# DIY LED set ups (long and picture heavy)



## IwannaGoFast (Jan 11, 2011)

Hi all, I'm new to this forum but I've been posting over on tpt for a while. It seems a lot of folks here are hesitant to jump onto LEDs, mainly due to cost and the worry that they won't grow plants well due to spectrum, intensity etc.

I want to show that LEDs can grow plants and grow them well, and that it can be done at a relatively reasonable cost, especially for smaller tanks. Sure they may be more expensive than other fixtures, but think about how much those bulbs cost, these do not have to be replaced.

I've been 5 LED lights for my tanks so far, and they are all performing spectacularly. I've consolidated all my threads over on TPT into this thread so y'all can take a look at what I've done

Sorry this thread is going to be pretty long and pic heavy as it'll have all my threads. I'll start with small and work my way up

*6 LED archaea clip on retrofit*
*COST:
4 cree xp-g white - $5 each from Rapid LED
2 royal blue leds $4ish each from rapidled
2x 350ma "moonlight" driver - $10 each from rapidled
aluminum flat bar for heatsink - free (but should'nt be too expensive
archaea light housing - $60
Total:$48 for just the LED retrofit parts, $108 if factoring in the cost of the light*

This is over my Mini-M 
I used 4 cool white Cree xp-g ran at 350ma. I've added on 2 royal blues also ran at 350ma.

On to the pics:

Cutting the Aluminum bar for the heat sink









Slots in perfectly









perfect fit









running wires









LEDs mounted and wired up. I cleaned it up after this shot was taken









optics fitted









driver used, it's a small 350ma driver capable of running only 4 LEDs. Was sold as a moonlight driver from rapidled, but works perfect for a small tank.









And let there be light!!









PAR readings at about 14 inches, the max height of the fixture off the substrate in my mini-m. Pretty high. Without the optics though, it drops to like, 20umols, not high enough. If I had ran a stronger 700ma driver, it would be a pretty good lighting level.









This is the tank after about 3 months of LED growth.









*11 LED riparium pendant*
*Cost: 11 steve's LEDs - cool white - $4each
700ma meanwell driver - $18 from rapid led
heatsink - $30 from rapid led
hanging kit - $10 for rapid led
metal frame - free, dad works w/ sheet metal
TOTAL: $102*

The tank is a 9 gal riparium, i mounted the light about 2 feet off the tank in order to grow the emmersed plants. It gives me about 20umols of par at the substrate, enough for the crypts and mosses in grow in there.

LEDs mounted to the heat sink. I went with a thick one with fins so I won't have to run a fan. It wasn't too expensive at this small size.









What I woke up to on Saturday. The shade is a sheet of sheet metal or something, I dunno, my dad had it left over from his days as a sheet metal worker 

















not bad!

















Sanding and painting

















Wiring the LEDs, I did this part myself!! haha









All hooked up. 1 of the LEDs burned out, but I don't have any extras. Oh well it's not too important, it's a low light set up and mounted pretty high so not much is affected by having this 1 LED go dark









Here's the finished light mounted. All I need now is the ADA sticker!









Mounted to the ceiling. The wooden plank is screwed into the studs, and used islets to hang the hooks on. I used the hanging kit from Rapidled, but probably could've gone cheaper and done one on my own.

















Hard scape - 2 nice pieces from plantbrain zip tied together, kinda looks like a dragon









Here is the tank after a few months of growth with these lights.









*24 LED 48gal light*
*Video here




*
PARTS LIST:
*24 cree xp-g cool white LEDs - $143.80 shipped from LED group buy
8 cree xp-e blue - $40

2x 5.5x16inch heatsinks - $30 each
2x meanwell 1050ma constant current drivers - $26 each
350ma moonlight driver - $20
hanging kits - $10

2x Mean Well dimmable drivers - $34 each (added later)
60 degree optics - 1.25 each (added later)
TOTAL: ~$340-350 *

I had all the other stuff like soldering iron, wires, and my dad had spare sheet metal for the frame work.

Building another one!
24 CREE XP-G cool white LEDs ran at 1050ma. This should for sure push me into high light. Excited to see my p. stellata and pantanal grow nice and red. I also have 12 60degree optics for spotlighting any plants that I'd like to have some extra extra light. I tested optics on my old fixture and it effectively doubles the PAR.

This time around, I used thicker heatsinks so I don't have to run fans. They're not set as wide as my other fixture (those were about 10 inches apart, this time the 2 rows are about 4 inches apart. But I'll be hanging the fixture up higher so the spread shouldn't be an issue.

Here's some shots so far. Still need to wire it up. I also added 4 blue LEDs running at 350ma for moon lighting. Each heat sink is going to be wired up to run 12 LEDs, so if in the future I'd want to break this apart, I'll have two separate fixtures.









Other side of the fixture. The heatsinks are 2 16 inch long units held together by aluminum brackets. The 2 "handles" are actually frames to hold the outer casing. This one will have the same curved outer frame like the ADA lights. I asked my dad how he bent the bars this time, he said "by hand" o___0







**

After running the tank for a while, I realized that I made a mistake with my initial set up, not using optics meant that the spread on the LEDs was so wide that most of the light just hit the glass. I was scraping off GDA everyday, so I fiddled with it some more.

Adding optics to the LEDs increases the PAR, so running them with the constant current drivers makes them run way too strong for a planted tank. I was already getting like 70umol of PAR at the substrate without the optics, optics can triple the PAR, so needless to say, way too strong.

I bought some new drivers, and put optics on all my LEDs.









It took me a few days to re do the light so my tank went through a brief black out, well, not really brief, almost a week.

All algae is gone but so are most of my stem plants and blyxa. I removed them all and I'll just get some more. Looking for suggestions for a foreground that's robust enough to handle cories.









And last shot is the tank w/ the light. The light is about 2 feet above the tank. my LED rows are pretty tight and the optics are only 60 degrees so I had to lift it up to get the correct spread.









Thanks for bearing with me through this long thread! if you have any questions on LEDs, feel free to ask!


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## ObiQuiet (Oct 9, 2009)

Wow, I bet I can follow these instructions. 

Nice result!

A question on the LEDs -- longevity. When run at or below their ratings LEDs have an indefinitely long lifetime. But, some high-output devices overdrive the LEDs in exchange for brightness. 

In your experience, will these last?


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## IwannaGoFast (Jan 11, 2011)

All the LEDs in my set ups (except for the riparium) are run at about 50% or lower capacity. Cree xp-g are rated to run at like, 1500ma or something, i'm only pushing 500-600ma through them, so yes, they'll last a long time.

The current generation of cree's, the XML can run at 3000ma (10 watts!), there are people running these over planted tanks now, running them at about 500-600ma, so only 1/6th of the capacity, meaning these things will probably outlast you!

And probably by the time the xp-g's do burn out, they'll probaby cost pennies to replace them as the tech just keeps improving year after year.


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## ObiQuiet (Oct 9, 2009)

Thank you!


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

Nice set of diy lights! Thanks for sharing, I'm sure there'll be folks who will attempt these. The heat sink looks substantial. How much heat output is there?


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## IwannaGoFast (Jan 11, 2011)

on the mini light, it's slightly warm to the touch, i'd equate it to body temperature,

the riparium is quite a bit hotter but not enough to burn, i'd say a cup of coffee that's been sitting out for an hour...

the biggest light, i run a fan on it, it keeps the whole fixture ice cold, although I am sure the heatsinks are beefy enough to handle it without the fan.

Sorry for my highly unscientific temperature readings.


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## chunkypeanutlove (Sep 2, 2009)

So many things wrong with not giving them the power they need. read up on color temp. By not running them where they NEED to be ran at you are changing the color temperature dramatically. You dont dim any led's by giving them less voltage or current. I would say that unless you want to risk the of growing algae you should run them at the correct specs. The way to dim them is to use a PWM of using a diffuser.


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## IwannaGoFast (Jan 11, 2011)

uh. ok, i don't notice any algae growth by running them at lower power, these tanks have been running for months without algae growth. The kind of light doesn't matter, it's like saying actinics cause algae, it's bs, algae is caused by co2/fert imbalance not the spectrum or color temp of the light. 

I'm not going to run these LEDs at full blast, that'll shorten their life considerably and I'd probably have to run an air conditioner over them.

On the big tank, the LEDs are dimmed using the PWM controllers, the mesh diffuser on the small tank is just a cheap way of dimming them. I've used them on PC and t5ho lamps with no ill effects. These LEDs have a minimum current that needs to be ran through them in order to even turn on, at 350ma, it's close to that minimum already.


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## chunkypeanutlove (Sep 2, 2009)

you are aware that LED at full power will last several years... and unlike actinics, leds have a narrow spectrum they output.


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## IwannaGoFast (Jan 11, 2011)

I'd like to see some data for your claims. That was originally one of the big fears about LEDs is that they won't output the right spectrum of light but it's been shown not to be true, I see it everyday in my plant growth.

Sorry to come off as rude but i just want to see people back up their claims


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