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bignick

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******NEW PICS UP******



I'm really pushing towards led's. On my odyssea hood right nor the rear t5 light sockets are shot so I'm taking this as my opening to switch to led's.

I'm planning to gut my hood out and put in led's. I'm either going to use a aluminum sheet or heat sink (if there one that will fit or if anyone knows where to get custom heat sinks lmk know were) and let it rest on a lip inside the hood.

I'm figured to use the hood because I've already got moonlights on it so I won't have to worry about those. I have a glass sheild to protect the glass, and there's a fan already built into the hood.

For now this is how far I have gotten due to in still searching on led's types and what colors to use, what degree, etc.

If you have any info at all that you will think can help please post it as I could use all the help on the reasearch I could get and pros and cons of course if you have any

Thanks for reading and your help, nick

Pics of my hood:
aefc0148-fe18-efdc.jpg

The inside:
aefc0148-fe3a-88f4.jpg

The lip which is 3/4" between glass and lip and 1" between lip and top of hood:( the heat sink dimensions are 17&1/4"x7&3/4")
aefc0148-fe7f-0f96.jpg

The fan:(thinking about just cutting out a square where those holes are too make it more venting and cooling (pros/cons))
aefc0148-fe99-cdc6.jpg
aefc0148-fea7-c6a6.jpg


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Hey!

What are the dimensions of the tank and will you be hanging or using the legs?

I would definitely suggest going with a heat sink in the build over just an aluminum strip. It will help with heat dissipation and insure LED life.

A lot of people don't realize these LEDs do get really hot
Without a proper heatsink. I would suggest going with the largest heat sink you could fit but also take into account that you need too allow adequate ventilation.

Since the fixture will be enclosed i would aim for some sort of a cross ventilation to remove heat.

Everything is kinda just advise and could vary from different projects.

If you use a large heat sink and not to many LEDs you may not even need fans..

A shield is definitely necessary if your going to mount it close to the water.


Optics really depend on the fixtures placement, if you are hanging or using the legs.

If you are using the legs i would suggest going with very wide optics or possibly none at all.

If your hanging the light, you may want to go with tighter lenses so you don't have to much light being spilt from the tank.

Again this would depend on the placement, amount of LEDs etc.


Tell us more about how many LEDs, where your mounting, what led combination...

You can pm me if you have any questions.
 

bignick

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I'm using the legs and from the light to the sand bed its about 19" and about 5" from the surface of the water to the light fixture. I think ill only be able to fit the regular led's than the ones with the lens to focus the light more because idk if they'll fit but ima find out because I only have about 3/4" between the glass and heat sink

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Lenses are optional and can be added at any point to any LED. The lenses for the newer xpg xpe LEDS are very low profile - only about 3/8Th inch thick so they would work. I think you will be fine without lenses.

What size is the tank and what corals are you planning on keeping?
 

bignick

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1st rough drawing

1st rought drawing of the led set up. the black lines on the heat sink are moonlights. the black lines on the outside edge of the heat sink are metal rods that will run the lip on my hood to support the heatsink

leave me some pro and con comments as of know the blue=royal blue and the white=white
 

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I would suggest doing a combination of

Cool white, royal blue

And toss in some regular blue and a coupe of warm white and possibly a red (maybe one).

The warm white will cover the red spectrum
 

bignick

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ok thanks that was avery rough sketch though but i dont truly kno what the set up will be till i make a full scale heatsink on paper to space and measure evrything out and still lookin and learnin about colors. thanks jonnyj
 

bignick

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I just did a full scale drawing of the heat sink. Looks like ill be using 21 led's in 3 rows of 7. ill have the sketch up by tonite but it looks like this.

BWBWBWB
WBWBWBW
BWBWBWB
B=royal blue
W=cresent white

I don't think ill use optics since there only 5" from the water surface in the hood on legs. But I'm still debating

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