Wade Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 I want to set up a nano reef cannister like the PJ Reef. I've got everything I need except a light. I found this one and it's pretty inexpensive (even with shipping from China Zetlight ZN1000 http://www.zetlight.com/index.php/products?id=23 I wouldn't mind making my own 3 LED fixture, but I need to know what I need and where to get it. I'll use two blue and one white or all three blue. I'd use a piece of PVC for the pendant and mount the heat sink with LEDs at the top. I don't know what I'd need to power the LEDs and if it would be possible to add a dial dimmer. Can someone shoot me a quick materials list and where to buy it? Thanks in advance for your help:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckyuv Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 someone on here was makin some cool ones a while back, I think it was Tim but I'm not positive. Hopefully they will see this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryD Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 Check out rapid led they have some good tutorials and general rules to setup a light as well as all the parts you will need. As to the the two to one blue to white ratio you will find that even with the blues turned down it will be extremely blue so you might consider doing a white a blue and an uv or something similar. That is unless you like they really blue tanks then by all means go right ahead. For power on a three led pendent you are probably going to need at least a twelve or fifteen volt twenty watt power supply. If you have any other questions shoot me a pm and I should be able to at least point you in the right direction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wade Posted October 7, 2015 Author Share Posted October 7, 2015 Thanks Larry. I'm not really sure what the proper LEDs should be used to provide the necessary light spectrum for zoa/palys. I don't want it to be overly blue, but I do want the colors to pop. One blue, one white and one uv may be just the way to go. I'll visit the Rapid LED site and do some research. I forgot all about them so thanks:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wade Posted October 7, 2015 Author Share Posted October 7, 2015 Any opinions on the Zetlight? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryD Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 Thanks Larry. I'm not really sure what the proper LEDs should be used to provide the necessary light spectrum for zoa/palys. I don't want it to be overly blue, but I do want the colors to pop. One blue, one white and one uv may be just the way to go. I'll visit the Rapid LED site and do some research. I forgot all about them so thanks:) How big of a tank is this for? If it was me I might be inclined to run a four led pendant with two whites, a royal blue and a uv then run the whites on one dimming channel and the blue and uv on another. I don't know if you have any experience with microcontrollers or if you have a controller on the tank but the manual dimmers were kind of big so you might try and get a digital dimmer. Any opinions on the Zetlight?It looks flimsy and I doubt that a cheap Chinese light will have a shiny goose neck that won't rust or wear out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wade Posted October 9, 2015 Author Share Posted October 9, 2015 Good point on the goose neck. The tank is going to be about a half gallon if that. Desktop eye candy for work. Rapid LED has got me sorted out. I think I can order everything I need from them and build my first LED fixture:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryD Posted October 9, 2015 Share Posted October 9, 2015 That is what they did for me also, I assume you went with the solderless LEDs? A three led pendant for a half gallon tank you are going to have to dim it or you will bake things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wade Posted October 14, 2015 Author Share Posted October 14, 2015 Nope, going to order the solder LEDs so I'll have enough room to mount them to the large single LED heat sink. Yeah I'm going to get the driver with the dimmer so I can keep it turned down. The whole thing is an experiment anyway, but I think with the room temperature at my office typically being on the cool side, I should be ok. I'm not going to use any lenses and just recess the LEDs far enough in the housing to create a spot effect. I may even glue some aluminum foil around the inside of the housing or retrofit a single large refracting lens from some other light fixture. I may not need to do any of that. I guess I won't know until I have it built:) I'll post some pics of the build once I get started. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wade Posted October 19, 2015 Author Share Posted October 19, 2015 I built my DIY pendant LED this weekend with material I purchased from Rapid LED (pictures attached). I deconstructed an old track light and used it. Turned out pretty good for my first try at a DIY light if I don't say so myself! I plan to build an L-shaped acrylic stand to sit the canister on and then mount the pendant to it to hang over the canister. I think if I use 3/8" or 1/2" acrylic and spray paint the back with gloss black, that it'll make the tank stand out more. I plan to stock the nano with some small zoa frags I have (Whammin' Watermelon, Radioactive Dragon's Eye, Armor of God palys or Lord of the Rings Palys (I'm not sure which one it is) and some tiny blue zoas that might be Tubs. I've also got a small frag of GSP I'll put on top. However, there are a couple of things I still need and I'm hoping I can pick them up locally: a small piece or two of Red Gracilaria. a mini brittle star one or two small mushrooms preferably blue but anything that's eye-catching and isn't green will do splendidly a small feather duster or two and some amphipods and copepods (I can get a 250 pack from Reefs2Go for $9.99 shipped! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryD Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 As someone who has made the mistake of putting gsp in a nano on the main rock structure listen to me when I say don't unless you want it to cover the scape in a few months. If you really want some gsp in the tank isolate it on the sand bed or attach it to the back glass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 If you do a search on "Cannon" and my user name you'll find my instructions for DIY LED cannons that can be reconfigured for what ever you want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wade Posted October 20, 2015 Author Share Posted October 20, 2015 As someone who has made the mistake of putting gsp in a nano on the main rock structure listen to me when I say don't unless you want it to cover the scape in a few months. If you really want some gsp in the tank isolate it on the sand bed or attach it to the back glass. Thanks Larry. I may rethink that then. I have GSP isolated on my overflow in my DT, but it seems to only grow on the upper half to upper 3/4. I thought if I put it on a rock perched on top that maybe it wouldn't grow into the shadows to reach the rocks below. I may try it and see how it goes. If it starts to try and bridge the gap, then I'll remove it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wade Posted October 20, 2015 Author Share Posted October 20, 2015 If you do a search on "Cannon" and my user name you'll find my instructions for DIY LED cannons that can be reconfigured for what ever you want. Thanks Tim. I'll give it a look. I'm not sure how mine will work out as it's my first attempt. I can always break it down and construct by your instructions if need be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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