How many watts of leds per gallon?

[Justin_Luke]

I am about to get some diy led lights from rapidled.com and i was wondering how many watts of leds i need per gallon? Thanks

- Justin

[Milad LEDGroupBuy.com]

I am about to get some diy led lights from rapidled.com and i was wondering how many watts of leds i need per gallon? Thanks

- Justin

 

Justin

 

That is not the way to look at LEDs, you will end up picking the wrong cookie cutter kit that doesnt end up delivering what you want.

 

Answer these questions, and people will help you out:

1. What is the dimensions of the tank? LxHxW

2. What are you trying to keep in the tank? SPS/LPS/Softies/Fish

3. What are you transitioning from? (MH, T5s). If T5s than which bulbs?

[jm82792]

Alright I have question which fits those criteria.

I will be owning a 48" X 16" X 18", I want to SPS(well zoanthids that need bright light for color) bright light near the upper areas of the tank. The bottom of the tank has to have rather bright but not SPS bright light.

I will be using cat4101 drivers as they are cheap and idiot proof to assemble(I'll be driving the leds at 1 amp). I want to do an even mix between cool white and blue. The heatsink I was thinking about using was 6" by 48".....

 

So how many Cree XPGs and Blue XREs(are there better Cree models now?) do you think I should use and what spacing? Are the XMLs worth looking at?

[Justin_Luke]

my tank is a 29 gallon.

1. It is 30 inches long, 19 inches tall, and 12 inches wide.

2. I am wanting to keep all types of coral and fish - softies, zoas, lps, and sps

3. I have a t5 fixture on it currently - one 24 watt 10,000K bulb, and one 24 watt 6,500K bulb

[Milad LEDGroupBuy.com]

Alright I have question which fits those criteria.

I will be owning a 48" X 16" X 18", I want to SPS(well zoanthids that need bright light for color) bright light near the upper areas of the tank. The bottom of the tank has to have rather bright but not SPS bright light.

I will be using cat4101 drivers as they are cheap and idiot proof to assemble(I'll be driving the leds at 1 amp). I want to do an even mix between cool white and blue. The heatsink I was thinking about using was 6" by 48".....

 

So how many Cree XPGs and Blue XREs(are there better Cree models now?) do you think I should use and what spacing? Are the XMLs worth looking at?

 

Most people are doing 2:1 Ratio of CREE XT-E Royal Blue and XP-G Neutral White

Neutral White gives a better overall color with the Royal Blue. Cool White and Royal Blue dont bring enough of the spectrum to make corals really pop. So for your tank you should look at something close to:

36 Royal Blue XTE

18 Neutral White XP-G

 

If you want to go XM-L you can do 9 of them driving them around 2A instead of the 18 Neutral White. You then want to cluster royal blues around the XML

 

 

my tank is a 29 gallon.

1. It is 30 inches long, 19 inches tall, and 12 inches wide.

2. I am wanting to keep all types of coral and fish - softies, zoas, lps, and sps

3. I have a t5 fixture on it currently - one 24 watt 10,000K bulb, and one 24 watt 6,500K bulb

 

For a really bright setup for mainly SPS you can do 24 total LEDs. or 8 3UPs http://www.ledgroupbuy.com/cree-xt-e-royal...ral-white-3-up/ (which have 24 total LEDs)

 

No optics as long as you have it within 8 inches of surface

 

If you want to save some money you can get away with about 6-8 of the 3UPs and still keep lots of different corals.

[blasterman]

Are the XMLs worth looking at?

 

XM-L's need to be driven at 2amps or higher to be worth it because of their price. Otherwise, you are just wasting them if you are driving then at the typical 700mA-1000mA because XP-Gs typically cost half the price and are almost as bright at those current levels. You then need to cluster 4-6 royals around the XM-L to keep up, which is a cool design and works awesome on deeper tanks if you can raise the light a bit, but trickier than sticking with 3watt LED's all the way around.

[jm82792]

Hmmmm. I'll probably be doing XT-E and XPG, XTL won't work with CAT4101 drivers plus I don't want to think about arranging LEDs too much.

[Justin_Luke]

Most people are doing 2:1 Ratio of CREE XT-E Royal Blue and XP-G Neutral White

Neutral White gives a better overall color with the Royal Blue. Cool White and Royal Blue dont bring enough of the spectrum to make corals really pop. So for your tank you should look at something close to:

36 Royal Blue XTE

18 Neutral White XP-G

 

If you want to go XM-L you can do 9 of them driving them around 2A instead of the 18 Neutral White. You then want to cluster royal blues around the XML

 

 

 

 

For a really bright setup for mainly SPS you can do 24 total LEDs. or 8 3UPs http://www.ledgroupbuy.com/cree-xt-e-royal...ral-white-3-up/ (which have 24 total LEDs)

 

No optics as long as you have it within 8 inches of surface

 

If you want to save some money you can get away with about 6-8 of the 3UPs and still keep lots of different corals.

Ya it wouldnt be all sps, just a little bit of everything. Do you think you could set up a led system for my tank using the 3ups. Like just do it on the website and send me a link? cause i am fairly new to leds and stillhave alot left to learn.