Led help

G

Guppy Breeder

Need help planning my next LEDs for my next build

My next build will be 2 40b sharing a sump one 40 will be my display while the other my frag tank

Livestock wise not to sure yet but I will be keeping everything sps lps zoas and maybe a nem not sure

So my question what ratio of LEDs would I need for both? One full reef and one frag tank for zoa lps sps frags?
 
Right now, on the club group buy, for about 150 delivered you can get the reef radiance fixture with 55 3 watt bridgelux LEDs. I think it will cost more to diy 30 crees, and the fixture looks nice. The bridgelux are less efficient, but likely would be better than any diy of the same price for parts. I have diy LEDs in certain applications, like in a hood along with T5s. But the prices are too good now on fixtures to be putting up junky looking stuff that costs more as stand alone lighting, in my opinion. I prefer a mixture of T5 and LED, but some applications do not lend themselves readily to doing that.
 
I dont have 300 i can do just out if pocket like that. Thats why i prefer diy since i can buy as my budget allows and with my ocd the light wouldnt look junky.

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2
 
@Guppy Breeder wrote:
I dont have 300 i can do just out if pocket like that. Thats why i prefer diy since i can buy as my budget allows and with my ocd the light wouldnt look junky. Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2 said:
Well, if you start out with 14 LEDs over each tank using RapidLED supplies I think that it will cost nearly 200, plus whatever you are going to mount them to. And you won't have enough light on either tank to do what you say you are wanting to do. 28 on one tank with lps, and zoas might be ok, but probably not very good for sps, do you think?
Click to expand...
 
That is true but I wouldn't be buying from rapid or Steve's when you can find the same LEDs on fleabay for half the cost. And a 24in aluminum heatsink shouldn't be but 25-30 depending on how thick and wide I want it
 
@Guppy Breeder wrote:
That is true but I wouldn't be buying from rapid or Steve's when you can find the same LEDs on fleabay for half the cost. And a 24in aluminum heatsink shouldn't be but 25-30 depending on how thick and wide I want it said:
OK, so you probably end up spending 150 for 28 LEDs with heatsinks, and drivers. You could have a fixture for a tank for that.
Click to expand...
 
As far as ratio goes, depending on color temp and controllability this is what I did and can be downsized ratio wise to what you need.

90 gallon setup: all cree xt-e/xp-e running at 1 amp/700 ma/600 ma (I bought most of everything from reefledlights)
2 fixtures cloning this ratio (so in total 16 drivers and 88 3w leds)
24 royal blue
8 cool white
10 410-420 UV's
4 reds

If was to redo this I would add
http://www.rapidled.com/total-spectrum-violet-uv-led/ and take out 3 whites.

This would produce a very blue tank, but I like the Windex look. I have great growth atm with my current ratios. I can give a more in depth analysis and explanation for why I choose everything the way I did if you want.
 
DFW, Steve's LEDs is not the only place to get good LEDs, especially with his prices on the LEDs. I recently purchased 100 LEDs and I think I spent around $50.00 for all of them together. By the time I am done with everything I'll be spending about $120.00 for my set up to 100 LEDs with a controller on them that should meet every need I have.

Guppy Breeder, One thing I may do is go back and order more of the blues. For this fixture I currently have 20 20K whites, 20 10K lights, 25 Blue lights (2 color temp), 7 UV Lights, and 7 green lights.

From what I have been told, and I have never had a reef tank before and just doing research, you need to have at least a 3:1 ratio of blues to whites. This is to allow good growth of coral and not be just 100% blues in your tank for viewing. So for your display tank a 3:1 ratio of blues to whites and for the frag tank a 3.5:1 or a 4:1 ratio to give it more blues.


Tim Sapp
 
@DFW wrote:
Tim said:
I ordered them through eBay from these guys.

http://www.ebay.com/usr/string-lights

It looks like they have gone up since I ordered them but they are still cheap. If you order them in lots of 50 you can get them for .59 each, in lots of 10 it goes up to .99 each. I have checked them out with a variable power supply and they are right around 3 watts each. So far every one of them that I have tested or wired up have been operational with no DOAs.

Tim
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top