DIY Proof of concept lighting experiment

[Phurst]

I've been kicking around an idea for a while and finally got up off my butt this week to tinker with it. Hopefully I'll wrap it up tonight, and will post details, but here's a teaser for you

[V]

you assemble your own array? what did you counter sink them into bud?

actually got off your @ss..lol , your like busy all the time anyways aren't you bud

[Phurst]

Hopefully It'll get wrapped up tonight and all will be revealed

[V]

phursty, hey........HEY, where's my back stage pass

[Phurst]

Sorry V, you'll have to wait like the rest of my adoring public

[V]

well you know how it works, im ahead of you, so tech speaking, it is tomorrow

phursty's DIY creativity , ok i guess i cant wait like the other gumbo's, just for keeping me waiting though, im going to use all of you hot water while your out ok.....well, that and i love it when you squeak suddenly. Gives for a weeks worth of laughs & great Utube feedback..lol

[rayme07]

That looks cool cant wait for the finished product.

[CarmieJo]

It is tonight. Are you done yet?

[Phurst]

OK, so I've been thinking about this project for a while now, and finally decided to give it a try. I've tackled a DIY LED fixture. There are tons of DIY LED threads out there, but this one is slightly different. The cheapest DIY kits I could find were around $250. This one about $25. It uses LED christmas lights.

This is a proof of concept only. I've seen the folks on the DIY forum say over and over that these lights are not suitable for a reef tank because the output is too low, and they're cheap and all kinds of other reasons, but as far as I know, no one has actually given it a shot yet. So, I decided to. I built it cheap, fast and sloppy, and not really built to last. I just want to see if it works.

I picked up a cheap 10 gallon bow at a yard sale for $5. I grabbed 2 strings of 60 white LEDs and one string of 60 blue LEDs at Target for $6 each and a sheet of pegboard at Lowes for $3. I drilled some extra holes in the pegboard to accomodate all 180 LEDs in a piece I cut to fit over the tank. I pushed the LEDs into the pegboard holes and tacked them in place with a little hot glue.

All three strings in place:


Whites:


Blues:


All:


I stuffed the LED board into the canopy, wired the plug in into the switch on the canopy and viola, LED test tank.



I'm trying to make up for lack of intensity with LED density. The entire fixture puts out 13.8 watts, and is very, very bright.

I'm going to set the tank up tomorrow and toss in some zoas and a ricordea to cover the medium light corals, and some digi and monti cap to cover the moderate light corals. I'm going to use some rock from the sump and let it go to see what grows, what doesn't and how everything looks. If results are encouraging, I'll consider building a slightly nicer, more resilient version.

Now I'm off to bed

[V]

ok, sweet bud, turned out ok.

I thought of it on my nano as a moon lights, however spreading the array in that fashion & getting even coverage is good work bud.

[Steven Pro]

Do you have a PAR meter?

[Phurst]

Regrettably, I do not. Our club has considered purchasing one, but thus far, no joy.

[rayme07]

Sounds good if only I could see it. Looks like photobucket may be giving you some trouble.

[V]

time to set up a new email account for another freebie on the bucket

[Phurst]

My appologies for Photobucket being a PITA.

Here are the pics again:

[Phurst]

[cr8signs]

That looks really cool. I have often wondered if something like that would work. Can't wait to hear your results.

[lReef lKeeper]

Do you have a PAR meter?

hey bro !! ^^^ Bobby (LMAS) ^^^

[lReef lKeeper]

Pearson ...

just make me a 36" one and throw it in the mail ... ill test it for you !!

[sorry if i dont sound excited guys, but i saw this DAYS ago ... lmao]

[CarmieJo]

It looks good Pearson!

[V]

aww right, just cause you two monkeys are dabbling behind the scenes on other stuff, you conveniently forget the V'ster ......where's my bloody back stage invite. *sniff*

[rayme07]

Pearson that is looking great. I hope it works.

[lReef lKeeper]

aww right, just cause you two monkeys are dabbling behind the scenes on other stuff, you conveniently forget the V'ster ......where's my bloody back stage invite. *sniff*

if you had a blackberry ... you could have been in the loop on this project !!

[V]

why a blackberry, do i get any discounts cause ive got a blueberry?

[lReef lKeeper]

lol, nope

blackberrys have instant messengers. we use it to send pics and talk all the time.