T8 To Led On 5Ft

[NathanPrince]

Hi guys, looking to change my 5ft Central/South American tank over to LED lights from the T8 is came with to hopefully save a bit on electricity while having better quality lighting.
 
If this goes well I'll be looking at converting my planted Rio125 too.
 
 
Basically I havent got a clue what I need to get in order to know up a DIY light unit,
 
how many LED's would be recommended?
 
Which drivers and how many?
 
Could I run a dimmer on them?
 
Which heatsinks?
 
 
Where do I buy everything from?
 
 
Ive been researching and looking around a bit but just cant get my head around what I need and where's best to get it
 
 
Cheers
 
 

 

[DrRob]

There are a lot of write up's on DIY LED's. They've become less popular recently in the UK with the changes to the pound making the import of parts more expensive and the slowly dropping price of the pre-made ones.
 
Essentially you need some LED's, ideally good quality ones. Genuine CREE's are often regarded as top shelf ones, but there are several other quality manufacturers. To make them work you need a power supply, which is basically a transformer, and many of us already own one off an old laptop or computer, a driver to regulate the power and some means of dissipating the heat that they produce.
 
Drivers tend to come from the same places as the LED's do, heatsinks come from all over the place. I've seen some great sets that were made from taken apart electronics, particularly 80's stuff. Some heavier, hotter running stuff can be a great source. Otherwise computer supply places are great for heat sinks.
 
Overall, try to avoid skimping on the LED's themselves, and the drivers, which will dictate the dimming as well, and don't electrocute yourself.

 

[ShinySideUp]

There are a lot of write up's on DIY LED's. They've become less popular recently in the UK with the changes to the pound making the import of parts more expensive and the slowly dropping price of the pre-made ones.
 

 
I've long looked for slowly dropping prices of LED light units and I think they must be dropping about the same speed as grass grows because they all seem prohibitively expensive. I have just had to replace an Ehiem T5 light unit, fortunately still under warranty, but in the long term I'd like to replace the whole thing with an LED system. Problem is, my present six foot tank setup is four, five-foot tubes kicking out 80 watts each. I can't imagine how much it would cost to get the equivalent light from an LED setup.
 
I can see why the OP wants to do a DIY job and I look forward to answers on this thread.

 

[Zikofski]

i am going to be doing my own DIY LED's from now on, as i bought mine from a previous Mod and see how easy it was for him and for myself to do as i have the skill required to make them.
 
to start of you need LED's now what is the footprint of your tank? and depending on how much light you want you can go with 3W or 5W LED's now i have only delt  with 3W led's so i can not tell you what heatsink work for 5w. i shall give a guided list of what you need below, GUIDE and not exactly what you need to buy.
 
WARNING ELECTRIC SHOCK POSIBLE!!!!!
 
BEFORE DOING ANY WORK! SWITCH OF THE POWER AND UNPLUG YOUR LED'S
 
i am just giving you an idea, please do research on this you are required to know how to use a soldering ion for this and know electronics
 
LED'S
http/www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10pcs-New-3W-White-LED-Light-Bulb-Emitter-with-20mm-Star-Base-/121239192927?pt=UK_BOI_Electrical_Components_Supplies_ET&hash=item1c3a6b455f
 
Heatsink
http/www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aluminum-Heatsink-Cooling-40x40x11mm-f-LED-Power-Memory-Chip-IC-Transistor-New-/291143764564?pt=UK_BOI_Electrical_Components_Supplies_ET&hash=item43c9854a54
 
Thermal Pad
http/www.ebay.co.uk/itm/THERMAL-HEAT-TRANSFER-ADHESIVE-THERMAL-HEATSINK-PAD-TAPE-25-X-25MM-DOUBLE-SIDED-/121240923226?pt=UK_Computing_Thermal_Compounds_Supplies&hash=item1c3a85ac5a
 
Lens
now this is a section i am not familiar with, i have yet to calculate what the Deg angle of my LED's are but i am guessing they are around 60 Deg, this is an important one, this will determine how many LEDs you need or and how much light coverage you get per LED over the height of your tank, for example if you have 10Deg at say 50cm above the tank you may need 40LED's to get full coverage where as with 60Deg you will only need 10 LED's at that same height, this is again an example not Fact, now on my 330L tank which had a footprint of 54" by 20" i had 30 White LED's on that look at my journal to see the LEDs them selfs and the difference they made to the tank i had 2 T5's before them http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/381283-330l-tank-journal/ with my new 88L which is 30"x12" but has 15 white LED's my 88L has more power and is more brighter than my 330L because i have more LEDs close together to get more power n more light. but i kept the same Lens from the 330L tank as in my 88L again here is my 88L journal you can see how the LEDs are made up in these pictures under the hood so to speak 
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/413398-fish-tank-cabinet-diy-project/
http/www.ebay.co.uk/itm/50x-Led-Lens-60-Degree-For-1w-3w-Lamp-Black-Holder-/160619726875?pt=UK_BOI_Electrical_Components_Supplies_ET&hash=item2565ae881b
 
Now depending on what and how many LED's you want depends on what Driver u need. if you are doing for two colours like my tanks White and Blue you need Two Drivers, DO NOT RUN BLUE AND WHITE LEDS from the same Driver, now my old tank, 330L with a footprint of, 
 
DRIVER!!
http/www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LED-Driver-Power-Supply-Transformer-240V-DC12V-10W-Dimmable-12W-18W-30W-MR16-/330771714211?pt=UK_Home_Garden_Lighting_Parts&var=&hash=item4d0387d0a3
 
now i would not go with a dimmable i have no experience how the LEDS react to being dimmed so i can't say on those, but the normal waterproof ones at various Wattage are fine, be careful if you have 19W of LED's DONT get the 18W driver thinking its only 1w, u must get the 30W driver. you can have less but never more.
 
the LED's will all need to be in series and you must take into account the Current and Voltage of the LED's along with the Wattage, also you will need some wire from marlins get the grade you require speaking to someone in store should help you this depends on current and voltage, but current and voltage are low for LED's so should be to much of an issue, and like i said this does require soldering and a little but of skill required on that part if you know how to do that its a piece of cake

 
i don't have my 88L tank to get more details on as its in storage but i will be getting this tank/cabinet this coming monday so i can get more details on stuff if you need to.
 
i hope you and anyone else find this useful any more questions please ask or PM me, if i have made any errors or mistakes PLEASE someone tell me

 
USEFUL VIDEO's
 
Securing the LED to the LED heatsinks i would recommend watching this 
https/www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD3UFZiaZ74
 
EDIT
Found this on soldering may help someone
https/www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrxunCNEezw

 

[Freedom]

Around here, lots of the DIY LED set ups are from auto parts stores -- the LEDs are much less costly.
 
No one answered about using a dimmer.  From the premade one I have, you have a timer which turns differents sets of lights on (and off) at different times, to simulate the dimming effect.

 

[NathanPrince]

Very helpful info, the Tank is a 5x2x2 and being Amazonian themed wont have many, if any plants at all so silly high lighting isnt needed, more subdued than anything but just want LED for the energy savings more than anything so would I be better using 10 LED's at normal hood height?
 
They wont be suspended as I plan the build them into the original hood fixure, I have a lot of active jumpy fish so need to keep them in lol
 
 
Cheers for the help!

 

[Zikofski]

yea 10 to 15 of the 3 W less would be nice then keep it simple

 

[NathanPrince]

Can I use yellow LED's? At the minute I have one white tube and one yellow and together they give a blackwater effect without actually having any tannins... Is this something I could replicate with LED's?
 
Also going to run about 4 blue ones for moonlighting to hopefully see more of my pleco collection lol
 
Cheers

 

[Zikofski]

yea i don't see why not i am not sure about mixing different coloured LED's on the same driver but i have Blue LEDs and White LEds but they are on different drivers
 
 
here are my lights and driver 
 

 

 
White + Blue 15x3w White and 3x3w Blue

 
Blue Only this is only 3x3W 

 
White Only 15x 3w

 

[NathanPrince]

I like the simplicity of that for great results, 2 drivers isnt a problem.
 
I was going to remove the ballast from the centre of the hood, cut a hole in the bottom and fit the LED's and then put a piece of clear acrylic over them?

 

[Zikofski]

sounds good to me i have a clear piece of acrylic over my tank to stop like u said the jumpers and to keep humidity up and reduce water escaping the into the cabinet

 

[NathanPrince]

With 60degree lenses I'm hoping I get enough of a spread with them running through the centre, if not I'll have to go plan B and screw them to aluminium flat box section and fix that to the hood instead, then run a condensation tray to stop them getting soaked