Proball Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 What's the deal with lime led? From what I read they enhance the look of coral. The reason I ask is because I'm setting up a IM10 soon and am looking to buy a used light, and almost every time people ask if the unit has lime leds or not, as if it's a bad thing. Link to comment
Ahanix Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 What's the deal with lime led? From what I read they enhance the look of coral. The reason I ask is because I'm setting up a IM10 soon and am looking to buy a used light, and almost every time people ask if the unit has lime leds or not, as if it's a bad thing. I think most of those asking are looking for the Lime led (if you are referring to Nanobox fixtures being sold) The Lime Led's are something on the last two (I believe) revisions of the Tide, so people are looking for the newer boards - At least I was when I was looking for a Tide last week, I wanted to try out the Lime LED's to see how different the light looked versus my Radion. Link to comment
Benny314 Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 From what I understand lime helps balance the colour temprature you see when your looking at the tank. It lets you use more warm white removing the need for red light sources and basically lets you go from 10-20k ish colour look of MH just by adjusting the output/intensity of the limes. I'm sure an LED guru will jump in here and correct anything that I'm wrong on, but that's my understanding. Link to comment
Paleoreef103 Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 Lime LEDs are incredible for adding visible brightness to the fixture. It kind of adds a metal halide-esque quality to the light that fixtures without limes lack. They really don't add much in the way of coral coloration, but they do make the tank look bright. Personally, I wouldn't BUILD a fixture without them (there was a big difference in visual brightness in my fixture even when adding 3 Limes @700mA to a fixture lighting a 40 breeder), but they wouldn't be a deal breaker if I got a great deal on a premade fixture. Link to comment
Sunstar Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 may I ask what a lime LED is? I attempted to google it and got lime coloured LEDs Link to comment
Paleoreef103 Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 may I ask what a lime LED is? I attempted to google it and got lime coloured LEDs http://www.shop.stevesleds.com/Philips-Luxeon-ES-Lime-3-Watt-LEDs-8794102493.htm They are these. They're essentially a white LED without the blue spike in terms of spectrum (broad spectrum from ~500-630nm). They work because our eyes are incredibly sensitive to green spectrum light, but the LED itself has a fairly broad spectrum meaning it blends well with white LEDs (unlike true green LEDs which are generally a huge spike @530 nm). You wouldn't want a tank that purely replaces white leds with limes, but they do mix extremely well with warmer white leds. Link to comment
bdevillier19 Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 Lime LEDs are incredible for adding visible brightness to the fixture. It kind of adds a metal halide-esque quality to the light that fixtures without limes lack. They really don't add much in the way of coral coloration, but they do make the tank look bright. Personally, I wouldn't BUILD a fixture without them (there was a big difference in visual brightness in my fixture even when adding 3 Limes @700mA to a fixture lighting a 40 breeder), but they wouldn't be a deal breaker if I got a great deal on a premade fixture. I just recently received jedimasterben's light and now have it over my tank and I can say that without a doubt the limes do make an incredible difference. As you said it gives the light a very close to MH look that is just unbelievably crisp look. Link to comment
Proball Posted March 2, 2015 Author Share Posted March 2, 2015 The limes might make me look for a used nanobox vs waiting for the AI Prime to come out. Link to comment
evilc66 Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 http://www.shop.stevesleds.com/Philips-Luxeon-ES-Lime-3-Watt-LEDs-8794102493.htm They are these. They're essentially a white LED without the blue spike in terms of spectrum (broad spectrum from ~500-630nm). They work because our eyes are incredibly sensitive to green spectrum light, but the LED itself has a fairly broad spectrum meaning it blends well with white LEDs (unlike true green LEDs which are generally a huge spike @530 nm). You wouldn't want a tank that purely replaces white leds with limes, but they do mix extremely well with warmer white leds. Actually, it's a white LED without the red phosphor. These are great at making the light visibly brighter without having to add increased intensity (and PAR that you may not want or need), but they are also great at removing any purple tint from the light that you can get with a neutral/warm white and royal blue mix. There is virtually no down side to using these LEDs (within reason of course), as they never seem to add any kind of green hue, unless you just use too many. Link to comment
Paleoreef103 Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 Actually, it's a white LED without the red phosphor. I was going more towards a functional description than a technical one. White without the red phosphor, huh? Weird. I know white LEDs start out life as royal blues so what removes the blue spike you see in white leds? Link to comment
evilc66 Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 Heavy application of the phosphor. The more you apply, the more blue light is converted to the higher wavelengths. It's the same reason lower CCT whites have less of a blue spike relative to the rest of the spectra. Link to comment
Sunstar Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 Hello Evilc66. Thanks for the info guys. I am starting to get drooly again in regards to making a lamp.... lamp buckpucks, controller or buy one nanobox. the thoughts, the thoughts. Link to comment
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