heres the nano reef thread similar to the reef central one mentioned earlier on LED aesthetics.

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/inde...owtopic=246394


their genral consensus is 2:1 royal blue:neutral white with supplemental blue(or cool blue as they call in the thread) gives the best overall look, there are mentions of good results with adding deep red (660) and true violet as well.

its a good read if you have the time, alot of time.

Great build thread. Here are some things I'd be careful about:

• A) Fin to sheet contact - but I think you're already going to address that
• B) Your fans will be ineffective for the fins outside of 12 or so channels they are blowing directly into. I don't think you'll have a problem on the ends of those channels but I can't see how any air will move in the outer (7 or so ) channels on the front and back.

You're gonna LOVE controlling your lights with your ProfiLux. It's a breeze to get them "controlled" once you plug them into open "L" ports on your ProfiLux. You can dial them in from 1% to 100%. Right now I'm testing mine at 10% and I think I've still burned the retinas of all my neighbors.

How long does it take for your thermal adhesive to set up when attaching your LED chips to the heatsink?

Nice setup Greg I just skimmed through this write up a couple thing to think about as I went through it when I did my build.
1) I don't think you have enough air flow to cool your entire heat-sink if you run the LED at full blast.
2) I raised my fans about 2" over the heat-sink as this will spread the air flow through the entire array and had them mounted on the top cover with full enclosure except the sides,keeping in mind I used 2 x 120w 4" fans for my array witch holds at least 60 LED (too lazy to count now:biggrin: running full power 1500Ma for whites and 1000Ma for royal blue)
3) If you are gluing the LED on the heat-sink I would use Arctic silver thermal adhesive as I read it in the past to be the best product for heat transfer and use as little as possible.
Originally I had optics on all LED and yes if your setup is close to the water you will have a disco affect,I see 2 ways to have it running without the disco dancing water put optics on all white and blue LED and none on the other colors as this will give your colors a 180 degree spread.
You are more than welcome to come by and investigate my array:biggrin:

Thank guys for the constructive input. :biggrin:

I am not totally done with the fans just yet. Martin & I were checking them before he left for Ireland for Xmas & we both think there will be enough air flow to go around but I have been thinking of adding a 3rd fan & adding in some pieces to direct the air flow into all fins.

I haven't picked up the AlumiFix yet but need to this week so I can work on them over the holidays. Also have to build the frame to support the heat sink.

I will be putting optics on all the whites ( 45 degree ) & blue ( 60 degree ) but not on the Reds or Greens. My heat sinks well be between 10" - 12" above water level & I doubt it very highly that they will be ever at 100%.

Martin also supplies the Arctic Siler to attach the LEDs to the heat sink so that's covered too.

How long does it take that to set up?

If youare asking the set time for the glue,as I recall after mixing you only have 5 working minutes and it starts to set I beleive full cure takes 4 hours

Sorry forgot to address that question.

From what Martin was saying, just mix up about the size of a dime or smaller at a time because there's only about 10 min working time. Also you only need a dab about 1/8" diameter under each LED, use a toothpick to apply on each LED.

Do you have to prep the aluminum first before gluing the leds on?

Other then making sure the surface if free of any dust or dirt no prep needed.

this looks awesome

Most guys use a car or a truck.

How do you plan on compensating for that with an LED light?

Anyways looks like it going to be pretty awesome, enjoy the project!

Not sure what you mean there azulikit?

It's a joke Grizz. It's okay if you don't get it.

You know the guy driving the big lifted monster truck, maybe he's compensating for something? Do I really need to explain it in detail for you?

In this case the monster truck is your LED light. Get it? LMAO

:pound: :rofl:

I figured it was, I get it now.

Let me suggest to play with the beam of the optics over your tank and the height you like the array to be before you make a purchase as I think 45 and 60 degree optics are very narrow even on a height of 20" I am not sure if you seen my setup as I had 60 degree optics with a height of 24" and yet still too narrow,I could be wrong to as my array's dimensions 8"X10" and contains 60 LED:shocked!:

I ended up with carclo frosted white (wide) optics. It's insane how well they direct the light without really spotting. My lights are 12" from the water.

This is what I'm going with as well. Carlo frosted wides on the BJB connectors.

Martin brought out 2 big bags of optic to play with and If I dont like them he will find me something different. So handy that he is in Red Deer, well actually he is in Ireland right now but you know what I mean :lol:

I likely missed it, but do you have contact info or a website of where you got the LED's? I like the plugin idea and I'm planning to LED my 12G nano :lol:

They are from Modular LED located in Red Deer & site sponsor.


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Wow that light is a beast . Great idea on the home made heat sink, aluminum is so sexy , wish i had a spool gun . When its all done can you stand it on end turn it up full blast and get a Friend to stand in front of it , i bet 10 bucks we will be able to see there skeleton , or they will be vaporized!

I have just the person in mind :lol:

Hmmmm,ex-partner????:twised:

:pound: MWUUHAHAHAHAH :twised:

Built a temp canopy over the last 2 days.

http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/x...r/036c6ccf.jpg
http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/x...r/3693288c.jpg
http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/x...r/b43273e0.jpg
http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/x...r/0c963d1b.jpg

Currently glueing the LEDs to the heat sinks, man what a time consuming job but much easier then soldering.

Has the wife seen what she'll be helping you carry yet?

:pound:

I like those Heat sinks Greg! you should Make a Diamond plate Canopy that way it looks like a robot on top of your tank, JK that would probably weigh a ton!

Nope :lol: I took the heat sinks out & the front off to make it lighter.

P.S. did you get my e-mail Jeff?

I did indeed! The wife saw the pics, she'll be easier to sway than I first thought!:twised:

Wait until I send you some new ones when there eyes open, that will really get her :twised:

I look forward to it!

That's one hell of a solid and heavy temp canopy lol! I'm really rooting for these LEDs to work out for you man. Who knows maybe a couple years from now I'll be able to follow suit! The more I see of the fortress (workshop) the more I wanna come tour it...

I hope so too :biggrin: doors always open dude, tours run daily :lol:

Hey Griz, one suggestion.. take some emery cloth or something real fine and take the oxidization off the areas you are going to epoxy the LEDs to. this is a hindrance to heat transfer.

the build is looking real nice so far..

Steve

Ya that's what I did, mapped out all the boards, scratched the surface with some emery cloth & appoxied all the boards on.

Got all the boards on now, just need to get more connectors from Martin tomorrow, get everything wired & let them rip.

Got the LED's wired up & tested each run to make sur they work.

http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/x...r/54329d3d.jpg
http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/x...r/7c81352d.jpg

The jumpers from heat sink to heat sink are temporary, need to drill some hole to hide them under an aluminum cover yet.

Gnarly!

Where are the pictures of them ON

I just noticed they are being built under the christmas tree lol

Ok let's shed some light on this subject.

Cool & Nuetral White HEW with a few blues / royal blues
http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/x...r/c3c25857.jpg

All whites & blues

http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/x...r/e6ed83f0.jpg
http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/x...r/18117cfa.jpg


Still need to get the High Noon XPG's, Red's & Green's going yet but need a few connectors I forgot to get when I was at Martins yesterday.