taekwondodo

I built this LED array for my 5 gallon nano tank. Based on my calculations I get around 1300 lumens of light for less than 1 watt. I built this using 90 10mm white 110000 mcd LEDs and some 110 ohm resistors, and I am powering it with a 12 volt power supply I picked up for less than $2.00 at a computer surplus place (weirdstuff in Sunnyvale).

My biggest concern is that this will be too much light!

Here is the wiring:


I was initially going to paint the inside of the hood white but because these LEDs are very directional I didn't need to. Here is a straight-on view (dang that's bright to look at):


And in the tank (when I get it planted, I will post more):

plantbrain

Spent too long at Fry's huh?

Looks super!!!

I have a PAR meter, let's figure out the PAR rating on it at the bottom and the top of the water.

That will be a better indicator of plant growth than lumens.

Regards,
Tom Barr

matthewburk

how much do the led's cost, that is just cool

Gomer

Looking good I'll be doing a 288 LED setup on a nano reef soon as well. Should be fun!

taekwondodo

I Picked the LEDs up off of eBay for $0.99 (+ $20 shipping). The acrylic at Home depot for about $7.00 (I drilled 90 holes in the acrylic to mount the lights in the holes). The resistors from Frys (yes Tom, Frys). I needed a couple of new bits for $10.00.

I got the idea from Nano-reef.com and was initially going to set up a small nano-reef but am now leaning towards a FW nano with shrimp (on riccia, hairgrass and glosso).

I think in all I have about $40 total in the light itself, another $20-30 in the hood (oak). I cut several 1/8" slots in the side of the hood for variable mounting heights.

The only thing I would do different next time is space the LEDs a little further apart - they are very directional and I have 15 "spots". We'll see how it looks with plants in a few days.

Tom, I just joined SFBAAPS - If I can make it to the next meeting (haven't seen a date yet) I'll ty to bring the light if you can bring the meter...

- Jeff

imisky

if the LED is round at the tip i would cut it flat as it will diverge the light a bit better instead of getting the SPOT LIGHT EFFECT. it will fill in better, as i have found that LED with the tip round concentrates light into one place.

BryceM

Something tells me this is the future.................

Does anyone know how the quality of the light compares to the average CF? The quantity from these things seems unbelievable. Is there a comparison to a given Kelvin rating or wavelength? Do the LEDs come in different wavelengths?

Does anyone sell banks of these that could be strung together for large tanks? How long do these things last? I'm assuming that with such low power input that heating isn't an issue.

Very, very cool!

Paul S

Look at US patent #6921182.
According to the claims, this looks promising.

enjoy

PS

Gomer

I did an LED experiment in the past with Luxeon's. Watt for watt, the luxeons actually gave better growth:

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/f...ead.php?t=1009

White LEDs are actually UV/Blue LEDs that use a phosophor to get white light. THis is pretty much the exact thing that flourescent lights do in concept.

taekwondodo

I am going to see how well these work for a few months - in the longer run if this works well, I may very well replace my lighting in my 55 gallon of 4x55W PCs (220 total watts) with something of less than 10 watts of Total Power and twice the light...Maybe I should go into large-scale production?

(anxiously rubs hands together)...

I think between my 55g, my reef tank with MHs, my 4.5K pond and my Pool I'm personally supporting several people at PG&E.



- Jeff