so i am going to build my own led light system for the 75 gallon tank i am building but how many watts of led do i need to make the corals happy, i will have soft, lps, and sps. also what ratio should i use for blue to white i was thinking either 2:1 or 1:1 with and if i do 2:1 should i do 1/3 420nm 1/3 ultra blue (around 465nm i think) and the other 1/3 white any help will be great
Are you only using LED? I just bought 2-36"heatsinks and 18 royalblue-18 purple(420nm) to go along with my mh,however I will say I cant comment on the purple because I’m still waiting for the optics to show up from rapid.they have been back ordered since the begging or march,they are now telling me beginning of April.
Right now I am planning on led only but I might do some t5 to supplement if the cost is too much all at once
I’m not sure you really need the white. I am currently running all 20k mh and I also have 2 atinics plus the led,no white here,you should ask kaptken where he has that light chart that shows the wave pattern of the colors and what corals need for their a-b zooanthella which is from 420 to 650nm (I think) which is blue and purple,just remember that the fish could cAreless what color you use.you might want to take a look at those of us who are using them so then you can get an idea of what they look like on different corals and colors
if you want white i would go 4 or 5 royals to one white the white severely overpowers the blues. you do need to do t5 or something to get the right spectrum unless you get green red violet blue and royal blue but this still wont cover all the needed spectrums like a ho vho or mh does. the problem with led from what i have read is that they are only targeting a specific nm range like royal blue is 455-463 or something like that without a hint of any other spectrum. a 420 actinic vho or ho peaks at 420 but also has a lot of other spectrums just weak but weak is better than nothing
DVRC has some nice led build threads. There was a guy on there that used like 4-5 different led’s.
ok so how much t5 and how much led should i do. would a 2 bulb t5 be enough with the led or should i do a 4 bulb fixture
I think you’d be fine with 2 actinic t5’s for your 420 spectrum… but the more the merrier, some may say do 4.
either way is fine IMHO… your choice
2 should b ok but 4 would be better
[quote=“saltcreep, post:8, topic:5291”]
some may say do 4.[/quote]
Thanks Tim :
: you were the “some” i had in mind :
:
Lol just call me “some” lol
I just lost one of my Orphik PR25 Bulbs and instead of replacing it went with DIY heatsink build
for my 38Gal display I went with 20RB, 12CW, 4NW and 12UV from Rapid.
I know this is overkill and will need to run white at like 30% and Blues at 40 to 50 to start but would rather have to much that I can turn down then not enough and my tank is kind of use to high light as I am using 6 Par38 Bulbs rights now pushing around 200+ par on the sand.
wow, that orphek PAR38 didnt last too long. did it get wet or too damp? which heat sink did you use Hudz?
It may have just been moisture never got wet, could see some dis-coloring on the white plastic base and took it apart, the emiters are fine, it’s the driver that went.
I went with two [URL=http://www.rapidled.com/drilled-tapped-6-x-9-black-anodized-aluminum-heat-sink] 6X9 from Rapid LED
[quote=“Hudzon, post:12, topic:5291”]
I just lost one of my Orphik PR25 Bulbs and instead of replacing it went with DIY heatsink build
for my 38Gal display I went with 20RB, 12CW, 4NW and 12UV from Rapid.
I know this is overkill and will need to run white at like 30% and Blues at 40 to 50 to start but would rather have to much that I can turn down then not enough and my tank is kind of use to high light as I am using 6 Par38 Bulbs rights now pushing around 200+ par on the sand.[/quote]
let us know how this setup works out for you. are you running any other type of light or only leds?
It will just be the LEDs going forward, right now I have 6 par38 bulbs and 2 UVL T5HO Super Actinic.
That is one of the features I am most looking forward to in the Seneye Reef monitor is the spectra graph reading, should allow you to tune your LEDs to match known systems.
sounds like you are the test subject great i hope it works for you i know most successful setups contain some other type of bulb (besides led). with you using all those colors it should, work have you looked at red yet i read some red is needed for the 600+ nm range.
Did you already get all of your stuff?i have been waiting for the optics that go on the uv bulbs for over a month!they were out of stock when I ordered and I was told that they will be in in about a week or so,that was over a month ago.i was told the distributor was have problems filling orders, I emailed them again last week and I was told they were being shipped to them(rapid) yesterday.so I will hold my breathe and hope they show up to me next week.sorry for my rant,so did you get your stuff?
shipped today, i did not get optics for the uv emiters
That sounds like a nice mix of colors. I like the extra 420 violets. you got me thinking of making a light bar too. it should look and work good. you might even add 2 reds of the correct peak. for color.