DIY LED light. Layout advice please.

[CFR]

Hi guys,

I'm building a LED light for my custom AIO nano tank. Actually, I started this project 1 1/2 year ago. I bought all the necessary parts and built a 6 channel Arduino controller, but life got in the way, then I swapped tanks and never finished it. The DT is 100L (27G) and the integrated sump/refugium is 30L (8G). It's FOWLR at the moment, but I intend to add corals.

The LEDs that I already have are:

10 Natural White 3900-4500K
10 Cool White 6000-6500K
10 Royal Blue 450-455nm
5 Cyan 490nm
5 Green 520-535nm
5 UV 380nm
5 Violet 420nm
5 Red 660nm
5 PC Amber 590nm

All LEDs are soldered on 12mm PCBs and I already have 2 4x8 inch heatsinks.

Obviously, I'm not going to use all of them. I was thinking of building 2 arrays of 13-15 LEDs each.
However, my problem is that I can't come up with a descent layout. Based on the LEDs that I have, could you please recommend a layout that would render a light that would look natural (daylight and moonlight) and also help coral growth?

Cheers!
Chris

 

[Ranjib]

#diywizards

 

[cooltowncorals]

My advice would be to look at popular reefing lights AI, Radion ect and see what they do and do something similar the layouts are in their websites.

 

[siggy]

I seen a few here installed a upgrade kit to their nano's @Katrina71 did one...I think? that would be one to emulate......Curious where did you buy the LED's

 

[Katrina71]

I'm working on mine...I got a tan from them. I might know a guy that can help. If you want.

 

[Katrina71]

I can pass along what I have learned for sure.

 

[CFR]

Thank you all for your response.
I'm not sure if I should use all colours or some of them to achieve the best results. Also, I don't know how many LEDs are enough for my DT (L60 x W38.5 x H44 cm / 24 x 15 x 17.5 inches).
Copying popular reefing lights is an option. But I'd like to hear your opinion. So, any advice is greatly appreciated.
Cheers!

 

[CFR]

I seen a few here installed a upgrade kit to their nano's @Katrina71 did one...I think? that would be one to emulate......Curious where did you buy the LED's

I bought most of them from eBay. Some from led-tech.de.

 

[CFR]

I can pass along what I have learned for sure.

Please do :)

 

[Katrina71]

@litenyaup take a look at the above please.

 

[Amoo]

I don't think you have enough blue for how I would personally build it.

You generally want 4 blues to every 2 Whites and 1/2 Violet/UV

I also have not seen what you are calling "natural whites" used in reef lighting. Here's a layout of reefbreeders 24" fixture to give you an idea of a fixture the size you're looking at.

 

[Steven Garland]

I would drop the cool whites,reds,ambers & greens and replace them with a few warm whites. Add a couple more royal blues. Drop the 380 and add some 400-410nm violets in place of them. I would add a few true blues as well maybe 6 at most or you will have a tank that looks like windex.

If you wait a week or two Steve's Leds is dropping mint leds and those would be a good edition.

If it was me I would do 12x royal blues,4x 400-410nm,4x 420-430nm,4x neutral whites & 4x warm whites,4 mints,4-6x true blues.

 

[Katrina71]

Do y'all think his 6000-6500k are enough? I am using 10000k

 

[Steven Garland]

I woukd do a mixture of 6500k to 3000k. Also,I just got the email from Jeff at StevesLeds and mints are now live on their site under the Luxeon C section !!!

 

[Steven Garland]

Most companies use reds and greens because they use low CRI whites like cool whites which usually are 7000-10000k and are heavy in the blue spectrum given less than desired color rendtion to coral. You cancel those whites and use better CRI whites say 75-90 (80&90) are the deisred rating and don't need the reds and greens because neutral and warm whites cover that spectrum,warm whites more than neutrals hence why warm whites are more yellow than neutrals and waaay more yellow than cool whites.

You could also make "evil clusters" and base your layout around 2 vero white cobs. Although their forward voltage is typically very high say 30-50v. Something like this:

2 Evil Clusters consisting of:

1x vero
6-8x rebel royal blues
2x rebel true blues
4x semi 400-410nm violets
4x semi 420-430 violets
2x luxeon c mints

 

[CFR]

Wow! Lots of info to digest! Thanks guys. I'll get back to you with a cluster layout based on your feedback.

 

[CFR]

Inspired by this thread I decided to ditch the whites altogether, since white is a combination of all colours. So, I came up with this cluster layout. I can't add more blue LEDs because my power supply has an output of 33V tops. Theoretically I'll be able to reproduce almost any colour temperature and therefore adjust it to my taste.

I decided to keep the PC Amber, because I read that it helps with colour rendering without affecting the colour temperature (CCT).
What do you think?

 

[dantimdad]

I am working on one for a nano right now inspired by Dana. It's 5x420nm, 2x445nm, 1x470nm, 2x3500K, 1x660nm 1x530nm

The green and red will be run very low about 15-20% and the daylight will be run about 50%.

The rest at 100%.

Three channels on inventronic 10volt dimmable ballasts.

I love working with LEDs. Built my first one almost 10 years ago.

 

[Steven Garland]

Ehhhh,that may be the case but I foresee you eventually wanting whites in your array. Unless you have a top notch dslr camera with good sensors and even better lesnses. Shooting pics of the tank will become a huge hassle.

Like I said,warm whites will cover the hideous colors of green and red and save from the color banding thay will more than likely occur,unless you are running your light a long distance above the tank. Face it,all led fixtures within the last 5-7 years rum white diodes for a reason. If yoi don't run the RGB leds basically on a 3 up,you'll get banding and I don't think it will work like you want them too.

Try adding a few mints too,StevesLeds just released some today and add 2 to your white and 2 to your blue channel. Ultimately its your build and you will do as you please,we are just here to give advice.

Adding more violet spectrum will also aid in growth,coloration and health of coral. PCA is basically a filler color and is basically all looks and doesn't do too much as in health and radiance.

I'm no expert like some people but have built a easy 10 DIY fixtures and kept acro's in pico's because of those lights and all worked flawlessly.

 

[CFR]

Ehhhh,that may be the case but I foresee you eventually wanting whites in your array. Unless you have a top notch dslr camera with good sensors and even better lesnses. Shooting pics of the tank will become a huge hassle.

Like I said,warm whites will cover the hideous colors of green and red and save from the color banding thay will more than likely occur,unless you are running your light a long distance above the tank. Face it,all led fixtures within the last 5-7 years rum white diodes for a reason. If yoi don't run the RGB leds basically on a 3 up,you'll get banding and I don't think it will work like you want them too.

Try adding a few mints too,StevesLeds just released some today and add 2 to your white and 2 to your blue channel. Ultimately its your build and you will do as you please,we are just here to give advice.

Adding more violet spectrum will also aid in growth,coloration and health of coral. PCA is basically a filler color and is basically all looks and doesn't do too much as in health and radiance.

I'm no expert like some people but have built a easy 10 DIY fixtures and kept acro's in pico's because of those lights and all worked flawlessly.

Now I'm confused! @Lasse on the "No white light" thread has no whites and the pictures of his tank look very close to what I have in mind.
Please bear in mind I have only 6 channels and the output of my power supply (MW LPV-100-36) is about 33V (36V - 3V loss) that means I can run 10 LEDs maximum per channel.
This is my DIY controller.

Do you mind telling me, based on your colour configuration, how many and what LEDs you'd put per channel?

Cheers!
Chris