scubado Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 I figured a way to light my fish tanks with virtually no power! Went from 80w down to probably less than 2w on a 125 gallon tank. I ordered 50 blue and 50 cool white 3w leds from Ebay. You can wire 9 in series using a 36V power supply adjusted to 34V. I mounted 3 leds to a 2" square 1/8" thick aluminum, 2 white 1 blue, for a total of 6 white and 3 blue in the series circuit. You can change the combination to be more blue or more white. I used a total of 18 to light the 125 gallon tank. Tomorrow morning I'm redoing my 180 gallon tank. Trying 4 white 10w leds in series. I could do 3 in series, but trying to avoid the heat issues and use a smaller heat sink. After I get done converting the four fish tanks, I plan to use this same idea converting the light fixtures in the kitchen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cdanna77 Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 Oh this works great for fish only tanks.very easy,and cheap to do. Brings out nice color in most fish. Look up rapid led and you could find a dimable driver to run those so you have control of the intensity. But I wouldn't try this on a reef tank. Not enough color spectrum with just blue and white. Been there done that. A couple yrs ago I built my own led light over my 6 old reef tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scubado Posted July 20, 2014 Author Share Posted July 20, 2014 Our two salt tanks are FOWLR's, the other two are fresh. I can control the intensity if I want, the 16 channel DC brds can handle the 36V, it's the only controller that can that I know of. I currently don't have them controlled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cdanna77 Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 You know you have me thinking. Hmmm. I might have to pick up one of those boards. Well if the wife allows. I some ideas that could work with those boards and be full spectrum. (Well size of tank will make the difference ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scubado Posted July 20, 2014 Author Share Posted July 20, 2014 Adding reds might be a problem, reds have to be on their own series circuit. You can add resistors in place of leds to complete the head count needed for a loop if needed. When I do the kitchen, I will probably use a mix of cool and warm white. Also want to do the garage. A nice led grow light is planned too. I enjoy cooking and having fresh basil, cilantro, thyme and rosemary is awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaeolien Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 I did the same a couple years ago over a reef tank. Worked wonderfully. Used 3w Cree LEDs. Royal blue and cool white. Would grow just about any coral in that tank. Have since upgraded tank and lighting but still using LED. Works great for this application. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scubado Posted July 23, 2014 Author Share Posted July 23, 2014 I did my 180 gallon salt this last weekend and had a couple issues. Four 10W leds in series just wasn't bright enough, I had to go with 3 in series. This then required fans to cool the heatsinks, I discovered I could wire three fans in series to work on the same 34v source. Anyone wanting to do this, I would suggest using 1w blue cree's. Ten, 3W cree's are too bright. I plan to substitute a couple with resistors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaeolien Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 Yeah if you are just doing fish then the 1w ones are probably just fine. Full on reef for sure needed the 3w ones. I made them dimmable but I think I still ran them at around 80 to 90%. Was a couple of years ago that I was using that fixture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShaggySS Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 I did this in my kitchen for under cabinet lights. Got a self adhesive strip of LED lights for $10 and stuck them under the cabinets and wired both sides into the microwave light. Just a small transformer to the power from the microwave light so I can use the button on the microwave to turn off and on my under cabinet lights. To match the color I pulled out the incandescent light from the microwave and shoved a few feet of LED strips in the housing. Just as bright and the same color. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scubado Posted September 8, 2014 Author Share Posted September 8, 2014 A new project fell into my lap. The local fish store has a 280 gallon tank with Starfire glass that burst a seam. It's not under warranty and the insurance doesn't cover the tank. I'm getting the tank for free! Well, I've been helping them out quite a bit with the new location setup. Re-using the glass to build a 400 gallon tank. Currently about half way done with the stand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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