Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)
Hi,
John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.
I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.
With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.
I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.
If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.
I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.
I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.
Thank you
Darragh Sherwin
DIY 30w LED light for shrimp tank
1 - 3x 10w LED chip 6500K, 1000Lumens/each
2 - 3x heat sink with fan 55x55x12mm,
3 - 3x 12v 10w LED Driver
4 - thermal glue
5 - red and black 3 amp wire
6 - couple of electrical connectors(screw the wires together ones)
7 - pvc black corner finish(around 2 meters)
8 - 3x black pvc round grate
9 - sheet of 5mm black foamed pvc
10 - 12v power unit(in this case 3.5 amp was enough)
11 - sheet of 2mm perspex
First of all the 10w LED chips are getting very hot very quickly so they need to be glued on to heat sink with small fan(each). That will keep them in low working temperature. Much larger heat sink can be used without the fan but this would enlarge the overall size of the lamp.
So first step is gluing and connecting the drivers. Led chips and drivers are marked which side or cable is + and - so no worries.
Everything then goes on to the pvc board and needs to be attached and wired up. U need to remember that the fans and LED chips need to go on at the same time. Otherwise the chips will overheat and burn out.
The last bit is casing. I used 5mm foamed pvc cause it is easy to work with. This light is not water tight as it went over the tank which has glass cover. The perspex just covers the chips to stop accidental splashing getting in. All the finishing bits like grates over the fans or pvc edging is to make it look good. If the light goes in to existing cover they are not really needed.
And there you go, 3000 Lumens 12v 30w LED light
Most of the materials were bought on eBay. Some soldering skills and decent enough soldering iron/gun are required to put this together as well as some basic electrical knowledge. The current is 12volt so pretty safe. The LED chips are Epistar(Chinese product of decent quality)
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How much did it costs ?
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This light also has red LED modules, that i forgot to mention. I'm also working on large light for my 450l tank (150cm long). Just after initial testing today. 160w of brain melting brightness
, will make separate post when it is finishedAs for the blowing the gaff up.....no stress, it's all 12v DC, u can grab the live wires and nothing will hapend
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