Minimalistic multichip DIY LED build

[proietti]

Are you using the version with the PC Amber?

[ReefLedLab]

Unfortunately, no.
sanamyan has participated in the testing of an earlier version, which had no PC Amber. 12up assemblies, that he used, is 12xV2.1 version. More details can be found here http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2014/4/lighting

I would like to draw your attention - this old discontinued version of 12up assemblies is also representing very good visual impression. As sanamyan said "the fluorescence is much stronger than before and the overall impression is great". It has since been consistently made ​​two new versions, one is better than another

[007Bond]

Hello RLL,...what about deeper tanks(mine 42") how dose your diy 12up work on these? How deep will they penetrate the water depth? I'm looking into 100w Dream Chips,...only because the power to them can be increased, driving them to a max of 252w, and there are currently, adjustable lens available for them. Thanks,---Rick

[007Bond]

Originally Posted by ReefLedLab

Hi, 007Bond!

Penetration of light depends mostly on lens, not of power of light. A lot of our customer has used our 12up assemblies on very deep tanks with proper lens with good result. Please check http://reefll.com/index.php?route=in...ews&news_id=19 as you can see, this tanks have height 2 meters, i.e. 79". For very deep tank (or very high hanging of fixture) we recommend to use this lens without diffusers http://reefll.com/index.php?route=pr...&product_id=67

Thanks for the links you provided,....I'll look them over and will most likely have a few follow up questions of you?---Rick

[ReefLedLab]

Originally Posted by 007Bond

I'll look them over and will most likely have a few follow up questions of you?---Rick

Please, don't hesitate of any questions!

[zachts]

Originally Posted by ReefLedLab

Hi, 007Bond!

Penetration of light depends mostly on lens, not of power of light. A lot of our customer has used our 12up assemblies on very deep tanks with proper lens with good result. Please check http://reefll.com/index.php?route=in...ews&news_id=19 as you can see, this tanks have height 2 meters, i.e. 79". For very deep tank (or very high hanging of fixture) we recommend to use this lens without diffusers http://reefll.com/index.php?route=pr...&product_id=67

That tank doesn't appear all that brightly lit compared to the background of the room. It looks to be a fish only so PAR levels of only 10 or 20 would still look bright enough for viewing

But would barely grow algea. What kind of par would you get at that depth and how many 12 up arrays would you need to grow coral in that tank? you would want 50 to 100 par near the bottom or at least on all the rock surfaces if that were a traditional reef tank.

I do like the arrays though, nothing against them at all.

[ReefLedLab]

Originally Posted by zachts

That tank doesn't appear all that brightly lit compared to the background of the room. It looks to be a fish only so PAR levels of only 10 or 20 would still look bright enough for viewing

As you can see on photo, that tanks looks at the bottom almost as brightly lit as the top

What kind of par would you get at that depth and how many 12 up arrays would you need to grow coral in that tank? you would want 50 to 100 par near the bottom or at least on all the rock surfaces if that were a traditional reef tank.

We did not measured PAR in that tanks. But today one of this tank have some coral on bottom and near to bottom and it grows without problem.
About numbers of 12up arrays. Our component selection Wizard http://reefll.com/index.php?route=common/wizard has adviced proper numbers of 12up according to your request for tanks with depth at least up to 30". For deeper tank you should increase quantity. I think, for tanks with depth 80", if you would like to grow acros on bottom, you should increase quantity on ~50%, not more.

[hugorsf]

Originally Posted by mr.wilson

I built some multichip fixtures to replace the MH fixtures over the coral tanks at my store. I wanted 20k light to show off coral colours, but didn't want the usual "bait & switch" blue and Fiji purple look some retailers use to make brown corals look colourful. Eventually the customer sees the real thing when they take it home to their lighting.

I ended up with a colour that looks almost identical to the Radion fixture I have set at 20,000K. I would never use this colour mix over my own tank, but many people like the look.

Here's a map of the chip layout...



Here is a picture of the chip dimmed.



Here's a bad iphone photo that makes it look a lot more blue than it really is. I'll try to take a better pic with a real camera tomorrow. The Radion is at the end of the tank.



As you can see, it takes a lot of blue mixed with "16k" to get the look of a true 20k. An earlier version had one row (10%) red and it looked horrible. Red is so dominant it made the whole chip look pink. I had to scrap 16 multichips and start again

Sorry if you have allready answer this, but i cant find it:

1 - What temperature of whites do you use in this setup?
2 - Shouldn't have more of 430nm and less 470nm?

[ReefLedLab]

Originally Posted by hugorsf

2 - Shouldn't have more of 430nm and less 470nm?

If you will change quantity of LEDs, will be good if you will change its wavelength too. Preferably 415-420nm, because violet LED with longer wavelength are working almost similar as royal blue.

[hugorsf]

Originally Posted by ReefLedLab

If you will change quantity of LEDs, will be good if you will change its wavelength too. Preferably 415-420nm, because violet LED with longer wavelength are working almost similar as royal blue.

Sure, but 415-420 are not that easy/cheap to find in this kind of multichip led!

I'm just asking in the 4 wavelength that Mr. Wilson used!

[hugorsf]

Originally Posted by hugorsf

in this kind of multichip led!

[blokrocbet]

Have you thought of using a pelter device to help reduce the size requirement for the cooling coils, They are around $10 and run on 12 volts. Just a thought. Nice work

[hugorsf]

Anyone can answer my question about the Kelvin of the whites?
Thanks!

[zachts]

Originally Posted by hugorsf

Anyone can answer my question about the Kelvin of the whites?
Thanks!

The original post you quoted said 16,000 kelvin............

[robi0543]

What would be the best replacement for 250w radium 20k mh. Was looking at the 100w led but there is so many of them. I want similar colour temp to radium bulb

[pupa57]

Originally Posted by blokrocbet

Have you thought of using a pelter device to help reduce the size requirement for the cooling coils, They are around $10 and run on 12 volts. Just a thought. Nice work

If I remember correctly peltiers are using a lot of energy in itself thus IMHO not worth the effort as that is why they fell out of line for us in PC's.

[007Bond]

Pupa,...welcome to RC

[bmanzie]

Hello all, enjoying reading this thread.
Can someone point me in the right direction on which LEDs I should be looking at for a 40" high tank?

[007Bond]

Hey Bmanzie,...my tank is similar to yours. I started long time ago following this thread at its beginning. There is lots of information here, and I ended up leaning towards the 100w Dream Chips. The thing with them, is they have the ability to be driven to a max of 252w and that along with optics help to get lighting to the sand bed of deep tanks. Todays multichips have made strides since the Dream Chips first became available, in fact most all led's have,... so you need to start searching the internet for information on them. Reef Central has some other threads on led lighting,... sometime they get to be heated debates If/when you find some info on the use of led's in deep tanks,...please post it up .---Rick

[bmanzie]

Thank you for your response. I did read about the dream chips and the lumina 5.1 being very similar.
I wanted to get a start and knowing that I need to look at 100w multichips helps.
I did read that the par on the lumina wasn't that great when looking to cover a big tank. They also said it was not energy efficient.

[007Bond]

Yeah,...there's lot of debate over the two, it's pretty hard to find posted information from end users. As I said I looked to the DC's because you can power them above the listed 100 watts, and there will be arguments about this ie. longevity, effeciency ect.ect. You need to sift through it all the information you can find and decide what sounds best for your situation. Like I said,...posted info is hard to come by.Good luck---Rick

[themaddhatter]

Wow! , I followed thus thread a few months ago and just popped back in. It certainly is ALOT of information! My system has been mothballed for 5 years, and I'm just getting ready to restart. I'm designing a small fish room with 2 6' tanks and possibly a third 42" tank. The first two are 125 gallons (22" H) and 100 gallons (18" H). I don't want to reuse my T5s since I need new bulbs anyway, so I've decided to take on this project. It'll keep me busy while my tanks cycle up. I'm thinking of going with 3 pendants for each tank, based on what I've read here, and leaning towards 50w chips. I'm trying to decide between lumias, DC, and some of the eBay no name chips. I plan to have corals in both tanks eventually. I want to plan to be able to accommodate SPS in the future so I don't want to understand size, but electricity consumption is a big concern too. Suggestions?

[007Bond]

Check ReefLabLed LED's also. They are sponsors on RC and I see them respond quickly to questions asked of them,...they also have a pretty cool "help you design system" on their site.

[am.gee]

Originally Posted by bmanzie

Hello all, enjoying reading this thread.
Can someone point me in the right direction on which LEDs I should be looking at for a 40" high tank?

hi bmanzie,
i dont know if you know it already, but this is my multi-chip build, maybe it helps. the tank is 33.5" high.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2418979

[rillaboratories]

Finally finished reading through this thread. What will the process be in making your own custom multichip. Is it even possible to purchase all the parts separately to assemble a 100w multichip, i would like the ability to choose the colors and the drivers each one aligns to that are not available at the moment.