DIY LED lighting?

[fishteacher73]

I was wondering if anyone had some ideas or suggestions about building a high output LED pannel. I have been lucky enough to be able to run a Solaris strip on a display tank at the shop I work at and am very interested in attempting to try one on my own (actually for a FW plant tank to start with). The only problem is that they are quite expensive and hard to get at the moment. There are tons of basic DIY LED components out there, but really don't have the electrical background at this moment to get it figured out.

Any ideas about specific LED's, heat sinks, wiring, etc. would be greatly appreciated.

[Trickman2]

Not sure on how this would be done but would love to see some good plans also

[zeusfc]

I worked out the cost of all the electrical parts for a solaris, using a chinese wholesaler on ebay,,, 'came to more than the solaris!

[Shaun120]

I have been excited about LED aquarium lighting ever since "they" starting developing the higher wattage versions. I would like to build a fixture for a smaller tank just to see the results.

I also have seen a PFO fixture using LEDs but for a 72in tank it would be about $3400 dollars. The really cool thing it you can vary the K of the fixture. 14000K too blue, then turn it down to 12000K, the best of all lighting worlds. The fixture has a reported life span of 50,000hrs so that would be almost $600 a year for 5.7yrs, too expensive IMO, but a cool technology. Are you planning on incorporating any computer control in your design?

Glad to see the technology is getting more accessible. I will keep tabs on this thread for sure.

[L98-Z]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9608293#post9608293 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by zeusfc
I worked out the cost of all the electrical parts for a solaris, using a chinese wholesaler on ebay,,, 'came to more than the solaris!

Doesn't surprise me. I'd imagine they bought quite a few to get a very large discount.

[zachtos]

zachtos' array (http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=727139)

I've already done this in the past.