CHEAP ebay 3W LED Build

[ewagner099]

I just got finished fixing up my 29g bowfront and a friend's 180g tanks with my DIY ebay LED light. On the bowfront there are 29 3w LEDs 2-green, 1-UV violet, 9-cool white, and 17-royal blue. On the 180 there are 66 3w LEDs; 22-cool white, 4-green, 4 UV violet, and 36-royal blue. All the LED are run on the ebay constant current LED driver. The only non-ebay part of the build was the unique heatsinks i used from heatsinkusa. Instead of using the big plate heatsink I decided to go with the 2" wide heatsinks cut to fit in the tanks. Basically the design is based on fluorescent fixture but with 3w LEDs. I have CPU fans running to help with heat transfer because these things do get hot without them.

[ewagner099]

LED pics

[DerekFF]

Looks good

[ewagner099]

White and blue
All Blue
Coral extension after one 9 hour day

last pic is a little blurry but you can still see the extension

[evolutionZ]

why use cool white instead of neutral/warm white?

[ewagner099]

I chose the cool whites mainly because I don't like the yellowish look of the lower Kelvin spectrum. Although I really haven't experimented with those, just going on what typical florescent spectrums. And most of the research I have done on the DIY builds, people where using the cool whites.

[jjmccloud2011]

cools whites tend to wash out some corals and doesn't have a lot of the red spectrum but u can add red leds to fix that say maybe 2 but it is a dominant color but with the neutral whites many like them because they have plenty red in them already and u don't need red leds and there not that yellow like a warm white I think their rating is 4000k-4500k so they dint look yellow anyway I think its a matter of taste however neutral white does blend very well with royal blue and from my experience they bring out more color then cool white...I like a mix of 65%royal blue-25%neutral white-10%cool whites maybe a couple ultra violet, cyan, and green mixed in but like I said its a material of taste and many people do prefer cool white this is just my opinion and experience!!! great build btw


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[ewagner099]

jjmccloud2011 thanks for the feedback maybe I'll get some nuetrals and play around with them. the only downside to the cheap ebay leds are they take 2-3 weeks.

[matt_97055]

is it possible to get a build list? they look killer.

[nemosworld]

is it possible to get a build list? they look killer.

here is another source for an inexpensive build:
aquastyle online (http://www.aquastyleonline.com/)
they have made some additions since I used them for my build, they now have pwm controllers for up to 4 channels.
here is a thread we started here:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2082235&highlight=aquastyle

OP, nice build!

[ewagner099]

I will try to post the build list later.

[josesito125]

how much did that run you? i have a biocube 29 and my lights dont work.. i need to do something about it but dont have much cash to do it..
any suggestions?

[ewagner099]

For the 29g I originally only had about $60. But I had some scrap CPU heatsinks,fans. If you wanted to do heatsinkusa I would guess it would probably be another $40. I had to keep costs down as well, and that's why I chose to go with the eBay stars. I had to replace both bulbs on my VHOs so I figured my budget was $70, basically the cost of the two new bulbs, without getting the boss mad.�� The original set up was 10 blue and 5 white which looked great. After a few months I added 6 more blues 2 greens and 1 UV(maybe $15 more). Then my buddy wanted me to build him some for his 180g and 220g so he bought me the 2" heatsinkusa heatsink and rebuilt it using the same LEDs(carefully chopped them off). The reason I did the 2"x .... Length was when I had them on the scrap parts there were dark spots on the far sides of the rock work. Buying the eBay LEDs in bulk will save you some money if you and someone else wanted to split cost plus the 2week shipping time. But hey it was worth it to me to save $200

[asid61]

Steves Leds sells Rebel ES leds for $3 each. ES are about as efficient as Cree XT-E. However, he tales you to the cleaners for drivers and heatsinks.
You could go with drivers from Aquastyle and leds from Steves to get a good efficiency, without costing too much more.

[ewagner099]

2”x 48” heatsink from Heatsinkusa.com (cut to 23”)
1 - Constant Current Driver (10-18 LEDs for blues) – eBay
1 - Constant Current Driver (9-12 LEDs for whites) – eBay
1 - Constant Current Driver (3-5 LEDs for greens and UV) – eBay
2 - 5g artic silver thermal adhesive – eBay
2 – 10 piece 3W LED Royal Blue (20 total) – eBay
1 – 10 piece 3W LED Cool White (10 total) – eBay
2 – 3W green LED – eBay
1 – 3W UV Violet LED – eBay
4 – 12v CPU fans – scrap
1 – 12v power supply – scrap (like the kind for a router or something like that)
2 – timers – Homedepot
2 – 18 gauge 2 prong power cords

Was not sure if I could post links.

[aetdinger]

After reading your thread a while ago I have also bought a "Dimmable Aquarium DIY LED KIT" of ebay. In order to get rid of my tubes and add the shimmer effect.

My kit comprised of:

- 60x 3W LEDs Blue, white
- Dimmable Drivers
- Dimmer/Petensiometers
- Pre stripped wires
- 60 degree lens covers
- Heat sink paste

Were my tubes were fitted in my hood there was a large thick alluminium shroud (5mm thick by 1220mm long) I have simply attached to this backing and have not had any issues with heat.

Shimmer is excellent, will be posting my diy thread for this soon.

cheers for the advice

[ewagner099]

Glad the info helped

[bhamzookeeper]

Is there a particular store that you purchased the supplies or did you order from several? I have a 29 biocube and want to upgrade the stock lighting to led.

[ewagner099]

bhamzookeeper there is a parts list for my build a few posts earlier

[jakemeidl]

Do all the LED fixtures have that shimmer effect? I made one myself with royal blues and cool whites and my tank has a MAJOR shimmer. Too much IMO. Is there anything I can do to reduce the shimmer?

[xssx]

Do all the LED fixtures have that shimmer effect? I made one myself with royal blues and cool whites and my tank has a MAJOR shimmer. Too much IMO. Is there anything I can do to reduce the shimmer?

Reduce surface agitation

[RANDY J]

I realize this is older thread Iwas just wondering if you still have this setup and if you do how it was working out for you. This is interesting...