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yellowbellied
05/02/2011, 05:15 PM
Do the lens really serve a purpose? Will it get rid of the shimmering effect?
yellowbellied
05/02/2011, 09:13 PM
Mike, I just want to be sure the lenses serve a purpose before I place the order.
DrewPalmer04
05/03/2011, 10:27 AM
Higher light intensity. That's all they do. For deeper tanks you add lenses to increase PAR to the bottom of the tank. Lenses can cause "spot lighting" effect.
Rapid LED
05/03/2011, 11:40 AM
Yup, as drew mentioned they help increase PAR (basically the light gets focused into a smaller beam, thus increasing it's intensity). Lenses will not get rid of shimmer, you'll get that regardless of whether you use lenses or not.
DrewPalmer04
05/03/2011, 01:30 PM
If you keep softies and lps...you won't need optics with stock tank heights.
yellowbellied
05/03/2011, 02:18 PM
I might want to put on a selected few LEDs. I've tried in the past, but they just fall right off.
DrewPalmer04
05/03/2011, 02:47 PM
Super glue is needed on the outter most edge of the lens to bind to the star of the led. I've done it on 24 of the Crees and they stay on fine.
yellowbellied
05/03/2011, 04:48 PM
Won't all the salt make the lens fall right off?
DrewPalmer04
05/04/2011, 07:10 AM
You should ALWAYS have a splash guard. For example, I wouldn't dangle a cut wire inches above my tank to wait and see what happens. (LED connections, exposed to water = BAD idea)
yellowbellied
05/04/2011, 05:46 PM
Yea but the splash guard serves nothing more than to have fish not jump out. It seems to keep heat in and not allow airflow.
pyton
05/04/2011, 06:20 PM
Mount the splash guard on the bottom of the fixture about 1" to 2" below the lens.

Simple piece of plexi-glass and some alum. 90 degree elbows from the hardware store will work
DrewPalmer04
05/05/2011, 07:20 AM
Splash guard and glass toppers are different. splash guard, guards from splash lol. You need these below your LEDs. This will not effect your water from being exposed to air, nor trap heat.
yellowbellied
05/05/2011, 09:25 AM
can someone provide a picture of their splash guards? my acrylic came with a piece of acrylic to cover each opening in the tank. but these pieces sit right on top of the opening.
DrewPalmer04
05/05/2011, 02:40 PM
http://i690.photobucket.com/albums/vv268/DrewPalmer04/069.jpg




The leds are protected from water splash. These have nothing to do with covering your tank with acrylic...those trap gasses (Co2) from leaving your tank
yellowbellied
05/05/2011, 03:50 PM
Nice. Unfortunately, the heatsinks I bought don't have the sliding rails for the acrylic. Was that part of your heatsink, or something custom? Oh, so you suggest I get rid of the pieces that cover up the tank openings?
DrewPalmer04
05/06/2011, 09:06 AM
DEF get rid of those. You will have to top off with RO/DI more offten, but that's what ATOs are for. I was just showing you my splash guard. You can make one any way you want. People use 90 degree elbows to attach plexi too.
yellowbellied
05/06/2011, 11:39 AM
I noticed you have two layers of plexi.
DrewPalmer04
05/06/2011, 11:53 AM
In that build I used no optics and drilled small holes in a second layer to plexi to protext the LED stars, but the LEDs also lit up the second layer creating a even stream of light, it looked amazing. Kind of lite how bars like plexi for bottle displays, well I did that will CW and RB Crees to create even light throughout....AND added the splash guard.