LED LIghting

[Reefpete]

I was replying to a PM from ReefPete 4 times tonight, but I keep having a computer BSOD; looks like the mobo is on it's way out.  Not a cheap one, either!

My reply to him was on the same topic.  Fish and softies don't require the type of light that the SPS's do.  I'd do two 16" X the widest heatsinks you can get for future expandability.  then, I'd use 24 LED's on a side, probably 2-4 warm whites, 2-4 cyan, 8-10 cool whites, and 8-10 royal blues per side.  4 Meanwell 60D-48's, 2 for the warm whites and the cool whites, one side per controller, and ditto for the royal blues and the cyans.  If you wanted to really add some color and balance to the tank, I'd add 2 greens, 2 Luxdrive reds (Wall_Tank, input on those reds you were showing me?) per side, all on one 30D-27 driver.  I'd use 70 deg optics on the cool whites and the royal blues, and 80 degree optics on everything else.

With a discount code, you could get the hardware from LED Reef Lights for probably around $350-400, and then you need to adapt your canopy or build one.

Sorry to hear that your board crashed while replying to me. I could think of a thousand different things I'd like to be doing when mine bites the blue one.

[Reefpete]

Interesting read, Im in the process of planning a 75G mix set-up, fish and softies.  I am set on going LED's if they can get the job done,  They DIY looks like the best way to go but im not sure if I would want to tackle it.  How much would a 48" fixture run anyhow (DIY)?


Jeremy

Look at:
www.reefledlights.com  There is a lot of information here. As well as some niceties that help the "not so DIY inclined" 
www.rapidled.com  A different aspect always helps

[Wall_Tank]

I hated the reds when I had them in my setup.  They lasted a week and I ripped them out.  I'll use more Warm White before I put red in.  It's just to strong and overpowering.

The red is a beneficial spectrum, but I agree with it not looking the best.  I run my reds when I'm not around the tank.

2 Luxdrive reds (Wall_Tank, input on those reds you were showing me?)

I love the color, but this is for a sump light.   Seeing how LED's grow cheato.....only been running for a week.   You cannot get optics for them yet...... I might end up modifying some optics to fit.

[The WuSue]

Thinking of getting 5 units of AI LED for our new set up ... Going blue, royal blue and white. Anyone have any input on this?

[kattz]

I hated the reds when I had them in my setup.  They lasted a week and I ripped them out.  I'll use more Warm White before I put red in.  It's just to strong and overpowering.

I have 8 reds above my tank, all with 80 degree optics, and they run for 4 hours at 30% output during my "high noon" period.  I can't visually tell that they're on, but my corals sure can!  The only way that I know that they are running is by actually looking at the LEDs.

[kattz]

Thinking of getting 5 units of AI LED for our new set up ... Going blue, royal blue and white. Anyone have any input on this?

Kim at Aquatic Specialists in Troy has 6 or 8 of these above his DT at the store, and also uses them over his 300g SPS tank at home.  I like them, they're pretty flexible, and I would talk to him before I order them, because he modified his optics.  If I was going with store-bought, this is the direction I'd go, but they are expensive.  And, if I bought 3 units, I'd have at least 1 red LED in each one.  A little red is good; a lot is terrible-loking and lethal to SPS.

[DarinSchmidt]

DIY LED myself

[CoralBeauties]

kattz
How does your coral react to the reds?  I am currently running just whites and blues.  I never stop looking for improvements.
thanks
Jeff

[kattz]

I had issues with very little or slow encrustation and growth.  After adding the red at noon (starting out at 15%), I noticed an uptick in the rate of encrustation.  I slowly moved the output up to 30% over 4 weeks, and growth is pretty good, literally a 1000% improvement.  Borneman says that reds are lethal to corals, so I'm a little concerned at going any higher right now.  I have a 50/50 mix of CW/RB, with an additional 8 red LED's, and I'm not pleased with the washed-out color.  The reds give a very slight amount of color back.  I have plenty of PAR, but the tank looks pale until the whites start to scale back.  My high noon color is the same as 2 250W 10 or 12K MH's over the tank. 

The new layout I'm adding is an additional 24 RB, 12 Cyan, and 8 green.  The green is an experiment, and from what I've read, you have to be really careful with green, or algae can ensue.

[Neogenesis]

kattz,

Try swapping out some of your CW for WW.  I only did a few and was able to see a difference, a positive one in my opinion.  I plan to do more, but want to replace my other 2 fixture before I do much more tweaking.

[DarinSchmidt]

How does Green help algae grow? Algae is green because thats the light that it reflects. That would be like trying to grow plants with green light... it takes red 640nm - 720nm or higher to grow algae. and i think its the red spectrum in the 700's thats lethal to corals but it doesnt usually pas smuch more then 3 meters in water, which is what makes it an issue in our tanks from my understanding. Feel free to correct me, thats just my understanding of it. But I'm not saying that the LEDs that you have which im assuming are prob 640nm unless you got the LEDENGINE or OSRAM leds which are 660nm couldnt be lethal with higher intensity than what you are running them at now.

[kattz]

kattz,

Try swapping out some of your CW for WW.  I only did a few and was able to see a difference, a positive one in my opinion.  I plan to do more, but want to replace my other 2 fixture before I do much more tweaking.

Out of 36 CW's how many would you change to WW?  12?

[kattz]

How does Green help algae grow? Algae is green because thats the light that it reflects. That would be like trying to grow plants with green light... it takes red 640nm - 720nm or higher to grow algae. and i think its the red spectrum in the 700's thats lethal to corals but it doesnt usually pas smuch more then 3 meters in water, which is what makes it an issue in our tanks from my understanding. Feel free to correct me, thats just my understanding of it. But I'm not saying that the LEDs that you have which im assuming are prob 640nm unless you got the LEDENGINE or OSRAM leds which are 660nm couldnt be lethal with higher intensity than what you are running them at now.

The greens are an experiment.  My info on how the can grow algae is from something I'd read, I think it was in Calfo's Guide to Coral Propagation.

[DarinSchmidt]

it depends on if you are going for looks or for whats best for the corals. WW have a good amount of red in them and still some blue like the Cool whites. But for those who want a blue'r look, you'll want more CW, but if you dont mine the more, umm, yellowish red look, then add more WW. I would prob do a 50/50 WW/CW, have the WW's be XPE's and the CW's XPGs so that if the WW's are too much for your liking you can either turn them down or turn up the CW's. And with the CW's being XPG, when you turn them up, since they are more efficient, they put out more lumens per mA, so it wouldnt take much more mA to lesson the effects of the WW.

Could you post a link if you have it handy on the greens?

[kattz]

I don't have a link handy on the greens, and as much trouble as I'm having posting now with IE 9 and this board, I'm about ready to just quit posting.  Don't feel like sorting through Cree's website for the info.

[Wall_Tank]

For what it is worth the Cree XP-G Cool Whites are alot warmer than the XP-E Cool Whites.

[DarinSchmidt]

Based on what Wall_Tank? I think it also depends on which Bins you get. The only thing i have found is on Cree's datasheets that show the RRP, the SPE's are higher in the Yellow area at ~55% and the XPG's are at 45%, that thats datasheets for you. They arent always accurate and real world physical properties with mechanical production of these can change each LED a little.

[Wall_Tank]

Based on what Wall_Tank?

Based on the reviews by some and the ones I have running on my tank.   I have both regular and premium bin chips as well.

[DarinSchmidt]

hmm, i was just wondeirng if you had anything on them. Such as do you know which BIN's yours use for the CW's? R5's are the best, not sure exactly where they fall on the Kelvin scale in the range supplied. Interesting though. I did read that XPE's can go up to 10k, but i donno which BIN actually gets close ot that as it doesnt really state it anywhere.

[Wall_Tank]

Everything is Bin R5, but even within that bin they can vary.   I bought a few of the Cherry Picked R5 bin to see if there was any difference....

The main difference was the quality of the starboards that were used.......the starboards on the premium chips transferred heat much faster,

[DarinSchmidt]

ah ok, good to know. i havent had any XPE CW's, just the XPG's and they seemed pretty blue to me, but that doesnt mean that the XPE's arent bluer. Good to know, thanks for sharing.

[referinohio]

Right now on my 58 gallon Oceanic I have a 250 watt MH with (2) atinics. Going to a 3 heat sink
diy led fixture for the new 125. 50/50 mix Cree cool whites and royal blues.

[DarinSchmidt]

I like that combo myself, but i wish i would have made at least 25% of all those LEDs a 50/50 mix of blue and NW/WW. The Blues help teh corals POP and the NW/WW help give the corals some extra spectrum to feed off of.