# LED Kit - Aquastyle



## j3tang

Has anyone ever tried these kits?
http://www.aquastyleonline.com/categories/LED-Lighting/

Not Cree LED and not Meanwell drivers, probably why they're so cheap?

I want to retrofit my Sunpod with LED.
Anyone care to comment?


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## altcharacter

I read a few reviews on BridgeLux, the company that makes the LED, and from what I've read alot of people like them. I was thinking about getting one of these but the shipping is 30 bucks. I don't know if I'm ready to pay almost as much as what the kit is valued at for shipping.


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## gyros

i wanted 2 of the 60W kit for my 60 gal but shipping was $55 plus the tax i might get charged...would have been a nice kit though


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## conix67

Thinking about getting a dimmable 14 LED kit for 46gal planted tank. I need better lights for this tank.


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## conix67

By the way, bridgelux LEDs appear to be comparable to Cree's but may not be as efficient as them. The dimmable drivers appear to be analog control only which is another downside, but you get what you pay for.

For a reef tank I would like the flexibility to control the lights using digital controllers such as reef keeper, which means I'd go with rapidled and meanwell drivers.


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## j3tang

Thank for the input guys!
So if I'm going to use this as my first introduction to LED, without using controller like RKL, it wouldnt be a bad start?

Their heatsink dimension doesn't fit my use, so they are willing to sell the kit minus the heatsink. I'm just waiting for a price for shipping from them.


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## j3tang

Oh, about the pricing. At half the price of other Cree/meanwell kits, he shipping wouldn't hurt as much, no?


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## altcharacter

If it matters, I would go in on a 6x3 watt combo if it cuts down on shipping. It costs 35 bucks but the shipping would be 30 bucks so if we could cut that shipping in half it would totally be worth it.

PM me if interested.


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## j3tang

Well, maybe not so much a group buy to get better pricing, but we may consider putting in a group order?

But I think ordering together in such a large box almost guarantees that we'll be dinged for customs/taxes, although there might be some savings for combined shipping.

I think we would probably be better off doing it separately and hope the package slips through customs without taxes.


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## altcharacter

You can't be taxed for something that was made in the USA/Canada/Mexico due to NAFTA. Since the LED's were made in california they couldn't tax it.


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## conix67

altcharacter said:


> You can't be taxed for something that was made in the USA/Canada/Mexico due to NAFTA. Since the LED's were made in california they couldn't tax it.


The LED company is a US company, but I believe all products are made in China or somewhere in Asia. You'll get DUTY on those items.

All items are subject to HST when they cross the border, unless the item is of little value (I believe less than $50?) or gift.


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## j3tang

conix67 said:


> The LED company is a US company, but I believe all products are made in China or somewhere in Asia. You'll get DUTY on those items.
> 
> All items are subject to HST when they cross the border, unless the item is of little value (I believe less than $50?) or gift.


Officially, it is 'gift' or $25. Even if labeled as gift, many times if customs sees it is not from a personal address, but from a 'store' or 'business' they become suspicious very easily


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## j3tang

I've got some info from Aquastyle regarding the LEDs and Drivers and I will be going through with this purchase to be used to retrofit my Current SunPod:

24 LED kit without heatsink (Aquastyle)
5.9" x 9" drilled and tapped heatsink (HeatSinkUSA)

Wish me luck


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## conix67

j3tang said:


> I've got some info from Aquastyle regarding the LEDs and Drivers and I will be going through with this purchase to be used to retrofit my Current SunPod:
> 
> 24 LED kit without heatsink (Aquastyle)
> 5.9" x 9" drilled and tapped heatsink (HeatSinkUSA)
> 
> Wish me luck


That is a lot of LEDs to replace sunpod.. isn't it?

Are you getting a dimmable kit?

How's shipping cost from heatsinkusa?

Good luck!


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## j3tang

Interestingly enough, that's what I thought too. But after seeing someone else put 24 LEDs on a 5.9"x9" heatsink, I went and measured the SunPod's MH reflector area, it happens to be identical in size.

I've got a strip of flexible LED attached to the track used for the mounting bracket as well for night light too!

Yeah, the LED kit is dimmable. But since I don't have a controller, I'll be using the 2 pots it comes with. Furthermore, it'll just be on a timer, so realistically, it'll just turn on/off. 

Shipping is pretty expensive! Considering I spent $155 for everything, 1/3 of that was on shipping! The shipping cost was pretty much split evenly between the LED kit and the Heatsink, yet one package is only coming from the US and the other is coming from half way around the world (Hong Kong).


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## conix67

I got myself 2 kits ordered - 24 LED dimmable for a frag tank, 14 LED dimmable for FW. Will see how well it works in the frag tank, then move onto a larger build for my 75G reef.

Coincidentally, the main light fixture over my FW died yesterday...


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## gyros

am very interested 

please keep us posted on your orders so i can plan ahead as what to expect when i do order for my SW tank

thanks


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## Gillguy

conix67 and j3tang, did you get the led kits from Aquastyle yet? If you did, how do they look? Let's see some pics! I might be purchasing from them too.


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## TypeZERO

I think postal strike is delaying the shipping. I'm also interested on how these led and drivers pan out. Lots of savings going with bridgelux


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## Gillguy

Went ahead and pulled the trigger on a 36 led kit. Will update when I receive it.


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## j3tang

So the Canada Post strike is over and mail has been slowly trickling in.
I received my LED package this morning, and here are some photos of the unboxing.


























































Ray at AquaStyle mentioned that he had sent a few spare LED for me, I didn't count but I'll trust him. He's been nothing but helpful and a pleasure to deal with. The box was packed nicely with a piece of filter pad .. haha


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## Gillguy

Looks good. Mine is on it's way.


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## altcharacter

Congrats on the package!!! I wish I would have purchased one of these kits instead of going with RapidLED.

20 days and I'm still waiting for mine


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## j3tang

I've yet to get started with my LED building because ... well ... I'm waiting on a heat sink from RapidLED -_-"

I can't believe my package from half-way across the globe arrived sooner than the package coming from the US. I ordered everything on the same day.


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## acropora1981

Just wanted to comment here - the drivers are the same kind of drivers you can get from chinese EBAY dealers. I have a number of them at home  If that gives you any idea of possible quality lol...


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## altcharacter

j3tang said:


> I've yet to get started with my LED building because ... well ... I'm waiting on a heat sink from RapidLED -_-"
> 
> I can't believe my package from half-way across the globe arrived sooner than the package coming from the US. I ordered everything on the same day.


Sorry to hear that man. From what i've encountered the customer service at RapidLED is making me frustrated.


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## j3tang

While waiting for the heatsink, I started disassembling the light fixture I was going to use to house my DIY LED project. And then I started laying out some of the LED bits and pieces in the fixture.



















Can anyone tell from the above pic what light fixture I wasted??
I picked it up for $60 and in great working condition too!

Anyhow ...

So the heatsink from RapidLED arrived July 4th, the day after I made the post about them being slow -_-"

Having gotten my grubby hands on them in the morning, I set to work and surprisingly, it wasn't as long of a process putting everything together as I thought it would be, because by the end of the day ......


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## BaRoK

Looking good!

I want to see some LIGHT!!


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## TypeZERO

looking real good j3tang!


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## conix67

Looks good! The final product would look close to a commercial product. That enclosure is surely one of the best for LED retrofit,


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## j3tang

Thanks 

Well, i did test the lights out but didn't snap any photos of it.
I'm not sure if this is a problem with the pot or with the drivers, but when I turn the pot all the way down, the lights don't go out. When I turn the pot up, the first 30% or so of it makes no difference to the brightness of the light. As I turn it further up, then the lights get brighter. So for the first 30% or so, the pot does nothing. I suspect this has to do with the drivers? I will contact the guys at AquaStyle to see what they say.


The real problem I have so far with this setup is the fact that I was banking on the RapidLED heatsink to have had the holes drilled much closer together so that the 24 LEDs would be bunched closer towards the middle of the heatsink. 

Instead, the outer rows/columns of LEDs around the outside of the heat sink are so close to the edge that the LEDs are partially covered by the cover plate originally on the light fixture.

You can see in the shot from the end of the fixture that the heatsink is just supported by a small ledge on either side of the fixture. I've yet to figure out how to secure the heatsink. Anyone have any ideas? Part of the problem is I don't have the tools to drill/tap more holes to it for mounting.

I've figured out where to mount the pots on the fixture, but I'm not sure I want to molest the fixture further by drilling holes into the fixture's end cap.
I've not hooked up the fan yet either.


One last comment I had about the kit is that I bought blue and white LEDs, but all I got was blue wiring. I think it would have been great if they supplied blue AND white wiring so that it could keep everything organized. A bit of black wiring couldn't hurt either. Fortunately, I had some left over white wiring at home to use (which is seen in the wiring job above). I didn't have black wiring though ...


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## conix67

That I heard is the way drivers work, even when you dim it down to 0% it won't go off completely. 

As for wiring, I wouldn't worry about color coding them. Most builds I've seen simply use black all around, to keep it not so visible.

I'll be receiving two kits from Aquastyle soon. I'll start my own thread of my retro builds (one FW and one SW frag tank light)


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## j3tang

Sure enough, that's the response I got from AquaStyle.

They were saying that since the brightness-resistance is not a linear function, the first bit of the resistance doesn't do much. His estimate was that at the lowest brightness, it's about 20% of the total brightness. I actually feel it's more, but I think I need to see the lights on longer for a more proper comparison/guesstimate.

Overall I'm quite happy with the experience and the light.

Now just to figure out how to put on the finishing touches .......


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## j3tang

A question I had posed for AquaStyle (via email) was whether or not I can wire the fan to come on with a set of the LEDs without a separate power adapter. I'm assuming that the +/- that comes off of the drivers to power the LEDs will be less than 12VDC. That would mean all I have to do is just connect the +/- of the fan (which is DC) to the +/- of the drivers. There will be too much current going through the fan though, right?



I got my answer to the question and what I've done was just cut the plug off the ac/dc adapter that comes with the fan and wired that into the cord/switch I've got for the blue LED drivers.

Everything is working and the fixture is sitting on my tank now 
I still need a way to fix the heatsink to the fixture and create a splash guard and cover for the sides.

What would be a good material to use? Needs to be about 1.5mm thick to slide into the original groove in the fixture. Should I stick to glass?

Pics to follow.


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## conix67

Are you driving your fans along with blue LEDs using LED driver? I strongly recommend not driving anything other than LEDs with the LED drivers. The voltage is much higher than 12V and if nothing goes wrong with the fan, it could affect performance of LEDs. It could still work but definitely not an ideal way to do things. I would just use the power supply that came with the kit.

I think for that thickness plexiglass would make sense..


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## j3tang

Nope, the LED drivers are not what's driving the fan. The adapter is driving the fan still. Just using the same switch/source to get both things to turn on at once. I spoke to AquaStyle and was given a little diagram to wire it 

Will Home Depot have plexiglass? Or will I have to get it from a specialty store?


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## conix67

Home depot does carry plexiglass. I bought one sheet from them before. Thin ones are't too bad in price, but I'm sure PlasticWorld will sell for lower price.


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## sig

What was total price for whole fixture? I assume it is 24"

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## Gillguy

LEDS arrived and are installed!!! Aquastyle Online has been very responsive to my emails. I sent them several throughout the ordering process and they responded quickly. It took just nine days to receive the LEDS from Hong Kong. They even threw in two fans, a hanging kit, 4 extra LEDS, and extra optics at no charge. If you have questions just send Ray and email. My build is for 20 LEDS on each heatsink. 10 whites, 9 blues , 1 violet. Total 40 LEDS. I have them mounted in between 4 T5's. Eventually I will remove the T5 but for now I'll keep them. I actually like the look with the mixture of both. Especially since I now can control color with dimming.

First Pic is items unpacked

Second pic is layout

Third is wiring

Fourth is LEDS mounted in between T5's on canopy. LEDS are at minimum setting with no optics

Fifth is with optics 

Six is the brightness. They are bright!

Seven is just blue LEDS. Sorry about quality pic taken from cell phone

Eight just white LEDS

Ninth is all the lights including T5's. 

Ten all on again with blue LEDS at 100% and whites at about 80 %. T5 bulbs are 1 ATI blue special, 1 daylight, and 2 blue +. 

The shimmer is great and the colors of the corals really pop.


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## conix67

Gillguy, thanks for sharing your build. Looks really nice! What size is your tank by the way? Aquastyle is good at throwing in some spares, and the hanging kit actually works and good quality.


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## Gillguy

Tank is 90 gallons. 48x18x 24


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## j3tang

sig said:


> What was total price for whole fixture? I assume it is 24"


I spent a total of about $200 for the led kit + heatsink + the sunpod (which was in excellent condition). I put in $5 or $10 here and there just for small items I added into the fixture to get everything "fitted".

This goes over my Solana, so it's 20".

edit: forgot to mention the price includes shipping from 2 places because I bought the LED and the heatsink separately from different vendors.


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## shiver905

Just ordered my 72 Kit. -- 36w/36blue

These better work over my 36x30x18 tank.. Now im regretting not ordering the 90 kit..


GRRRR


BTW conix would you trust these over your 75g main tank?


EDIT: I was told a 2w:1b ratio works out better with bridge lux.


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## gyros

needed to replace 2 x 65W PC lamps (24" Aqualight Pro 1 x 250w HQI w/2 x 65w PC) so i bought and retrofitted with 36 LEDs DIY Dimmable Kit instead...pretty good retro in my opinion...










LED only


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## Zebrapl3co

I just came back from Hong Kong. I bought similar parts to put together and now that I did the math. It's more expensive than getting a kit from this place. Although I think I have better lens, this site offers a very competitive pricing. It's worth it if you can't make that trip to China. And if you think the ones in north america are better, think again. Underneath the hood, it's all the same parts. About the only thing you might want to be pickey on is probably the MCPCB. If they slip a cheap normal PCB under the LED, it will definately sorten it's lifespan. I check the MCPCB in HK, and it looks like a normal PCB to me. So I just bought the LED alone. I'll need to by a real MCPCB in Canada or maybe mount it directly to an aluminum bar (which is even better than a MCPCB).

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