LED project

[Andrew_B]

Alright, so I have 3 very nice looking LED light bars coming in the mail tomorrow. Each bar is a Dimmable 72watt, 22" fixture with 60 degree beam angle. I'm going to make a nice little box out of wood for these fixtures and hang above my tank. No idea what I'm going to do to hang them though. I can't hang from ceiling or from wall as I'm in an apartment. I'm looking for ways to mount to my stand itself. This is the idea I have so far, any thoughts if it will be viable or not? I do my build related thinking while drawing stuff up.

Overall:

Fixture:

Support pole:

Steel Brackets:


Materials: 3/4" Steel piping. Buy/borrow a manual pipe bender and make two 90 degree bends then bolt it to the side of the stand near the back. Whats scaring me is the weight of fixture. Each LED bar is just over 2lb, so 6lb in total for lights, then maybe another 10lb in wood and plexiglass splash cover. 16lb of weight hanging from the pipping might put a whole lot of force on the Steel Straps at the bottom. I'm not worried about the pipes warping/bending, but the straps getting torn off from the stand. Not sure. Think this will work, or have any other ideas that I could go with?

[sunkenmetal]

Don't bend the pipe to true 90 degrees bend it to 45 then put he fixture on and see how far it needs to be bent with the weight on it.

[prostreet69camaro]

I have a counduit bender for 1/2", 3/4" and 1" pipe. It is for EMT pipe or galvanized pipe.

You might be better off with 1" EMT or 3/4" Ridgid pipe. I think the clamps will be fine and if you are worried about the screws pulling out then use a nut and bolt thru the wood with washers.

You can also make a pole on each side and put them together with a coupling. I have a threader also unless you use EMT pipe.

What size tank do you have?

[Andrew_B]

It's a 40 breeder tank and already setup, which makes it more difficult. The vertical supports of the stand don't touch the plywood on the sides so the clamps would be putting all the force on the 3/4" plywood. I think it should be fine. Worse case, more clamps = more force distribution.

Yeah, Im not really sure what types of pipe I should be using for this. One of the things I need to keep in mind that I have a small car. a 10ft pipe is the correct length that I would need if I did one solid piece, but not exactly made to be transported in a corolla! Would it be bad if I went with 1"-1 1/4" galvanized steel pipe thats threaded as they have different lengths as well as threaded curves/elbows? Surely it would be as strong as a bent single piece, just maybe weigh a little more

[prostreet69camaro]

I would go with 3/4" or 1" EMT pipe. It is thinner pipe and you could make it in 2 pieces. Put a coupling in the middle. Then it will fit in your Corolla. You can call me @ 281-813-4405 Mike

[Andrew_B]

Does home depot cut pipe? Or would I just bring a hacksaw and cut it myself before going home. not sure how easy it would cut.

I'm also looking at possibly using hanging track shelves, then mount them on both sides of the stand, toward the back. Would be nice to be able to easily raise/lower the light being a strong led fixture and all. I guess I really just need to go to home depot and look around first

If I do decide to go the pipe route, ill definitely get a hold of you

[Andrew_B]

Well, got the fixtures in, and man... was this a waste of time. Complete garbage of lights. I guess the quality of LED makes all the difference in the world. I just figured that 72 of these 3w LEDs were comparable to 36 3w cree... boy was I wrong. I guess I'll just have to suck it up and order from rapidled. I don't think 3 of these fixtures will even be good over a 20g tank. They look well built, but just low quality leds

[johnnytrinh]

Are they not bright or what's wrong with them

[Andrew_B]

Not at all bright. Built nicely, good waterproof enclosure with a dimmer but the light output with those 72 3w leds was worse than 2 of my little 9w spotlights over my freshwater tanks. The beam angle is bad, the colors didnt mix, they had a distinct blue/white alternates even lifting it like 15" above the waterline. With the 3 fixtures all on, full power, the tank was a very ugly brown color

[Andrew_B]

Im thinking I was sent his 1w led fixtures. He has a refund policy, so Im just going to refund them. thats what i get for trying to do cheap leds!

[Ballinxalex]

Get some led modules 1 watts online and then get a power supply off of eBay done

[Andrew_B]

1w leds for saltwater? Yeah, not going to happen. there must be a reason why brand name led reef fixtures are 400-500 bucks

[johnnytrinh]

That sucks. I'm using led from aquastyle on my nano tank and I'm loving it.

[Ballinxalex]

Get about 100 1 watts and then some colors for your salt u would be surprise how much light 1 watts put out

[Andrew_B]

1 watts dont penetrate.

I should have went the aquasttyle route.. I had their new controller kit in my cart ready to go for like 2 weeks