# DIY LED for 10 gal



## FDNY911 (Dec 6, 2009)

Subscribed! I too am taking the plunge! Good luck.


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## Sd760 (Apr 25, 2011)

Sub'd


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## [email protected] (Jul 17, 2008)

Colors don't mix so the blue spots might be too much. 
You asked, so I'll say mix warm white and cool white. 
If that Meanwell driver isn't dimable, consider spending the small premium for the dimable one. You really can't appreciate how bright LEDs are until you power them up. Three light up a 5g very well. 

My personal tip. Order thermal epoxy. 
Heat sink material is usually a hard alloy. Drilling and tapping is time consuming and a pain and possibly costly if you break a tap or two. Having to use plastic or fiber washers under the screw heads adds additional expense. Particularly if you forgot to order them in bulk and have to hit two stores to get enough. I'd make my own out of a plastic bottle before doing that again. 

LED emitters can be popped off thermal epoxy with a utility knife, if you need or care to make changes.


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## oscarsx (Mar 15, 2011)

subbbbbbbbd!


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## Gig'em (Apr 8, 2010)

Thanks for the advice Sparty (dbosman) :biggrin: 

I didn't mention the details but I also plan on ordering

Arctic Alumina Thermal Adhesive
A 3 prong power cord
Maybe hanging cables???

I've seen the effect of having 1/2 white LEDs and 1/2 Blue LEDs in an aquarium and I agree you can definitely see the areas of blue and white. I'll probably just go with two blues since I love the look of blue light in water, then 3 warm whites and 3 cool whites.

I'll have to do some more research on dimmable drivers before I make a decision on that. If I decide to use hanging cables it may just be cheaper to raise/lower the light fixture


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## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

What are you making the heat sink from? 1.1" seems narrow if you're talking about a 1/8" strip (as opposed to aluminum channel, for instance.) These can throw off quite a lot of heat.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Sounds good! 700ma is very bright, you should be cool, might want to raise it high though, it's a lot of light. I ran 11 of them ran at 700ma, and even at 30 inches above the substrate I was hitting med. light.


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## Gig'em (Apr 8, 2010)

Jasonpatterson- the heat sink is a 1.1" x 18" aluminum heat sink. Here's the link to it
http://www.rapidled.com/servlet/the-137/1.1"-x-18"-Aluminum/Detail


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## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

Ah, an actual finned heat sink, my bad. I should have guessed from the odd width. A lot of people use aluminum strips/angle/channel for DIY heat sinks. They work beautifully if they're sized right, just wanted to make sure you weren't underdoing it.


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## Gig'em (Apr 8, 2010)

So I've been reading some LED threads on nano-reef.com and was wondering what people think of replacing blue LEDs with cyan LEDs for a planted tank?


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## Gig'em (Apr 8, 2010)

Sorry it's been so long for posting, I got busy for a while. But I'm back on track for building my LED light. Just a disclaimer though; I am building this light for a 10 gallon reef tank and not for my planted tank. But, I wanted to still show my experience on this forum so people can use it when they are building their own LED fixtures. I ordered my supplies from Rapidled.com

Product List

8x CREE XPE RB $32
6x CREE XPG NW $30
2x Power Cord $5
2x Mean Well ELN-60-48D Dimmable driver $68
2x 10k ohm linear potentiometers $7
1x 10v AC adapter $10
1x DC Power Adapter $3.5
1x 4.25" x 16" Heatsink "as is" $15
1x Arctic Alumina Thermal Adhesive $6.99
Shipping and handling $6 

Total: 183.49


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## Emma121 (Jul 9, 2011)

I have a pretty big interest in starting a planted tank with high light. I am still pretty new to the hobby of aquarium-keeping, so I don't know too much about the specifics of aquascaping yet but I would love to take a hands-on approach to learning about it.

While I'm still torn between a 5gal and a 10gal, I do know that I want to stick with a smaller size until I get a better job. I imagine it's much cheaper to experiment with a project like this by keeping it small.

Anyway, I would love to make my own LED hood but I'm unsure of whether or not it's even feasible. I read in someone's DIY thread that LED set ups tend to put off a whole lot of heat. I also have no experience with electronics other than using things that are already put together.

My goal is to make a hood that will have both daytime lighting and nighttime lighting. I will put my main questions in an easier to read format than typing tons of paragraphs.



I need to make the entire hood from scratch, I don't have a pre-existing one to cut up. What would be the best material?
Alternatively, would I be better off buying a hood and hollowing it out instead?
I would like to have a very plant friendly tank. How many LEDs would be enough to provide a high light situation during the day?
Will heat be a huge problem since it's on a smaller and more cramped scale?
I am not sure about all of the components that will be needed. Is there some way to guess at how much it may end up costing?
Is it very likely that I will inevitably screw something up because of my lack of experience? My boyfriend is more than willing to help and is used to soldering, though he's very clumsy and messy about it.
Is it possible to put some lights at angles in order to get that moonlight-through-the-clouds look?

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope to get this project started soon so I can make a how-to thread out of it once I know everything works.

Here is a link to my introduction thread (http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=217634) in case anybody wants to see some pictures of my current tanks. They're still pretty bare-bones right now but my animals are thriving. Just scroll down to the bottom if you want to skip all of the text.


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