# Very intense LED light option for deep tanks.



## Snowball364th (Apr 11, 2017)

I just found out that majority of the blackbox chinese LEDs made for reef light can actually be modified. Hell, its actually extremely easy, there is no complexity involved as long as you buy the correct 3w diodes.
https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/312152-modifying-a-chinese-built-led/

https://www.amazon.com/Galaxyhydro-...F8&qid=1491959398&sr=8-2&keywords=chinese+led
However, I never see anyone do this as an option for freshwater planted, probably because its way more powerful than anyone would ever need. This is essentially a LED kit that you can buy and customize, all you need is a soldering iron and 3w Bridgelux or similar diodes. 
You can buy the diodes on ebay for a pretty cheap price,http://www.ebay.com/itm/1W-3W-EPISTAR-Bridgelux-Epiled-High-Power-LED-Chip-Aquarium-Grow-Light-DIY-UK-/252267895705?var=&hash=item3abc569b99:m:mnIoUgry9LgVvAkHbeqLmog
I just brought a couple of LED diodes here in red and white to replace a few of the 28 blue diodes in my fixture. This fixture is extremely bright, and after some reading around, I found that it might not even use the full 165 watts when at full power(heh the last part could be good or base news depending on your needs).

I wish i owned a par meter and Watt meter so I can give some more information regarding this little project.

The total cost of this is around $130-140
$100 for led fixture
$10 for soldering iron
$10-20 depending on how many LED diodes you want to switch out. I brought 20 diodes for $10.

The advantages of this is that the light is concentrated, its practically a spotlight thats guaranteed to give you the shimmering effect of sunlight, assuming you have some surface agitation. If you want it to have a great spread, you can remove the lenses from the LEDs which are there to focus the light of the LEDs.

These fixtures do not feel cheap either, its housed in a metal box, with a aluminum sheet circuit board cooled by fans. Its dimmable and extremely powerful, hell this thing could probably give metal-halide a run for its money.


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## Solcielo lawrencia (Dec 14, 2016)

What voltage are the red LEDs? If it's lower than the 3.2-3.6, then the LEDs will fail from overvoltage unless you solder new resistors. 

I've replaced a large number of LEDs on my Quad EVO fixture. I used "full spectrum" LEDs for the red, cyan, blue, and NW+WW. The difficulty was removing the LEDs bc they are soldered onto the board.


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

If you have little or no experience soldering tiny parts, this is far more difficult than you might expect. I have done a lot of soldering over many years, but I wouldn't even consider trying this unless I was willing to scrap the whole project after making mistakes.


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