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

[Trick]

do you have a source or are you selling them?

[DaveFason]

Honestly it through my supplier. I will be selling them as well in the future, for now they will be on every build.

 

-Dave

[DaveFason]

I forgot, if people were afraid of using Rebel's here is my newest video showing off my PAR numbers on the 12" 24 LED unit.

 

Oh and this is without optics or ES RB's

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/63309413@N05/6026157114/

 

-D

[Machupicchu]

Those guys aren't cheap though I think the cheapest i saw them was like $8-9 a piece. I would have loved to use those on my fixtures mostly because of the foreword voltage, but couldn't find them at a better price. Where are you getting yours?

 

Oh btw add more cool blue to get red/orange/pink to pop.

[lpsouth1978]

I recently finished another DIY LED build that has addressed many of the concerns people have with the spectrum available using LED's, as best as possible anyway. Here is what I used:

 

24 CW

12 NW

24 RB

6 CB

3 Red

3 UV

 

The only other available colors that were not used were the cyan(green) and yellow. I have had these running over the tank for a few weeks now and have been really happy with the results. I have the moonlight LED on from 8 pm to 8 am, the RB, CB, Red, and UV lights all come on at 8 am and go off at 8 pm (my actinic cycle), and the CW and NW come on at 11 am and off at 6 pm. I LOVE the colors under the actinic cycle. Even with all of the lights on the reds and oranges really pop as compared to just the blues and whites (no red or UV). So far I have not had any problems with algae growth ( a concern with red LED's) and the UV LED's do not seem to have caused any problems either, though I have not had a chance to check the PAR levels under this light yet. I will post the results when I get that done.

 

In the mean time here are a couple of pics to give you an idea. All of the LED's have 60 degree lenses on them except for the red and UV which do not have any lenses on them. The first pic is with the blues and whites(no red or UV), the second is all of the lights on.

 

 

[DaveFason]

Mach - Its from my supplier. They are a more expensive but imagine this lower wattage, running cooler and all the same output! The small increase in price is well worth the added output.

 

-Dave

[blasterman]

Exactly what are the specs of the Rebel -vs- the Cree? It tends to see-saw back and forth, but lately Luxeon has really been improving their efficiency game while Cree has been working on format.

[jfarabaugh]

Magenta I think will be one of the final pieces..... will take care of using Red Leds

 

SemiLED makes a 3W. I already sent LEDGroupBuy the info

 

I think my next build will be a mix of the following...might throw a Cyan in there. I am replacing my cree CW with higher K CWs and will be added magenta if I can track some down.

 

Magenta

12K-18K CW (right now I have 10K, 12K and 19K sitting at home)

NW

RB

B

V

 

http://reefbuilders.com/2011/07/18/magenta...ue-stunner-led/

[DaveFason]

Blaster,

Here you go. I choose the active bins for both companies.

Rebel ES - vF ~2.8-3.1

Rebel ES NW - 350mA @ 130 700mA @ 230 1A @310

Rebel ES CW - 350mA @ 135 700mA @ 235 1A @ 320

Rebel ES RB - 700mA @ 1120mW

 

CREE XP - vF 3.0-3.5

CREE XP-G CW 350mA @ 139

CREE XP-G NW 350mA @ 122

CREE XP-E RB - 350ma @ 500mW

 

CREE does have a few CW bins that are up to ~160 @ 350mA but they are not active. The RB efficiency goes down when running at 700mA as well.

 

-Dave

 

Exactly what are the specs of the Rebel -vs- the Cree? It tends to see-saw back and forth, but lately Luxeon has really been improving their efficiency game while Cree has been working on format.

[Machupicchu]

Ya im doing xm-l's with 3 xp-e surrounding it, with the rebels i could have done 4 surrounding with the same power. Unfortunately i can't invest too much into bulk orders and i found a really good deal on the crees. Should still be a monster for the size of tanks it's designed for.

[Milad LEDGroupBuy.com]

Here some stats on the CREE XM-L CW for you guys to ponder upon:

 

CREE XM-L CW T6 350mA -- 2.76v -- 144.3lm

CREE XM-L CW T6 700mA -- 2.9v -- 280lm

CREE XM-L CW T6 1000mA -- 3v -- 388lm

CREE XM-L CW T6 2000mA -- 3.2v -- 692.1lm

CREE XM-L CW T6 3000mA -- 3.3v -- 910.6lm

 

Extremely very effective if you flank them with RB/UV/REDs in PODs you can get away with alot less whites and still be very efficient.

[Machupicchu]

Extremely very effective if you flank them with RB/UV/REDs in PODs you can get away with alot less whites and still be very efficient.

 

My thoughts exactly, now if only they made these in a Royal Blue

[DaveFason]

The only problem with the one large led is that it still has the same viewing as the others.

 

-Dave

[Trick]

I don't see the new rebels on your website. Also, do you like the color better on the rebels than the cree's XP-G's and XR-E's? One more thing what do you think of the color on the cree NW?

[symon_say]

Hi

 

I'm new to the forum, i'm from Dominican Republic, i have to say that this is a great forum with a lot of info and great helping members with a lot of knowledge, not like other forums that have the ultimate gurus.

 

I found this forum when searching about leds, for my first saltwater tank, is not gonna be a nano, it'll be a 120g but i like this forum and i think i can learn a lot from you guys.

 

I'll ask my question later on other threats, but to the people in this threat that have a bunch of colors, how are you turning then on and off, do you turn the all at once, or do you a cycle like sunrise/daylight/sunset??

[Machupicchu]

how are you turning then on and off, do you turn the all at once, or do you a cycle like sunrise/daylight/sunset??

 

You can change the light intensity over time with an arduino, or reef controller. Otherwise i just wire all my blue to one plug and all my white to the other and put them on individual timers. Keep'n it simple

[blasterman]

I use a $4.00 Walmart digital lamp timer. I never had fancy dawn/dusk cycles with my halides, so I don't feel corals care if they have it with LED's.

[Milad LEDGroupBuy.com]

Magenta I think will be one of the final pieces..... will take care of using Red Leds

 

SemiLED makes a 3W. I already sent LEDGroupBuy the info

 

I think my next build will be a mix of the following...might throw a Cyan in there. I am replacing my cree CW with higher K CWs and will be added magenta if I can track some down.

 

Magenta

12K-18K CW (right now I have 10K, 12K and 19K sitting at home)

NW

RB

B

V

 

http://reefbuilders.com/2011/07/18/magenta...ue-stunner-led/

 

 

I got the info. I do have access to a very nice 660nm red designed for medical and Horticulture applications. Its a 5w LED.

The typical range is between 655-670

It pushes out 525mW at 2.8v 1000mA

 

So very powerful and efficient. Only issues I see is how powerful does the red need to be. And also the price on this one is a bit more pricey than your cheaper reds (Its going to be around ~$7.50. Up side because its more powerful and you will need probably a little more than half has many as the osram version that does 350mW and can be paired with an XM-L nicely.

 

Thoughts?

[Machupicchu]

I honestly think there is enough red/yellow in neutral leds to get a great looking color. Getting specific bins helps. I just don't see sacrificing the par.

[AlanStanwyk]

Its been awhile since ive looked at this thread.I did a build last year of all RB and CW, didnt like the effect, so I sold the fixture and went with an ATI 6 bulb T5. Now Im over the T5's and want to do another LED build. Last time I checked, everyone was claiming the go-to was an even combo of RB and NW and that Red and Cyan were out. Now there seems to be some different recommendations..Magenta, TV, and Red and Cyan have come back into the conversation.Questions: What is the latest in the optimum LED spectrum conversation? Who is the most legit LED vendor now with the best selection, best drivers etc? Is Nanocustoms out of business? If someone in the know can answer these question Id appreciate it. PM or respond here. Thanks.

[DaveFason]

In all honestly I am not sure why the RED and CYAN stuff is coming back. It adds for one more color to be mixed and most of the time it really does not do squat. Cyan can provide a nice color but is almost impossible to blend because it looks green. If anything adding a couple Blues in the mix will make some of the warmer colors pop.

 

If you go with the correct bin of NW and RB you will be good to go. Throwing in a few CW never hurts either.

[jfarabaugh]

In all honestly I am not sure why the RED and CYAN stuff is coming back. It adds for one more color to be mixed and most of the time it really does not do squat. Cyan can provide a nice color but is almost impossible to blend because it looks green. If anything adding a couple Blues in the mix will make some of the warmer colors pop.

 

If you go with the correct bin of NW and RB you will be good to go. Throwing in a few CW never hurts either.

 

 

I dont want Red....I want Magenta

[blasterman]

Magenta is not a primary color. It's a combination of red plus blue. Magenta is basically purple but with a higher component of red.

 

The opposite of magenta (compliment) is green, and green is that one color we don't have control of. We can control red by using warmer LEDs, and we can add blue by turning up our royals, but green is tought to control hence it tends to wash out magenta and purple.

[MrBill2u]

Alan,

I am doing a build where I am trying out blending green, deep red (655nm), red/orange and cool blue in with my royal blues. I am hoping to have the lights up and running in a couple weeks so I will be able to report back whether I had any luck running an LED rainbow blended with Arduino. Unfortunately this is a new tank, so I will not be able to show the light over corals for a bit (unless you count green star polyps).

[lpsouth1978]

Its been awhile since ive looked at this thread.I did a build last year of all RB and CW, didnt like the effect, so I sold the fixture and went with an ATI 6 bulb T5. Now Im over the T5's and want to do another LED build. Last time I checked, everyone was claiming the go-to was an even combo of RB and NW and that Red and Cyan were out. Now there seems to be some different recommendations..Magenta, TV, and Red and Cyan have come back into the conversation.Questions: What is the latest in the optimum LED spectrum conversation? Who is the most legit LED vendor now with the best selection, best drivers etc? Is Nanocustoms out of business? If someone in the know can answer these question Id appreciate it. PM or respond here. Thanks.

 

I don't know that you will be able to get a definite answer to any of these questions. First of all as far as color goes, a lot of it is personal preference. I personally have both red and UV in my latest build and would not change a thing. In the right combination the red actually gives more of a purple hue to the tank that i think is really nice. I don't think that I would use the green and yellow LED's. I am planning a build using 3 different colors of white, 3 spectrums of blues, Red, Violet, and UV. We will see how it looks when it is done. I will be able to dim each color separately.

 

In all honestly I am not sure why the RED and CYAN stuff is coming back. It adds for one more color to be mixed and most of the time it really does not do squat. Cyan can provide a nice color but is almost impossible to blend because it looks green. If anything adding a couple Blues in the mix will make some of the warmer colors pop.

 

As for vendors, there are so many out there that I think most people go more by price than anything. I personally buy things from multiple vendors. I get the Cree LED's from RapidLED, the buckpuck drivers from LEDsupply, and I get the less expensive LED's from SatisLED. I am planning an order from Aquastyle to try out their kits and the drivers in particular.

 

If you go with the correct bin of NW and RB you will be good to go. Throwing in a few CW never hurts either.

 

I think that the cyan and red are making a comeback because people are still concerned about the fact that you cannot get the full spectrum of light that is available from other light sources, since each LED produces light from just one very specific spectrum. Just my $0.02.