LED Aesthetics: What do you really think of your color?

[jfarabaugh]

Got everything wired up last night and I have to admit, I'm VERY concerned with color shadows. I haven't had it over the tank yet; however right now when pointing up to the ceiling from the work surface, and object over it creates horrid shadows.

 

Please tell me this goes away in water... of am I going to need to sand the acrylic some?

 

You went with? (from your previous post)

 

Channel 1 - 10RB and 2CB 300ma-1k

Channel 2 - 8CW and 4NW 300ma-1k

Channel 3 - 2 NW, 4 TV, and 2 Cyan 150ma-475ma

 

What optics and what does your layout and spacing between LEDs look like.

 

I used 4 different colors with my setup (not over the tank yet due to some controller issues) and because of my layout, very tight LED spacing, and no optics my light seems to be blending perfectly.

[dhraakoxr]

You went with? (from your previous post)

 

Channel 1 - 10RB and 2CB 300ma-1k

Channel 2 - 8CW and 4NW 300ma-1k

Channel 3 - 2 NW, 4 TV, and 2 Cyan 150ma-475ma

 

What optics and what does your layout and spacing between LEDs look like.

 

I used 4 different colors with my setup (not over the tank yet due to some controller issues) and because of my layout, very tight LED spacing, and no optics my light seems to be blending perfectly.

 

I haven't noticed an issue either. Mind you I don't know the depths of your guy's tanks. I'd say mine is pretty shallow and my LEDs quiet close together. I haven't noticed an issue with colour blending since adding the NW's and TVs.

[vresor]

Looks like I was a year late to the LED game! Thankfully I'm still ecstatic with my two 50/50 CW/RB installations. My first retro (a BC14) used traditional spacing and it produced shadows, so I revised my pattern to the one below for my Solana installation. The tight pairing of emitters completely eliminated the shadows.

 

[joelsaxton]

Looks like I was a year late to the LED game! Thankfully I'm still ecstatic with my two 50/50 CW/RB installations. My first retro (a BC14) used traditional spacing and it produced shadows, so I revised my pattern to the one below for my Solana installation. The tight pairing of emitters completely eliminated the shadows.

 

 

I have the same color combo on my 5.5 but 12 LEDs total. I like how it looks, but I'm very curious about neutral white and royal blue in a 1:2 combo.

[ignatz]

Looks like I was a year late to the LED game! Thankfully I'm still ecstatic with my two 50/50 CW/RB installations. My first retro (a BC14) used traditional spacing and it produced shadows, so I revised my pattern to the one below for my Solana installation. The tight pairing of emitters completely eliminated the shadows.

 

 

How did you space the emitter pairs?

[vresor]

I'm curious about 1:2 NW:RB too, but probably not enough to rip apart my hard work. It all looks too good, even in the BC-14 where my orange Monti cap is growing wild and my Crocea has doubled in size. My Flame Hawk in the Solana under 1:1 CW:RB is vivid red with a bright orange dorsal fin. I doubt it could be more brilliant under 1:2 NW:RB. And my orange plate just burns orange. Again, not sure how much brighter or warmer it could get.

 

The Cree stars on my Solana almost touch each other. The spacing on each pair is a 2-3". The heat sink is 10x16".

[evilc66]

I wouldn't worry about trying to stick to the 2:1 ratio if you have dimmable drivers. That ratio is more for fixed output setups.

[Genj]

You went with? (from your previous post)

 

Channel 1 - 10RB and 2CB 300ma-1k

Channel 2 - 8CW and 4NW 300ma-1k

Channel 3 - 2 NW, 4 TV, and 2 Cyan 150ma-475ma

 

What optics and what does your layout and spacing between LEDs look like.

 

I used 4 different colors with my setup (not over the tank yet due to some controller issues) and because of my layout, very tight LED spacing, and no optics my light seems to be blending perfectly.

 

My spacing is 1.5 inches from each LED with staggered rows at about the same distance. I have no optics, as I'll be about 5 inches over the tank.

[dhraakoxr]

Thanks man, I just soldered in the 2 TVs and the 2NW's last night and had it all working over the JBJ last night. I ended up removing 2 CB out of my 5 and placed the TVs there then removed 2 of my five CWs for the NWs which is seeming to work well. I can see violet in my tank if I only have the CB/TV string running but it's only a violet colour hue on like 20 percent of my rock work nothing more. All in all i'm stoked to see how the NWs and TVs effect the coral coloration and health over time as I didn't see any immediate colour pop change .. but I didn't really expect one with only two haha. I'll do some more looking tonight and tomorrow as the corals adjust. Just need to figure out what intensities to run ugh.

 

K nm i was wrong about the tvs. My blasto is super deep violet now instead of red when the rb/cb/tvs are on. Very very nice colour

[DaveFason]

18 NW

28 - RB

2 - Blue

 

Optics to fit.

 

Specially made for me Bring it 400w halides!

 

 

-Dave

[jfarabaugh]

18 NW

28 - RB

2 - Blue

 

Optics to fit.

 

Specially made for me Bring it 400w halides!

 

 

-Dave

 

optics.....wouldnt you want to set that up in a halide type reflector? You would burn a hole in the water throwing optics on that.

[MDreefer]

Dave, how much did that bad boy cost you? I understand if you don't want to disclose that on here, just curious, could they do any combo of colors? how are you planning on cooling it?

 

Excited to see some pics of it in action!

[CJO]

18 NW

28 - RB

2 - Blue

 

Optics to fit.

 

Specially made for me Bring it 400w halides!

 

 

-Dave

 

Wow, on a 4" square! That's some lighting density. Now I see why you are CNC'ing your heatsinks. How high above the tank is that going to go?

 

CJ

[DaveFason]

I am going to be testing with reflectors and such. I plan hanging this 3-4' above the tank with optics first. It will still be a monster! I know there wont be any color shadowing with this either, just one bright ray of light

 

CJ - I wont be CNCing my own heatsink for this one. I have some other stuff up my sleeves.

 

MD - PM

 

-Dave

[Hans Dorn]

[DaveFason]

Hopefully I will have some locals to go up against with there 400w halides. I plan on doing some tests with the following...

 

Without optics

No optics in Halide style reflector

With optics @ different heights.

 

-Dave

[CJO]

Hopefully I will have some locals to go up against with there 400w halides.

-Dave

 

You coming to the RASOC meeting this weekend? I'd love to see it in person if you are. Dana Riddle is doing a presentation on the results of his water flow experiments.

 

CJ

[vresor]

I wouldn't worry about trying to stick to the 2:1 ratio if you have dimmable drivers. That ratio is more for fixed output setups.

 

So I'm thinking about buying six or so NWs and swapping them into my white array in place of six or so CWs. There would still be 12 RBs. The one color I'm trying to bring out is the deep blue in my Coral Beauty in my Solana. Why exactly is blue so hard to "see?" The blue mushrooms and blue Crocea in my BC14 are the most beautiful iridescent blue I've ever seen.

[CJO]

One of the results presented by Dana this weekend is germane to this discussion- in his experiments with colored LEDs, the use of red LEDs lead to coral bleaching.

 

CJ

[jfarabaugh]

One of the results presented by Dana this weekend is germane to this discussion- in his experiments with colored LEDs, the use of red LEDs lead to coral bleaching.

 

CJ

 

I have no idea how this testing was conducted but was the bleaching for sure a product of the red LEDs or a product of too much light. Other folks around here are running a few red LEDs and I haven't heard anything back from them about bleaching. IMHO I would not run red LEDs but just use NW which is what I am doing.

[CJO]

I have no idea how this testing was conducted but was the bleaching for sure a product of the red LEDs or a product of too much light. Other folks around here are running a few red LEDs and I haven't heard anything back from them about bleaching. IMHO I would not run red LEDs but just use NW which is what I am doing.

 

This is from memory and he didn't go into too much detail (the presentation was mostly on water motion). From what I remember, he put several specimens of a coral (can't remember the type) in a dark tank. He used sealed underwater LEDs on either sides of the corals to provide point light sources. He used red on one side and blue on the other. The part that was not illuminated by either light browned out, the part that was illuminated by blue turned pink and the part illuminated by red bleached. As I said, he didn't go into much detail, but he did say that he did not recommend using any red lighting in a reef aquarium.

 

CJ

[jfarabaugh]

As you now explained the testing I would say the testing method used and results has little to no value in the realm of aesthetics. It proves that you don’t want a tank full of red LEDs as corals use very little if any light from the red spectrum (my basic understanding)

A better test for the addition of red LEDs would be mixing 1 red and 1 white vs 2 whites or something like that. At the same time though you have to make sure that you have the same light output (PAR or whatever else would have to be measured) in order to come to a solid conclusion. We have all heard that adding a few red LEDs to ones setup can be distracting and doesn’t look great but It shouldn’t bleach out all the coral.

Nothing at all towards you CJ and thank you for sharing the info. I am just pointing out what I think are some issues with the testers methods, presentation of the results, and recommendations from the info you provided. Keeping in mind that there are a lot of light sources out there that are very heavy in the red spectrum….Fiji Purple T5s come to mind.

[OneTrickPony]

agreed

 

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2003/feature.htm

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2008/12/aafeature1/view

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2009/4/aafeature1/view

[NeveSSL]

Evil... any word on the XP-G Neutral Whites?

 

I ordered XP-G Cool Whites and I'm debating on whether I want to sell them and go with all XR-Es or maybe try to mix them in.

 

Also, how hard is it to get the thermal pads off that you guys sell?

 

I'm planning on probably 10 RBs, 2 CBs, 5 CWs, 7 NWs, and 4 TVs over an Oceanic 30g cube without optics on two Meanwells and a 500mA Buckpuck.

 

Where can the Rebel Cyans be purchased? I may not worry about it, but I've thought about throwing in a red and cyan turned down low. Since I'm not running optics, it makes spot lighting much less of a concern.

 

Also, what do I need to do to my LEDs to protect against salt creep? I'm planning on having these fairly close to the water, probably 6" above. Do I need a splash shield?

 

Brandon

[Genj]

The pads are easy to remove with nothing more than a twist.

 

Rebel Cyans can be purchased from: http://www.luxeonstar.com/

Keep in mind that they are not binned and can vary in final wavelength.

 

Yes, you will need to put glass or acrylic between the surface and the LEDs.