Question regarding LED lights

[user 26995]

Well, at the frag swap last weekend, I picked up this little, guess you could call it a, pico tank. It is 12" wide, 10" deep of which 5.5" is display area and 11" tall. I want to put LED lighting on it. I am looking for suggestions on fixtures and where to get them.

 

[tat2z_21]

I would just build it yourself. If you go to www.rapidleds.com you will find that it is way cheaper and you have more options if you do it yourself. Just a thought. You could really get away with the 6 led set up and it would be more then enough light for that little thing.

 

[user 26995]

I dont know, Theres a nice kit on there but that means finding or making something to mount it to. That looks good. Dont know if I can do that. I can take a fixture apart, repair wiring and such and put it bac together, but to actually create something to mount this kit to....I dont know! It might be cheaper, but I is worth it to me to buy one already made that looks good.
We'll see!

 

[tat2z_21]

Nanotuners.com

 

[TJL]

Hey Lorrie, sweet lil' setup. What are you going to keep in there for livestock ? I agree with Floyd in buying the 6 led set from Rapidled and building what you like. We have talked abit about having a LED Workshop for one of our NSR meetings and I'm just about to start my LED build also. I may be stopping by Vetco Electric Supply in Bellevue tomorrow for some additional chips in 525nm Green and another 700ma driver so can check out what they have for Heat-sinks that would look good on your setup. If we can arrange a workshop that would be convenient for a group of us it (yours) would be a quick & easy build. I would be happy to host as have most any tools needed with the exception of a quality soldering gun/iron.

Cheers, Todd

 

[Cwazy Clown]

Cool little tank!

I personally would just go buy a par38 bulb. You could try and build your own little array of LED's but hitting up Vetco for LED's will run you 8$ per LED and you're still going to need a power supply and a fixture.

Par38: 70-80$

DIY:
5, 3w LED's from vetco(8ea): 40$
5, 3w LED's from stevesleds(3.50 ea): 17.50$

Heatsink bar from stevesleds: dont do it (lol)
Heatsink from some surplus computer shop:5-10$

Powersupply from stevesleds: 25$
Old laptop powersupply: 0-25$

And you have to have some basic knowledge of soldering, and etc. plus you have to find a fixture to mount this to.

I personally would go with a par38

HTH Lorrie.

 

[tat2z_21]

Ipisces, How about this. I build you one and all you have to do is pay for materials if you like it. If you do not like it then I will eat the cost. I would love to see that little thing lit up with some LEDS, and I love projects so let me know what you think.

 

[user 26995]

I think you've got a deal Floyd.
I'll pm you my number. I would really like LEDs on this too, but I'm just dont know enough about it to do it. I have done some soldering. As a matter of fact I need to solder a connection on one of my T-5 units. Just need to take the time to do it.

 

[tat2z_21]

Alright I will order the things necessary to make this happen. There will be a few things that I will need from you though. I will need the dimensions of the tank portion of the AIO and I will nees to know the entire tank dimensions. This will be a neat little set up. I love projects so this will give me something to do.

 

[tat2z_21]

Never mind the specs are in the thread.

 

[user 26995]

Never mind the specs are in the thread.

they are not exact dimensions. I can get those for you in a while.

 

[user 26995]

Okay, took me a few minutes. My back is still hurting and it takes a while to get up and move and then after a detour to the frig for a bag of coconut m & m's I got the dimensions.
outside dims are 12"w x 10-1/4"d, inside dims of display area is 11-1/2"w x 5-1/4"d. Made with 1/4" glass.

 

[user 26995]

We're doing 3 white and 3 blue on the lights? I was kinda thinking 4 of each but do you think 3 each is sufficient? Probably is.

 

[tat2z_21]

If we go even on the numbers you will have a 20k look, not sure if that is the color temp you like. I was thinking 4 whites and 3 blues a 15k. I have a couple extra LED's laying around the house. And seven would be more then enough LED's for your tank.

 

[tat2z_21]

But we could go with more depending on coral plans. We will talk some more and push the numbers around and get the design in place. If we went more then it would give us more flexibility with dimming control. I could put both on a dimming circuit and it would allow you to manually change the color temp. Which would be ideal. Then you could hook up reef keeper and let the controller step the lighting up for you from 0-100 and back down from 100-0

 

[user 26995]

But we could go with more depending on coral plans. We will talk some more and push the numbers around and get the design in place. If we went more then it would give us more flexibility with dimming control. I could put both on a dimming circuit and it would allow you to manually change the color temp. Which would be ideal. Then you could hook up reef keeper and let the controller step the lighting up for you from 0-100 and back down from 100-0

Would you set the whites up on a seperate dimmer control from the blues? I noticed that rapid led doesnt have a dimmable driver that controls less than 8 leds, unless I missed them.
Id like a moonlight on it too. Can we get a blue/moonlight on it seperate from the dimmable driver. Or I have a couple single bulb led moonlights that I can maybe incorporate one into it. Oh, I'll have to check, they might even be undwater lights.

 

[TJL]

WOW Floyd, generous offer my friend :hail:. Lorrie your a lucky girl :high5: and will be an awsome lighting setup for that Pico. Cannot wait to see it all lit up.

Floyd, when your done with this I could use some help on mine... :help:hint hint

about 80 chips, 5 colors, 7 circuits, 2-color dimming kit, assorted optics, 5 Moonlights on lunar module = friggin mind boggling

Cheers, Todd

 

[Somethings Fishy]

What you gong to but in it? it would look cool chocked full of zoas!

 

[tat2z_21]

I would love to help you out Todd. Just let me know when.

Lorrie,
I have loads of seperate blue moon light LED's. You just tell me what you want on it and we will go from there. To to do 2 dimmable circuits is nice but really believe all you need on something that small is 1 dimmable. Control the whites and you will control the color temp.

 

[TJL]

Hey Floyd & Lorrie, check out this link http://www.ledsales.com.au/catalog/ for some pretty cool heatsinks for your project. I'm going to get one for my fuge led lighting.

Todd