Search results

Its been forever since I even posted on this forum. In May I moved down to North Carolina and upgraded my old 120 gallon into a custom DIY LED lit 220 gallon. Corals have been in here for ~2.5 months.

As MGDMIRAGE said, heat is not a very big issue with LEDs as they do not put out nearly as much infrared radiation as MH, plus they use significantly less wattage. Depending on your rock layout, coral care requirements, and coverage needs, I would probably suggest three pendants of 24 bulbs...

I ordered "P" because I thought I was going to dim it with PWM at the beginning, but the circuit kept not working for some reason. There is come circuitry stuff behind this, but considering I don't understand it I think it will suffice to say that it is possible to control a "P" meanwell with a...

The optics have what looks like plastic in them. I don't have any acrylic for a shield on hand, and I have to give the PAR meter back tomorrow so it looks like I won't be able to get you that data. I would assume you would not lose much PAR until the shield gets covered in salt creep. My...

If you did 24 bulbs I would use 80 degree optics and mount it 12-18" off the water. That should give you about as much PAR as a T5 setup while looking sleeker, using less power, and still maintaining lower light areas in the tank. If you went with 36 bulbs I would use 60 degree optics and...

In one of the pictures you can see the PVC structure I built, it was used in every single test to hold the lights 12" above the rim of the tank. Unfortunately I did not "normalize" my camera data. The light and color temperature that the LEDs put out already makes my cameras sensor think it is...

6 T5's sounds like a LOT for a tank that is only 14" wide. I would only do four or maybe five and feel comfortable growing anything in it, based on its height. I took PAR readings in my 24" deep tank with 8 T5 retrofit bulbs in it, and while I didn't get crazy high PAR near the top like MH's or...

I also tried out something nifty. Here is a FTS with no optics on the white bulbs and 60 degree optics on the blue bulbs. It really concentrates the blues into the center and spreads out the coverage. If you had three fixtures and really liked a blue look this might be feasible. Here is a FTS...

Here we go: FTS with NO optics. FTS with the new 80 Degree optics. Old FTS with 60 degree optics. PAR numbers for NO optics. PAR for 80 degree. and 60 degree PAR for reference. For whatever reason the moment I popped the 80 degree optics I immediately fell in love with the crisp...

I have the 80 degree optics, but I also have family up this weekend. Hopefully I can get the data up by Monday or Tuesday.

The sump is not even built yet, but I do have a design that I like a lot. In it I have an 18"x18" skimmer compartment that will fit either the 18"x15" Askoll cone footprint or the 17"x10.5" 250A footprint. Wait...... The cone has a larger footprint then the cylinder?? I thought it was supposed...

I'm trying to decided between the 250A and the Askoll cone. He's right though, the Askoll cone costs $300 more and draws less air (for slightly less watts, though) then the 250A. The Askoll cone has a smaller footprint, but what does it really give me thats better then the cylinder?

Yeah, the 300A seems like a great skimmer, but after what Luke said I think I might be afraid of it not maintaining a foam head on my tank. Plus, the two inches bigger would make it so I would have to redesign my sump.

I hope Luke doesn't mind me quoting him on here, but he gave me a LOT of good information about the SWC skimmers and what he thinks is appropriate for my 220g high bioload sps tank:

There is a minimum number of LEDs you have to run on a driver, otherwise it will put too much voltage through (I think) and fry the LEDs or the driver. I think the minimum is six LEDs so you should be fine, but do some more research before you buy. Worst comes to worst maybe you can just have 40...

With 36 bulbs you only need three drivers. The current draw on the Meanwell's dimming circuit is extremely low, so you can hook the dimming circuit up to an absurdly large number of drivers (somewhere around 2600, I think?) and dim them all in parallel with one dimming controller.

I think a 24 bulb emitter with 60 degree optics would be perfect for your tank! Mount the fixture a little higher then normal, maybe 20" off the water, and you will get great spread, really good PAR in the mid to upper levels, and enough low light areas at the very bottom and sides to maintain...

After thinking about it some more I think 36 LEDs would give you perfectly adequate coverage with 60 degree optics, given the proper spacing. Of course after I get the 80 degree optics I'll be able to tell you if they have enough PAR/coverage for a tank your size. LEDs are truly perfect for...

At only 20" of depth you would have to mount/hang the LED fixture 16" above the tank to get the same spread I had with 60 degree optics. Your PAR would be amazing, even higher then mine, but I don't know if it would light up the full 30"x30" footprint all the way to the glass (it would be really...

I would also like to update anyone that has become inspired to build one of these: Due to the power supply design of the MeanWell drivers it is unsafe to use more then ten on a single household power circuit (even 20A circuits). This is due to an electrical phenomena called harmonics that...