Taqpol's DIY LED prototype build, detailed pictures, and PAR readings!

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Thats why your tank looks so familiar... I saw you on the other forum also on the giant LED thread.... good job..!!!!
 
Based on my calculations that is also based on the giant thread on the other forum... your tank which is a 120 gallon is 72x24 surface area or a 1728 sq inches. For those people who are new to LED's... if you divide it by these numbers, you can more or less see how many leds you need for your tank.

Divide by...

20 = if your tank is a softy or lps = 86 LED's.. or 84 LED's roundoff
10 = if you have mainly SPS majority tank. = 172 LED's... or 168 LED's roundoff

or...

15 = midrange or halfway tank... = 115 LED's.... or 120 LED's roundoff...

...
 
Taqpol, could I bore you with my questions since Im also going to do a DIY LED assembly similar to yours....

Would it be possible for you to remove the optics, and lower your light maybe 4-6 inches from water surface and do a par readout???

I believe that you need optics if you are going to position it far from water surface and no optics if you are putting it really close to the water, thus making the water column act as an optic to the LED???

Thanks a lot, this is a very big contribution to the reef community your doing here...
 
Katchupoy said:
Based on my calculations that is also based on the giant thread on the other forum... your tank which is a 120 gallon is 72x24 surface area or a 1728 sq inches. For those people who are new to LED's... if you divide it by these numbers, you can more or less see how many leds you need for your tank.

Divide by...

20 = if your tank is a softy or lps = 86 LED's.. or 84 LED's roundoff
10 = if you have mainly SPS majority tank. = 172 LED's... or 168 LED's roundoff

or...

15 = midrange or halfway tank... = 115 LED's.... or 120 LED's roundoff...

...
Click to expand...

I don't think i have ever posted in the monster thread, you must have seen my tank elsewhere.

Also, my tank has a surface area 05 48 x 24 = 1152 so that short hand would suggest I need somewhere between 96 to 120 LEDs. After taking PAR readings in the tank I am sure this is flawed. I think three fixtures of 24 with 60 degree optics would cover a 48"x24" tank very well with as much if not significantly more PAR then 8x54W T5's which numerous people have proven is plenty of light to grow and color up SPS corals.

Maybe that shorthand rule was for LEDs with no optics? I could see having to use a LOT more LEDs with now optics.
 
Katchupoy said:
Taqpol, could I bore you with my questions since Im also going to do a DIY LED assembly similar to yours....

Would it be possible for you to remove the optics, and lower your light maybe 4-6 inches from water surface and do a par readout???

I believe that you need optics if you are going to position it far from water surface and no optics if you are putting it really close to the water, thus making the water column act as an optic to the LED???

Thanks a lot, this is a very big contribution to the reef community your doing here...
Click to expand...
I can definitely try. I also just ordered 24x 80 degree optics and 12x 40 degree optics from rapidled so I can play around with those numbers.

I don't think that the water really acts like a lens, but if you do not use optics the spread is such that you can mount them extremely close to the water (and use a splash shield of some sort) and lose less of your PAR to the air. That being said, unless you have a shallow tank <16" I think optics just make more sense. 12" directly under the fixture in air the PAR was only 380 without optics. While that is close to the max from my T5 setup, the T5's managed to maintain most of their PAR deeper into the water, whereas LEDs seem to lose intensity much more rapidly. Also, the spread of LEDs is really good without optics, but how much of that spread do you need? I demonstrated that with no optics I could light a circle of floor eight feet in diameter, but in most fish tanks that would just end up lighting the glass and giving rise to more nuisance algae. Also, my 24" perimeter was producing about the same PAR regardless of optics (~30), so why not go with the setup that focuses your light where you need it?

Depending on optic size and mounting height it is possible to make a tank appear spotlighted, but thats why I planned on using a combination of fixtures with 60 degree optics and 80 degree optics to even out the spread over the entire tank.
 
Lets do the math again... based on your dimensions.... 48x24

48x24 = 1152 sq in
1152/20 = 57 LEDs
1152/10 = 115 LEDs

and your proposed 24x3 modules will be = 72..

1152/72 = 16 LEDs... exactly right on the mid range... which is great since you are doing islands and concentrating light on those island will give you dramatic effects in shadows and lighting...

hope that my math is correct...



I also want to see the 80 optics... i believe 60 is too much??? but you can also raise the height up???
 
So what all supplies are needed for this complete project? Just the 24 CREE kit off of rapidled and the 8.4"x10" heat sink combined with the radio shack project box?

I'm highly impressed by this build and am very tempted to take it on although i know very little about electrical :( Your guide here though is quite awesome and makes it seem feasible for even me to undertake :D

Thanks so much for taking the time to do this writeup and take all the excellent pictures.
 
Another alternative to 8x10 heatsink is the use of aluminum channel/s you see at hardware stores. In my case that is, Im going to do a 4' strips that will replace my T5 one at a time (budget constraints). Maybe a 12 LED configuration per 4' strips...
 
Katchupoy said:
Lets do the math again... based on your dimensions.... 48x24

48x24 = 1152 sq in
1152/20 = 57 LEDs
1152/10 = 115 LEDs

and your proposed 24x3 modules will be = 72..

1152/72 = 16 LEDs... exactly right on the mid range... which is great since you are doing islands and concentrating light on those island will give you dramatic effects in shadows and lighting...

hope that my math is correct...



I also want to see the 80 optics... i believe 60 is too much??? but you can also raise the height up???
Click to expand...

Katchupoy said:
Another alternative to 8x10 heatsink is the use of aluminum channel/s you see at hardware stores. In my case that is, Im going to do a 4' strips that will replace my T5 one at a time (budget constraints). Maybe a 12 LED configuration per 4' strips...
Click to expand...

Looking at the FTS picture, did you not like the coverage with 60 degree optics? Or do you think 60 degree optics would be too much for the setup you are working on for yourself?

The aluminum channel works great as a heat sink, but only if your LEDs are spaced 2-4" apart as you mentioned. I actually think it would be harder to get the colors to mix well with the bulbs spread out that far from each other, especially if you were to use optics of any sort.
 
MGDMIRAGE said:
So what all supplies are needed for this complete project? Just the 24 CREE kit off of rapidled and the 8.4"x10" heat sink combined with the radio shack project box?

I'm highly impressed by this build and am very tempted to take it on although i know very little about electrical :( Your guide here though is quite awesome and makes it seem feasible for even me to undertake :D

Thanks so much for taking the time to do this writeup and take all the excellent pictures.
Click to expand...
I purchased:

-24 LED CREE kit from rapidled. I got dimmable drivers but if you do not want them it is WAY easier and cheaper.
-heatsink from heatsinkusa
-Radio Shack Project Box
-Breadboard and 10Kohm potentiometers from radioshack
-20 gauge stranded wire from radio shack (I would use 22, or 24 AWG next time)
-12v wall wart (I would buy this from rapidled). Only needed for running the fan and my dimming circuit
-Lead containing, rosin core solder from radio shack
-heat shrink from radio shack
-TurtleWax Polishing Compound from Ace Hardware
-Some screws and aluminum stock

I owned:

-30 watt soldering station
-wire strippers
-12v computer fan

-....and multiple hours of my life.


I think thats it.
 
you my friend have mad skills to pay the bills. great build. i wish i had the time do this myself. unfortunately as i age i begin to get more lazyier.
 
how much you paid for these
-24 LED CREE kit from rapidled. I got dimmable drivers but if you do not want them it is WAY easier and cheaper.
-Radio Shack Project Box
-Breadboard and 10Kohm potentiometers from radioshack
thanks
 
Rapidled has all the prices on the website, and they have gone down since I have bought LEDs a few weeks ago.

I did not get the "Ultra-Premium", just the normal 24 bulb dimmable kit (I got PWM dimmable ballast but now i think i will be switching over to 0-10v dimming because most controllers already support it). Mine are CREE XR-E bulbs where as the ultra premium has CREE XP-G cool white bulbs. The new XP-Gs do not have optics that fit them yet, but they are much brighter for the exact same wattage. So much brighter that they overpower the blues, in fact.
 
thank you for quick reponsed,,it is the way to doit DIY,,sure save a lot of buck,,
Cesar ,,i wil call you DIY:),,i like to try and see over my new frag tank(was thinging about using 250wSE HQI/lumenbright)
 
Last edited:
very nice job had been looking at your tank builds. got some sweet ideas
 
Taqpol,

so you did not buy the kit version and instead you bought them by piece? or did you start with their kit then ask them if you can replace this and that???

thank you again Taqpol...
 
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 occurs based on how the drivers draw power from the AC line. I am currently working with a bunch of electronics gurus, but it looks like in the future for my massive LED build I am going to build my own drivers (there is already a circuit board design out there) and power them with a separate power supply that uses a safer front end.


TL;DR
Meanwells are amazing drivers for applications of 2-8 drivers (24-96 LEDs). If you plan on using more then this you might have to do some additional research!
 
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