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Unread 05/08/2012, 03:31 PM   #7
phasezero
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Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 239
Quote:
Originally Posted by rc407092 View Post
Thanks for your input, I really appreciate it. BTW, your light build looks outstanding.

Here's some of what I was thinking when I planned this out. I was going with those 3 Inventronics drivers because I already have those from my first DIY LED build and I was just going to reuse them. Also, I was going to use those, even though they drive at 700mA, merely out my concern for roasting everything in my tank (mostly LPS with some SPS) since the water depth is just under 7"; I'm not sure if it would be worth the hassle to sell those drivers and get 1000mA drivers and then have to keep those 1000mA drivers dimmed really low.

My mounting concern was exactly as you had noted: the possibility of color banding. I was planning on using the 6"x9" RapidLED drilled/tapped heatsink (because I really don't want to drill a heatsink again) but I'm not quite sure if those 24 LED locations on that heatsink would be tight enough to prevent the color banding. Perhaps it would be a better idea to use their undrilled heatsink and just group the LEDs tightly together and attach them using adhesive? My only concern, which I'm not sure if it's justified, with doing that is that the adhesive is really permanent; what if my initial grouping of the LEDs looked unattractive once over the tank, is there a way to remove the LEDs once adhesive has been used?

Regarding the TV, I'll make the move to 12 of them. Are you driving yours at 700mA?
Ahhh ok that clears a lot of my questions up. At 7" deep and the fact you already have those drivers makes sense. I should have payed more attention to your first post.

I must admit you've got a tricky setup to plan for, especially at 18" wide. Using these rapid LED 6x9 heatsinks, I think how you plan to aquascape will make the difference here. If you cluster like mine, all your PAR will be along the lengthwise center line. If you do the even spacing of the drilled heatsink, You'll have a wider and more even coverage, of course at the cost of some color separation. I think in an ideal setup, You would have several small clusters spread about the tank, like 6 or 8 of them.

Here's an image to help picture you're setup with these 6x9 heatsinks. I do think if you could lay them the other direction, It would at least help a little with your coverage.





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