Hey guys I've been wondering about the LEDs ...good results or not ? I asking that because I'm starting my new build from a 90G to a 180G from a fellow reefer that hooked me up witch I'm really thankful for that because not any one will do that... Soooo my question That I've been doing some research on the LEDs and would like to try it to see how they do and to save me some cash ... Right now I'm running 1 250w M.H Phoenix double ended and 4x54 Ati... And now with the LEDs I would like to do DIY since I'm in a low budget and would like to learn how to do them too .....
5 posters
Options on LED's ... Good or bad??
Drews89- Posts : 94
Join date : 2012-01-31
Location : Oxnard, ca
nikecivic- Moderator
- Posts : 1672
Join date : 2011-11-09
Location : Camarillo, CA
Lots of reefers have some used the DIY LEDs. You should have gone to the last meeting and see the results. Contact clownfish14.
Drews89- Posts : 94
Join date : 2012-01-31
Location : Oxnard, ca
I know I missed that meeting ... And I wanted to go specially for that because there was a lot of opinions of the LEDs on one of the last meetings that was at crystals
bvysochin- Posts : 86
Join date : 2011-11-29
Have had great results so far with our AI sols.. just hung the AI Vegas tonight. Not too impressed with their brightness. They're half as bright as the AI sols.. No idea about DIY.
Ace25- Posts : 45
Join date : 2013-02-05
Location : https://www.facebook.com/groups/CentralCaliforniaCoastReefers/
I have built many LED fixtures for myself and fellow local reefers. Here are some examples. To answer your question, great results on the tanks, amazing results on the wallet, and for me every LED fixture paid for themselves in under a year (electricity savings + no bulb replacements). DIY fixtures are super easy to build IMO. They seem intimidating when you have never built one, but once you put one together you realize just how easy they really are.
My 48 LED fixture over my 75G, turned out to be extremely overbuilt. Could have easily used 36 LEDs and it would have worked just as well because I have to dim them down to 50% to keep corals happy.
And as far as intensity goes, here are PAR readings from when I used to run a 400w XM 10k + 4x T5HOs (560w) vs my DIY LED fixture running 144w. Over double the output and less than 1/3 the power usage.
Video showing 24 LEDs run @ 700mA (48w) on my 60G tank. Working fine for over 2 years now. Not the prettiest looking build but it certainly functions great. One of these days I will get around to finishing them up cosmetically (making a shell for it).
My 48 LED fixture over my 75G, turned out to be extremely overbuilt. Could have easily used 36 LEDs and it would have worked just as well because I have to dim them down to 50% to keep corals happy.
And as far as intensity goes, here are PAR readings from when I used to run a 400w XM 10k + 4x T5HOs (560w) vs my DIY LED fixture running 144w. Over double the output and less than 1/3 the power usage.
Video showing 24 LEDs run @ 700mA (48w) on my 60G tank. Working fine for over 2 years now. Not the prettiest looking build but it certainly functions great. One of these days I will get around to finishing them up cosmetically (making a shell for it).
Drews89- Posts : 94
Join date : 2012-01-31
Location : Oxnard, ca
Wow that's pretty nice set up of LEDs there...that's what I would like to have in the 180g that I'm doing
Drews89- Posts : 94
Join date : 2012-01-31
Location : Oxnard, ca
This is the frame for the 180g 
And this is the back part of it ...
And this is the back part of it ...
nikecivic- Moderator
- Posts : 1672
Join date : 2011-11-09
Location : Camarillo, CA
I'll be setting up a 180 in a couple months and might switch from T5s to LED but will go to Radion if I make the switch. After buying the heat sink, Cree LEDs, fans, reliability, wareanty and programming s/w...it makes more sense to go with a commercially built unit.
Ace25- Posts : 45
Join date : 2013-02-05
Location : https://www.facebook.com/groups/CentralCaliforniaCoastReefers/
Just giving you an idea on cost., the LED light over my 60G cost me $150 to make 3 years ago, and has worked perfect every day since then. It uses Cree XRE LEDs which are old school by todays standards, but as you can see, it will grow anything in a 60G 4' tank, even SPS corals on the sandbed with the light mounted 20" above the water. If you ramp that up to fit a 180G you are looking at around $450-$500 to DIY a 'bare bones' LED light for a 180G, which is about 1/2 the price of a single radion pro, and if there is ever a problem (like an LED burns out) it cost you a whole $2 to fix. Worst case a driver dies (although I have never had a meanwell driver go bad, knock on wood) it cost $30 and about 5 minutes to replace. If you want a DIY to be 'fancy' like a radion, I went with a Reef Angel and a PWM add on so I can do all the fancy clouds, storms, etc. You can make an arduino PWM controller for around $50.
Radions are great fixtures. I am certainly not saying anything bad about them, they are just too pricey for my blood. I believe you would need at least 4 of them to adequately cover a 180G, which puts the lights at well over $3000 compared to $600 tops to DIY one that would be equal in function and output. If you have the $ to spare and don't want to get into DIY, definitely go with a Radion or a Maxspect (my favorite commercial fixture).
Radions are great fixtures. I am certainly not saying anything bad about them, they are just too pricey for my blood. I believe you would need at least 4 of them to adequately cover a 180G, which puts the lights at well over $3000 compared to $600 tops to DIY one that would be equal in function and output. If you have the $ to spare and don't want to get into DIY, definitely go with a Radion or a Maxspect (my favorite commercial fixture).
dwolson2- Admin
- Posts : 2356
Join date : 2011-08-07
Location : Where ever I am told to go
You can get some great deals on used radions, but it would still cost you 1200- 1600. If you have a canopy go diy if you are going rimless with no canopy I'd go with a fixture. I bought a radion for my new tank just because it looked nicer. Lol
nikecivic- Moderator
- Posts : 1672
Join date : 2011-11-09
Location : Camarillo, CA
I know what you are saying but if I choose to go LED vs T5, I would go all out and I like the fact I can sync my lights to the MP40s,the s/w compatibility and controls with my laptop. I currently use DIY on my 15g office tank and I really like the look.
If I do go Radion, I believe 3 units with the TIR lenses if sufficient coverage. Also, there are many used Radions for sale in the 400-500 range. I already have 1 unit that I use for a frag tank.
DIY LED is a great way to save money and the soldering is very easy.
If I do go Radion, I believe 3 units with the TIR lenses if sufficient coverage. Also, there are many used Radions for sale in the 400-500 range. I already have 1 unit that I use for a frag tank.
DIY LED is a great way to save money and the soldering is very easy.
dwolson2- Admin
- Posts : 2356
Join date : 2011-08-07
Location : Where ever I am told to go
Plus they have solderless leds. Diy is great, but the radion is still a great fixture. People often forget when comparing them to diy, you are getting a lot of features with it that you don't get with diy unless you connect them to a controller (in which your cost goes up)
Ace25- Posts : 45
Join date : 2013-02-05
Location : https://www.facebook.com/groups/CentralCaliforniaCoastReefers/
On one of my tanks (75G cube) I have it connected to a Reef Angel controller, so I can control my LEDs AND my MP40 with my iPod Touch, plus I can create custom flow patterns on the MP40 with my Reef Angel with the RF module. Since it is arduino based I can do pretty much anything I can think of with it.
I wrote some software a few years ago where I can pick any location in the world and it looks up the weather in that location and then offsets the time to local time and mimics the weather on my tank. As an example, I want my lights and MP40 to mimic the weather from the Great Barrier Reef, I just pick that location, and if it was 'stormy' at 1pm local time on the GBR, my lights and pump will mimic a storm at that time. The controller and add on modules actually cost me more than both of my LED lights combined though, so going that route does add a lot to the cost, but gives you endless capabilities.
I wrote some software a few years ago where I can pick any location in the world and it looks up the weather in that location and then offsets the time to local time and mimics the weather on my tank. As an example, I want my lights and MP40 to mimic the weather from the Great Barrier Reef, I just pick that location, and if it was 'stormy' at 1pm local time on the GBR, my lights and pump will mimic a storm at that time. The controller and add on modules actually cost me more than both of my LED lights combined though, so going that route does add a lot to the cost, but gives you endless capabilities.
Drews89- Posts : 94
Join date : 2012-01-31
Location : Oxnard, ca
Soon to get it clear .... For my 180g that I'm building , I'm looking at 450$ -500???
Ace25 wrote:Just giving you an idea on cost., the LED light over my 60G cost me $150 to make 3 years ago, and has worked perfect every day since then. It uses Cree XRE LEDs which are old school by todays standards, but as you can see, it will grow anything in a 60G 4' tank, even SPS corals on the sandbed with the light mounted 20" above the water. If you ramp that up to fit a 180G you are looking at around $450-$500 to DIY a 'bare bones' LED light for a 180G, which is about 1/2 the price of a single radion pro, and if there is ever a problem (like an LED burns out) it cost you a whole $2 to fix. Worst case a driver dies (although I have never had a meanwell driver go bad, knock on wood) it cost $30 and about 5 minutes to replace. If you want a DIY to be 'fancy' like a radion, I went with a Reef Angel and a PWM add on so I can do all the fancy clouds, storms, etc. You can make an arduino PWM controller for around $50.
Radions are great fixtures. I am certainly not saying anything bad about them, they are just too pricey for my blood. I believe you would need at least 4 of them to adequately cover a 180G, which puts the lights at well over $3000 compared to $600 tops to DIY one that would be equal in function and output. If you have the $ to spare and don't want to get into DIY, definitely go with a Radion or a Maxspect (my favorite commercial fixture).
Ace25- Posts : 45
Join date : 2013-02-05
Location : https://www.facebook.com/groups/CentralCaliforniaCoastReefers/
Yup, that is for a bare bones light though, using knobs for manual dimming. It will certainly grow all types of corals just fine and save you a lot of $ on electricity. For $50 more you can add a Typhoon LED controller (on the first picture of the white fixture above) which will give you built in timers and gradual automatic ramp up/down dimming features. I would highly recommend adding at least a Typhoon controller as they are very useful, but if you have a good controller already (new DA or Neptune that has dimming capability) you can use that instead.
Like others mentioned, whether or not you have a canopy and how much you care about aesthetics could up the price (if you want to buy some plastic from tapplastics.com to make a shell for the light). If you want Wifi control like the Radion has, then the DIY route starts really going up in price, but honestly, after the first week of playing around with features, how often does one really use them? I know for me I use those features mostly just to show off to other reefers, I don't touch them on a day to day basis because they are more gimmick than useful.
Like others mentioned, whether or not you have a canopy and how much you care about aesthetics could up the price (if you want to buy some plastic from tapplastics.com to make a shell for the light). If you want Wifi control like the Radion has, then the DIY route starts really going up in price, but honestly, after the first week of playing around with features, how often does one really use them? I know for me I use those features mostly just to show off to other reefers, I don't touch them on a day to day basis because they are more gimmick than useful.
Drews89- Posts : 94
Join date : 2012-01-31
Location : Oxnard, ca
Anyone here in oxnard has diy LEDs ?
nikecivic- Moderator
- Posts : 1672
Join date : 2011-11-09
Location : Camarillo, CA
If you work on the navy base you can see my office tank with DIY LEDs.
Drews89- Posts : 94
Join date : 2012-01-31
Location : Oxnard, ca
Now one more thing .. I have a small 20 to 30g frag tank and would like to try it out on that first before jumping into a bigger project ... What are my option on that ... And can I know what types of LEDs as in brand and specific parts I would need to diy ?? By the way i dont know not 1single thing about this lighting ...Thanks guys
nikecivic- Moderator
- Posts : 1672
Join date : 2011-11-09
Location : Camarillo, CA
Ace25- Posts : 45
Join date : 2013-02-05
Location : https://www.facebook.com/groups/CentralCaliforniaCoastReefers/