100gal Build: New Pics

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by The Grizz

With the tube style heat sink if the fans stopped the air in the tube would just keep getting warmer with no air circa. Regular heat sinks with open fins will dissipate a little of the heat.

I think you have a good thing going here sphelps, fairly inexpensive heatsink & I really like your design, well planned.

Well it depends, typically the DIY style is to get a huge chunk of heat sink and simply hang that over the tank so yes it would dissipate a lot more heat than tubes. However some purchasable fixtures use very little heat sink to keep weight and cost down and they do rely heavily on forced air movement (Just like the cpu in a typical computer). On top of this everything is enclosed in a nice tight shell to make things look nice which will add to problems if fans stop working.

So certainly more reliable on fans than what is typically seen in the DIY apps but I think in general all LED fixtures seem pretty reliant on their fans. I guess some of the purchased fixtures may very likely have protective shut off for high temps which I may or may not need to add.

Thanks Grizz, but keep in mind isn't necessarily that inexpensive. The aluminium tube itself cost me $90 and it took two hours just to cut it all up. Then there's the cost of welding as well. For me personally my cost stopped at $90 but others without the tools would be looking pretty close to $300 min. In comparison I could have gotten a standard finned heat sink large enough for around $100-$150, less if I went will multiple smaller ones.