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Ultimate LED guide


evilc66

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You're going to end up spending more than if you went with cree or Phillips, for large, deep tanks the extra efficiency sure makes a difference in cost. What are your plans for cooling?

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You're going to end up spending more than if you went with cree or Phillips, for large, deep tanks the extra efficiency sure makes a difference in cost. What are your plans for cooling?

 

Ok well give me your full ideas LEDs, drivers etc What you would run? I am planning on using a 48" MakersLED with (4) four 92mm fans.

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I've ordered all of the drivers and led's for the lights I plan to build. I did use 3 vendors to buy the parts. So part of my plan has been to keep it modular to change the light as things evolve things evolve. I also ordered extras of every LED i plan to use, so I can tweak what is on the light. MakersLED for easy attachment and bjb connectors foreasy swap out of 1ups. Here is my question. All the LEDs look similar, with minor details different.

 

Do any builders mark their stars for future tear down id? Iwas thinking marking the back of the star with black sharpie ( XM-L NW or XT-E RB )

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jedimasterben
I've ordered all of the drivers and led's for the lights I plan to build. I did use 3 vendors to buy the parts. So part of my plan has been to keep it modular to change the light as things evolve things evolve. I also ordered extras of every LED i plan to use, so I can tweak what is on the light. MakersLED for easy attachment and bjb connectors foreasy swap out of 1ups. Here is my question. All the LEDs look similar, with minor details different.

 

Do any builders mark their stars for future tear down id? Iwas thinking marking the back of the star with black sharpie ( XM-L NW or XT-E RB )

I don't mark any of mine. You can usually tell by the diode, they are usually slightly different. White LEDs will be yellow, blue will be clear, cyan and red will have a slight green or red tint to them.

 

Ok well give me your full ideas LEDs, drivers etc What you would run? I am planning on using a 48" MakersLED with (4) four 92mm fans.

See the links in my sig.

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If you're not doing full-spectrum, then I would do a mixture of 4000K whites, royal blue, and cool blue. Roughly a 7:16:5 ratio of those [NW:RB:B]. You'll need a base of about 20-24x whites, and go from there.

So I have to start with 24 whites and then do one royal blue and one blue to each white?

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Ok well give me your full ideas LEDs, drivers etc What you would run? I am planning on using a 48" MakersLED with (4) four 92mm fans.

 

 

FIGURE 9 (use over a 60 gallon cube) (I had fun drawing this...):

Figure%209.png

 

24RB, 12NW, 10TV, 7OCW per array, 3 arrays total.

 

If it was me, I'd go with three of these layouts, or at least run around the same number of leds, although getting them to fit on a makers may be tricky. Either way you're looking at a good bit of cost for your build, but such a deep tank you need the punch of quality leds.

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No, a 7:16:5 ratio.

So for

Every 7nw 16rb 5b .correct? But how manny total to put on it what size heatsink and what dimmable drivers and powers source and so on ?By the way thank you for helping me and i will post pics of it when im done;)

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So for

Every 7nw 16rb 5b .correct? But how manny total to put on it what size heatsink and what dimmable drivers and powers source and so on ?By the way thank you for helping me and i will post pics of it when im done;)

 

 

Pm me your phone number if you still want some xenia...

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Just wanted to get some feedback on the cluster pattern. This will be all 3w leds and the clusters would be repeated once more and placed across a 48" heatsink (4 clusters total). Tank is 180g - 72X24X24. Fixture will be placed approx 12" from surface of water and will have 60 degree optics. Each cluster would be made up of:

 

12 Royal Blue

6 Neutral White

5 Violet

3 Red

3 Cyan

2 Blue

2 Green

2 Cool White

 

These will be hooked up to an Apex Controller.

 

post-77931-1356058667_thumb.png

Edited by thackett114
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I've ordered all of the drivers and led's for the lights I plan to build. I did use 3 vendors to buy the parts. So part of my plan has been to keep it modular to change the light as things evolve things evolve. I also ordered extras of every LED i plan to use, so I can tweak what is on the light. MakersLED for easy attachment and bjb connectors foreasy swap out of 1ups. Here is my question. All the LEDs look similar, with minor details different.

 

Do any builders mark their stars for future tear down id? Iwas thinking marking the back of the star with black sharpie ( XM-L NW or XT-E RB )

My advice is to most certainly mark your led colours if you know the bins, big big difference in 445nm to 465nm in royal blue if you looking to repair/replace later with exact bins

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  • 4 weeks later...

My sig is definitely not atrocious... I also like clicking the links in other peoples signatures. It's easier to see their tank threads than going to their profile or checking their threads for a tank one...

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi great thread,

 

Looking some advise. I am about to upgrade to a 5ft x 2ft x 2ft and am considering a diy led build. How many leds would I need im thinking 96 blue and white mix. Should I also include uv as I plan to keep sps? Any other colours required?

How many drivers would I need ? What sort of price would this build cost roughly in £ or if possible.

 

Thanks

 

Jonny

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Don't suppose anyone knows the size of rapidled's dimmable nano driver and the approx height of optics do they? Doodling in sketchup and jsut realized I have nothing to base my sizes off of. XD

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Thanks for the advice so far.

 

I have been looking at the LED kits from rapid led. My tank is going to be a 5x2x2. The neasest kit the have would probably be the 180g kit. Would the only thing missing from this kit be a controller and an AC supply for the UK?

 

Has anyone used these kits? If so what is their opinion of them?

 

What sort of Controller would people recommend?

 

Thanks

 

Jonny

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  • 4 weeks later...

Alright so here it goes. I am planning a custom array over my 60" long x 18" wide x 20" deep tank. The light fixture will be roughly 2ft above the water line so I plan on using 40 degree optics. The layout I attached I plan on duplicating on the other heatsink, so I will have 2 heatsinks 6" wide x 20" long. Please tell me if you think it will be adequate or if you have any suggestions...thanks

 

post-47139-0-56851600-1363660902_thumb.jpg

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  • 1 month later...
SantaMonica

All this LED research is great. Much more elaborate than I've needed to get into with my 660nm reds, but surely still something to learn from all the other colors.

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  • 1 month later...

Looking to replace bridgelux LEDs with better ones. Been reading back and forth for few days and couldn't find the answers. Hopefully someone can help me out.

 

Basically, I am looking for RB and NW LEDs. Should I get the Rebel ES LEDs, or do a mixture where I should use Rebel ES for RB, and XT-E for NW? Any comment is appreciated!

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Looking to replace bridgelux LEDs with better ones. Been reading back and forth for few days and couldn't find the answers. Hopefully someone can help me out.

 

Basically, I am looking for RB and NW LEDs. Should I get the Rebel ES LEDs, or do a mixture where I should use Rebel ES for RB, and XT-E for NW? Any comment is appreciated!

I would go all the way with Rebel ES lighting. Except for Violets. LEDGroupbuy's Exotic line 430nm Hyper Violets are the best violets.

  • Like 1
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I would go all the way with Rebel ES lighting. Except for Violets. LEDGroupbuy's Exotic line 430nm Hyper Violets are the best violets.

 

Thank you. I will go with that option :)

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