jfarabaugh Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 I have been playing around with multiple led combinations for quite some time now. I have used most colors except for red leds. I really like the coloration I get from 420nm leds except I had to run quite a bit to truely notice them. My current bc29 is setup as follows. 5- bridelux neutral white n402 2- luxeon k2 cyan 505nm 5- cree xpe blue 470nm 10- cree xpe royal blues 455nm 5- 10w satistronics 445nm 13- 3w shenzhen weili optical 420nm I have seperate drivers for each string and can independently dim each color (except the 2 cyans and 5 470nm blue are on same string). My corals have been growing great so far and I couldn't be happier withe the light coloration. Although I haven't used 660nm leds, I feel with neutral whites it probably isnt necesary to add reds in. That is a lot of 420 Link to comment
fishnlou Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 That is a lot of 420 Yeah, I just kept adding the 420nm leds till I was happy with the visual results, at first I was nervous about cooking my corals. Had the 420s turned down to 350mA over the coarse of 2 weeks I slowly worked them up to 600mA, which is where I have left them at for over a month now. Link to comment
jfarabaugh Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 Yeah, I just kept adding the 420nm leds till I was happy with the visual results, at first I was nervous about cooking my corals. Had the 420s turned down to 350mA over the coarse of 2 weeks I slowly worked them up to 600mA, which is where I have left them at for over a month now. I thought I had a lot of fire power over my BC29 - 42 LEDs 6 TV 6 B 12 RB 12 NW 6 CW but looks like you are up there with me. Do you have a build thread? Link to comment
Mr. Microscope Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 Here's a design I'm considering to go over my 25 gallon cube. Yellow = NW, White = CW, Dark Blue = RB, Light Blue = B, Red = 660. Any thoughts? Link to comment
Machupicchu Posted October 24, 2011 Author Share Posted October 24, 2011 a 500 watt halide in the middle :lol: Heatsink could be smaller Link to comment
AnthonyPf Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 Newman, This is just my opinion but I think you have 2 too many regular blue and 1 too many red. I am quite surprised at how strong the red is. Especially the red in combination with the neutral white (which has a lot of red already). Looks like a really cool set up. I like the circular pattern. I think it will give an awesome spread!! Any plans for a moon light in the middle? Link to comment
Mr. Microscope Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 Newman, This is just my opinion but I think you have 2 too many regular blue and 1 too many red. I am quite surprised at how strong the red is. Especially the red in combination with the neutral white (which has a lot of red already). Looks like a really cool set up. I like the circular pattern. I think it will give an awesome spread!! Any plans for a moon light in the middle? It's Mr. Microscope BTW, no worries. I'm loosely following Dave's formula with one less Cool White. I'm trying to avoid the icy look while also trying to brighten things up a little. I understand what Dave means by the NW:RB 1:2 having a slightly dim look. I've experienced that with my previous build. I'm hoping that won't be too much red, but it'll be fun to experiment. I can always take one off if necessary. Perhaps, I'll position the reds between the CW's instead of between the NW's. I was also thinking that would be too much regular blue, but I really like the way that blue makes the reds and oranges pop as opposed to the greens and yellows that RB affects. Again, it'll be fun to experiment. I am planning on moonlights, but they may go around the edges of the circle. Three 1watt RB's. I'm not sure if that's going to be overkill or not, but I can always reduce. I just ordered my heatsink and LEDs yesterday. I'm going to add the BoostLED typhon controller as well. My DT is an 18 inch rimless cube. The ten inch heatsink may be a bit overkill, but I'm building this with the capability to upgrade. Hense, my stand will be 20x20 instead of 18x18. Could go from 25 gallons to 60 pretty easily. Link to comment
AnthonyPf Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 I am an idiot! I always see both you and Newman in the pico area. I agree with the easy ability to change the LED set up. This has been one of my biggest satisfactions with the LED builds. If a color is not working just swap it out! Good luck and can not wait to see the final build! Link to comment
blasterman Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 One thing I noticed in regards to neutral white emitters is Bridgelux has a different spectral curve than Rebels and Crees, particularly their neutrals and warms. Bridgelux tends to have more deep red response, which increases their CRI, but also accounts for their dramatic hit in efficiency. Since I'm using Bridgelux N402's as my neutral white base it might be why I'm not seeing a need for 660's. N402's go pretty deep already in terms of red. One conclusion I've reached over the past couple of years screwing around is that I just don't see much advantage to fussing around deeper than 450nm for Blue. All the actinic fireworks happen at longer wavelengths, and our eyes are more sensitive to these wavelengths anyhow making the tank appear brighter. I finally found a source for 465nm Crees, so I'm going to try a 2:1 mix of XTE royals and XPE 465s and see how the flat ratio looks. Link to comment
DaveFason Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 Blaster - I have been playing around with some sub 450 stuff. The 400-410 I have used have picked up some wild colors. It almost picks up different pigments in the corals that normally you would not see. I still need to dig into a bit more. I also have something I am working on that could be EPIC. Color shadowing, dead and gone Micro - Try grouping a little bit tighter and putting the blues on the inside. -Dave Link to comment
nivekid Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 Blaster - I have been playing around with some sub 450 stuff. The 400-410 I have used have picked up some wild colors. It almost picks up different pigments in the corals that normally you would not see. I still need to dig into a bit more. I also have something I am working on that could be EPIC. Color shadowing, dead and gone Micro - Try grouping a little bit tighter and putting the blues on the inside. -Dave I'm intrigued Dave. I'll be watching your posts closely! Link to comment
Mr. Microscope Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 Blaster - I have been playing around with some sub 450 stuff. The 400-410 I have used have picked up some wild colors. It almost picks up different pigments in the corals that normally you would not see. I still need to dig into a bit more. I also have something I am working on that could be EPIC. Color shadowing, dead and gone Micro - Try grouping a little bit tighter and putting the blues on the inside. -Dave Thanks! I'm trying to position them as close as possible, but still get decent spread into the cube. My last build had 7 LEDs in a face centered hexagon. There's no color shadowing, but I don't get much of a spread. So, for this pattern, you'd recommend switching the blues and whites positions? Any reasons? Do blues color shadow worse than whites? On the UV side of the debate, I've read that using UV LEDs could lead to tissue damage (essentially sunburn) of the livestock. Any thoughts on that? I think that same article said the cutoff for damage was anything below the 420nm range. Link to comment
DaveFason Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 The blues have a greenish tint. You will always have color shadowing unless you have zero surface agitation. Its impossible to blend perfectly unless you use a multi chip LED. I am trying 400-420. I guess I will see if my corals turn "red" -Dave Link to comment
redfishsc Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 The violet light range, 400-420 (give or take) is NOT going to burn anything in the amounts we are using---- it's not dangerous at all unless you tape it to your eyeball or glue your coral frags to the solder pads lol. This is almost not even ultraviolet light, and it's DEFINITELY NOT the UV-B and UV-C that does the sunburn. BTW Dave, I would be keenly interested in what violet LEDs you are using. Link to comment
Mr. Microscope Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 ---- it's not dangerous at all unless you tape it to your eyeball or glue your coral frags to the solder pads lol. So, THAT's what I've been doing wrong. Note to self: frags + solder pads = :lol: Link to comment
GIT RITE Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 Man this is a long read from the beginning, WOW! Lots of priceless information though..... Now that I have read this it leads me to believe my led setup that I am in the process of putting together might not give me the color rendition I would want, But should give me good growth So I am asking opinions on my setup. Tank - Biocube 14 Controller - Neptune apex Heatsink - USA heatsink 10"x5.9" LEDS 4 CREE XP-G (NW) 5 CREE XP-G (CW) 12 CREE XP-E (RB) Drivers 2 Mean Well ELN-60-48D All of the whites will be driven on one string All of the Blues on another string I made my LED arrangement on a CAD program, please give me feedback on it. I can change the arrangement but not the locations, I have already drilled the holes for the screws. Dark blue ones are the RBs. Light blue ones are the CWs Light yellow ones are the NWs Link to comment
Mr. Microscope Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 You may have some issues with color shadowing. Try grouping LEDs together. Link to comment
DaveFason Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 I know my tank is a little dirty but the teaser is well worth it. I have been working on something to do away with color shadowing. No matter how close you keep the LED's you will always have it. With high surface agitation there is no way around it. Of course you can lower your pumps but why all the extra work? I should have this all finished VERY soon. Again, I am sorry for the dirt migirt tank Without the technology is in the first 7 seconds. LED's are only 3/8" apart. 4 Royal Blue,1 Cyan and 2 Neutral White. This is only six LED's. The second part of the video is with the new technology I am using. It is jaw dropping. Imagine trying 6-8 different colors without having to worry! http://www.flickr.com/photos/nanoboxreef/6.../in/photostream Enjoy! -Dave Link to comment
seeingred Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 Hey Dave, Looks like the good stuff keeps getting better! When do you think the new technology will be available in your units for sale? Pete I know my tank is a little dirty but the teaser is well worth it. I have been working on something to do away with color shadowing. No matter how close you keep the LED's you will always have it. With high surface agitation there is no way around it. Of course you can lower your pumps but why all the extra work? I should have this all finished VERY soon. Again, I am sorry for the dirt migirt tank Without the technology is in the first 7 seconds. LED's are only 3/8" apart. 4 Royal Blue,1 Cyan and 2 Neutral White. This is only six LED's. The second part of the video is with the new technology I am using. It is jaw dropping. Imagine trying 6-8 different colors without having to worry! http://www.flickr.com/photos/nanoboxreef/6.../in/photostream Enjoy! -Dave Link to comment
cet98 Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 I know my tank is a little dirty but the teaser is well worth it. I have been working on something to do away with color shadowing. No matter how close you keep the LED's you will always have it. With high surface agitation there is no way around it. Of course you can lower your pumps but why all the extra work? I should have this all finished VERY soon. Again, I am sorry for the dirt migirt tank Without the technology is in the first 7 seconds. LED's are only 3/8" apart. 4 Royal Blue,1 Cyan and 2 Neutral White. This is only six LED's. The second part of the video is with the new technology I am using. It is jaw dropping. Imagine trying 6-8 different colors without having to worry! http://www.flickr.com/photos/nanoboxreef/6.../in/photostream Enjoy! -Dave whatever "IT" is...I like it Link to comment
GIT RITE Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 Dave, Is this something we can DIY, or will it have to purchased from you? Link to comment
jfarabaugh Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 I know my tank is a little dirty but the teaser is well worth it. I have been working on something to do away with color shadowing. No matter how close you keep the LED's you will always have it. With high surface agitation there is no way around it. Of course you can lower your pumps but why all the extra work? I should have this all finished VERY soon. Again, I am sorry for the dirt migirt tank Without the technology is in the first 7 seconds. LED's are only 3/8" apart. 4 Royal Blue,1 Cyan and 2 Neutral White. This is only six LED's. The second part of the video is with the new technology I am using. It is jaw dropping. Imagine trying 6-8 different colors without having to worry! http://www.flickr.com/photos/nanoboxreef/6.../in/photostream Enjoy! -Dave Looks familiar……5 colors at that time…..now 6….soon to be 7 with no color banding. Looking fwd to see what you came up with as you always do nice work Link to comment
blasterman Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 Without the technology is in the first 7 seconds. LED's are only 3/8" apart. 4 Royal Blue,1 Cyan and 2 Neutral White. Shimmer is also down significantly in the second part as well. Link to comment
DaveFason Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 I will have it soon. JF - It is like that but allows more shimmer. Looks great though! What are you using now? CW,NW,Cyan,420,Blue? blaster - Its hard to see but it is only cut down ~40%. For me I like it because it is a mix with T5 and MH. To much shimmer looks gives me headaches! But it does an unreal job with mixing the colors. Link to comment
nivekid Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 I will have it soon. JF - It is like that but allows more shimmer. Looks great though! What are you using now? CW,NW,Cyan,420,Blue? blaster - Its hard to see but it is only cut down ~40%. For me I like it because it is a mix with T5 and MH. To much shimmer looks gives me headaches! But it does an unreal job with mixing the colors. This looks great Dave. IMO, the shimmer looks just right. Just enough to give a nice natural look. I love it without the color shadowing. Link to comment
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