# DIY LED lighting ?



## conix67 (Jul 27, 2008)

This place sells a lot of DIY high powered LED stuff.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.2394

Enough of these could probably build good enough lighting system for aquarium.

One thing though, I own a small high-power LED flashlight. It throws light pretty far, for a such a small light.

However, it gets hot! Looking at lumens/watts rating, these high power LED seems *less* efficient than a good T5HO system though.

one of the LED emiiter - ~220lumens @ 3.7V, 1A (3.7W - ~60lumens/watt)
one of the articles comparing different lighting system - T5HO is rated for ~80lumens/watt

This is contrary to my belief that LED lighting is substantially more energy efficient than any other kind of lighting system.


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## zenkeri (Jan 17, 2009)

*Led Lighting*

Hi Conix: I've been looking at this site as well, I've an engineering friend of mind looking into it for me right now to figure out how to build a set. I'll be using the lights for two twin 8gal nano planted tanks for now but hopefully if it works out well, I'll apply it to my 115gal planted currently running on metal halides talk about hot!!. As far as efficiency, even if they are similar the Led will not degrade in color so you wouldn't have to change them for many many years. So in the long run they will be more cost effective. My nephew has purchased from them before, no shipping charge, even if you only order 1 led, and they are really good if anything is missing. He has also purchased some fully assembled bulbs, just screw them into a regular light socket and they are quite bright. cheers!


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## arc (Mar 11, 2010)

I've tried to price and design out a DIY LED setup for my 29 gallon planted tank but its still pricy when you consider the heat sinks and/or fans for them as well as the controls and power supply(computer PSU). 

I just went with a DIY mini cfl lighting with reflector (4x900 lumens @52 watts) 3600 lumens for 30 dollars including the blubs. LEDs will be more cost effective in the long run but at 13.99 for a pack of 4 cfl. It will take more than a few years to match a DIY LED startup cost.

Just my two cents...


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## Flazky (Jan 9, 2010)

haha I am actually in the process of creating a diy moonlight with blinking lights to simulate a thunderstorm. haha


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

blinking lights is a bad idea.. your gonna cause your fish alot of stress.


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## PACMAN (Mar 4, 2010)

cablemike said:


> blinking lights is a bad idea.. your gonna cause your fish alot of stress.


Seizures!!!


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## PACMAN (Mar 4, 2010)

arc said:


> I've tried to price and design out a DIY LED setup for my 29 gallon planted tank but its still pricy when you consider the heat sinks and/or fans for them as well as the controls and power supply(computer PSU).
> 
> I just went with a DIY mini cfl lighting with reflector (4x900 lumens @52 watts) 3600 lumens for 30 dollars including the blubs. LEDs will be more cost effective in the long run but at 13.99 for a pack of 4 cfl. It will take more than a few years to match a DIY LED startup cost.
> 
> Just my two cents...


for a reef tank, you need a certain wavelength to spur coral growth. I dont think CFLs have that spectrum. If you are saltwater, FOWLR, then it owuld be ok i guess.


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

actually that is not true.. 6700k cfl lamp from home depot will give you greal growth and from what ive been reading even higher par then t5s as most modern cfl's are t2 and are more intense. look at the lumen chart on and 26w cfl.. they are higher then t5s but in the end they are still 6700k and look like crap.


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## conix67 (Jul 27, 2008)

Not DIY, but one of the few products in the market that looks interesting

http://www.aquashoponline.com/13-aquarium-led-advanced

30W LED emitters!!


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## AquaNeko (Jul 26, 2009)

Conix67,

I've purchased a number of quality items from DX before and have repeat business many times for parts. I and MTB night hounds have used the site before for lowest cost for parts for DIY night lighting.

They take Paypal so they only see that you paid and the shipping location that is all. The only downside to the low cost is 2-3 weeks for shipping as they ship via 'sea turtle' AKA land/ground.

Their LED's are all spec and bin listed. For those new to LED lighting the grading system is in 'bin' for the quality of tint and min. preformance spec within select bin. Think of it like diamonds.

I have used and am using the following items currently on my MTB bike setup.

6 x Seoul Semiconductor (SSC) P4 U-bin, cool white tint
6 x Cree Q5 bin, cool white tint
4 x 3.6-9v @ 800mA wide voltage regulators
1 x 5-mode 3.6-9v @ 800mA regulator

~1000lm on road.

Once you learn about the LED's they are easy to swap out and replace later then having to keep buying tubes about once a year and also as newer LED's come out pending voltage of course you can solder another one on.

Back in the day SSC P4 was ~$8.xx/LED now it's under $4 IIRC last itme I checked.

FYI and NB on this. Luxeon LED'scan be directly swapped with the SSC P4 U-bin as SSC is the Luxeon clone. From my research the optic dome and star will accept optic lens from a luxeon star.

If you want something REALLY high power then use the SSC P7 or the Cree M-CE which are quad die on a normal 20mm aluminum star. If you're looking to try out and learn on thehigh power LED's I highly recommend you get your LED's on a star. That star is a heatsink while you gain skill later to work on just the LED emitter itself. Sometimes it has nothing to do with skill or not but that you want more heatsinking.

Like in the case of MTB night riding we ride fast or slow but still the LED's need as much heat sinking as possible but you have to balance a sort of look (not too large) profile to heatsink. Some guy stacked I think 5-6 Cree M-CE LED's and made a IIRC 4000+ lumen bike light. For our aquapet use you'd want to have a few fans in there to keep it cool.

LED's are rearward heat emitters unlike CFL/incandesent/HID/Metal Haide/halogen which are all forward heat emitting thus why you need to heatsink the LED and best to use an adhesive compound on all mating joints so you can turn the housing into one giant heatsink.

I have to plug these guys www.taskLED.com even thoguht I've never owned one of thier regulators I have a mate that has one and they are the bomb. Those two guys programming the regulators are coming from a lighting and MTB night riding background.


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## Byronicle (Apr 18, 2009)

cablemike said:


> actually that is not true.. 6700k cfl lamp from home depot will give you greal growth and from what ive been reading even higher par then t5s as most modern cfl's are t2 and are more intense. look at the lumen chart on and 26w cfl.. they are higher then t5s but in the end they are still 6700k and look like crap.


corals can grow in the spectrum of 6700k? i thought they need something around 10000K +


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## conix67 (Jul 27, 2008)

Byronicle said:


> corals can grow in the spectrum of 6700k? i thought they need something around 10000K +


They grow well under 6700K, they just don't look very nice.


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## Byronicle (Apr 18, 2009)

conix67 said:


> They grow well under 6700K, they just don't look very nice.


is there a specific kelvin rating that they grow best in?


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

yeah 6700k will give fastest growth, but everything will be yellow looking.
This was an old tank of mine that ran 6700k and actinic, but its really yellow looking.










and this is a combo of 14k and 10k plus actinic.










you also tend to get more annoying algae growth with 6700k..


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