LED HELP PLEASE (Suprise for deployed hubby)

[99taws6]

Ok so I have led's from Steves on my 75 gallon tank. I really don't like the coverage and it doesn't seem as bright as others tanks with leds. I will tell you a little about my setup and see what you think can help. I can solder and want to fix them before he gets home.

I have a total of 72 3w leds. I have 24 white, 40 blue and 8 green. Right now they are mounted on the square channel aluminum heatsinks. I have 3 heatsinks and 3 fans. Each heatsink has 24 leds and is run by a quad driver. Each driver runs 6 leds.

Right now my center array is like this wwwwww wwwwww wwwwww wwwwww with 60deg optics
Right now my front and rear arrays are bgbbbb bbbbgb bgbbbb bbbbgb with 60deg optics

The arrays are about 6" from the surface of the water in my fully enclosed canopy. They are about 5" apart with about 4" from the front and back of the canopy. I originally had them with no optics which is supposed to be standard 120deg.

I was thinking about redoing the placement of the led's on the heatsinks because I have way too much blue and when I turn the blue down it seems to get really dim. Also the blues tend to wash out the front of the tank because the whites are in the middle. I have a 2:1 ratio blue/white so that is what everyone recommends.

Please help me decide what to do. Thanks in advance.

 

[DFW]

I don't see how you could have way too much blue with a 2/1 ratio blue/white. Most, I think, would find that there was too much white in that case, and so, would turn down the white with the blue full on.

Do you think that using 90 degree optics, or possibly no optics on the white LEDs would help? It should cause the white to disperse throughout the blue better.

David

 

[bmonroe1951]

I would say try taking the optics off. At that height off the water and on a 24" tall tank you don't need them. I ran steves epistars on my 120 with no optics 12" off the surface and the colors blended well, and they were mounted in the same fashion as yours.

 

[Tj51]

@bmonroe1951 wrote:

+1 I took my lens off and it made a world of difference