well here it is. im pretty happy with it. now what do i need to check to see if theres actually useful light getting to the places ill need it.diy led lights
- Thread starter jessie
- Start date
well here it is. im pretty happy with it. now what do i need to check to see if theres actually useful light getting to the places ill need it.
Need a picture with just the tank in the frame without the stuff on the sides, it will make the picture come out a lot better. Your camera is using the dark areas on the left and right of the tank to balance out the brightness making the tank look extremely bright in the picture. 
Did you end up using optics? I don't see any color banding in the water so I am guessing no but it looks great and just guessing, but I would say you have more than enough light for the corals you want to keep. One tip, if you want a ton of "shimmer" in the tank, point that Koralia on the left side of your tank more towards the surface to get it turbulent, it will make the tank shimmer like crazy. Some people go nuts over shimmer and must have it, others find it annoying, all personal preference.
Did you end up using optics? I don't see any color banding in the water so I am guessing no but it looks great and just guessing, but I would say you have more than enough light for the corals you want to keep. One tip, if you want a ton of "shimmer" in the tank, point that Koralia on the left side of your tank more towards the surface to get it turbulent, it will make the tank shimmer like crazy. Some people go nuts over shimmer and must have it, others find it annoying, all personal preference.
here it is closer with the optics on. to be honest the only difference i can see with the optics is that the lights dont blind me now when i open the canopy. as long as this will grow some mushrooms, star polyps, athelia and xenia then ill be in business. where is a good place to get a float valve for an auto topoff setup. i want the manual gravity fed valve not the electric switch. i pointed my sump return a little higher and now have just about the perfect shimmer look i was going for. and thanks for the help ace.
ok, now I see color banding / bright spots .. This is one of the tricky parts with LEDs+Optics, PAR doesn't degrade equally with depth like most other lights, you can actually get really high PAR at one spot on the sand and have 1/2 the par 2" over at the top of the rocks. Just avoid putting low light corals in any bright spots in your tank. You could probably put a clam under a bright spot and it would love it. I do think that light will be more than enough for all the corals you have said you want and many more.
This type of float valve?
This type of float valve?
thats the float type i need. i think im gonna have to wire a couple fans onto my heatsink. i figured going with one 60 inches by 9 inches solid that it would give it more space for heat dissapation. but it still gets pretty warm. i can still hold my hand on it, but its warm.
the star polyps are growing pretty good with the leds. im not sure the tank looks bright enough for viewing though. corals are growing good, its just not pleasing to the eye. i did score a great deal on 2 helfrichi firefish $100 for the pair. they are doing great and stay out in the open all the time. i think im going to add another 24 leds to the heatsink and see how that turns out. i am very pleased with the pm comtroller i used for the light .
