Talk Me Through Led Lights, Please

[dgwebster]

About £2 per cree xe-p from ebay, going down to about £1.50 each when buying in batches. The problem I have is its looking like £70-£80 to sort my community tank, or for £20 i can add another 30w tube, resulting in using the same power. For me, its the cheap way i go.

 

[DrRob]

Indeed, a problem that I've encountered, but for me it's a different issue. I need a new hood/lighting array for a couple of 30" tanks, which are a pain to find as it's a non-standard size (although it's still a standard clearseal old school tank). All the luminaires that I like are 2 or 3 feet long and won't quite give the coverage or give too much.
 
Add to that that it's on T8 tubes at the moment (it's the only tank I have on these and I'm out of tubes anyway) and I'm either in for a fresh tube or two a new ballast and some means of suspending them over the tank.
 
So overall I'm looking for cheap aluminium for a heat sink to get me started, the LED's I could source at the time.

 

[dgwebster]

I would recommend buying actual heatsinks: far more effective. The effectively transfer heat away from the electronics it needs a large surface area within easy reach: the fins of a heatsink are all very close to the heat source, allowing it to efficiently complete the transfer.
Something like this, cut into smaller pieces

http/pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=200800918896