10 Cube ATS using custom LEDs

[zoolan70]

Step one, build the ATS

I've never built anything with acrylic, but I figured why not buy a table saw and router and give it a try. I built the ATS using .228 acrylic from Home Depot. It is approximately 15x15 with a removable to lid to keep down evaporation and noise. Disregard the orientation of screen...I was trying it both way to see what I liked better. It will be 12" wide by 10" tall.

No one will confuse this with something built by an acrylic shop, but it didn't turn out too bad.









Here are some pictures before I routed the top cover, so you can see the how the cover fits on. You can see I put in some tabs to center the lid. In the future, if I make another one, I will probably use an acrylic hinge.:






I plan to build my LED lights later this week. All the parts should come in today. I will be using:
8x10 heatsink (with fan)
Mean Well LPC-60-1050 constant current driver - 45V max, 1050ma
2 strings of LEDs in parallel - 5 red and 2 blue LEDs per string (see LED specs below) - total of14 LEDs per side, running at 525ma

Blue - 445nm
Voltage: 2.8-3.6V
Current: 620mA-650 mA
View Angle: 120 degree

Red - 660nm
Voltage : 2.3V~2.8V
Current : 650mA
View Angle: 120 degree

[kerry]

Looking good, nice build. You might want to add a second emergency drain in case the algae lets go and clogs it.

[zoolan70]

Looking good, nice build. You might want to add a second emergency drain in case the algae lets go and clogs it.

Hmmmm...interesting thought. I'll incorporate it into the next one I do for sure. For this one...probably will just put it into some sort of catch basin with a drain.

[zoolan70]

Looking good, nice build. You might want to add a second emergency drain in case the algae lets go and clogs it.

I've been mulling this idea over while I drone through some boring work, and I think maybe I'll add a second bulkhead a little further up the side, and turn the lower one into a herbie overflow. That would solve the emergency drain issue, and quiet down the system.

[tomservo]

Are you sure that LPC60 will run at that low of a voltage? You're looking at like 18v with those puny 7 emitter strings. What you want is an LPC35 for this rig. 660nm red emitters are 2w, not 3. (and you're running at 525ma besides!). I could be wrong, maybe they will fire that low, but it doesn't follow with the specs on all their other stuff. I have an LPC60-1400 here, I'll try it on one of the 15V strings on this fixture I'm building.

Also, isn't that scrubber MAJOR overkill for a 10g tank? I'm building a 15" cube (12g) and putting a 6x6" screen on it, should be plenty 1-2 cubes a day easy.

[Floyd R Turbo]

I think this is a 10 cube per day scrubber, not a scrubber for a 10g cube

[tomservo]

Well then this is a great thread for me, as I'm in the process of building a 12x9 scrubber for a friend.. I was going to go with 12 red on each side but I have the headroom driver-wise to add a blue or two to each side... or will that be overkill? When driven at full power?

[kerry]

I can affirm that the blue does HELP, I have a test model with all red one side and one blue on the other and the one blue side is always twice the growth after two weeks, in a weeks time its not a lot but the second weed it really helps.

[Remed]

I can affirm that the blue does HELP, I have a test model with all red one side and one blue on the other and the one blue side is always twice the growth after two weeks, in a weeks time its not a lot but the second weed it really helps.

So you mean that Blue ones more better than Red ones ??
can you show me the pics that diferrences between two of them ??
how many watt you are using ?

[Floyd R Turbo]

I think he meant all red on one side, and one blue added to the other side (so same amount of red on both sides)