Possible to have a nice looking DIY LED light?

[windowlicker916]

A lot of the threads I have seen are either not visually appealing, mounted to a suspended metal frame or inside a canopy.

Keeping cost in mind, has anyone made a nice stand-alone unit comparable to something professional? Or perhaps as part of a kit? That would display nicely over a tank with no canopy?

[radicaltimes]

Search edsreef's led build on RC. He did a vey nice job

[SC Reefaholic]

I have seen several where people have bought old burnt out Power Compact or Metal Halide fixtures and retrofitted them with LEDs. From the outside it just looks like a store bought fixture. The heatsinks are mounted inside the fixture housing and many times they are able to use the stock fans.

[ironman187]

It's possible, infact, I was planning on buying a 4 bulb PC fixture to use for my build before I changed the direction I wanted to go for a heat sink...Although if I really wanted to spend $50.00 on a fixture to house the LEDs I could, but what's the point? I'll just be screwing the tube heat sinks to the top of my DIY hood where nobody will see them anyway.

[00Warpig00]

I did a retrofit and am very happy with the way it looks and operates

Nick

[MTWiley]

Mine is still a work in progress, but I think it looks fairly nice.

Top
http://i.imgur.com/DaSLJl.jpg (http://imgur.com/DaSLJ)

Bottom
http://i.imgur.com/Lnqr2l.jpg (http://imgur.com/Lnqr2)

I still need to trim down the screws that secure the heatsinks to the fixture as well as wire it all up, maybe find a thin piece of acrylic to use as a splash guard. For those concerned about heat, there are 4 x 80 MM SilenX Fans rated at 24 CFM each that should help push enough air through the fixture, but I'll be monitoring the temps for the first few months and will make more vent holes in the top if necessary.