108 3w Cree led build

[reeferman]

heres some pics of my led build to light my sps dominant 120.i ordered everything from reefledlights.com.heres what i have
72 premium Cree XP-E Royal Blue
24 Cree XP-E Cool White
12 Cree XP-G High Noon
2- 8.5x18 heatsinks
3 Meanwell ELN 60-48D Drivers tuned to 1300 mA[24 LEDS run parallel on each]
2 Meanwells tuned to 700 mA[12 LEDS on each]
1 Meanwell tuned to 1050[for 12 xp-g high noon]
8 fans
these are dimmable and with my RKE or future Apex,i can dim for sunrise or adjust the color temp to my liking.
whites and high noons

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all soldered up,man what a lot of soldering!

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everything worked great after a test run.just have to get time to add optics on some, mount them in my canopy and hooked into RKE.

 

[codsack]

Very impressive Reggie!

 

[reeferman]

thanks!i'm much more comfortable behind a saw than a soldering iron and wire strippers but i got it done.i cant wait to see it over my reef.

 

[wbrown]

I gotta see it when you install it.
Might change my mind and make me go all LED too.

 

[ff337]

Glad everything came in. Looks good.

 

[reeferman]

ill post some before and after.not sure pics will show much difference though as i run led supplements now anyway.
the high noons offer a slightly warmer look with a LOT of par.they will only be on for a few hours midday.
Wayne,i should have them on the tank soon,you could check them out when you pick up your chaeto.
Joseph,i waited long enough but finally got them.

 

[rededge2k1]

Can I ask what your total investment is so far (materials only)?

Dustin

 

[reeferman]

hey Dustin,total cost on leds.heatsinks,drivers,optics,fans,thermal adhesive,wire,medusa connectors,fuses and solder was right at 850.00.add in the new apex base unit,eb4 and cables and that was another 345.00.i saved a little money on drivers by running 24 leds in parallel strings instead of 12 per driver.just have to adjust drivers to 1300 mA.
i got optics on a few and added 4 fans to each heatsink last night.as soon as the apex gets here,they will be mounted in the canopy.my rke will control them but before i bought additional alcs,i just upgraded to apex.

 

[reeferman]

heres the fans mounted blowing down on heatsinks.4 fans per heatsink.virtually silent and they move a LOT of air across fins.added 36 80 degree optics.heatsinks will only be about 8" above surface so i didnt want to put optics on all of them,can always add later.just waiting on apex so i can get them fired up over the tank.

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[shanepike]

After running these awhile, have you made any changes?

 

[reeferman]

nope,none at all.

 

[seth the wine guy]

You run nothing but these LEDs on your tank?

 

[reeferman]

i have 2-36" giesemann pure actinic t5s that run 4 hrs a day but im sure 2 36" bulbs over a 48" tank isnt doing much

 

[jdavid]

I need your help, reeferman!

Edit:

 

[snowmansnow]

looks like a LOT of fun

 

[darrrenjmartin]

May I ask why you didn't include 430nm actinic on your build?

 

[reeferman]

i dont believe they were out when this was built[almost 2 years ago].even if they were,i wouldnt have included them,i feel theyre useless and burn out way too quickly.just my opinion.
this build has far exceeded my expectations and i wouldnt change anything.