Drivers helppppp!

[XavierZ06]

okay, over a 7 foot tank i am looking at doing something along these lines...
First off do you guys think this is enough light? (all corals and inverts)
and second off, What drivers should i get????
I want the whites to be controlled independently from the blues etc. I also want to be able to use the XM-L's to their full potential or near/about and not have to use as many for the tank.


Dimensions of the tank are 7' x 24" x 31" tall but the bottom 6" is filled with sand. so actual depth is currently more like 22-25". nothing crazy.


Also optic recommendations if you can/have an opinion.


36 Cree XM-L Cool White (T5 series)
60-72 (not sure ) Cree XP-E Royal Blue


(figuring 1 meanwell ELN 60-48D, maybe paralleled with a strand of 12 RB for 2 total)
12-24 (same thing, not sure) Cree XP-E? or T- Blue


(Figuring 1 meanwell eln 60-48D)
4 Green
4 turquoise
4 red

 

[rkseaslug]

Hard to say if it is enough LEDs. You have to consider how high up you plan to hang lights and how high will you rocks be. Ratio from blue to white sounds good. I did 3 things you might want to consider. 1) suspend with adjustable plant hangers, so you can play with height of light. 2) build you box so you hAve room to move lights and add in future. My heat sinks are mounted via twist wires right now so I can move them around. 3) I only make the whites dim able. Blues are always full. I like lots of royal blues and a few blues. Hope that helps. I am up to 78 LEDs over my 100 gal right now.

 

[CJO]

If you are running parallel strings of the Royal Blues, you can put them at about 0.7A for each string, using the 60-48D, which is good. However, you will probably not be getting as blue a light as you want if you are paring them with 36 XM-Ls at anywhere near their full power.

There are other driver options that will probably work better, since you are looking at running 3 drivers for the XM-Ls, 5 drivers for the RB XP-Es, and another for the remaining colors. Meanwell makes some higher-amperage models that might do well at the same voltage, you just have to run more strings in parallel. Unfortunately, I don't know much about them.

CJ