MGP Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 Ok well this wont be particularly normal, but it should be simple enough. I have a 20 gallon high freshwater aquarium that I recently placed a 20 watt multichip LED over (Light is about 15 inches off the surface of the water). This chip came with a kelvin rating of 5000-7000K, and I'm thinking it is more towards the 5000k spectrum. My problem is that the color is a tad yellow.. It is almost where I want it, but I would prefer closer to white. I was thinking of supplementing it with Cree 3 watts from rapid, and figured if I put 3 royal blues it would balance the spectrum out to where I desire it to be. Also FWIW, I will be putting fish who are primarily blue in color in this aquarium, they are my primary target for my color rendering goals. There are bushy java ferns, but for the most part I am not worried about spectrum for them since they are pretty easy growers Now for some questions: Will the (x3) royal blue crees be a good choice? I can go from 1-4 LEDs on the driver so that is what I have to play with. Would you use a different color combination to supplement the bigger 20 watt warm white LED? Also, would you use a violet LED? I have some on my reef tank but I don't really know if they are important for color rendering, my knowledge is lacking on them. Thank you for reading all that, I look forward to some suggestions Link to comment
evilc66 Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 I think 3-4 blues would do the trick in raising the CCT 1,000K or so. I think I would do a mix of blue (470nm) and royal blue (455nm) though. The blues will help make the light a little brighter (getting closer to the green spectrum, where the eye is more sensitive), as well as reduce an purple tint brought on by the royal blues mixed with the 5,000K white. Link to comment
MGP Posted April 9, 2014 Author Share Posted April 9, 2014 Thank you for the input. Specifically would you do 2 blue, 1 RB? or maybe round it out and do 2blue, 2RB? Also I haven't used 3 watt LEDs before, would they have a noticeable effect from 15" above the water? I don't think I will use a lens because i would want them to blend a little better, is this going to be alright? Link to comment
evilc66 Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 2 blue, 2 royal blue should be fine. It's not going to make a massive difference overall, but it should be enough to raise the CCT some, and make your blue fish more pronounced. At 15" from the water, you shouldn't have any issues with the blues blending with the white, provided that you mount them next to the white LED as close as possible. Link to comment
MGP Posted April 9, 2014 Author Share Posted April 9, 2014 Thank you evil, I knew I could count on your expertise to guide me. I'll rig it together and post back my results if anyone cares to see them Link to comment
evilc66 Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 Everyone cares to see the results. Every success and failure teaches us something. Link to comment
MGP Posted April 16, 2014 Author Share Posted April 16, 2014 Alright well I finally got around to installing the lights. I ordered them Friday and they got here Monday, so I must say it was a fast service from RapidLED. Everything was accounted for and installation was pretty straight forward. I'm using the moonlight driver so my LEDs are running at 350mA, so about half power. This works for me because I didnt want them to overpower the main light and I wanted them to run cooler. For the light itself I am pleased. The light is much whiter with a slight hint of blue, perfect for my purposes. Shimmer effect is also very nice with the 20 watt multichip Link to comment
frankdontsurf Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 Are you exhausting the heat from that hood? Link to comment
MGP Posted April 16, 2014 Author Share Posted April 16, 2014 The 20 Watt multichip in the middle has a fan under the heatsink, which is blowing air down and out of the light fixture. The blue LEDs aren't getting hotter than 90 degree F, so there isn't any need for anything blowing directly on them Link to comment
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