router bit with a circe cutter and a 1/4 tap for the screws .. alittle more to it than that but ya get the idea...

 

[afboundguy]

Let us know how you like the LED kit... I'm seriously thinking of saving up to use the dimmable kit on my 55 gallon but I really want to see the K value as I like bluer lighting...

 

[Bobbofin]

So then I needed something to that will adjust these from sunrise to sunset and run moonlights- heck while I'm at it might as well find something that wil do everything else too- this resulted in another purchase.

RKL package 3 was purchased and the alc module was ordered.

figure while I'm at it might as well go buy some weldon to work on my diy calcium reactor. This resulted in yet another purchase of-

weldon 16 and 4 and applicator.
4 3/8" 36X24" inch sheets of acrylic in the scrap bins at 20 a sheet.
So now I'll be able to build my new 36X24X18" sump!

It's good to see that some other people in the club are ADD and OCD just like me and can't stop tinkering.
I will be watching the LED build. I'm curious about dimming, is the pot on the driver sufficent or do you need to buy or build the powered board like Evilc66 says? I am onboard with the Maxspect 160 watt group buy going on on Reef Centeral and Nano-Reef already. It's over on March 22rd.

 

[afboundguy]

The site he got the LEDs at have kits with dimmable and non-dimmable drivers. The dimmable drivers are roughly twice the price of the constant so the kits are a little more expensive but IMO would be worth it and that's what I'd like to get when I have the money... One of the better-buy-serves-no-real-purpose-but-still-looks-cool perks of LED lighting...

 

[Muddskipper35]

Well to answer a few questions without turning this into a build thread-
The LEDs don't have a pot but will be directly controlled from the RKL ALC module so no I wont be building the board.. This should be build plug and play.. Hopefully. As far as the kelvin values theres alot of info out there on the crees already and with the 0-10v dimmable ballasts you'll be able to set these at just about any K value you want. At 1 to 1 on white and blue if I'm not mistaken it should equal a 14K value. I will also be ordering 2 red leds and 2 uv leds to run on another driver I already have. I also ordered the 60 degree lens which would normally be equivalant to a 250mh but I'm hoping that with the amount of overlap for such a small tank that it'll be closer to the 400mh that on there now as far as par value. But with using the 60 optics Im hoping to have such an even distro of light there won't be any discernable difference in the mix of light produced.

 

[DoctaQ]

dimming leds isnt just about how cool they are even tho they definateley are

leds for the most part will be way too intense unless you are pushing the limit of the led penetration. i had my leds at max, 15 gal with no optics, everything paled out a few days after i got them, then i turned the whites down to less than half power and everything does much better now.

the number of leds is for coverage not intensity, a single led can put out as much light as a 250w halide with optics but the area it covers will only be 2-3 sq in

 

[dcforester1]

I would like to see the calcium reactor DIY build, any pics would be great. I have one started, I was going to make a Kalk reactor, but someone suggested I should try a calcium reactor.

Good Luck Derek

 

[Muddskipper35]

OK.. Gonna clarify this alittle more..

The reason for the dimmable drivers has nothing to do with being cool. The reason for the dimmable drivers is to control the lights for sunrise sunset. IE.. Blues dimmed from 0volts to preset value before whites start to come on at that point both will continue to increase in voltage at an even rate to another preset value when the blues will stop and the whites will continue to increase to another set value. After a predetermined time allowance then they will reverse cycle to 0 voltage again effectively ending the cycle for the day as the moon cycle kicks in on the ALC reflecting the patterns/cycles of the moon.

These leds pushed at value with 40 degree optics are equal to a 400 watt halide(PAR value)- 60 degree optics are equal to a 250- and 80 are equal to a 150.
Yes I would imagine that any coral would bleach out with a bare bulb LED in a 15 gallon tank ( I would too). Yes Ive seen the threads of ppl doing Bare bulbs on nanos but they have also stated they are powered back. Yes a bare bulb will only put out a spot light effect but 2-3inches at what depth??? This is the reason they make the optics. Spread out the light and mix it with the rest of the fixture to eliminate the spot light effect.
Adding MORE LEDs closer together over a given space with the correct optics does prevent intensity loss as stated. with the larger number of overlapping light circles at a given depth you have less intensity loss than say 1/2 the number of leds using the same optics over a given area.

Example - take out 2 of the 4 60watt bulbs in your dining room- is it still as bright or is there a noticable loss of light?

Different circumstance but still the same principle.

Yes LEDs are bright and when put together an ran correctly are a great asset to the tank. But we need to be smart about how we use them to maximize their output and use and to minimize the damage they can create.


I'll start my threads on the CA reactor, sump and LED build after I have everything together and get to a certain point on the builds with enough pics in the camera to post a decent thread starter!!

Hopefully noone takes offense to anything I posted and if I'm wrong please point this out.

 

[afboundguy]

Also having the ability to dim the LED's helps a ton with acclimation because of all the reading I've been doing a lot of people are bleaching their corals...

 

[DoctaQ]

optics do not spread light, they concentrate light, the stock spread on xr-e is about 120 degrees i think.

1 led every 6 inches will cover the tank up to 15ish inches, but you need to put one every 3 inches because you need to mix the blues and whites together.

tight optics dont even distribute the light evenly, i think 40 deg tend to have more light in the middle whereas i think 60 and 80 are more even.

"The wider the optic, the less change in PAR from middle to edge. There are very few optics that will offer even light/PAR distribution, and those that do, are very wide angle."-evil

is your tank 23 x 15x 18?

you were running a 400w mh on this?

theres no preventing intensity loss, just adding more light, unless the sum is more than the individual parts, all youre doing is putting more

 

[Muddskipper35]

Thanks Doc. I stand corrected.
Yes I'm currently running a 400w MH over a 23x15x18 tank (Usable area - Red Sea tank).
Whatever reason I was thinking the opposite on the optics.

 

[DoctaQ]

evil reccomended 80 degree optics and 18 leds for me for a 20H, just throwin it out there

if a single led has the par output of 250mh at 60 deg optics, when you overlap blue and white the par will double, ive never seen the comparison of optic and mh size so i dont know if the logic stands true here.
blue and cw leds tend to have equal par.

side note, i thought i tended to have high light tanks but you have totally blown me out of the water