AliE LED bar vs. T5

[Nonya]

My understanding is anything 400nm and above is not UV.

Mine too.

 

[telegraham]

You have it right. 400nm is generally accepted as the defining line between visible and UV. Below is UV, and above is visible. I call 399nm UV. 400 will emit UV, but that's a visible spectrum diode.

 

[Nonya]

You have it right. 400nm is generally accepted as the defining line between visible and UV. Below is UV, and above is visible. I call 399nm UV. 400 will emit UV, but that's a visible spectrum diode.

Those pesky 400nm LEDs emit on both sides of the line. Maybe in the FW world 430nm is UV. oreo, what were you trying to say with that?

 

[AKReefing]

Just to fill the left side of the hr which peaks around 455-ish?
If the spectrum is correct adding something as simple as say 430:410 2:1.
Want to play the UV game say 400:410:430 1:1:2
Or skip the 410.
Of course each "color" will have it's own efficiency thus throwing off any way of actually balancing anything.
Just leaves sort of a best guess..

If you buy this action spectrum of one coral and one algae you see it peaks around 430 and diminishes in the 400 range.
Still effective but now in the same range as say cyan or green.
Of course there is always the discussion on the left side of 430 creating more "sunscreen" pigments than say boosting the right side (around cyan)
Then there is which band stimulates which florescent protein the best and also does not "glare" it out.

my less than 2 cents worth.

I'm reminded of an article written by Dana Riddle almost a decade ago. Simply "filling in" areas of the spectrum not blanketed by any lighting type (LED, MH, fluorescent) may not be worthwhile when it comes to photosynthesis. Fluorescence is another subject: https://reefs.com/magazine/photosyn...results-of-short-term-exposure-to-led-lights/

 

[telegraham]

I'm reminded of an article written by Dana Riddle almost a decade ago. Simply "filling in" areas of the spectrum not blanketed by any lighting type (LED, MH, fluorescent) may not be worthwhile when it comes to photosynthesis. Fluorescence is another subject: https://reefs.com/magazine/photosyn...results-of-short-term-exposure-to-led-lights/

Thanks for sharing.

 

[oreo54]

Those pesky 400nm LEDs emit on both sides of the line. Maybe in the FW world 430nm is UV. oreo, what were you trying to say with that?

I was referring to using a 400nm led in the place ( or addition to) the 410 and above violets. At 50% uv by one definition,there are others) definition the 400 is the only arguable UV led I was referring to.

One of the orig. questions was wanting to supplement par and fill in ( even out) a wide blue band.

A 395nm has some >400nm light. So is it a UV led or not?
Think emitting 50% or more in the ISO standard range of 400 or less is a fine definition...


Honestly the thread is meandering a bit and going back through it is a bit of a headache.

 

[AKReefing]

Honestly the thread is meandering a bit and going back through it is a bit of a headache...

Like that's something new? LOL

 

[oreo54]

Historical context.

Question:

Thanks, what would you suggest for a blue/uv bar to compliment and fill in the lower end of the spectrum when paired with a nicrew Hyperreef led?

Answer:

Just to fill the left side of the hr which peaks around 455-ish?
If the spectrum is correct adding something as simple as say 430:410 2:1.
Want to play the UV game say 400:410:430 1:1:2
Or skip the 410.
Of course each "color" will have it's own efficiency thus throwing off any way of actually balancing anything.
Just leaves sort of a best guess

 

[bishoptf]

Will be interesting to see what you get.

As for your original question, and avoiding marketing assumptions, this is the actual spectrum of the Hyperreef 100 when running something similar to AB+. I have the Nicrew here, and can provide data based on how you run the light.

It has a fairly deep spectrum, so what I think I would do is use 415/430/470 in a repeating pattern. This can be done at home in your oven, but you'd have to be comfortable doing such things.

I have my led strips up, these are the ones that I purchased 2 of the UV ones- https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256...ductList_159260084.pic_1&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa


Still not sure of the ratio of led frequencies per strip but it has a much lighter cyan look than the nicrew and provides really good fill coverage etc. Power supplies are just 2amp 24vdc power supply and the dimmer is an inline unit. I took my multi-meter and took some measurements and looks like when fully dimmed its putting out 13.5v and then as you increase it goes up from there until it hits 24v at full brightness. The good thing with that is I could run this with a simple mosfet via pwm and reef-pi. I've yet to test that but I have done that many times driving 12v led's and not sure why it wouldnt work for this, low amperage due to the 24vdc and should be easy to do with a n-level mosfet.

So far I like the lights and have them up with my nicrews, I wish they were linkable vs having to have a power supply for each one of them but they are pretty inexpensive. I really like the idea if led strips but with the multiple cords and the lack of dimming of them I think they are much harder to implement. I would like to ditch my nicrews and thinking of going all strips but even with a shallow tank its hard to know how many bars would I need. Right now I have 2 of these UV and would need to add one with some whites in it but theres the main problem, getting the look you want with most models not dimming the individual colors is pretty difficult. I think I could drive my shallow tank with just three bars, trying to find one that I can either adjust myself with swapping out diodes or getting someone to do a custom. What I would like to have is another one of these UV or all Blue bars and swap in some 4k-6500k white leds and some cyan, mint and have that for my third bar. If I used the same type of bar that I have now it would be dimmable which would be pretty nice.

Try not to laugh at my frankenstein mounting, my current nicrews are mounted off of 80/20 with a custom 3d bracket I made and printed some adapters for the led strips to mount to 80/20 arms. Not crazy about the look and if I decide to stay with this I will then put some light weight wrapper around the lights to make it look nicer but again thinking of ditching the nicrews and just adding one more bar. I do have them slightly tilted inwards, not much at all but I did put a slant in the 3d bracket.

Now my goal is to ramp the led strips up and reduce the nicrews and to get my par and color blends how I like it, easier said that done.

@telegraham any thoughts on ditching the Nicrews for one led bar would like your thoughts, its a 33g long tank, about 12" wide and 12" depth, I think 3 bars would be more than enough but looking for any thoughts etc...

 

[Hooz]

I have my led strips up, these are the ones that I purchased 2 of the UV ones- https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805646932874.html?pdp_npi=4@dis!USD!US $63.00!US $48.51!!!63.00!48.51!@2101ea8c17042960012036193efc5d!12000034515659443!sh01!US!0!&spm=a2g0o.store_pc_home.productList_159260084.pic_1&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa


Still not sure of the ratio of led frequencies per strip but it has a much lighter cyan look than the nicrew and provides really good fill coverage etc. Power supplies are just 2amp 24vdc power supply and the dimmer is an inline unit. I took my multi-meter and took some measurements and looks like when fully dimmed its putting out 13.5v and then as you increase it goes up from there until it hits 24v at full brightness. The good thing with that is I could run this with a simple mosfet via pwm and reef-pi. I've yet to test that but I have done that many times driving 12v led's and not sure why it wouldnt work for this, low amperage due to the 24vdc and should be easy to do with a n-level mosfet.

So far I like the lights and have them up with my nicrews, I wish they were linkable vs having to have a power supply for each one of them but they are pretty inexpensive. I really like the idea if led strips but with the multiple cords and the lack of dimming of them I think they are much harder to implement. I would like to ditch my nicrews and thinking of going all strips but even with a shallow tank its hard to know how many bars would I need. Right now I have 2 of these UV and would need to add one with some whites in it but theres the main problem, getting the look you want with most models not dimming the individual colors is pretty difficult. I think I could drive my shallow tank with just three bars, trying to find one that I can either adjust myself with swapping out diodes or getting someone to do a custom. What I would like to have is another one of these UV or all Blue bars and swap in some 4k-6500k white leds and some cyan, mint and have that for my third bar. If I used the same type of bar that I have now it would be dimmable which would be pretty nice.

Try not to laugh at my frankenstein mounting, my current nicrews are mounted off of 80/20 with a custom 3d bracket I made and printed some adapters for the led strips to mount to 80/20 arms. Not crazy about the look and if I decide to stay with this I will then put some light weight wrapper around the lights to make it look nicer but again thinking of ditching the nicrews and just adding one more bar. I do have them slightly tilted inwards, not much at all but I did put a slant in the 3d bracket.

Now my goal is to ramp the led strips up and reduce the nicrews and to get my par and color blends how I like it, easier said that done.

@telegraham any thoughts on ditching the Nicrews for one led bar would like your thoughts, its a 33g long tank, about 12" wide and 12" depth, I think 3 bars would be more than enough but looking for any thoughts etc...

Do they have a freshwater "daylight" bar available? That might be the ticket. The blue/UV hybrid bars probably have your blue band covered pretty well. Maybe for a third bar a freshwater type daylight bar that you could dim individually to tune "the look" would get you where you wanted to be. A 50/50 bar (if they make one) might get you to the same place while having a more useful output (additional 450/475 in addition to the white).

 

[bishoptf]

Do they have a freshwater "daylight" bar available? That might be the ticket. The blue/UV hybrid bars probably have your blue band covered pretty well. Maybe for a third bar a freshwater type daylight bar that you could dim individually to tune "the look" would get you where you wanted to be. A 50/50 bar (if they make one) might get you to the same place while having a more useful output (additional 450/475 in addition to the white).

Yeah thats part of the issue they make an all blue one supposedly at 470, I would like to modify that one and add the whites etc but for me I want it to be dimmable via the old school voltage method. I know the popular grows that have the blue/white combo is only dimmable via bluetooth etc and I want to skip that. I like how these bars are controlled just want a bar with some white led's that I can adjust etc...

 

[Hooz]

Yeah thats part of the issue they make an all blue one supposedly at 470, I would like to modify that one and add the whites etc but for me I want it to be dimmable via the old school voltage method. I know the popular grows that have the blue/white combo is only dimmable via bluetooth etc and I want to skip that. I like how these bars are controlled just want a bar with some white led's that I can adjust etc...

I just looked and their "full blue" alternates between 450 and 475 for the length of the bar. It's kind of a bummer that they don't make a daylight or 50/50 bar that matches (that I could find). That would make for a pretty slick setup. Poor man's Orphek!

 

[oreo54]

Still not sure of the ratio of led frequencies per strip but it has a much lighter cyan look than the nicrew and provides really good fill coverage etc. Power supplies are just 2amp 24vdc power supply and the dimmer is an inline unit. I took my multi-meter and took some measurements and looks like when fully dimmed its putting out 13.5v and then as you increase it goes up from there until it hits 24v at full brightness. The good thing with that is I could run this with a simple mosfet via pwm and reef-pi. I've yet to test that but I have done that many times driving 12v led's and not sure why it wouldnt work for this, low amperage due to the 24vdc and should be easy to do with a n-level mosfet.

So far I like the lights and have them up with my nicrews, I wish they were linkable vs having to have a power supply for each one of them but they are pretty inexpensive. I really like the idea if led strips but with the multiple cords and the lack of dimming of them I think they are much harder to implement. I would like to ditch my nicrews and thinking of going all strips but even with a shallow tank its hard to know how many bars would I need. Right now I have 2 of these UV and would need to add one with some whites in it but theres the main problem, getting the look you want with most models not dimming the individual colors is pretty difficult. I think I could drive my shallow tank with just three bars, trying to find one that I can either adjust myself with swapping out diodes or getting someone to do a custom. What I would like to have is another one of these UV or all Blue bars and swap in some 4k-6500k white leds and some cyan, mint and have that for my third bar. If I used the same type of bar that I have now it would be dimmable which would be pretty nice.

Try not to laugh at my frankenstein mounting, my current nicrews are mounted off of 80/20 with a custom 3d bracket I made and printed some adapters for th easier said that done.

Voltage doesn't change it is just an averaging function of your meter.
Like 24v at 50 % duty cycle averages 12v.
24v or zero sort of.

There are cheap programmers for constant voltage lights. Sunsetter, tc-420(1) ect.


And yes a simple logic level non mosfet should work fine.


Think the above works if you don't want to diy the circuit.
As to the power supplies you can always just get a bigger wattage one to run multiple lights.

You can always get "daylight" bars ( and controllers) from here.

30" 6500K White Freshwater ReefBar Pro 3W Bridgelux LEDs - Aquarium Li

30" 6500K White Freshwater ReefBar Pro 3W Bridgelux LEDs - Aquarium Light

21ledusa.com

Seems there are 6500k and also " full spectrum" bars as well as your controller.

No granular control ( RGB ect) though.

 

[bishoptf]

Voltage doesn't change it is just an averaging function of your meter.
Like 24v at 50 % duty cycle averages 12v.
24v or zero sort of.

There are cheap programmers for constant voltage lights. Sunsetter, tc-420(1) ect.


And yes a simple logic level non mosfet should work fine.


Think the above works if you don't want to diy the circuit.
As to the power supplies you can always just get a bigger wattage one to run multiple lights.

You can always get "daylight" bars ( and controllers) from here.

30" 6500K White Freshwater ReefBar Pro 3W Bridgelux LEDs - Aquarium Li

30" 6500K White Freshwater ReefBar Pro 3W Bridgelux LEDs - Aquarium Light

21ledusa.com

Seems there are 6500k and also " full spectrum" bars as well as your controller.

No granular control ( RGB ect) though.

Yeah I do not want to go with yet a different type bar, I would like all three to be the same type of bar, I just not sure how difficult it would be to swap out some diodes on these. I've done it multiple times on viparspectras, what I am running on one of my other tank is a modified and looks great and pretty easy to do. I have plenty of 3w diodes just not sure how difficult it would be to open up and swap out etc...I would get a full blue bar and swap some for white and cyan/mint and go from there. My concern is will one bar plus the other 2 be enough par, I think it would be but man just tricky to implement, IMHO.

This is what I have used in the past and just replaced the mosfet with a n-channel one...I have plenty of them sitting around...

 

[MarcosTacos]

I have my led strips up, these are the ones that I purchased 2 of the UV ones- https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805646932874.html?pdp_npi=4@dis!USD!US $63.00!US $48.51!!!63.00!48.51!@2101ea8c17042960012036193efc5d!12000034515659443!sh01!US!0!&spm=a2g0o.store_pc_home.productList_159260084.pic_1&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa


Still not sure of the ratio of led frequencies per strip but it has a much lighter cyan look than the nicrew and provides really good fill coverage etc. Power supplies are just 2amp 24vdc power supply and the dimmer is an inline unit. I took my multi-meter and took some measurements and looks like when fully dimmed its putting out 13.5v and then as you increase it goes up from there until it hits 24v at full brightness. The good thing with that is I could run this with a simple mosfet via pwm and reef-pi. I've yet to test that but I have done that many times driving 12v led's and not sure why it wouldnt work for this, low amperage due to the 24vdc and should be easy to do with a n-level mosfet.

So far I like the lights and have them up with my nicrews, I wish they were linkable vs having to have a power supply for each one of them but they are pretty inexpensive. I really like the idea if led strips but with the multiple cords and the lack of dimming of them I think they are much harder to implement. I would like to ditch my nicrews and thinking of going all strips but even with a shallow tank its hard to know how many bars would I need. Right now I have 2 of these UV and would need to add one with some whites in it but theres the main problem, getting the look you want with most models not dimming the individual colors is pretty difficult. I think I could drive my shallow tank with just three bars, trying to find one that I can either adjust myself with swapping out diodes or getting someone to do a custom. What I would like to have is another one of these UV or all Blue bars and swap in some 4k-6500k white leds and some cyan, mint and have that for my third bar. If I used the same type of bar that I have now it would be dimmable which would be pretty nice.

Try not to laugh at my frankenstein mounting, my current nicrews are mounted off of 80/20 with a custom 3d bracket I made and printed some adapters for the led strips to mount to 80/20 arms. Not crazy about the look and if I decide to stay with this I will then put some light weight wrapper around the lights to make it look nicer but again thinking of ditching the nicrews and just adding one more bar. I do have them slightly tilted inwards, not much at all but I did put a slant in the 3d bracket.

Now my goal is to ramp the led strips up and reduce the nicrews and to get my par and color blends how I like it, easier said that done.

@telegraham any thoughts on ditching the Nicrews for one led bar would like your thoughts, its a 33g long tank, about 12" wide and 12" depth, I think 3 bars would be more than enough but looking for any thoughts etc...

What is your mounting height? These are the 90 degree versions I was debating on buying. Do you get any disco effect?

 

[telegraham]

Try not to laugh at my frankenstein mounting

Any mounting solution that keeps the lights out of the water is a good solution. Those who laugh need more hugs!

@telegraham any thoughts on ditching the Nicrews for one led bar would like your thoughts, its a 33g long tank, about 12" wide and 12" depth, I think 3 bars would be more than enough but looking for any thoughts etc...

Why do you want to ditch the Nicrews? Regarding bars, three would probably work.

Are your power supplies constant current, maybe ~900mA, and variable voltage?

 

[oreo54]

Yeah I do not want to go with yet a different type bar, I would like all three to be the same type of bar, I just not sure how difficult it would be to swap out some diodes on these. I've done it multiple times on viparspectras, what I am running on one of my other tank is a modified and looks great and pretty easy to do. I have plenty of 3w diodes just not sure how difficult it would be to open up and swap out etc...I would get a full blue bar and swap some for white and cyan/mint and go from there.

Swapping is generally easy as you know.
Bigger problem would be how " sealed" are they.
Cracking the ip68...

They will customize for you.

Any mounting solution that keeps the lights out of the water is a good solution. Those who laugh need more hugs!


Why do you want to ditch the Nicrews? Regarding bars, three would probably work.

Are your power supplies constant current, maybe ~900mA, and variable voltage?

Power supplies are just 2amp 24vdc power supply and the dimmer is an inline unit.

Looks to be simple constant voltage arrays..

 

[Hooz]

Any mounting solution that keeps the lights out of the water is a good solution. Those who laugh need more hugs!

We give out way too many hugs these days. Sometimes people just need an old fashioned kick in the junk!

 

[telegraham]

We give out way too many hugs these days. Sometimes people just need an old fashioned kick in the junk!

Very true.

 

[telegraham]

Swapping is generally easy as you know.
Bigger problem would be how " sealed" are they.
Cracking the ip68...

They will customize for you.


Looks to be simple constant voltage arrays..

They're the same housing as populargrow, and populargow bars ship with constant current. It's possible that they are constant voltage, but without a pic or having not purchased the exact bar mentioned above, I cannot say either way.

Quick review of ebay LED strip

Was hunting around ebay for light strips, and found: 54w/81w/108w PopularGrow Blue White LED Aquarium Light Bar Fish Tank Plant Coral sold by ledlightplant So here is a quick review: I picked up 2 of the 81w version. It's just shy of 3ft long. It arrived quickly via DHL, (less than a week)...

www.reef2reef.com