[Atticus818]

So I finally went for it. I decided to go LED, and to DIY the project.

So I went ahead and ordered the parts;
48 LED Dimable premium kit, changed to have (16 ) RB (16 ) Blue ( 8 ) NW and ( 8 ) CW instead of the standard 1:1 ratio.
(2) 5.9x14" heat sinks from heatsinksusa.com
Hakko 937 Soldering Iron
60/40 Solder and separate flux (I know the flux is not needed but it helps quite a bit in tinning the stars.
80* optics all around.
Misc parts



1st some photos of it being built; then an update after its over the tank.

Went ahead and figured out my pattern first...

Cyan = Blues
Blue = Royal Blues
Yellow = Neutral Whites
Red = Cool Whites

So this is the array I went with:



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Then I have the unboxing of the rapidLED order.



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Here is the new controller from rapidLED


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Starting to lay out the blues and RBs


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All glued down and in place:


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Just the blues on the 1st driver:


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Lowest dim level:


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100% power:


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Crappy shot of my very 1st solder job ever! Not bad!


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Special thanks to:
Evolved for his help in learning a lot about LEDs and serious advice on what I was doing.
Mike @ RapidLED for the perfect customer service and insane amount of help figuring out what I wanted and needed
Travis45 for being such a good friend and helping me spend my hard earned dough to do this! Haha

Thanks guys!!!
And thanks for checking my build out


Andrew

P.S. More photos to come as the 2nd fixutre gets wrapped up, the fixtures finished up, and mounted over tank shots.

[jkat21]

Congrats..Looking good so far,and welcome to the led world.. I like how you went with diff blues and whites..I just finished a build my self not to long ago..keep us posted ..

[Atticus818]

Thanks! I took my inspiration from the AI sol blue.

[Nismo400rgtr]

Very nicely done!!! I love LED'S!!

What was your old lighting?

[Ashevillian]

Does this kit come with everything you need to solder the wires or the fixture to mount them to? This looks so amazing to me. I do not know much about LED's for aquariums, but can you change the brightness of different colors and the intensity to get different visual effects in the tank?

Very amazing!!!!!

btw +1 to the CAD skillzz ^_^

[lynnmw1208]

very cool! I would love to see some pics of all the lights on over the tank. I was debating on whether I wanted to put different colors on mine if I ever went that route. I'm interested to see what kind of color you will get also let us know how that controller works!!

[Atticus818]

Originally Posted by Nismo400rgtr

Very nicely done!!! I love LED'S!!

What was your old lighting?

My old lighting is a 6 bulb Nova Extreme running this set up
All ATI bulbs
Blue plus
Aquablue special
Fiji plus
Blue plus
Blue plus
Aquablue special

Originally Posted by Ashevillian

Does this kit come with everything you need to solder the wires or the fixture to mount them to? This looks so amazing to me. I do not know much about LED's for aquariums, but can you change the brightness of different colors and the intensity to get different visual effects in the tank?

Very amazing!!!!!

btw +1 to the CAD skillzz ^_^

It does come with what you need to mount them. You can order a heatsink (This is the "fixture" we shall say) with holes pre drilled or you can use a thermal adhesive. I went the glue route. I didn't own a quality soldering iron so that was separate, and an absolute must for this build. Also you need to get your own 60/40 solder, and I would suggest some flux. Those are the things needed to solder correctly and are not included with the kit, but can be ordered through RapidLED if you didn't want to search elsewhere as I did.

And yes it is all dimmable to get any blend of color you wish. You can go several routes on how to do this;
A.) Go all manual on dimmers (physical knobs) and use timers to control on off.
B.) Get a controller from one of the companies who offer them and use those to do your dimming and control the on off also.
C.) You can use the internal pots on the drivers to blend colors by setting the max current to the correct level for you percentage for each driver then use the aforementioned controller to control sunrise sunset.
D.) Use a reefkeeper, reefangel, apex, ect to control 1-10v dimming, but often this limits you to 3 maybe 4 drivers at full power, so it will not work very well for a larger tank such as mine.

Thanks for noting the CAD work! Hehe, I'm going to school for Architectural Engineering so I've had my share of AutoCAD/Revit/3ds Max stuff to do. LOL

Originally Posted by lynnmw1208

very cool! I would love to see some pics of all the lights on over the tank. I was debating on whether I wanted to put different colors on mine if I ever went that route. I'm interested to see what kind of color you will get also let us know how that controller works!!

Will do, thanks! I had read that many people loved the slight red spectrum from the neutral whites, without it being too overpowering, also the AI Sol Blue uses RB and B separately, and in person it really shows. You can get that crazy florescent color, or blend it all the way down to a smooth light blue that I would say is close to the 24k range. So add in the whites and its perfect for my needs. I really like the controller so far, but EVERY change emits a loud beep and it drives me nuts. LOL minor but very frustrating.

[ReefBruh]

Excellent job. I know how I was when I did my actnics strip. I was nervous.

[Travis45]

Looks great Man!!! Looks like you have the whole thing wired up and ready to mount?

[bmw112482]

What is the reason you can only control 3-4 drivers on a controller I am about set up a new tank with leds and I am going to need 5 drivers and was planning on using an apex controller