General DIY LED thread

[dantimdad]

After a lot of discussion, the amount of reds that are needed in corals is very small.

For growth it's pretty much unnecessary. And has been done with just violets and biues but it looks bad to most folks. myself included.

I have built lights for years and had good growth and color but thought I was overdoing it. I took out reds, amber's and regular green years ago and never looked back.

In truth, I would lay odds that a custom rgb setup where the blues covered from 410 to 455, green from 460 to 560 and red above that you could color kid and do everything necessary. Obviously those aren't really rgb bulbs. But you get the idea.

 

[rushbattle]

There are videos on it.

I haven't tried it personally.

Also, if you email them at Steve's, I am sure they could accommodate you.

I asked about some different LEDs on their 3ups and they weren’t interested, just told me I was wrong.

LED Supply does custom 3up star board ~$20 each

https://www.ledsupply.com/leds/custom-3-up-cree-high-power-led

That’s the reason I was looking at diy. ~$5-10 per board at low quantity rather than $20, and I can pick any LED I want. They don’t have Mint for example.

 

[Matt Carden]

4xRB (ch1)
2x410 (ch2)
2x420 (ch2)
1x395 (ch2)
2xmint (ch3)
1xcyan (ch4)
1xblue (ch4)

But, I want to forgo the 395

I have another question, only 12(without UV) 3w LEDs for a 93 cube?
If that is enough than I could double that, spread out evenly for my 60"x24"x20"deep water. Which is basically 48 watts of power used at recommended max current.

 

[coralbeauties]

Nothing real fancy with my setup. Been running them for years. Mostly royal blues with some blue, red, green,and violet. I get great color out of my corals. My setup uses jardurino for a controller with ldd drivers. Using 204 3 watt cree leds over my 210 gallon tank.
Jeff

 

[Skydvr]

I read some articles a while back with studies that focused on red light and coral growth.

It seems many shallow water corals use red light to help regulate zooxanthellae densities. Since red light tapers off quickly, the coral can use red light to gauge depth and relative light intensity. If I recall correctly, they were able to recreate a bleaching from overly intense light by running only reds at fairly mild intensities.

A small amount of red acelerated growth when compared to just blue.

Talking about red light reminds me, I discovered yesterday that the app for my light has the red and green channels swapped, as well as the royal blue and violet. I need to fix that, or adjust my setting to compensate.

 

[OllieNZ]

I believe @Lasse was experimenting on the effects of red light on the growth patterns of hystrix.

I've been doing a bit more research on led fixtures in general and have come across a couple of interesting tidbits.
This video from BRS on the Phillips Coral Care LED offers some good insight on spectrum and quality of light in regards to LEDs in general, I highly recommend watching it.

In the vid BRS suggest that based on experience/anecdotal evidence the colour spectrum provided by the ATI blue+ t5 lamps provides something close to optimal for coral growth/colouration. If we take a look the the spectrum provided by the blue+

then we see that @dantimdad 's suggested layout would come pretty close to providing something similar depending on the mixing/dimming settings......BUT from an aesthetic perspective how blue is too blue? Do we as reefers mind wasting a little bit more money to be able to adjust the aesthetic of the light as long as there isn't a negative effect on the corals? I'd suggest most of us care more about how our display looks vs how many lbs of coral growth per Kw/hr of electricity used we get, a frag system would be a different story however.....

Another link:
https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/383147-new-nanobox-led-color-mint/
Showing the use of mint/cyan/blue/royal blue.

 

[Kampo]

I have another question, only 12(without UV) 3w LEDs for a 93 cube?
If that is enough than I could double that, spread out evenly for my 60"x24"x20"deep water. Which is basically 48 watts of power used at recommended max current.

i'm sure thats a cluster to base a larger light arround.

I'm running 60 3 watt leds over a 30in cube, still acclimating the corals to the new light and bringing up the power, but I think I don't have enough tbh. for a 60x24x20 i'd guess you would want 8-10 clustersin a 4x2 or 5x2 arrangement. think of each cluster as a better specterally optimized kessil 160 or ai prime because that about the power level were talking about.

 

[Lasse]

4xRB (ch1)
2x410 (ch2)
2x420 (ch2)
1x395 (ch2)
2xmint (ch3)
1xcyan (ch4)
1xblue (ch4)

But, I want to forgo the 395

If you add green (around 525 -535 nm) and red (either 630 or 660 nm) you can use the RGB trick in order to get a white hue in spite of the facts that you run very much blue in you set up. A couple of years ago - I did constructions with help of LED Engine RGBA LED:s that´s works very well. GHL use CREE RGB in their Mitras LED bar 2. Many T5 tubes use this trick in order to get a good light- tricking your eyes to see something that looks white but in reality there is much blue wavelengths. Please see my build thread - the old pictures is taken with (older than 8 months) a Pacific Sun fixture (without phosphorous coated LED´s) The new with GHL Mitras LED bar 2 that use a lot of Cree RGB LED´s. Photos and videos is done with a camera having a semi-automatic white balance, hence showing a colour rather like how it looks in IRL.

My experiences with red lights is rather good and I run my RGB at 100 % most of the day. In this last setup Mitras LED bar 2 - I use phosphorous coated white LEDs of 8000, 6500 and 4500 K. Only 21 pcs 6500 and 10 pcs 4500. I use 43 pcs 8000 K, 43 pcs 455 nm, 33 pcs 425 nm, 22 pcs 450 nm and 172 RGB. (RGB -> 472 nm, 535 nm and 622 nm) The RGB:s use around 0.8 W, all of the others are 3 watts LEDs but they are only run at 350 mA (gives 1 W). Total - around 300 W. I use my phosphorous coated LED att max for only 5 hours a day. RGB - 100 % 8 hours and all blue - 7 hours. In my set up - around 40 W off max 300 W are pure red (13 %). The phosphorous coated LED give rather much red wavelengths too. The reason why I use 10 pcs of 4500 K is because I want som wavelengths over 700 too. This fixtures are not DIY but I have a fixture with 740 nm LEDs that I will test in the future.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[dantimdad]

I have another question, only 12(without UV) 3w LEDs for a 93 cube?
If that is enough than I could double that, spread out evenly for my 60"x24"x20"deep water. Which is basically 48 watts of power used at recommended max current.

That is just one array. It would take three at least.

 

[dantimdad]

I believe @Lasse was experimenting on the effects of red light on the growth patterns of hystrix.

I've been doing a bit more research on led fixtures in general and have come across a couple of interesting tidbits.
This video from BRS on the Phillips Coral Care LED offers some good insight on spectrum and quality of light in regards to LEDs in general, I highly recommend watching it.

In the vid BRS suggest that based on experience/anecdotal evidence the colour spectrum provided by the ATI blue+ t5 lamps provides something close to optimal for coral growth/colouration. If we take a look the the spectrum provided by the blue+

then we see that @dantimdad 's suggested layout would come pretty close to providing something similar depending on the mixing/dimming settings......BUT from an aesthetic perspective how blue is too blue? Do we as reefers mind wasting a little bit more money to be able to adjust the aesthetic of the light as long as there isn't a negative effect on the corals? I'd suggest most of us care more about how our display looks vs how many lbs of coral growth per Kw/hr of electricity used we get, a frag system would be a different story however.....

Another link:
https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/383147-new-nanobox-led-color-mint/
Showing the use of mint/cyan/blue/royal blue.

Correct. They we're the first manufacturer I saw try what I was wanting to. The light wouldn't be too blue as your eyes are tricked into seeing a "whiter" light by the mint and cyan.

 

[dantimdad]

Also, keep in mind, the amount of cyan and sky blue in my mix is very little. Just tweaked for appearances.

I used to no use cyan because I was told by a manufacturer they cause bad algae. This is not the case. I imagine if you used them heavily, then it's possible. But, I also think that about just about any color.

 

[rushbattle]

Also, keep in mind, the amount of cyan and sky blue in my mix is very little. Just tweaked for appearances.

I used to no use cyan because I was told by a manufacturer they cause bad algae. This is not the case. I imagine if you used them heavily, then it's possible. But, I also think that about just about any color.

Steve's maintains that's the case. They mentioned that it just made the algae "pop." I could care less, I like everything to look vibrant, even my algae.

 

[dantimdad]

I like everything to look vibrant, even my algae.

LOL! Quote of the day right here!

 

[dantimdad]

Nothing real fancy with my setup. Been running them for years. Mostly royal blues with some blue, red, green,and violet. I get great color out of my corals. My setup uses jardurino for a controller with ldd drivers. Using 204 3 watt cree leds over my 210 gallon tank.
Jeff

Holy cow!

That's some serious wiring and heat sinks!

 

[dantimdad]

Honestly, if I could get @noopsyche to do a custom array or we could get a tweaked Philips coralcare here in the states, I would probably not do DIY LEDS.

Especially, if it was Noopsyche given the price. I love the size and look of their fixture. The interface needs some help, but, it's good enough because I tend not to play around with settings once I find what I and the corals like.

 

[coralbeauties]

Holy cow!

That's some serious wiring and heat sinks!

I built mine in the very beginning of leds being used. I dont think anyone even manufactured lights then. started out with just blues and whites back then. I am way behind the times and colors by reading you guys posts. How are you driving and dimming your leds? With the ardurino controller I use I am able to adjust my intensity of 6 different colors in 15 minute increments which allows me to do a sunrise and sunset.
thanks
Jeff

 

[Kampo]

Honestly, if I could get @noopsyche to do a custom array or we could get a tweaked Philips coralcare here in the states, I would probably not do DIY LEDS.

Especially, if it was Noopsyche given the price. I love the size and look of their fixture. The interface needs some help, but, it's good enough because I tend not to play around with settings once I find what I and the corals like.

Yup pretty much this. That said. Nanobox is pretty close to ideal these days. But cost of one of them to light large tanks is on par with ecotech

 

[dantimdad]

I built mine in the very beginning of leds being used. I dont think anyone even manufactured lights then. started out with just blues and whites back then. I am way behind the times and colors by reading you guys posts. How are you driving and dimming your leds? With the ardurino controller I use I am able to adjust my intensity of 6 different colors in 15 minute increments which allows me to do a sunrise and sunset.
thanks
Jeff

Honestly, I prefer manual dimming drivers. I have a bunch of different sizes. I don't use a controller. I think the use of them is over done. Except for ramp up and down which I am working on learning pi and arduino programming to do just that just with the same drivers I am already using.

The multiple timer thing works if you have a bunch of leds on different channels and is a very viable option.

I would love to work with you on any future improvements if you want to. I don't want anything, I just like doing it.

 

[dantimdad]

BTW, my first fixture was over a decade ago and cost a fortune compared to the MH I had on the tank before it.

I sold that setup about 4 years ago and the only one LED was burned and I replaced it for the guy who bought it.

 

[coralbeauties]

I built mine probably in the same time frame. Most likely had $1k into my 3 heat sinks but have probably made that back in replacement halide or t5 bulbs. I enjoy the simplicity and compactness of the jardurino program and the ldd drivers. My original setup had nondimmable meanwell drivers which were a power supply nightmare plugging them all in and turning them on and off with my apex. I have a current heat sink with 48 leds and 4 nondimmable drivers that is over my small frag tank that would be fun to play with. Im getting amazing color out of my corals under that light but really dont remember what color of leds are on it.
thanks
Jeff