Planning Your Build: Sketchup Models and Worksheets
3D Planning in Sketchup
Sketchup is a great way to plan your entire tank setup in 3D. We have provided Sketchup models in the Sketchup warehouse which you can use to help plan your entire build:
Planning on Paper
Before you get started, plan your build by drawing out LED positions,LED +/- orientation, Wiring paths, Screw locations, and Holes needed for wiring. A worksheet may assist you in this process:
For longer length fixtures, please print off a shorter length worksheets and attach multiple sheets together.
Would the mean-well ELN-60-48D or the ELN-60-48D be able to be mounted inside the housing or the heatsink which ever one is the term used really interested in your product bc of the professional look it has looking forward to hearing back form you guys thanks Chris
Hi Chris,
The Meanwell drivers really only have enough room to fit on the outsides:
http://makersled.com/?page_id=24#meanwell
http://makersled.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/drill-makersled-diy.png
You could place them on top of the heatsink fins but it would stick out higher than the top of the fixture and you wouldn’t have a good way to mount them.
If you are concerned about looks, I would suggest mounting your LED drivers remotely — under or besides your tank and running wires up to them.
I’m wanting to order the 36″ heatsink and load it up with LED’s like the ocreef aqual LED. I’m still “new” at this, but I understand the “max.” is 25 LED’s per 12″= 75 LED’S at 3 watts= 225 watts. Not sure on the amps part, what driver do I need and what do I need to look for in specs for the “rails” MakersLED makes…GREAT JOB BTW!! excellent product…
Hi Sean,
You could easily fit over 30 LEDs on the heatsink but anything over 25leds/ft might be overkill for even the deepest of tanks. In the next month I will be assembling a 30-plus Cree+Rebel LED setup just to show how much heat our heatsinks can sink.
If you are using Meanwells or Inventronics LED drivers just make sure you stay within the wattage levels of the power supply – just like you calculated. thanks!
Hello,
All these recipes appear to be for aquarium lighting. Do ya’ll have any recipes for growing vegetable plants in winter? A plant solution that hits the most important spectrums would be great.
John
This is a good ratio for indoor plant growth.
http://www.ledsupply.com/makersled-grow-kits.php
Whats rhw dimesions for the nano heat sink and could u place the leds on it similar to the aqua illuminations nano fixture
The fixture is 6.5 in width x3.15 in height x 6 in depth. If you look on our technical resources page, we have the recipe for the AI nano listed. These LEDs can be purchased through LEDgroupbuy.com. They will easily fit on the nano fixture.
Hey,
It notes that you should use Neutral White instead of Cool White but all the commercial fixtures use the Cool White LEDs instead of the Neutral ones. Whats up with that?
Thanks,
Neutral whites add just enough other color spectrum to bring out the colors in your corals. Cool whites and royal blue alone will make your corals look extremely bland. You could use cool whites and supplement them with a handful of all the colored LEDs, but then you will have to deal with disco spots. Example: AI Vega.