Well some news is good news LOL
I really want to see your led build... Im buying some knock offs in the mean time bit if they work half as well as they seem to Ill just follow this thread and pop out a big set to match :)

looks awesome greg man glad to see its finally coming together:):)

Well today I received a package of more LED goodies, delivered by Mr. Modular LED himself Martin.

http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/x...r/a2c33030.jpg

5 - 120w drivers
http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/x...r/a399c320.jpg

1 - 75w driver
http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/x...r/431a65ed.jpg

1 - 75w driver for XP-G High Noon kit ( requires a higher output amperage )
http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/x...r/a3a9782a.jpg


Still need to get the 2 - 38w drivers for the Red & Green LED's & also thinking of getting a 3rd on of these to give me 6 controllable channels on my controller

http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/x...r/8552d083.jpg

holy crap man......your gonna need clearance from air traffic control to fire that thing up!:mrgreen:

DIY LED heat sinks
 

So I finally got a chance today to start building the heat sinks for this tank. I have decided to do 2 - 39" x 12" heat sinks both will have 136 LEDs but will have room for more.

Got my main plates of 1/4" aluminum cut & 48 pieces of 1/8" x 1" aluminum flatbars as well.

http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/x...r/6fdf3801.jpg

http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/x...r/f911a280.jpg

First 5 flatbar fins tacked on:

http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/x...r/247d6073.jpg

Now 10:

http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/x...r/e1036f9f.jpg

15:

http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/x...r/231bf249.jpg

20:

http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/x...r/a9ab4266.jpg

And finally the last 3:

http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/x...r/20854a32.jpg

http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/x...r/88e7e9ee.jpg

As you can see in the 2nd last pic I removed the very first flatbar fin, yes this was planned because I am going to wrap the whole out side of the 1/4" plate with some 1/4" x 2 1/2" flatbars.

ok that's hardcore! so do you need to lay anything down as far as a paste etc to maintain ideal heat transfer between fin and plate?

I cut some 2 1/2" strips out of a small sheet of 1/4" aluminum on my tablesaw, then cut a notch into them for my 1/8" clear acrylic cover.

http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/x...r/730fb6ac.jpg

http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/x...r/585733bc.jpg

http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/x...r/4eb0079b.jpg

http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/x...r/d8fee96f.jpg

Added a 1/4" x 2" strip across the front but have to add something below the groove to hold the acrylic flat.

LED side:
http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/x...r/08273d90.jpg

Fan side:
http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/x...r/57c27ce7.jpg

No with aluminum the heat will transfer evenly on its own as it is a very soft alloy and a great for dispersing heat.

Do you have plans to paint it somehow and does doing that reduce it's ability to cool in any sig way?

Thing looks awesome. What a beast!

You should make a DIY lumenarc style mh reflector with an aluminum shell with fins on the top (for me)

Holy smokes Grizz. Thats friken amazing. can't wait to see it when its all done. keep them pictures coming. nice work.:lol:

Looks heavy!

Not going to paint the heat sinks but might do a black acrylic wrap of some sort.

Do a concept drawing and send it to me. :biggrin:

There will be lots of pics for sure.

It might be a little heavier then an extruded heat sink but so far both heat sinks have only cost me $40 & besides if it wasn't a beast, heavy or over built it would not be me.:lol:

Added a couple pieces of 1/2" square tube to mount the fans onto the heat sinks.

http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/x...r/f9a36f0e.jpg

http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/x...r/dc8a9e30.jpg

Any transparent aluminum kicking around Greg? I'm thinking you could continue this all-metal theme and do a whole tank setup. Steampunk for the saltwater hobby?

Nope nothing transparent but that would be a killer idea.

Wait until you see the stand :twised:

Have you worked with thermal glue before? I used it on my LED build - it's designed to transfer heat, even if you screw the LED starts onto the heat sink directly, you should put some thermal glue for maximum heat transfer.

Looks great!

Looks Great Greg! Did you make the Heat sinks too??

Looking good bro, Cant wait to see the parts all come together :)
I think if i go this route I would rather brush it then cover it anyways..... Always have a soft spot for brushed alum :)

I will totally pay you to make me some sexy heatsinks when I do my tank upgrade next winter! and a stand too if you are up to it! :mrgreen:

Very nice!!!
I think heatsink # 16 is crooked!!

lol
teasin!!! You should be building these for Modular to market!!!

This confirms my theory that you are actually building a new batman call sign haha

I was going to go with the thermal glue but it would get cooked when I welded it all together. I think there is a product like silver solder that is very thin, heat it up & pour it in & it will seal everything together.

I was also thinking of going with brushed.

Martin and I have been working together to build these he has been great to deal with. I think these would be to expensive to build for market compared to extruded heat sinks. I had the plate left over from a project and just had to buy the 1/8" x 1" flat bar.

yep

Im down for that, always like to build things for other peoples set-ups

:mrgreen::mrgreen:
Nice much obliged man! Not sure when but most like a year, So I will be in touch! I'm doing an all led build too, probably either 125-150 gallons 6 feet long not too sure what else haha, I've been watching the progress on this thread and I just get so excited, I can wait to upgrade and learn how not to be such a reef noob! ;)

Agreed, you have some great handy work there Greg!

Please hurry up, I wanna see this beasty filled!:razz::razz::razz:

OK Martin, this is where I need some of your help. Here is how I have the LED's laid out thus far, what do you think?

Any other opinions are welcome as well.

http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/x...7a59c7-1-1.jpg

GEE WILLACURES Levi!! I just started this today what more can you ask for. :razz:

We where all noobs at some point, except for Dez, Kien and Levi I think they were all born with SW in there vains. I am still a SW noob on some things and will never ever say I know everything there is to know about this hobby :biggrin:

From my experience with some experimenting over thinking the layout of various LED colors doesn't pay off. I did the exact same thing with my fixture and spend a bunch of time and effort to layout each color so they were all distributed evenly and mixed in as much as possible with my hopes of avoiding color spots and lack of blending.

The fact is it's not that important. You're better off doing rows off each color just like a T5 fixture. It keeps things much simpler and wiring will be easier, plus might even be better for heat distribution. Believe it or not you won't notice a difference in color distribution on a tank your size if you do things like this or stagger them all over the place.

One thing I also would have changed on mine is using 1W for colors like green and red, they don't really offer much except some additional spectrum adjustment which is purely just for effect. The problem with the 3W is they are still a tad bright even when fully dimmed since you can only dim down to about 5% or so and. I have 7 3W reds and I never put them past 10%. I've also actually had to completely turn my reds off for a while due to crazy algae blooms which immediately stopped with the red cut off.

Also get yourself an infrared temp gun and watch the temp on those LEDs, I found they run a little warmer than the typical star mounted ones. Doubt you'll have a problem with that heat sink though but maybe just encase, especially those ones that are really close to each other.

Don't discredit yourself that fast buddy you got some pretty wicked salty skillz yourself! I would argue we really never leave the "noob" state, always stuff to be learned in this hobby!

This layout works pretty good if you are planning on having those XPGs in the center on all the time. Otherwise you would end up with a huge blue region and whites only on the outside. I think you might be better alternating the outside rows blue and white to get some whites further in the middle.

Althought I was thinking those XPGs could be on all day rather than just for high noons, you could start out at like 50% mid morning going to 80% around mid day and then down to 50% or so again for evening. So that way they are on all day and you have your white in the center.

Having said all that I am liking how this looks a lot haha! Thinking about my new tank now :wink:

Highly recommend you wear some sunglasses when you switch that thing on for testing haha.

:pound: yeah careful Greg, or you'll need a braille computer!
Any lunar on there or are you using the blues?

I was thinking of running them with the system. I was also thinking that maybe we should change out the CW for the CW & NW HEW's.

I will have to be wearing my auto shield welding helmet.

I am going to put in some moon light but not sure how many yet.

moon lights are the bee's knees thats probably my favorite part on my tank! lol something so simple

Yes moon lights are very impressive if done right.

Built the second heat sink in less then an hr. after I laid out the LED's on the first one. Now I have to build a support frame, also out of aluminum. Planning to make it so that I can lift out one of the heat sink if needed.

Well maybe just maybe I will get this tank build off and running now that my pumps have finally arrived, THANKS Dave!!

I tried to upload some pics of the pumps but Photo Bucket failed and so did the attachment upload here.

Next on the list is to build the stand frame!!

Where's the pics dammit :twised:

DONT EVEN GO THERE MR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you need a hand shoot me a text man I'm pretty well free on the weekends in the afyernoons/evenings not the morning though! I got a new bow for hunting season!