JBJ 28 Gallon LED UPGRADE DIY

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chucke

AC Members
Oct 19, 2007
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York, Pa
Hello everyone!

It has been some time since i have been on here, I see some old faces and alot of NEW ONES! All good!

I recently bought a used JBJ 28gallon Cube; this is an older model with CFLs and NO!!! LEDS!!! So I have decided to install myself some strip LED Lights Supplies that I found are:

The questions I have are
  1. Has anyone used this brand?
  2. Will this be sufficient for corals? Should I put more in there?
This is completely new to me but I have full confidence in my Electric skills

Thoughts?
And Thank you you megaminds
 

tolawdjk

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Sep 8, 2010
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I tried to sniff around on that website and find the details, so if I'm missing something, someone correct me. However, I think you will be ulitmately disappointed in that offering for a coral tank.

700 LEDS per 16 ft, is roughly 44 per ft and you were wanting to use twelve of each color. At the wattage they are reporting (5.12 per ft) I just don't think you will get the intensity needed for pretty much any corals. Increasing the density of LED per foot will definately increase the brightness, but other than the first couple inches of the tank, there won't be much, if any, penetration at depth. (That's what she said.)

Most DIY reefers tend to go with some combination of CREE's. http://www.cree.com/

http://www.ledgroupbuy.com

Is a good site to piece together a DIY kit. Lights, power supplies, heatsinks, fans. You would have to find someone much more knowledgeable than me to discuss the number and layout of individual LEDS, and that would be dependant on tank size and types of corals you want to grow.

I would do some more research before you jump into the quick and easy LED strip lighting.
 

greech

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May 13, 2009
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Graham
Those LEDs will not support a reef tank. They are essentially Christmas lights.

Another good source for DIY LEDs..

http://www.rapidled.com/

What kind of corals were you thinking of keeping?
 

chucke

AC Members
Oct 19, 2007
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York, Pa
That is some awesome information, I was dumbfounded looking into LEDs I now know where to go and waht to look for,

On that note, How about a sticky for LED diy builds and general information, Would anyone think this would be useful cause i sure think so.
 

greech

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May 13, 2009
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Yep, it would be. I'll see what I can do to get one started. I don't have a ton of LED experience myself but we can start one and wait for the experts to roll in!
 

RNeiswander

Bunned
Nov 27, 2010
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It's kinda funny, nearly everyone in my local salt club has LEDs, or is in the process or planning of switching over. And it's almost all DIY fixtures, except for the guy who has two orphek fixtures and like 7 par bulbs on his 150DD lol.

I think LEDs are the way to go, right now, if you have DIY ability, if not, I think the fixtures will get a lot better and drop in price soon


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 
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greech

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May 13, 2009
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Honestly, I was all on board the LED train until more and more people started to get them locally and I saw the results. I have seen everything from DIY, PAR 38s and AI Sols/nanos and most recently Radions and I have to say that I do not like a lot of the colors I am seeing. The light itself looks good but the coral coloration I do not like. When they go all blue there is nothing out there that will provide that pop but once the whites start blending in most corals look thin and washed out. Besides who wants to look at a neon tank all day long? The absolute best lighting I have seen recently is a 150W chinese LED fixture (eshine) with 4 T5 retrofits (2 on each side). I don't think it would matter if there was a Radion in place of the eshine but the T5s just seem to provide something to our corals that LEDs are not. Unless things change (and I know they will), I will not run LEDs without T5s running along with it. Maybe the increased use of UV LEDs will help, we'll see. I do like some of the PAR 38 setups I have seen too but not well enough to make the switch.
 
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