Are there any guidelines on lighting with LEDs? (e.g. how man to use per gallon or something)

[kdx7214]

Setting up my first tank in 15 years. The last time I built a lighting system metal halides were the standard and T5s were just showing up on the scene. These days it's all LED based, but the old watt/gallon doesn't seem to apply anymore. I've read through the pinned DIY lighting thread (helpful, but many of the LEDs in there have been discontinued) but didn't really see anything to help decide to build or to buy. I prefer building where possible, just for the fun factor.

So, any suggestions?
Thanks!

 

[Uzidaisies]

I’d look at the area you want to cover, and the type of corals you want to keep, then match that to the coverage, spectrum and par outputs of different lights. A lot of options out there.

 

[Uzidaisies]

You can find par maps for a specific light to show you what said light will cover with what par value. That can help.

 

[Uzidaisies]

If you mean building the light itself with leds, I’m not sure. There are loose suggestions of watts per gallon I guess, 2-3 for lps or something. But like you stated, those ‘rules’ aren’t really applicable to leds, as far as I’m aware. It’s more about par value. So if you can figure out what the par would be for the diodes you want to use, after you add a reflector and stuff.. I can’t help you there.