AquaStyleOnline Club

[hannahs]

This is how I did mine (these are using much more powerful Rebel ES LEDs, but the ratio of blue and white is the same, just mine are more powerful):

 

How they are arranged:

 

---RB-CB-RB---

--V-NW-NW-V--

---DR-RB-C----

 

Now, for Bridgelux LEDs, if you used this cluster design for all of your clusters, you'd end up with too much cool blue, deep red, and cyan, UNLESS you run them on a separate driver and dim accordingly.

 

I recommend five clusters total for each 24"x24" area, (this gives about 2000 lumens of white and about 12,000mW of royal blue, so as powerful as a Radion without even including the other LEDs).

 

 

Here's what I am thinking. I will have 2 of the 15" heatsinks set up, and each one will have 5 clusters on it.

First, 3rd, and 5th clusters will be :

---RB---

-NW-V-RB-

--RB-NW--

 

Then the 2nd and 4th clusters will be:

--DR--

-C-CB-

 

So that's 10 clusters total over the 2 heatsinks. Will this work, or should i incorporate the reds, cool blues and cyans into the other clusters?

 

The clustering of the lights like this works better than just spacing the leds out evenly?

 

Also, should i put optics on the exotic colors? I want them to blend in well with everything and not see obvious green or red spotlighting.

[jedimasterben]

Here's what I am thinking. I will have 2 of the 15" heatsinks set up, and each one will have 5 clusters on it.

First, 3rd, and 5th clusters will be :

---RB---

-NW-V-RB-

--RB-NW--

 

Then the 2nd and 4th clusters will be:

--DR--

-C-CB-

 

So that's 10 clusters total over the 2 heatsinks. Will this work, or should i incorporate the reds, cool blues and cyans into the other clusters?

 

The clustering of the lights like this works better than just spacing the leds out evenly?

 

Also, should i put optics on the exotic colors? I want them to blend in well with everything and not see obvious green or red spotlighting.

Your layout should work pretty well.

 

If you do not cluster the LEDs, you will get a disco party in your tank, you won't appreciate it lol.

 

I would put wide optics on those, as wide as possible.

[jeffblly]

Heres my setup over a 40 breeder. Its a mix of aquastyle and ledgroupbuy bridgelux leds.

 

The only downside is a discoball effect when the powerhead is on.

 

 

 

 

[jedimasterben]

Heres my setup over a 40 breeder. Its a mix of aquastyle and ledgroupbuy bridgelux leds.

 

The only downside is a discoball effect when the powerhead is on.

 

 

 

 

They are way, way too far apart. They need to be as close as they can to eliminate disco.

[icecool217]

It seems like your color pattern is causing the disco effect. Are you using 60 degree optics? maybe swap them for 80 degrees and it may help a bit. If it is spaced too far like jedimasterben had mentioned, you may need to add in more LED to help remove that.

[jeffblly]

It seems like your color pattern is causing the disco effect. Are you using 60 degree optics? maybe swap them for 80 degrees and it may help a bit. If it is spaced too far like jedimasterben had mentioned, you may need to add in more LED to help remove that.

 

They are less than 1 inch apart with 80 degree optics. This was a popular pattern when I built it. It consists of 24 leds per heatsink spread out evenly.

 

The disco only shows when the phs are on with alot of surface agitation and is most notable with the two reds. I dont think I can add anymore leds with my drivers maxed out. Would some type of cluster work?

 

I dont want to lose intensity over the lenght of my tank.

[jedimasterben]

They are less than 1 inch apart with 80 degree optics. This was a popular pattern when I built it. It consists of 24 leds per heatsink spread out evenly.

 

The disco only shows when the phs are on with alot of surface agitation and is most notable with the two reds. I dont think I can add anymore leds with my drivers maxed out. Would some type of cluster work?

 

I dont want to lose intensity over the lenght of my tank.

Cluster them as tightly together as possible.

[najluni15]

So do you all recommend the 4500 over the 10k bridgelux led? I have half 45 and half 10k and am getting washe out colors. I have half white half blue and some added cyan and red and violet. Can I just pry the 10k off and replace them with 4500? And does anyone know where to get them in the us for cheap? I would need about 12 of them.

 

Thanks

 

Nick

[jedimasterben]

So do you all recommend the 4500 over the 10k bridgelux led? I have half 45 and half 10k and am getting washe out colors. I have half white half blue and some added cyan and red and violet. Can I just pry the 10k off and replace them with 4500? And does anyone know where to get them in the us for cheap? I would need about 12 of them.

 

Thanks

 

Nick

All neutral white is best. What size tank do you have, and what exact numbers of each do you have? Yes, you can just pry them off (they pop off like nothing), and you can get them from LEDGroupBuy.com they sell them for $2 each. You will need more royal blue, though, a 2:3 ratio of neutral white to royal blue. Let me know what size tank you have and what corals you keep and I'll give you exact numbers.

[najluni15]

I have a 57 gallon with the same length and width of a 40b. I have 48 LEDs which burned most of sps at full power. I cranked them down to 30 percent with my reef angel controller. If I remember correctly I have 2 cyan, 2 red, 6 violet, 14 royal blue, 12 10k and 12 4500 LEDs. I dimmed the whites to 25 percent and the blue to 35 percent.

 

I have a mixed reef with sps lps softies and a clam.

 

Thanks for the help Jedi. You've helped me many times before too.

[najluni15]

Just ordered 12 4500k led from led group buy to replace my 10k LEDs. I guess I can always use the old ones for a fuge or something.

 

Thanks for the advice and help. I've been wondering why the colors are so washed out. I think that's probably why so many people are unhappy with the aquastyle kit. For half the price of Crees I recommend them though

[icecool217]

They are less than 1 inch apart with 80 degree optics. This was a popular pattern when I built it. It consists of 24 leds per heatsink spread out evenly.

 

The disco only shows when the phs are on with alot of surface agitation and is most notable with the two reds. I dont think I can add anymore leds with my drivers maxed out. Would some type of cluster work?

 

I dont want to lose intensity over the lenght of my tank.

 

You might want to get an additional driver to add more LEDs to help remove the discoball effect.

When I built mine, I kept the following idea in mind:

 

RB/Red/Cyan (clustered) = White

Add more RB than NW

 

I never bothered with the 1 inch apart concept. As for red and cyan, try to remove the optics. That should spread it greater than 80 degrees. With your fixture already built, I can only suggest grabbing a inventronics 40W (18-54V) driver. That should give you 14 LEDs max. to help fix the issue.

[jedimasterben]

Just ordered 12 4500k led from led group buy to replace my 10k LEDs. I guess I can always use the old ones for a fuge or something.

 

Thanks for the advice and help. I've been wondering why the colors are so washed out. I think that's probably why so many people are unhappy with the aquastyle kit. For half the price of Crees I recommend them though

Just keep in mind that you will need more royal blue to keep your color temperature up - in a 2:3 ratio. So with 14 RB, I would use 9x 4500k total.

 

Over that 57g, you would, ideally, have 12x 4500k, 18x RB, 6x violet, 6x deep red, and 6x cyan. This would be the most efficient use of a heatsink/heatsinks. I would cluster them in six clusters, each consisting of 2x 4500k, 3x RB, 1x violet, 1x deep red, 1x cyan. Ideally, they would also be on separate drivers, but that gets pricey very, very quickly.

 

Hope that helps, you will enjoy your light more without the 10K LEDs!

[najluni15]

Thanks.

 

So right now all my led are evenly spaced. I don't have much of a disco effect as I don't have optics. Would it be worth it to tear all the LEDs off of the heat sink and put them together in clusters? Also I have two 15x8 heat sinks that are bolted together. Shouldi do six clusters evenly spaced down the middle? Three on each heat sink? An do you think The extra cyan and red would help a lot?

 

Thanks

[jedimasterben]

Thanks.

 

So right now all my led are evenly spaced. I don't have much of a disco effect as I don't have optics. Would it be worth it to tear all the LEDs off of the heat sink and put them together in clusters? Also I have two 15x8 heat sinks that are bolted together. Shouldi do six clusters evenly spaced down the middle? Three on each heat sink? An do you think The extra cyan and red would help a lot?

 

Thanks

The heatsinks are 8" wide? I would place the clusters like this:

 

 

-----------------------

----X------X------X----

-----------------------

----X------X------X----

-----------------------

 

The extra red and cyan would just make the color more even across the entire tank, and clustering lets the colors mix together more, even when running no optics.

[najluni15]

Yeah I think I have two 15x7.5" heats sinks from aquastyle. Do you know of it will damage anything if I pry all of the LEDs off to put them in clusters? It'll make it much cleaner to cluster them as well. As far as wiring goes. It's just going to be quite the job to re glue and re solder everything onto the heat sinks. A good project for Saturday I guess. I guess I need a few more red and cyan LEDs. Wonder of I can add them to my led group buy order

[albertthiel]

I guess this thread is a good example of not only how hobbyists differ in what they feel works best for them but it seems to go beyond that as the recommendations in the postings keep varying and varying with different intensities, spectrum and other parameters being thrown into the discussions ...

 

The better Lighting is IMO becoming really hard to agree on as so many different suggestions are posted and given ...

 

Guess there probably is no right answer IMO as what is best for one hobbyist may not be for another one and only experimentation with several set ups may get a hobbyist to feel that they now have what they feel is bet or better than what they had before.

 

Lighting is really getting a confusing issue

 

Albert

 

 

Thanks.

 

So right now all my led are evenly spaced. I don't have much of a disco effect as I don't have optics. Would it be worth it to tear all the LEDs off of the heat sink and put them together in clusters? Also I have two 15x8 heat sinks that are bolted together. Shouldi do six clusters evenly spaced down the middle? Three on each heat sink? An do you think The extra cyan and red would help a lot?

 

Thanks

[jedimasterben]

Yeah I think I have two 15x7.5" heats sinks from aquastyle. Do you know of it will damage anything if I pry all of the LEDs off to put them in clusters? It'll make it much cleaner to cluster them as well. As far as wiring goes. It's just going to be quite the job to re glue and re solder everything onto the heat sinks. A good project for Saturday I guess. I guess I need a few more red and cyan LEDs. Wonder of I can add them to my led group buy order

The thermal adhesive is extremely brittle. Take either a thin screwdriver or chisel to the bottom of the LED and gently tap with a hammer and they will pop off like nothing. It makes me feel better to scrape the thermal compound off of each one, too.

 

Ask Milad if he can, he is superman. lol

[najluni15]

Milad responded immediately and added everything to my order. Only problem is that I need to wait until next week for it to ship as he's out of the red LEDs. I don't mind though. Gives me time to buy more solder and wire. Lights will hopefully work out much nicer after. I plan on using 4500k whites, 16 rb, 6 violet, 6 cyan, 6 red.

 

Now I will have 24 4500 k whites. How many should I use? I can always dim them which I intend to do anyway.

 

Thanks to everyone who helped, namely Milad and JediMasterBen

[jedimasterben]

Milad responded immediately and added everything to my order. Only problem is that I need to wait until next week for it to ship as he's out of the red LEDs. I don't mind though. Gives me time to buy more solder and wire. Lights will hopefully work out much nicer after. I plan on using 4500k whites, 16 rb, 6 violet, 6 cyan, 6 red.

 

Now I will have 24 4500 k whites. How many should I use? I can always dim them which I intend to do anyway.

 

Thanks to everyone who helped, namely Milad and JediMasterBen

I would use no more than 12 of the 4500k. That way you shouldn't have too much light and have to dim them a whole bunch so you don't burn anything lol.

[najluni15]

So I guess I ordered 12 more white led for no reason lol. So I will have 12 white 6 red 2 cyan 4 turquoise 16 rb 6 violet?

[albertthiel]

Looks like you may have a few too many indeed and a few for sale, unless of course you set up yet another tank

 

Albert

 

So I guess I ordered 12 more white led for no reason lol. So I will have 12 white 6 red 2 cyan 4 turquoise 16 rb 6 violet?

[jedimasterben]

Looks like you may have a few too many indeed and a few for sale, unless of course you set up yet another tank

 

Albert

This man is a genius. Listen to him.

 

 

 

:D

[albertthiel]

Don't you need another tank :)

 

Albert

 

 

This man is a genius. Listen to him.

 

 

 

:D

[najluni15]

He is genius. I don't need another tank. I'll sell the extra LEDs when I'm done building