newbie da noob i need help please

Hi all, must say first off i dont have much of a clue about these electronics, So what i want to do is a diy LED canopy for my fish tank, i need to drive 4 panels with 37 LEDS per panel 3v, 350-1000ma. The drivers i have found upto now only run 8 leds each (meaning 20 sets of drivers ), Could i get and run 2 drivers per panel, Or possibly make drivers to run them ? I was working on the assumption that 16x 3v leds is 48 volts needed to run them, but a 15-36v power supply only runs 8 leds , Sorry its long winded but its been quite hard to find simple information or the products,

thanks for reading, keith

Show your led panel first

Thanks, I am still in the planning and sourcing of the parts,Hence having problems sorting out how to drive the leds, I am trying to avoid buying 20 power supplies if there is another way

Why not use a CFL?

hiya, thanks for the reply, i assume you mean a compact flourescent lamp ? these wont work as im looking to create a 24 hr daytime/night cycle, the leds will dim up early reach a max power and dim down in the evening, Also need a light range from about 6000k upto 14/16k at full power, hopefully represent the same light as metal halides

cheers keith

You will probably need a microcontroller with RTCC and you could PWM the LED array. It's also likely they sell such stuff at aquarium stores and it would cost less than starting from scratch.

Thanks for looking, what im looking for from hong kong is about $2000 canadian ($500 each) plus shipping , i can pick up 150 seoul leds for $3.40 each to give the light i need its just driving the little things approx 20 per driver
OH and they are prob the cheapest units ready made i can find, all aquarium shops i know of only sell complete units , not the cheapest of hobbies

cheers k

How do you plan to control the time & brightness?

hiya i will be using a project from Ultimate reef, its based on a Arduino uno board, a Nokia 3310 screen and proto shield. I have downloaded all the instructions for the build and links on where they can be purchased, i need to get the software nxt from the same thread, this when complete will control the light timings and dimming, theres a cracking tank build posted on a forum called Reef Central, the guy comes from Oakville,Ontario. Whether it close to you i couldnt say but you should have a look to see what people with a few spare dollars get upto in the basement, his name is nineball, its in the large reef tank section and called : Coral Tank From Canada (1,350g display tank) without reading the whole thread 255 pages just find page 247 and scroll down to the pics. The lighting actually changes colour in the room and earlier in the thread you can find pics of the pool table down there too.