Full spectrum LED layouts

[overexposed]

Hey everyone, I'm looking for some feedback on my LED layout as well as some advice on how high to mount my fixture and at what levels to run my LED's at.

 

I'm in the process of putting together an SPS dominated mixed reef, standard size 90 gallon tank 48x18x24. Have it drilled with for a beananimal siphon overflow using an internal overflow box that sets the water level at approximately 22" from the bottom.

 

For LED's, I've went with the following setup: (all LEDs from from LEDGroupBuy)

-Meanwell SE-350-36 power supply (36 volts, 350 watts... originally got a 48v but had an accident and blew it up, was unable to get another)

-19 Royal Blue / Neutral White 3up stars (no optics)

-6 True Violet (60 degree optics)

-10 Hyper Violet (60 degree optics)

-11 Ocean Coral White (60 degree optics)

-Meanwell LDD-H drivers of varying amperage (see image for breakdown)

 

This gives me a total of 106 point sources. All of these are divided between two of the 8.5" LED T-slot heatsinks from HeatsinkUSA, in 20" lengths. I'm using an Arduino controller for my dimming. Currently I've got them mounted about 4" above the surface and am driving them at 100% for 8 hours a day. My highest rock is maybe 18" below the lights.

 

I realize I don't have the optimal amount or layout for my LEDs, due to a few planning and implementation errors (as well as dealing with what was in stock at the times I placed my orders). But based on what I've got so far... what do you guys think would be an optimal mounting height for me? And how hard should I drive these things?? I'm pleased with the colour mix but suspect that I am putting too much light into the tank and photosaturating the corals.. Seeing as I'm about to build my canopy and put the polishing touches on my fixture, I figure now would be the best time to start tweaking things.

 

Thanks in advance everyone... love what I've seen here, a lot of amazing builds. I hope that one day mine can be as refined.

[jedimasterben]

All of that is up to you. If you want to know how much light you're getting, I would purchase or borrow a PAR meter and test them out, that would let you get your intensity and hang height situated.

[Technicality123]

Hey I'm building an LED fixture for a 20H. I have already selected the LEDs from the first post. 2 clusters consisting of 3 UV, 3 cree 3ups, and 2 ocean coral white. I am going to attach it to a 4.23" by 12" heatsink. I have no problem with that part. I have very little experience with electrical wiring, so I do not know how to wire my drivers to the power supply and to the 3 potentiometers. I have 2 meanwell ldd-500h and 1 meanwell ldd-700h. If anyone could show me a diagram of how this is supposed to go together would be great. Thanks.

[MeepNand]

Hey I'm building an LED fixture for a 20H. I have already selected the LEDs from the first post. 2 clusters consisting of 3 UV, 3 cree 3ups, and 2 ocean coral white. I am going to attach it to a 4.23" by 12" heatsink. I have no problem with that part. I have very little experience with electrical wiring, so I do not know how to wire my drivers to the power supply and to the 3 potentiometers. I have 2 meanwell ldd-500h and 1 meanwell ldd-700h. If anyone could show me a diagram of how this is supposed to go together would be great. Thanks.

You can't dim led drivers with potentiometers. You need a PWM signal generated by a microcontroller.

[kaskiles]

I was hoping to get suggestions on my layout, it's for a JBJ 28 nano cube (~18x18x18"). I had gotten some good recommendations on my LED choices in another thread I started:

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/329983-ocw-with-no-white/#entry4404319

 

But considering my layout of four separate groups, I was just wondering if I'm going to be ok not having both a true cool blue and cyan within each of the groups. Here is my layout sketch:

 

I'm thinking of using ~ 8.5 x 8.5 heatsink.

 

Thanks!

[zombiesniper308]

 

I'mI was hoping to get suggestions on my layout, it's for a JBJ 28 nano cube (~18x18x18"). I had gotten some good recommendations on my LED choices in another thread I started:

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/329983-ocw-with-no-white/#entry4404319

 

But considering my layout of four separate groups, I was just wondering if I'm going to be ok not having both a true cool blue and cyan within each of the groups. Here is my layout sketch:

 

I'm thinking of using ~ 8.5 x 8.5 heatsink.

 

Thanks!

Im thinking of using this same setup....how could I wire it up with two or three drivers

[kaskiles]

I was thinking 3 LDD700L meanwells with 12v/100watt powersupply, and Arduino dimming.

8 rb on 1 LDD, 8 hv on 2nd one and all the 8 remaining on the third; so each LDD would have a little over 24 volts.

I just wouldn't not be able to dim the 4000k white, cyan and true cool blue separately of each other; not sure if that would cause an issue. I guess it's only 7$ per LDD, so it wouldn't be too bad to modify it later to add in more control.

[jedimasterben]

If you run a 12v power supply, the LDD will give around 8-9v. You can't put 24v of LEDs on that.

[agomez5885]

I came across this post searching for full spectrum LED's. I currently own a 29 gallon BioCube and I am going to purchase the RapidLED retrofit kit with CREE LED's.

I have full control of any color/amount of LED's I can use. The only problem I can see is that there is only room for 24 on the heat-sink. 12 Cool White XP-G and 12 Royal Blue XP-E.

I was wondering what you guys might do if you were in my shoes. I would like to have full spectrum since i want to create sunrise/sunset and so on with an Apex Jr. Controller.

Any advice or help would be great if you can.

Thanks in advance,

Anthony

[jedimasterben]

You can fit a lot more than 24 LEDs on that heatsink. You do not want to use the drilled and tapped heatsink, because then your LEDs will be spaced out - this is bad and causes color banding.

 

 

And Rapid is still selling XP-E in their kits instead of XT-E?? And I assume still charging the same price as the XT-E for LEDs that are up to five years old now. Sounds great to me!

[Sylvain.]

I will be building a fixture for my 6g Edge soon.

 

Got all my parts from Steve's, now awaiting the delivery from rapid. I ordered way more than I need, so I can play with colors. I will also be making a DR/RB light for an UAS.

 

I will have on hand:

 

From Steve's:

 

8 Royal Blue

4 Neutral White

4 True Violet

2 OCW

4 Steve's drivers

 

From Rapidled:

 

6 Deep Red

2 Blue

6x10 heatsink

1.5x18 heatsink

 

For the DT fixture, I am thinking of using 4 RB, 2 NW, 3 TV, 2 OCW, 2 Blues on the 6x10 heatsink. TV and OCW on one driver, rest on their own.

 

And for the UAS: 6 DR, 2 RB split in half on 1.5x9 heatsinks (will be cutting the 18" in half). Ran by one dimmable meanwell.

 

Does that look good?

[agomez5885]

Ben,

 

We might as well meet up and do this I'm in North Miami Beach lol.

 

This is what RapidLED has on the description of the kit.

 

Kit comes with a pre-drilled heatsink that screws directly into the existing BC29 hood, and no soldering necessary! (depending on how you plan on controlling the dimmable driver)

This retrofit kit will fit seamlessly into your existing Biocube 29 hood (once gutted), and attaches via 4 screws. Please note you will need a reef controller or potentiometers + 10V AC Adapter to run the dimmable driver (this could require some soldering). Also, this kit will not fit the new Coralife BC29's, only the Oceanic BC29's.

• 5.9" x 10" Heatsink drilled/tapped for 24 LEDs and 4 installation holes
• 12 Solderless Cool White CREE XP-G LEDs
• 12 Solderless Royal Blue CREE XP-E LEDs
• 2 Mean Well ELN-60-48P dimmable driver or 2 Mean Well ELN-60-48D dimmable driver
• 2 Driver Jumper
• 2 Terminal Plug
• 22 3" LED to LED Wire
• 1 tube of Thermal Grease
• 60mm Vantec Stealth Fan Kit
• 4 water repellent wire nuts (plus 4 non-water repellent wire nuts)
• 2 power cords to attach to the drivers (US + Canada orders only)
• 12 feet of black bulk wire (if we're out of black we may send blue wire instead)
• 5 zip tie/mounting bases
• Screws (for the LEDs and to mount the heatsink to the hood)

* Driver Type:

• D (1-10V analog)

 

Would a true DIY kit be better for me to do? I have no idea where to even begin on designing and buying parts and assembly. Im still learning on everything LED.

 

I do want to go full spectrum and get all the colors I can. How many LED's can I put in there you thing in the allotted space?

[kaskiles]

If you run a 12v power supply, the LDD will give around 8-9v. You can't put 24v of LEDs on that.

 

Ahh, thanks for catching this! For some reason I was thinking the LDD would somehow convert amps over to the extra volts it needed. So I'm going to need something in the 36 to 48 volt range to power these 24 volt strands.

 

Thanks again!

[agomez5885]

Ok, so I came across a post from BBOSS titled "Yet Another BC29 DIY LED Retro".

 

I think this is the route I am going to go, he was able to get a DIY LED Kit from Aqua Style Online for 36 LED's and with some modification (cutting & hacking) of the heat sink it came out very clean and organized.

 

If I were to get the 36 LED kit, what color combination would work best for full spectrum? The kit is relatively cheap but its only going to come with 18 RB and 18. I am in the process of asking if I can do a full specrtum LED kit.

 

So please let me know what you guys would do for a BC29 with 36 LED's (Aquastyle does offer the CREE XT-E and XP-G) to acheive full spectrum lighting in the biocube.

[jedimasterben]

I would not bother with Aquastyle. Stick with a quality Cree or Rebel ES for your LEDs.

 

 

And I'd be the queen of England if the 'XT-E' that Aquastyle offers is genuine. They come from China - Cree is based in America, the import duties to China would bring the price up astronomically, not to mention re-importing to the US, there's a lot of rules that go along with that.

[agomez5885]

Well that's fine with me. What about the heat sink they offer, would you say that is good quality? It was able to hold 36 LED's. I would definitely only get the CREE or Rebel ES, I have done some research on those and its easy to see those are the top 2 LED's to choose from.

 

How would I go about trying to figure out how many of each color would be needed for full spectrum, I want to be able to do LPS/SPS, clams and so on. I also want to use a controller to recreate sunrise/sunset and other effects as well.

 

If you look at that build, I think, it came out very good on the BioCube. With RapidLED using 24 LED's and Steve's using 28 LED's, that heat sink that can hold 36 sounds much better to give me the option of a proper full spectrum set up. I just dont know how to calculate how many of each LED i need to use.

 

I trust you guys if you tell me to stay away from Aquastyle and not to use the pre-drilled heat sink from Rapid.

[jedimasterben]

You're going to pay out the ass for shipping if you order their heatsink.

 

http://heatsinkusa.com/

 

They have basic heatsinks there that don't cost more than the heatsink to ship. A heatsink can 'hold' however many LEDs you put on it, basically, as long as it is actively cooled. I have the two heatsinks from my original build from Aquastyle around two years ago, and they're nothing real special, not too thick, not too thin, etc.

[agomez5885]

In the N-R post of "Full Spectrum Layouts", if I follow the table there for a 25C, which is closest to the dimensions of the BioCube 29 would I just need a heat sink big enough to house those LED's, or would it be a better idea to get a bigger one? Would a larger heat sink "cool" the LED's better or is it just a matter of having the right fans?

 

If the table is correct I would need a total of 27 LED's. I am assuming that this cluster is situated right in the center of the tank. Would they need to be as close to each other as they are in the figure or is that just a general idea and they need to be spaced out more?

 

Sorry for all these newbie questions, I am not 100% familiar with LED's and how to properly use them in an aquarium.

 

Anthony

[jedimasterben]

Bigger is better to an extent. As long as it is actively cooled, you're fine.

 

For a 'mixed' reef, you really don't need that many - 4x NW, 8x RB, 2x CB, 2x Cy, 4-8x HV. If you're wanting more SPS, then use more violet. The first three at 1000mA, the rest at 700mA, and you're good.

 

Over a smaller tank like that, you won't have any optics, and don't need to spread them out, that can just cause issues with spotlighting.

[agomez5885]

Alright let me make sure I got this right:

 

4 x NW = Neutral White

 

8 x RB = Royal Blue

 

2 x CB = Cool Blue?

 

2 x CY = Cyan

 

4 x HV = Hyper Violet

 

Instead of another 4 HV can I use some reds or oranges maybe 2 or 3 of each? Does anyone use any greens in their LED's setups? I have not read or heard of many people using any Green LED's. Lets say I can go ahead and add 2 or 3 of each red and orange, should I upgrade the fans in the hood and what size heat sink would you use in a biocube?

 

Thanks again Ben, you guys have been a great help, I am just trying to gather as much info so I can get a list of LED's and equipment so i can get an idea of $$$$ needed to do this.

 

edit: would it make more sense instead to use the 3ups to make the 2:1 ratio of NW & RB's? Would solder less be the way to go? In case I need to replace or change out an LED?

[jedimasterben]

Don't need red or orange as long as you use a high-CRI neutral white in the 4000K range. Don't need green, neutral white has enough as it is.

 

Using 3up stars or solderless is up to you and your budget.

[agomez5885]

Thanks Ben, you have been a great help....sorry for hijacking the post! I will let you guys know as soon as I get my list ready I'll post it up here for some constructive criticism.

 

Anthony

 

PS - What exactly is the CB LED, cant find it.

[jedimasterben]

It would be in the 460-480nm range.

[willz02]

OMG i effing love you, this post is exactly what I've been looking for, thanks (x100)

one thing though, the chart says 38 gallons 36x12x20 those are actually, the measurements for my 40H gallon tank, at least for mines (either that or marineland has it wrong)

 

awesome post.

[Giga]

Just thought I'd post my thought on this you guys may want to consider bridgelux leds for whites, not the Chinese imposters, but the high quality one. The color rendition on them is pretty fantastic. Granted the smallest I've used are 30w ones and mostly 50w but the lower watt are just as good. There seems to be very few on this band wagon but once I started useing them I've never gone back, for whites anyway. Ill post some pics later to show what I mean

 

 

Edit: Never ever use aqua style,there crap, as there are so many other good options out there. Using them is like drinking bleach,why would you do something that stupid?!