Planted 72X24X24 Lumina 5.2 Vs Individual LED's

[Gautam]

Hi,

 

So after having been through the paces of 2x 150W MH and 4x 35W PLL's set up for my planted tank it's time to let it go.

 

Did a bit of reading and found out I would need about 70 individual LED's to get enough light down to the substrate.( I'm dosing using EI and have CO2 as well ) A quick and rough estimate brought it upto almost $600 to get a basic setup.. that was until I found a post on the Lumia 5.1 and now the 5.2!

 

So now quite confused and feeling like a newbie all over again I have a few hopefully not too basic questions

 

• Isn't going the Lumia way much better than dealing with a bunch of individual light, especially for a large planted?

 

• My tank has two support bars across its width, would these cast shadows or would I have to adjust accordingly and maybe bring the lights closer to the surface?

 

• Between the Lumia 5.1 (100FS03) and 5.2 (100FSC05) which is recommended and how many would I need? With 5.1 my guess was 3 lights but does the lower wattage on the 5.2 65W mean I would need almost double that?

 

• Would the 5.2 make my tank look more blue than neutral white?

 

last question

 

• What other stuff would I need besides these

3x Lumia's LED (more if 5.2 is the way to go?)

1X Coralux 5up Idd Driver board

5x Meanwell Driver s

3X HeatSinks kits
1x 250W 48V Power Supply ( need the 500W? )

 

 

Thanks guys!! excited about making this happen!

[jedimasterben]

The 5.2 grow is for growhouses and such, not for display tanks.

 

Single chips are good if you want point-source and ease of setup and connection, but they won't give great coverage.

 

One set of five LDD drivers will power ONE Lumia 5.1 or two 5.2.

[Gautam]

Thanks! So Lumia 5.1 with 15 drivers and I should be good to go you think?

 

Also would you know if the 5.1 Plant version looks more blue or white? Looks quite blue here -

[jedimasterben]

Thanks! So Lumia 5.1 with 15 drivers and I should be good to go you think?

 

Also would you know if the 5.1 Plant version looks more blue or white? Looks quite blue here -

That is not the 'plants' version. That is the old 'reef' version that has 10x 4500K, 10x 450nm, 10x 430nm, 5x 495nm, 5x 660nm, and 10x 405nm. The 'plants' version has 20x 3000K, 20x 6500K, 5x 450nm, and 5x 660nm.

 

The 'reef' version has been updated to the Lumia 5.2, but the plants version has not. The 5.2 'grow' has 10x 660nm, 5x 3000K, 5x 455nm, and 4x 730nm. It is made for growhouses where color rendition is not the goal. The chip is extremely red-heavy, and this really can't be fixed without gimping the three red channels, which sacrifices output.

[Gautam]

Thanks so much! great info and the cloud is slowly clearing

 

So would you say 5.1 plant version is the best option at this point or waiting for an upgrade might be wiser?

[jedimasterben]

I'm not a big fan of the design itself, the original Lumias, anyway. If you go that route, be extremely careful wit the flying leads, they will pop off easier than you think lol.

 

At $210 for the Lumia, $150 for LDD + boards, $150 for three 12" Makers kits, $100 for the 500w power supply (though I'd highly recommend stepping up and buying HLG power supplies, that becomes less cost effective, as you'd need one 240w and one 120w for ~$150), you're already hitting $610, and that doesn't add in wire, a controller (you can't manually dim the LDD) if you want one, or a power supply for the three fans.

[Gautam]

I'm not a big fan of the design itself, the original Lumias, anyway. If you go that route, be extremely careful wit the flying leads, they will pop off easier than you think lol.

 

At $210 for the Lumia, $150 for LDD + boards, $150 for three 12" Makers kits, $100 for the 500w power supply (though I'd highly recommend stepping up and buying HLG power supplies, that becomes less cost effective, as you'd need one 240w and one 120w for ~$150), you're already hitting $610, and that doesn't add in wire, a controller (you can't manually dim the LDD) if you want one, or a power supply for the three fans.

Ok.. WOW! That is something to think about now!!

 

So then perhaps back to 80 individual LED's mounted onto 4 separate Heat Sinks might seem better? Each Heat sink would have 20 LEDS, with a mix of Cool White, Royal blue and a couple of Deep Reds.

 

Does that sound like a better plan?

[jedimasterben]

Ok.. WOW! That is something to think about now!!

 

So then perhaps back to 80 individual LED's mounted onto 4 separate Heat Sinks might seem better? Each Heat sink would have 20 LEDS, with a mix of Cool White, Royal blue and a couple of Deep Reds.

 

Does that sound like a better plan?

No, that's actually worse. Cool white LEDs do poorly alone over planted tanks. You'll want to mix 50/50 warm and cool white and then use royal blue and deep red sparingly, as adding these colors can cause major color banding (aka disco).

 

Only do three heatsinks since you have three sections to your tank. Use 24x LEDs on each heatsink, 12x warm white and 12x cool white. Use 80 degree lenses (for spread since your tank is 24" deep) and hang the heatsinks to ~8" above your tank. This will net you around 80 PAR at the bottom of your tank.

[Gautam]

Ok.. noted! I'm pretty sure I'm missing things on this list.. The cooling fans I'll get locally, so should this get me a straight forward on/off LED setup where plants go nuts!

 

and oh my god I hate Google+ .. it's almost impossible to share a photo!!!

 

This is the list I put together.. would have been faster just to type it!