Mixing LED colors in DIY build?

[HulaDad]

Anybody with any experience on how mixing the led colors up would look. I was thinking about using the neutral whites, cool whites, royal blues, blues, and 1 red. Is it wise to use so many different shades on a 12 led fixture, or should I just stick with two colors.

 

RB NW B CW

CW B R RB

RB NW B NW

 

Would that array be too many colors in a little fixture, not to blend well?

 

Thanks

[lpskeeper]

it all depends on the optix, and how far apart the leds are.

you should look at at the par38

[HulaDad]

Thanks for the reply, I'm either going with 80° optix or no optix at all since I have a shallow tank, 10". The leds will be 2" apart. I looked at the par38 bulbs, but honestly, I'm an engineering student and building my own sounds like fun. These leds will be going on a 4.25"x9" heatsink over a 7.5g Mr. Aqua Bowfront. 18"x9.5"10" Thanks

[Milad LEDGroupBuy.com]

Anybody with any experience on how mixing the led colors up would look. I was thinking about using the neutral whites, cool whites, royal blues, blues, and 1 red. Is it wise to use so many different shades on a 12 led fixture, or should I just stick with two colors.

 

RB NW B CW

CW B R RB

RB NW B NW

 

Would that array be too many colors in a little fixture, not to blend well?

 

Thanks

 

 

to many colors, the red will over power the rest.

 

Stick with either RB and CW

or RB and NW

or RB and CW and NW

 

The trends i going towards adding NW to the mix it seems.

[HulaDad]

I kind of figured it would be too much for a small fixture, so I had to ask the pros over here. I have learned so much from reading all the threads here. I think I will go with

 

CW RB NW RB

RB NW RB CW

CW RB NW RB

 

Sounds better? Thanks for the help, it is greatly appreciated.

[rhawnk]

Hula, be careful not to space the different colors too far apart. When building my fixture, a 2" spacing between each led caused horrible color shadowing (where shadows under individual nooks & crannies are different color based on their angle from a specific led). In my opinion it was really ugly.

 

With the same number of leds over a 3g, i created 3 clusters of the 4 colors. See here: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...t&p=3226858

 

In fact, you might want to read the entire thread, http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=246394

 

if you are looking/willing to have fun with it, experiment with different configurations that fit your needs.

[Genj]

I kind of figured it would be too much for a small fixture, so I had to ask the pros over here. I have learned so much from reading all the threads here. I think I will go with

 

CW RB NW RB

RB NW RB CW

CW RB NW RB

 

Sounds better? Thanks for the help, it is greatly appreciated.

 

Yes, this is much better. Get that spacing tight as well.