# An LED fixure I made today



## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

Here. Today I wasted one of my very few days off to make a DIY LED fixture.

I wanted to make it because of the custom size and because I wanted the most power so I can dim it and run it at about 30% of its maximum. That makes it stay very cool without fans.

So far the result is great. The fixture looks super sleek. Ultra slim - 1 inch only, but it looks slimmer because of the color of the aluminum and the black heat sinks. 
Dimensions - 12" x 13".
Only Warm White LED. They have a great color and do grow plants very, very well.

The intensity on that thing at 100% is beastly. Even a steroid high tech tank can't really handle the PAR through 2 ft of water + 10 inches of air between the fixture and the water surface. PAR is about 200-230 at the bottom. Normal PAR for a high tech tank is 80-100. Low tech - 20-40.

What you see is still lacking the lenses. They will be attached in front of each LED. 60 degree lenses so the fixture can be raised high and allow working on the tank without moving it. And of course what is missing is the hanging hardware.

Cost - $200 or so.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/aWhSmEmJzFVdzSEz2


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

Looks very simple and effective. Where will the DC power supplies be?


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

hoppycalif said:


> Looks very simple and effective. Where will the DC power supplies be?


Remote, under the tank.


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

Ok, update about the DIY LED light.

Today I managed to make the stand for the light. It is super minimalist - once installed you will barely see it because there is a way to place the tubing just behind the side glass and then it becomes invisible from all angles. The cable that powers the light will be hidden inside the tubing.

The only thing you will see is the part of the tubing that sticks above the tank and goes into the light fixture. But that part will be painted white and will blend with the wall behind it.

I've done a few light fixtures and learned a few tricks. This one is the best looking DIY light I've even done.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/7dv0PmUYZ6zQrAQw1


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Gee, Niko, are you planning to grow rice under that thing? Just kidding!


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## Harry Muscle (Oct 17, 2007)

Mind sharing the part list for this light fixture? Especially the heatsinks and LEDs.

Thanks,
Harry


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

Michael said:


> Gee, Niko, are you planning to grow rice under that thing? Just kidding!


Haha, maybe I will since I'm a vegetarian now and the recent hurricanes make you wonder about self sufficiency, don't they, haha.

Joke aside I wanted a very "free" feeling from that tank. Open top, no light fixture to move when I work on the tank. And as small size as possible.

It is almost ready. Will be attaching the lenses on the LED in a bit. Will post pictures later today.


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

Harry Muscle said:


> Mind sharing the part list for this light fixture? Especially the heatsinks and LEDs.
> 
> Thanks,
> Harry


The heatsinks I got for free from a friend of mine. They are from plasma TVs I guess. But you can buy any size and shape heatsink you can think of from the internet. Never used these black heat sinks. Will let you know how they perform.

The LEDs are Cree XP-G. From RapidLed.

Had all the parts sitting around for more than a year. Too much work, can't do anything fun other than mandatory therapeutic. Putting everything together was fast and cheap - I had to buy only screws for about $5. Everything else I had laying around the garage leftover from other projects.


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

Ok, the DIY LED fixture is almost done. I mounted it on the tank today. What is left is to paint the tubing white.

The tubing has brackets on the back of the tank. Meaning that it can be lowered or raised easily.

The lenses on the LEDs are 60 degrees. From what I could tell even if you are sitting down in the room the light does not hit your eyes.

The LED can be dimmed manually. I intent to get a controller that will allow for fine adjusting the light intensity according to a schedule. Basically a gradual "sunrise", "strong midday light", and a gradual "afternoon to dusk" lighting.

Right now I'm testing how hot the fixture will get. Remember - these are 5 watt LEDs (total of 60 watts) if run at 100%. Which gives way too much light on the bottom of the tank. The idea is to run them at about 30-40% and that way there will be negligible heating and of course no need for any kind of fans. Meaning no noise from the light fixture at all.

Since this is an experiment about the benefits of the microorganisms in a planted tank note that the water has debries and does not appear perfectly clean. That is because right before installing the picture I added some water to the tank that stirred everything. But since the first day I set up this tank the water has been absolutely crystal clear - once again, as only a biofilter can clean an aquarium water.

Tomorrow I hope to get some CO2. This is starting to come together!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/mWJt8pjDfeN9vHzD3


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

Are you interested in borrowing a good PAR meter to measure the light you are getting, and help with adjusting the intensity to what you want? Search the For Sale forum for PAR Meter.


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

hoppycalif said:


> Are you interested in borrowing a good PAR meter to measure the light you are getting, and help with adjusting the intensity to what you want? Search the For Sale forum for PAR Meter.


Well, yes. But you forget that some years ago I bought one from you. 

I compared it to the local club PAR meter which is a commercial one. The readings were the same. At least for LEDs like the ones I used on this fixture (same as the ones I used to compare the PAR meters).

But how much do PAR meters run nowadays? Are you still making them?


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

niko said:


> Well, yes. But you forget that some years ago I bought one from you.
> 
> I compared it to the local club PAR meter which is a commercial one. The readings were the same. At least for LEDs like the ones I used on this fixture (same as the ones I used to compare the PAR meters).
> 
> But how much do PAR meters run nowadays? Are you still making them?


I did quit making them, about 2 years ago, when arthritis in my hands made it too painful to keep doing it. Also, I became frustrated by the difficulty I was having making them read correctly both in air and in water, a problem that Apogee didn't recognize until just recently. The one I am now loaning out is one I assembled from an Apogee sensor that was donated to me and a cheap milivoltmeter from Ebay. It works the same as the older Apogee PAR meters, except that I intentionally limited the range it works for to 200 PAR. That was to make it far less useful to reef tank hobbyists, hoping that would help prevent someone from swiping it.


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

hoppycalif said:


> I did quit making them, about 2 years ago, when arthritis in my hands made it too painful to keep doing it. Also, I became frustrated by the difficulty I was having making them read correctly both in air and in water, a problem that Apogee didn't recognize until just recently. The one I am now loaning out is one I assembled from an Apogee sensor that was donated to me and a cheap milivoltmeter from Ebay. It works the same as the older Apogee PAR meters, except that I intentionally limited the range it works for to 200 PAR. That was to make it far less useful to reef tank hobbyists, hoping that would help prevent someone from swiping it.


Your old PAR meter is still going strong. See it in the next post. 
What I'm interested in is how it does with different sources of light. You told me that it is more sensitive to certain wavelengths I think.


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

Latest update on the DIY LED light fixture:

1. Ran the LEDs at 100% intensity to see how hot everything will get. Well... 101F. Barely warm. 
I'm impressed by the efficiency of the heat sinks.

At 10% intensity nothing gets warm. The feel is of cool metal.

2. Took PAR readings. The fixture is a killer. 
Right under the surface of the water (12" below the fixture) with lights set at 100% intensity - 500

On the bottom center (20 inches below the water) with lights set at 100% intensity - 330

On the bottom center (20 inches below the water) with lights set at 10% intensity - 33

On the bottom 2" off the glass (20 inches below the water) with lights set at 100% intensity - 110

All that means that the fixture gives me full freedom on how much light I can use on a schedule AND never get any considerable heat out of it as a side effect. Once again - normal PAR ranges for low tech tanks are 20-50. High tech - 80-120.

Pictures below:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/macjvjydExZaPWXC3


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Niko, what kind of substrate are you using?

I visualize tall emergent plants growing out of the tank, _Cyperus_?


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

Michael said:


> Niko, what kind of substrate are you using?
> 
> I visualize tall emergent plants growing out of the tank, _Cyperus_?


AquaSoil Amazonia I. I tried Amazonia II for some hydroponics and to me that is not a substrate anybody should buy.

Yes, lately I've been looking at too many terrarium pictures. Terrariums seem like an upgrade to planted tanks to me. So most likely I will end up with plants sticking out. The light can be raised and still provide more than enough light.


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10155197291317983&set=oa.10154890592390983&type=3&theater


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Nice! A few years ago I set up a paludarium for fire belly toads, and have really enjoyed it. The Cryptocoryne pontederifolia have flowered, and the paludarium is the only place I can grow_ Bucephalandra_. I know, they are supposed to be easy, but mine always decline in a normal tank.

One of the reasons I am looking forward to the wabi-kusa workshop is to get tips for the paludarium.


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

Michael said:


> Nice! A few years ago I set up a paludarium for fire belly toads, and have really enjoyed it. The Cryptocoryne pontederifolia have flowered, and the paludarium is the only place I can grow_ Bucephalandra_. I know, they are supposed to be easy, but mine always decline in a normal tank.
> 
> One of the reasons I am looking forward to the wabi-kusa workshop is to get tips for the paludarium.


Haha, yes, Bucephalandra is about as "easy" of a plant as the "easy" "starter plants" Java Fern and Anubias. From what I see Bucephalandra can not grow well in a low tech tank unless the light is high and even then it grows very slowly. I tried to grow it hydroponically but the light I was using was way low I think (PAR of about 60).

With paludariums it seems that that is exactly what the plants like. And also maybe, as a result of the neverending stream of Japanese copy cat planted tanks, paludariums have started to look better and better because they are not a copy of anything. And they do resemble Nature more than a glass box full of plants that are trying to do one thing - reach the surface and grow out of it


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Many of the paludariums shown on the link you gave take inspiration and technique directly from the Chinese art of penjing.


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

First planting. 
(Inspired by Bulgarian techniques )

This is day 1 of the planting of the tank with the DIY LED fixture.
The plants were barely collected from other tanks. Not looking good but that is what I managed to get for now. Waiting on others.
Very low addition of CO2. Light is 50% of the max.
Pictures taken 30 min after 30% water change. Water clears up absolutely perfectly. Due to the old mulm I added last week.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/fYpfnAYCMxJzMCfh1


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

I think Bulgarian aquascaping is an unjustly neglected style.


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## trong (Aug 8, 2006)

i really like this fixture, what material are the heat sinks framed with? Looks both light, clean, and sturdy. Any lenses? How high off tank will you position fixture? Great job!


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## Harry Muscle (Oct 17, 2007)

Michael said:


> I think Bulgarian aquascaping is an unjustly neglected style.


First time hearing of this style ... anyone got any links that explain what Bulgarian Aquascaping is?

Thanks,
Harry


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

Michael said:


> I think Bulgarian aquascaping is an unjustly neglected style.


It's and underground, sub-culture thing. You need to let your inner self flow. It is not easy to do.

It is the Apocrypha of aquascaping.


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

trong said:


> i really like this fixture, what material are the heat sinks framed with? Looks both light, clean, and sturdy. Any lenses? How high off tank will you position fixture? Great job!


Heat sinks are framed with aluminum angle that you can buy at Home Depot = 1/2" wide on each side.

Yes, it is very sturdy. After I attached the frame to the tubing I worked a lot on running the power wire through the tubing, attaching lenses, etc. Handled the whole thing every which way. Nothing gave in - the angles and leveling are exactly as they should be without any adjustments. Funny detail - the tubing supports the frame and they are tied together with 2 simple clips made of thin bendable Aluminum. Works like a charm and no added screws/nuts.

The lenses are 60 degrees. As I said above - the PAR on the bottom is huge in an area up to about 2" of each glass. Basically the lenses shoot the light in a square and conical fashion WITHOUT much light hitting the glass. Which also means zero light spill beyond the top rim of the tank.

Fixture is mounter 13 inches above the top rim. As I said above - the tubing can be easily moved up and down. But I like a lot of space between the light and the tank.


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

Harry Muscle said:


> First time hearing of this style ... anyone got any links that explain what Bulgarian Aquascaping is?
> 
> Thanks,
> Harry


Soon I will start a website and a forum about it. Hold tight - amazing info to come!


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Niko, I don't think the American aquarium hobby is ready for Bulgarian style.


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