# 25 Gallon Starfire, DIY LED Journal



## Kooka (Feb 8, 2011)

Just wanted to post some pics of my bro's aquarium for everyone to enjoy. It's a 25 gallon starfire rimless, with pressurized CO2, Malaya soil, and full spectrum, Cree LED lighting (just like my 20 gallon saltie, but different color LEDs). So far he has around 6 CRS, 2 ottos and 2 boraras brigittae in it, but hes planning on getting some more.

Heres a pic of the tank before it was filled:










And the tank as it is today:










Side shot with my 20 gallon saltie:










Close up of the LED fixture:










More pics to come soon!


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## Jaysan (Dec 19, 2011)

Damn that looks soo nice! 
Can't wait to drop by to check it out!!!!


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## sig (Dec 13, 2010)

I like it. Looks beauty, but for no reason tank on the right looks better 

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## Kooka (Feb 8, 2011)

sig said:


> I like it. Looks beauty, but for no reason tank on the right looks better


Must be the blue hue


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## AquaticPulse (Jun 19, 2011)

what kind of filtration is that? looks so futuristic


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## Kooka (Feb 8, 2011)

Lol, its an eheim liberty hooked up to a surface skimmer. There's an eheim 2215 canister running on it as well.


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## manmadecorals (Jan 17, 2012)

I love the LED fixture!


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## trfjason (Sep 25, 2006)

Nice setup, I like the stand you have for the light, can you tell me how you made it?


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## Sameer (Sep 30, 2007)

Man, you dont need room lights. Thats for sure.


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## Kooka (Feb 8, 2011)

LOL, yeah, it looks like a meth lab or something from outside... I actually stopped turning on one bank of potlights just because of the LEDs over the new tank. 

At trfjason: The stand wasn't made by me, I got it from Aqua Inspirations in Mark's Ham. You can check it out on their website. You can technically make one yourself, but I didn't bother to. We had enough DIY fun with the actual light.


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## vraev (Mar 29, 2012)

Nice to see the tank finished Phil. Glad it turned out so beautiful.


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## Kooka (Feb 8, 2011)

Thanks vraev, it was worth the trip down to the Hammer  Hopefully everything is going well with you as well.

Just wanted to share a pic of the control box, we designed it to utilize 2 potentiometers to regulate the LED light intensity:










The controls for my saltie tank are a little more complicated though (Arduino based) Still needs a little programming work but the bare bones are there:


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## Boogerboy (Sep 23, 2008)

Kooka said:


> Just wanted to share a pic of the control box, we designed it to utilize 2 potentiometers to regulate the LED light intensity:


Wow. I kind of got tired of my LED build and just crammed a bunch of wires into the stand and shut it never to see the light of day XD, this looks really tidy. I need to do this too because as of yet there's still a bunch of bare wires that could pose a problem with water.

Beautiful looking setup, excited to see its development. I've become somewhat of an LED fanatic after seeing what they could do for plant growth, energy bills and never having to switch a bulb again. Looks like you're using some Red and Royal blues too, what emitters are these, Cree? Where'd you get them from?



Kooka said:


> LOL, yeah, it looks like a meth lab or something from outside...


Honestly, with the amount of work it takes to maintain a planted tank. Scrubbing, cleaning, dosing, lugging heavy-ass containers, etc. that's a very good parallel to draw hahah


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## Kooka (Feb 8, 2011)

Yup, gotta be careful with the DIY electrical stuff, one bad decision and next thing you know you're taking out fire insurance... I have my wires tightly secured in plastic tubing, and even the entrances to the project boxes are dremeled and fitted with sockets so that stray water cant get in. The lighting circuitry itself is set on two fuses just incase something untowards happens. For my 75 gallon saltie build and planning on replacing the wall outlets with GFCI's for additional safety.

LED's are indeed the future of aquarium lighting. I've had incandescents, flourescents, and even compact flourescents on my aquariums over the years but I haven't seen as much promise in terms of energy efficiency, lighting spectrum and flexibilty as in LED's. I believe once the production costs go down and the technology becomes more mainstream, it will eventually replace those crappy CF bulbs we replaced our warm-color incandescents with in our homes. 

The LED's I have over my tanks are all Cree, with a couple of Phillips Violet over my reef tank. I got them from Mike over at Rapidled. I highly recommend their store, a lot of selection, helpful staff and the prices are decent. The exact LED mix over the 25 gallon freshwater tank came out better than I expected, the colors mix well with very little no spotlighting effect. For a balanced, 6700k color temperature I added somewaht even ratios of the warm whites, neutral whites and cool whites, with 2 royal blues and 2 reds for extra color definition. The resulting light is very similair to what you would get from a warm white CF bulb, except much, much brighter.


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## Boogerboy (Sep 23, 2008)

Kooka said:


> Yup, gotta be careful with the DIY electrical stuff, one bad decision and next thing you know you're taking out fire insurance... I have my wires tightly secured in plastic tubing, and even the entrances to the project boxes are dremeled and fitted with sockets so that stray water cant get in. The lighting circuitry itself is set on two fuses just incase something untowards happens. For my 75 gallon saltie build and planning on replacing the wall outlets with GFCI's for additional safety.
> 
> LED's are indeed the future of aquarium lighting. I've had incandescents, flourescents, and even compact flourescents on my aquariums over the years but I haven't seen as much promise in terms of energy efficiency, lighting spectrum and flexibilty as in LED's. I believe once the production costs go down and the technology becomes more mainstream, it will eventually replace those crappy CF bulbs we replaced our warm-color incandescents with in our homes.
> 
> The LED's I have over my tanks are all Cree, with a couple of Phillips Violet over my reef tank. I got them from Mike over at Rapidled. I highly recommend their store, a lot of selection, helpful staff and the prices are decent. The exact LED mix over the 25 gallon freshwater tank came out better than I expected, the colors mix well with very little no spotlighting effect. For a balanced, 6700k color temperature I added somewaht even ratios of the warm whites, neutral whites and cool whites, with 2 royal blues and 2 reds for extra color definition. The resulting light is very similair to what you would get from a warm white CF bulb, except much, much brighter.


Very nice, got mine from the same place too. Helpful and flexible, yes, but I got screwed on customs fees once it crossed the border (wasn't even aware USPS was subject to customs, I've been using them for eBay purchases for so long). I have about the same setup. I decided to pull out the warm whites though as I didn't like their hue as much as the cool whites. I love that the fixture adds another viewing angle to the tank whereas fluorescents typically take up most of the surface and their reflection blocks out the rest. I'm also loving the shimmering sunlight effect as opposed to the unnatural diffused glow of fluorescents. What I'm not particularly keen on is the projection of shadows outside of the tank (as I'm sure you can relate) but if that's the tradeoff then so be it!

Never understood why the marine world gets all the LED goodies, guess they just have the money for it, but have you seen these things?!

EDIT: Do you think it'd be safe to enclose the drivers in a box with the potentiometers? They never even feel warm to the touch really and i'd like to get all cables out of the way as best as I can.


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## Kooka (Feb 8, 2011)

Yeah, LED's also have some downsides to them, but I believe the pros far outweigh the cons. 

As for the drivers being in the same enclosure with the potentiometers/wiring, it should be ok as long as you cut out some vents for a little airflow.


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## kamal (Apr 21, 2009)

Boogerboy said:


> Very nice, got mine from the same place too. Helpful and flexible, yes, but I got screwed on customs fees once it crossed the border (wasn't even aware USPS was subject to customs, I've been using them for eBay purchases for so long). I have about the same setup. I decided to pull out the warm whites though as I didn't like their hue as much as the cool whites. I love that the fixture adds another viewing angle to the tank whereas fluorescents typically take up most of the surface and their reflection blocks out the rest. I'm also loving the shimmering sunlight effect as opposed to the unnatural diffused glow of fluorescents. What I'm not particularly keen on is the projection of shadows outside of the tank (as I'm sure you can relate) but if that's the tradeoff then so be it!
> 
> Never understood why the marine world gets all the LED goodies, guess they just have the money for it, but have you seen these things?!
> 
> EDIT: Do you think it'd be safe to enclose the drivers in a box with the potentiometers? They never even feel warm to the touch really and i'd like to get all cables out of the way as best as I can.


I believe CREE are manufactured in the US and as such you should have been exempt from a portion if not all customs on those. But as ever if I am incorrect I am sure someone can correct me. But I am pretty sure you can claim back at least some of what you were charged.


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## Kooka (Feb 8, 2011)

Boogerboy, next time, ask to speak to Mike directly and tell him that you need him to lower the declared value of the package. If he declares the value as being less than $60, those *&$#er's in customs wont bother with it. I've ordered from them twice and I haven't had to pay any fees both those times.


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## J_T (Mar 25, 2011)

Kooka said:


> Boogerboy, next time, ask to speak to Mike directly and tell him that you need him to lower the declared value of the package. If he declares the value as being less than $60, those *&$#er's in customs wont bother with it. I've ordered from them twice and I haven't had to pay any fees both those times.


You are asking him to commit a crime, and its homeland security that deals with it!

Just ask him if he can contact his courrier of choice, and get them to look after the brokerage. Offer to pay that brokerage. It will be cheaper to do it up front, than at the door.

Posted with my Xperia, using Tapatalk 2


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## Kooka (Feb 8, 2011)

Thanks for pointing that out J_T. Tell that to Aquatraders, who on a $109 light fixture declared its value as being $299. I paid $109 for it, yet got slapped with a $60 customs fee. 

If getting shafted by ridiculous fees and duties is "above-board" and legal, I reneg my previous statement...

On a lighter note, I have it on good authority that Cree LED's are in fact manufactured in China, which means they wouldn't fall under NAFTA.


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## kamal (Apr 21, 2009)

Kooka said:


> Thanks for pointing that out J_T. Tell that to Aquatraders, who on a $109 light fixture declared its value as being $299. I paid $109 for it, yet got slapped with a $60 customs fee.
> 
> If getting shafted by ridiculous fees and duties is "above-board" and legal, I reneg my previous statement...
> 
> On a lighter note, I have it on good authority that Cree LED's are in fact manufactured in China, which means they wouldn't fall under NAFTA.


In which case I stand corrected


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## Boogerboy (Sep 23, 2008)

J_T said:


> You are asking him to commit a crime, and its homeland security that deals with it!
> 
> Just ask him if he can contact his courrier of choice, and get them to look after the brokerage. Offer to pay that brokerage. It will be cheaper to do it up front, than at the door.
> 
> Posted with my Xperia, using Tapatalk 2


Actually, The second time I ordered he was more than happy to massage the numbers and I evaded customs charges. Pretty sure if he ever got called out on it he could just say he was making a special discount for a customer. I just wish there was a better understanding between these two countries of ours...


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## Kooka (Feb 8, 2011)

Boogerboy said:


> I just wish there was a better understanding between these two countries of ours...


Don't get me started, we as Canadians get fleeced on everything, from books to car prices.

Checked out your thread Boogerboy and the tank looks sick, keep up the good work.


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## Jaysan (Dec 19, 2011)

Updated pics!?


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