# 75 gallon LED build- Calling all LED experts



## flyfshrmn98 (Oct 20, 2011)

I am getting ready to switch my 75 gallon over from 2 T5HO to LEDs and need input from all the LED experts out there who have successfully converted over.

First, about my setup:
-This will be retrofitted in an existing canopy where the T5s are currently.
-I have 3 heatsinks totaling 8x40x3 that I am planning on using (2x 8x16 1x8x8) unless I am convinced otherwise to go with aluminum tubing
-The tank has CO2 injected and EI dosing
-Light will be 22" from substrate when attached to canopy







I am planning on using a typhon controller so I can dim the channels to 0 and customize sunrise/sunset programs. I will be buying an external power supply and will be using meanwell LDD drivers in various strengths mounted to a LDD board likely made by O2surplus. I would like to overshoot on the lights a little bit and and just dim them as needed. Going for a medium PAR number 40-60 

Some random parts I have laying around the house that can be used as needed are about 10 3500k chinese 3w and 30 6500k chinese 3w LEDs (both 700ma in the 180 lum range) and 60 degree optics.

I have not decided on any layouts of the LEDs yet but am planning to use cool white, possibly mix in neutral or warm white, some royal blue, and 660nm reds. So far I have 4 whites that I am looking at...

-Cree XP-G2 6500K
-Luxeon ES cool white 6300K
-Luxeon M 5000K
-Bridgelux BRXA-56C 5600K

I am not sure on the optics or layout yet. I have done some saltwater LED builds in the past so have some experience.

Interested in everyone's thoughts and opinions specifically on the white LEDs and if anyone has any other ones they would recommend. Also on layout, spacing, fans, etc, etc...I know hoppy has a calculator, Ive looked at it some


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## jedimasterben (Aug 21, 2011)

OHHHH you're lighting your planted tank! In the PM you had sent I thought you were doing a reef lol, that's why I sent you to my big reef lighting thread.

Cool white LEDs are blue LEDs with a little bit of phosphor applied to them, and remain mostly blue spectrum. Plants want way more red than blue for photosynthesis. I've had the best results recommending a 1:1 ratio of warm white and cool white LEDs.

The Bridgelux chips (the BXRA3 series, the Vero series) have the best color of any listed, and have excellent efficiency, as well. The Luxeon M is not readily available in warmer whites, so I would scratch that off the list.

If you want more even PAR across the tank, then I would use '3w' class chips. If you want a more metal halide approach with more intense shimmer and higher intensities in certain places, then I would use the Bridgelux BXRA3 or Vero in clustered pairs. Both put out enormous amounts of light without a lot of current (they are multichips, so their forward voltage is higher, but higher voltage lower current drivers like the LDD are dirt cheap). Hoppy's PAR calculator doesn't really work all that well with them, so it is difficult to calculate what your PAR will be, but if you keep to using the same amount of lumens that the calc tells you to use, then you'll be in the ball park. There are no wider reflectors at this point for the Vero 10, so the BXRA3 may be your choice, along with the Ledil Brooke W reflector (which is 50 degrees). You can run two BXRA-3 in series per LDD. In the past, I ran two parallel strings of two from a single LDD-1000H over my reef tank, and let me tell ya, it was some intense light.


Also, I'd recommend to use a Meanwell HLG power supply to power the LDD and not the LEDgroupbuy power supplies. They're more efficient and much higher quality. Wattage depends on the final calculated wattage of the LEDs you want to use, add up the watts and then add 20%, then pick the HLG-xxxH-48 or 48A that corresponds closest with that wattage.

Hoppy's calculator suggests ~32x LEDs at 700mA 220lm each, using 60 degree lenses and the lights 8" above the top of the tank. That's about 7000 lumens total. Using the BXRA3, you'd want to use 4x BXRA-30G800-B-00 and 4x BXRA-56C1100-B-00 at 500mA each. That will give you around 9,000 lumens or so at full power, so you'll have wiggle room. These are the reflectors you want. You'd need four LDD-500H, and an HLG-100H-48A to power them.


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## flyfshrmn98 (Oct 20, 2011)

As far as adding in extra reds and blues, is it just whatever is aesthetically pleasing or should I should for a certain amount?


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## jedimasterben (Aug 21, 2011)

That's aesthetics. The overall color temperature will be ~4000-4500K with the two LEDs at the same intensity, so if you want to bring that up you can add some royal blue, but it will also introduce color disco.


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## flyfshrmn98 (Oct 20, 2011)

I am thinking of possibly a 2:1 combo of cool:warm BXRA ES stars mixed with RB, deep red, and possibly cyan. Does anyone have any opinions on evenly spacing the whites and colors down the 40" heatsink or clustering them would be best? I was planning on using 65 degree ledil reflectors on the whites. They will either be run 2 per LDD-500 or 4 per LDD-700/1000 in parallel and dimmed with my typhon controller. 

Here are the 3 BXRA ES stars I am considering
5600K
3000K or 2700K


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## flyfshrmn98 (Oct 20, 2011)

So here are my initial thoughts on lighting layout. Decided with the bridgelux 5600 and 3000k from above at a 2:1 cool:warm white ratio. Will be clustering the deep red and royal blue leds with the whites. Going to have one 7x16x3 heatsink on each side of the tank. The bridgelux leds will be run at 500ma and dimmed as needed.


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## flyfshrmn98 (Oct 20, 2011)

I want to revive this thread as I am actually going to build this this time around. Still unsure on if I will use 2 of my large heatsinks or something other, and the layout of the leds. The parts have been upgraded to the following as well:

Bluefish mini controller; +/- fans
Ch 1: Cool white
Ch 2: Warm white
Ch 3: Red
Ch 4: Royal blue
Ch 5: Cyan
Ch 6: Violet

I know the whites aren't the newest and greatest Vero ones but Ive already got them so was going to start with them at least

Any input would be appreciated on LED layout/arrangement or anything from anyone who has built a nice LED rig


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## jedimasterben (Aug 21, 2011)

The new Vero 10 are so cheap that I would go ahead and swap them out. This for cool white and this for warm white. These will also supersede the need for dedicated red, which IMHO only introduces color banding; the high-CRI Veros give loads of red.


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## flyfshrmn98 (Oct 20, 2011)

jedimasterben said:


> The new Vero 10 are so cheap that I would go ahead and swap them out. This for cool white and this for warm white. These will also supersede the need for dedicated red, which IMHO only introduces color banding; the high-CRI Veros give loads of red.


How many of each do you think I would need?


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## jedimasterben (Aug 21, 2011)

flyfshrmn98 said:


> How many of each do you think I would need?


I use two of each over my little planted tank at 175mA (two in parallel on a 350mA LDD) and at the bottom of the tank I get roughly 85 PAR in the center from just the white LEDs, about 16" distance. Tank is a bowfront 24"x12"x12".











Your 75G is 21" tall, so total distance will be in the 28-30" range, so you would need more total light to get into that same range. If you want a more distributed look, then you will want four of each Vero 10 per side, run the cool white at 700mA and the warm white at 350-500mA.

If you want a more 'halide-like' look to the light, then you can use stronger Vero models. There is a 5600K 90CRI Vero 18 that would be your cool white, run that at 1A and you will get 3500+ lumens (equal to four Vero 10 at 500mA) each, use one per side of the tank, and flank each with two 97CRI 2700K Vero 10 at 350-500mA, and then add a few colored LEDs (blue and royal blue) to each side to help tune the color temperature to what you want.


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## flyfshrmn98 (Oct 20, 2011)

Thanks, ill check them out. Its crazy how far leds have come as far as output in the last couple years


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## jeffkrol (Jun 5, 2013)

flyfshrmn98 said:


> Thanks, ill check them out. Its crazy how far leds have come as far as output in the last couple years


go figure huh..


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## jedimasterben (Aug 21, 2011)

flyfshrmn98 said:


> Thanks, ill check them out. Its crazy how far leds have come as far as output in the last couple years


And if 3500 lumens isn't enough for you, you can step it up to the Vero 29 5600K 90CRI and get over 5,000


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## skanderson (Jul 25, 2010)

I'm hoping to get my vero 29 hooked up to 2A and see what 10000 lumens looks like from that small an area. I may then swap it into my vivarium to replace a 24 emitter cree build I did a few years ago. if it looks good I am going to have to seriously consider replacing the 32 t5ho bulbs over the rest of the viv. at 2 amps the vero is pulling a bit over 80 watts I think but I'm pretty sure I could replace the 32 t5s with 20 or less veros. but I might just cheap out and buy a few of the cheap package units from ebay and see what the look like, and how efficient they are.


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## jedimasterben (Aug 21, 2011)

skanderson said:


> I'm hoping to get my vero 29 hooked up to 2A and see what 10000 lumens looks like from that small an area. I may then swap it into my vivarium to replace a 24 emitter cree build I did a few years ago. if it looks good I am going to have to seriously consider replacing the 32 t5ho bulbs over the rest of the viv. at 2 amps the vero is pulling a bit over 80 watts I think but I'm pretty sure I could replace the 32 t5s with 20 or less veros. but I might just cheap out and buy a few of the cheap package units from ebay and see what the look like, and how efficient they are.


Good gawd. How big is the vivarium to require *32x* T5HO???


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## skanderson (Jul 25, 2010)

this one.


its 9 feet long and 4 feet deep and 5 feet tall, with a 12 x40 inch bump out in front.

Bump: sorry for derailing thread. will post light pics if I can get it going this weekend.


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## flyfshrmn98 (Oct 20, 2011)

No worries, that's pretty sweet. Anything living in there?


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## jedimasterben (Aug 21, 2011)

skanderson said:


> this one.
> [pics]
> its 9 feet long and 4 feet deep and 5 feet tall, with a 12 x40 inch bump out in front.
> 
> Bump: sorry for derailing thread. will post light pics if I can get it going this weekend.


mother of god. That's nuts! Definitely make another thread about it! Also go into detail about the length of lamps, brand/model, fixtures/reflectors, etc. And if you have access to a PAR meter, that would be cool


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## flyfshrmn98 (Oct 20, 2011)

jedimasterben said:


> The new Vero 10 are so cheap that I would go ahead and swap them out. This for cool white and this for warm white. These will also supersede the need for dedicated red, which IMHO only introduces color banding; the high-CRI Veros give loads of red.



Can I only run 1 LED per LDD since they are 27V each and the power supply is 48? Or can they be run in parallel


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## jedimasterben (Aug 21, 2011)

flyfshrmn98 said:


> Can I only run 1 LED per LDD since they are 27V each and the power supply is 48? Or can they be run in parallel


Correct. You can run them in parallel _only_ if they are on the same heatsink.


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## Maryland Guppy (Dec 6, 2014)

http://www.meanwell.com/mw_search/ldd-h/LDD-H-SPEC.PDF


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## Bobbybills (Nov 30, 2015)

I made an LED fixture for a 90 gallon which is a few inches deeper than your 75. I used 12 cool white and 12 warm white Cree XP-L2s spaced out about 3.5" apart staggered in 2 alternating rows. The same LEDs are in series each driven by a Meanwell NPF90D-42 so the Crees are driven at 2.1v or approx 70% of the max which is the sweet spot for these LEDs. I have a Makers 42" heatsink with 3 DC fans.

I added 4 orange-red for sunrise and sunset and 4 royal blue for moon light (more for me to stare at midnight) on separate channels driven by LDD 700ma drivers. All 4 strings controlled by Bluefish controller.

I am not an expert at lighting and PAR values and honestly did not worry about that too much. My thought was to use individual LEDs and spread out in order to avoid any spotlight effect which worked out. I do not use any lenses and the fixture is approx 12" above the water surface.

I was not concerned about the 0% dimming on the cool and warm whites. I use the orange-red LED which simulate morning sun at a low angle. The XP-L2's driver lights up at 10% current and while the curve is not smooth, it is not the same as no light/light since the orange reds are on. I am planning on a few more warm whites on separate LDD drivers to lessen the impact of the NPF drivers but that is just for human pleasure not plants and fish.

Your heatsinks are massive but I cannot tell if fans can be installed to move the heat away. I also have a closed canopy but have 12" above the fixture and only have holes drilled on top to allow the heat within the canopy to escape. The Noctua fans push the heat from the heatsink but the entire canopy stays warm at midday but not hot considering nearly 200watts of LEDs.

Hope this makes sense. The crees are bright but are also efficient when driven at lower current.


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## flyfshrmn98 (Oct 20, 2011)

Bobbybills said:


> I made an LED fixture for a 90 gallon which is a few inches deeper than your 75. I used 12 cool white and 12 warm white Cree XP-L2s spaced out about 3.5" apart staggered in 2 alternating rows. The same LEDs are in series each driven by a Meanwell NPF90D-42 so the Crees are driven at 2.1v or approx 70% of the max which is the sweet spot for these LEDs. I have a Makers 42" heatsink with 3 DC fans.
> 
> I added 4 orange-red for sunrise and sunset and 4 royal blue for moon light (more for me to stare at midnight) on separate channels driven by LDD 700ma drivers. All 4 strings controlled by Bluefish controller.
> 
> ...


Got any pics of your setup? The heatsinks are very heavy duty so I shouldn't have any problems with heat. If they get warm I thought about adding fans to one end of them blowing across


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## Bobbybills (Nov 30, 2015)

This was pre wire but the layout is clear

Bump: This is a better photo. The black wire are cool white and the red wire warm white. This was before the added orange-red and royal blues.


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## jedimasterben (Aug 21, 2011)

Bobbybills said:


> I made an LED fixture for a 90 gallon which is a few inches deeper than your 75. I used 12 cool white and 12 warm white Cree XP-L2s spaced out about 3.5" apart staggered in 2 alternating rows. The same LEDs are in series each driven by a Meanwell NPF90D-42 so the Crees are driven at 2.1v or approx 70% of the max which is the sweet spot for these LEDs. I have a Makers 42" heatsink with 3 DC fans.
> 
> I added 4 orange-red for sunrise and sunset and 4 royal blue for moon light (more for me to stare at midnight) on separate channels driven by LDD 700ma drivers. All 4 strings controlled by Bluefish controller.
> 
> ...


No such thing as a 'Cree XP-L2'. In addition, if it is an XP-L or an XM-L2, they would fail to start at all at 2.1v. The XP-L and XM-L2 voltage curves both start at 2.65v and almost no current, meaning almost no output.


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## Bobbybills (Nov 30, 2015)

You are correct XM-L2 in cool and warm white. Correct again, the constant current driver is 2.1A, not 2.1V. The orange red are XP-E and the royal blue XT-E. I found the packing list this time.

Thank you so much for the heads up.


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## flyfshrmn98 (Oct 20, 2011)

jedimasterben said:


> The new Vero 10 are so cheap that I would go ahead and swap them out. This for cool white and this for warm white. These will also supersede the need for dedicated red, which IMHO only introduces color banding; the high-CRI Veros give loads of red.



So I finally have all my parts and initially going to start the build with my BXRA leds that I already have and maybe upgrade to the Vero 10s in the future. How do you think I should do my layout? Ive got 8 cool white and 4 warm white BXRA and then 10 of each of royal blue, red, cyan, and violet. Its a 75 gallon tank and each side will have a 20" premium T slot rapid LED heatsink over it. The leds will be about 3 inches off the water and about 18" to the substrate


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## jedimasterben (Aug 21, 2011)

3" off the water? That's too close IMHO, I would at the very least double that, if not closer to triple.


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## flyfshrmn98 (Oct 20, 2011)

jedimasterben said:


> 3" off the water? That's too close IMHO, I would at the very least double that, if not closer to triple.


I might be able to raise it a little, but its going in a canopy so I don't have a ton of room








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## jedimasterben (Aug 21, 2011)

Well, I guess it will have to work, then.


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## flyfshrmn98 (Oct 20, 2011)

jedimasterben said:


> Well, I guess it will have to work, then.


Are you concerned with intensity or light spread?


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## jedimasterben (Aug 21, 2011)

flyfshrmn98 said:


> Are you concerned with intensity or light spread?


Neither, you just don't have a lot of room to let the light mix, especially from the colored LEDs, but it shouldn't be too horrible.


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