Ciphers DIY 120 and 75 gallon LED build

cipher43

cipher43

Member
So I figure I just as well start this thread. As the title says I have plans for building lights for my new 120 gallon and my parents new 75 gallon tank. Im pretty sure I owe Corey a kidney or something from all of the advice he has given me so far on this build and by the time its over I will probably owe a few others but what can ya do lol. Here is what the base plan is right now.
My 120s light
2 - 8.5X16 Heatsinks from Heatsinkusa.com
24 - XP-G R5 Cree Cool Whites
12 - XP-G Cree Neutral Whites
24 - XP-E Cree Royal Blues
12 - XP-E Cree Blues
6 - Osram 660nm reds
6- Cree XP-E Greens
4/8- 1W Royal blue Moonlights
2 HLG 150H-48B (from Jameco.com)
1 ELN 60-48P (for the greens and reds)
Their 75s light
2 - 6X16 Heatsinks from Heatsinkusa.com
16 - XP-G R5 Cree Cool Whites
8 - XP-G Cree Neutral Whites
16 - XP-E Cree Royal Blues
8 - XP-E Cree Blues
4- Osram 660nm reds
4- Cree XP-E Greens
4 1W Royal blue Moonlights
2 ELN 60-48P
1 ELN 60-48P( for reds and greens)
All lights and the ELNs orderd from rapidled
Also planning on getting a controller for each of the builds but am gonna hold off on buying them till Corey gets the typhoon issue figured out.
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
I'm thinking just a few of each if you do. Maybe 2 of each on each side of the tank perhaps?
 
cipher43

cipher43

Member
I figured I would go with 2-4 of each on each heatsink and then adjust the power output of them to what is needed.
Main reason I am adding the reds and greens both is that I went to a LFS and they had the Raidions over there tanks which have the reds and greens in there. I talked to the head guy and he showed me what each light looked like when he shut off the reds and greens. When he shut off the greens the tank dimmed and when he shut off the reds anything that was orange or red and even yellow lost there colors. Definatly sold me on adding other colors. I may add some violets later down the road once this is up and going too but we will see.
 
cipher43

cipher43

Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by xandrew245x http:///t/390510/ciphers-diy-120-and-75-gallon-led-build#post_3458947
Wow, I thought my 12x8.5 heatsinks were going to be big, what kind of frame are you building for yours?
UGH 2nd time ive had to retype this............
I dont plan on building a frame for either build but instead plan on putting chains on it. I bought a used diy from a guy and thats how he had done it and it works really nice. The other thing I am gonna do is make the wiring easliy removable so if I need to take down one heatsink and do work on it I can unhook the waterproof connectors and leave the other one up even tho the power will be off to it as well. Just will be nice I think.
I also was going to say that I am drilling and tapping these heatsinks. I liked the thought of being able to move lights around or changing them out quick if i need to. I have drilled the holes already and am in the process of tapping all the holes.........
.......... Ive been tapping now for 4-5 hours and have only one of the heatsinks done. One of the main reasons it is going so slow is I have alot of holes on each one. For the 75gallon there are 24 main color leds and 14 more spots for off colors like the greens, reds, and moonlights for each of the heatsinks. the 120 gallon has 36 main color leds and 20 more for the off colors per heat sink. I figured its better to do it now and not need it then not do it and need them later. I am also planning on putting some high output fans on each of these to keep all of the heat down if I need all the lights.
 
xandrew245x

xandrew245x

Member
I'm gluing mine on, tapping that many wholes is insane! I'm building a rectangular frame out of aluminum then running 4 pieces of flat aluminum lengthwise of the frame. I am going to mount the leds on these strips. The strips won't be permanently fastened down, so they will be able to be moved for the desired effect.
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
Yeah you definitely have to be motivated if you plan to drill and tap but i think its worth it in the end if you have plans to experiment a little bit.
Andrew it might not be so bad with the alluminum your going to use. You can probably just drill the holes and thread some sheet metal screws right into it without tapping. Ive seen quite a few folks do it that way as well.
 
xandrew245x

xandrew245x

Member
Yeah, I considered it, but I think I would go crazy drilling that many holes. I mean I was going nuts predrilling every hole for my stand I built ;P
 
cipher43

cipher43

Member
Drilling all the holes I did , which there is a total of 388 (226 for my 120 gallon and 162 for the 75 gallon), It only took me 2 hours to do that. Now if you do the taping on that i have it figured up to be an extra 19.4 hours for my job I must say that this total is for 2 complete builds. I average about 3 to 4 minutes per hole on taping but if you plan on using sheet metal screws it would cut a lot of time off the total.
Will it be worth it...... yes IMO for the easy swap ability it should be..... maybe thats because im crazy and am doing it so I need to self justify my actions. LOL
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
Wow, you're moving quick! I had to spread mine out over the course of a weekend. It took me about a dozen holes or so and then I started getting into the zone with it and found a good rhythm. But once I got going I had it down to pretty much the same time. When I was pushing it I was turning out a hole about every 3 minutes or so. But I took lots of breaks and there may have been beer involved. If I had it to do again though I don't see why I couldn't turn out about 72 holes in a day. But damn that would be a long day. At least for me it would be because I started doing it by hand after the 6th hole.
I snapped two taps within my first 8 holes. One of them is still in one of my sinks. After that I didn't snap a single tap. Didn't break any bits either. But burned through 1 and the second one still has some life left. But those little 4/40 taps don't take much pressure to snap them in half at all and I got the best I could find.
 
cipher43

cipher43

Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2Quills http:///t/390510/ciphers-diy-120-and-75-gallon-led-build#post_3459102
Wow, you're moving quick! I had to spread mine out over the course of a weekend. It took me about a dozen holes or so and then I started getting into the zone with it and found a good rhythm. But once I got going I had it down to pretty much the same time. When I was pushing it I was turning out a hole about every 3 minutes or so. But I took lots of breaks and there may have been beer involved. If I had it to do again though I don't see why I couldn't turn out about 72 holes in a day. But damn that would be a long day. At least for me it would be because I started doing it by hand after the 6th hole.
I snapped two taps within my first 8 holes. One of them is still in one of my sinks. After that I didn't snap a single tap. Didn't break any bits either. But burned through 1 and the second one still has some life left. But those little 4/40 taps don't take much pressure to snap them in half at all and I got the best I could find.
Ditto I can average 3 minutes per hole but my arm start hurting so I take breaks after 20 holes or so. I bought 2 taps cause thats all they had when I bought them and broke the first one off in the first hole. Been doing ok since then but we will see if i make it the whole way on one tap.
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cipher43 http:///t/390510/ciphers-diy-120-and-75-gallon-led-build#post_3459122
Ditto I can average 3 minutes per hole but my arm start hurting so I take breaks after 20 holes or so. I bought 2 taps cause thats all they had when I bought them and broke the first one off in the first hole. Been doing ok since then but we will see if i make it the whole way on one tap.
My method was to use thread cutting oil liberally on the tap. I'd start by going 1/4 of the way then back the tap out...clean it, oil and reinsert (it sounds so dirty). But I did that about 3-4 times per hole and I still probably have plenty of life left in that one tap that went 64 holes already.
 
cipher43

cipher43

Member
Ok so I updated the OP to show what I have orderd and what I still need. Gonna order my lights tonight or tomorrow. So before I order them I was planning on hanging both of the lights about 13-14 inches above the tank so the big question is what angle optics am I gonna want at that height. Also will I need wider/no optics on the neutral and plain blue lights or do i need the same for them?
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
24" deep tank, Shawn.
60's or 80's is what I'm thinking as well. I'd probably opt for 80's, myself but I'll also have an enclosed canopy so I'm not worried about light spillage, just good color blending. 60's from what I'm hearing can bleach some coral real fast since you're effectively focusing the light by a factor of 2. So just be weary of that. Good thing about optics...they're the cheap part

No plans here for optics on any of my supplement leds like red, green or violet.
 
cipher43

cipher43

Member
ok so I will go 80 on mine too because I have a canopy that will stop the light also. do I need optics on the neutrals and blues or should i run them without?
 
cipher43

cipher43

Member
So I just orderd all the lights and the ELNs from Rapidled.com.........WOW they are very helpful. Make sure if you are ordering a large order to e-mail them before you buy because i sent him an email and they gave me a code for 10% off the order total....... When the total is 1000 bucks its nice getting 100 bucks off the order...... So now we will see how long it takes to get the stuff.
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
Anything over $200 and they ship priority mail for free. I had my stuff from them within 3 days.
 
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