Actinic LED Supplementation

brandon0350 · Apr 12, 2013

Greetings R2R, I am in the process of building a 24x18x18 Zoa/ Paly tank. Right now for lighting I have a 2 bulb 24w t5ho retro. It is running cheap bulbs. I'm unsure of the age or the color temp although I know one is "blue" and one is "white". I am interested in building a 24" LED light bar to add to my retro. I know a few vendors offer actinic supplement kits but I am unsure if I should add violet or UV LEDs to it. The main reason is I would like to add more coral "pop" and bring out the fluorescent colors of my polyps. Are violet LEDs worth using? What ratio should I use along with royal blue? As far as the T5s go I am going to replace with a Blue+ and a Aquablue. I am looking for a 20k+ color. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

ReefLEDLights · Apr 12, 2013

The XT-E Royal Blue will give you a very nice Actinic Colour Pop, while providing extra PAR.

The 410-420nm Violet also provides an awesome Colour Pop but is less intense than the XT-E. The 410-420nm also excites different pigments than the 450nm Royal Blue.

I would try 12 of each. Just make sure you run them on different drivers.

Bill

SloppyJ · Apr 12, 2013

I really enjoy my Innovative Marine LED strip. They aren't much more than if you built it yourself and they work great. I have one of the single strip ones and I plan on getting another for my office tank.

brandon0350 · Apr 13, 2013

ReefLEDLights said:
The XT-E Royal Blue will give you a very nice Actinic Colour Pop, while providing extra PAR.

The 410-420nm Violet also provides an awesome Colour Pop but is less intense than the XT-E. The 410-420nm also excites different pigments than the 450nm Royal Blue.

I would try 12 of each. Just make sure you run them on different drivers.

Bill

Is It Possible To Run 6 xt-E RB And 6 Violet Using The Same Driver Or Do They Have Different Requiremnts?

ReefLEDLights · Apr 13, 2013

brandon0350 said:
Is It Possible To Run 6 xt-E RB And 6 Violet Using The Same Driver Or Do They Have Different Requiremnts?

We do not recommend it. While testing different LEDs combinations we fount issues with the Violet failing at 700mA when combined with the Royal Blue. It should of worked well as the max current and Vf were within the drivers range.

The Semi Violet is a different LED and to be safe its best to keep it on its own Driver.

Mixing different XT-E and XP-E LEDs is no problem.

Bill