An Idea

[Monsinour]

Has anyone heard of or seen someone put LEDs over a Fluval Chi? I like the tank and think its rather neato in the design. I was thinking about doing a nano with it and putting a DIY of LEDs over it so that I can have quality light in there to make it a zoa dominated tank. I was thinking about 4 cool whites and 8 blues from cree attached to a square "doughnut" heatsink with the fluval filter/lightbox in the middle. Any thoughts or ideas with this?

[edthefishguy]

go for it, should be easy build.please post pics of progress

[NanoReefWanabe]

i think you would have major heat issues with 12 LED's in that little tiny factory light hood...but it sure would be cool...i think you would also have to water proof the poop out of it too cause i am pretty sure the little light hood deal the chi tank has going on is actually submerged around the bottom when the tank is running...

[Monsinour]

I was actually going to make a square doughnut style heatsink and mount the LEDs to that. The heatsink would go around the light/filter box in the chi. Basically, the tank would be my mini zoa farm with no other types of corals in it. Its an idea I had and I would like to get my hands wet with LEDs and this way, I can do that, and not cost myself too much $. I have priced systems for my main tank, and I dont want to spend that on a hit or miss thing. I would rather screwup the Chi tank and lose a few zoa frags due to under/over lighting than everything in my main tank. With the tank being 10" square, the heatsink would also be 10" square and the inner hole diameter would be about 8 to 8.5" square giving me 1.5 to 2" of heatsink to mount the LEDs to. My main thought is how high up from the water will I need to place the LEDs with their optics to ensure coverage at the bottom of the tank. The 5 gallon is 12" high but there will be about 2" of sand on the bottom and the water wont be going all the way to the top of the tank.

[fla2341]

Most of the optics sold focus the light of just one led to a narrow field allowing for greater dept penetration and concentration of the light. If the fixture is placed too close to the surface or the leds are spread out too far you will get the multi color shimmer/shadows and not a blending of the lights. If I'm not mistaken the lense cover on the LEDs is 120 degrees already. Leaving off the optics might be your best bet for a better blended light.

just for example

I built a 12ea, 3w led fixture 6" x 6 3/4" which sits above my 20" deep tank 16" above the water with no optics but with a custom built vacuum formed light housing w/reflective coating and it blew away a 250 watt 12,000k MH. The LED coverage is approx 20" x 20" x 20" . Everyone who saw the LED side by side with the MH agreed that the LEDs were the better light visually. In just two months of switching to the 36watts of LED my corals show better colors including some purple zoos and orange center spots polyps which showed brown under the MH. When I first placed them under the MH at the bottom of the tank they shrank so I then moved them out from directly under the MH the the extreem fringe of the light. They regained their original size but no amount of positioning would bring back their original colors. Both have now regained their original colors and continue to improve. My orange cap is growing again and is regaining its bright orange color, my new cyphastrea frag has grown 1/4". The Pavona frag I had turned brown under the MH but now is turning Bright metallic Green and all my corals show polyp extension, colors and growth greater then under the MH.

The LED's were 6 Q5' with 6 XR-E Royal blues and a Meanwell LPC-35-700w driver - I got this driver as I was not interested in dimming.

I hope my experience helps in your decision.

[Monsinour]

No optics eh? Hadnt given that a thought. It does make sense since it is a small tank and I do need the colors to "blend" as opposed to the spotlight effect. Let me bounce that around a few places and see what the consensus is. I know that no one has really put LEDs over a chi and very few have turned the chi into a SW tank to begin with. I too am not interested in dimming, but I am not sure I want to spend the extra $ to be able to turn the whites and blues on and off independantly. Drivers are what, $20 or so right? It just might be worth it, maybe.

[fla2341]

Another thought would be the LED par 38 type bulbs which are out there.
These threads had them in them and I've seen them advertised. The best part is they use a regular bulb socket. Fixtures can be gotten from any hardware store.

Chingchai - I believe he used them on a rimless nano QT tank in his system but its barried in his LOOOONG thread somewhere 2-3 months ago?
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1692183&page=212

Khaosinc - closed down his tank and might have some he can sell you w/fixtures he just bought a few months ago.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1683574&page=70

Aquabacs -threads closed but infos still available on the bulbs and color options.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1773991&page=65

[fla2341]

also my CW amd RB are all on one driver.

[widmer]

Maybe you want to post a picture of the specific tank you're thinking of? If we're thinking of the same thing, I don't see any problem with mounting the LEDs inside the existing light fixture. It should already be waterproofed for whatever light comes built into it. Also, you should be fine with like 6 LEDs, maybe 5. This would be a great application for the buck pucks being sold @ ledsupply.com. Just buy one of the dimmable buck pucks with potentiometer prewired, and get a $5 laptop charger from ebay to power it.

[Monsinour]

I saw the PAR38 fixtures and while it would probably work for what I want to do, I would rather have a DIY over the tank for a feeling of acomplishment. Besides, if it works out well, I will do another DIY over my main tank. I need the experience for that.

The feelings about no optics is gaining strenght due to the small size of my tank, the Chi, and the relative closeness to the water they will be. Once I get some $ saved up, and buy the tank, I will be getting the LED kit and start the build. I am eagerly awaiting the tax refund/lottery winnings. LOL