I have been wanting to upgrade my lights for a while and after doing a lot of research I finally made the move. I pieced together a design based on other builds I have seen on the internet. I wanted to keep the install clean and to have the ability to revert back to the stock lighting if needed. I also wanted a dimmable fixture so I could adjust the color and potentially set up a sunrise/sunset schedule.
This is what I ended up with:
27 Cree LED's. 9 neutral white and 18 royal blue.
Makers driver
Makers controller
16" heat sink
48v power supply
I needed to drill 4 holes to mount the heat sink.
I opened up the case.
And removed the ballast.
Using thermal adhesive I attached the LED's to the heat sink. And then wired them in two arrays.
I installed the heat sink back into the hood.
And then wired up the driver and power supply. I ended up mounting these inside the cabinet.
I plugged in the power supply and we have light.
Here is the tank with 50% light. I have read about a lot of people bleaching their coral so I am going to move up the light intensity slowly.
Wiring up the controller to the makers driver was easy. It just has a headphone style interface that connects the two. I programmed it for sunrise, sunset and to follow the lunar cycle. It is also capable of cloud cover and a noon peak. Over all I am satisfied with the way it turned out. Now hopefully my coral like the upgrade.
The entire project cost me less than $300.