Is 56 leds enough for my tank?

[RaeRae]

Will it be enough for a 32"x32"x24"deep with a 3 inch sand bed 40 DEG optics about 12 to 14 inches above the water. 24 cool white 3 watt cree with 32 royal blue 3 watt cree? Tottal 100 gallons. Houseing 2 clams, sps at the midway and zoas at the bottom.

 

[RaeRae]

anybody

 

[johnanddawn]

should be - depends a lot on your scape, size of heat sinks, spacing of leds etc

 

[Troylee]

I think it would be fine IMHO... I would go with 36 royal blues since you want multiples of 12 for each driver.... Each driver can run 12 in series or 24 parrallell so go with 24 whites and 36 blues.... That will give ya 60 LEDs total should look nice...

 

[Tab28]

I was wondering on LED's 3 watt per bulb at a depth of 24". Does that extra one watt make that much of a difference? One of my LFS has a rimless nano can't be more then 16"-18" deep and they had 2 watt per bulb and had 4 strips of 12. A mixture of white/blue and they could not leave anything more than some LPS and zoa's longer then a few weeks. Small clams and frag SPS had problems after awhile.

I would like to switch to LED if I have to spring for replacing my MH ballast. But I have heard mixed reviews and all articles I found online were always for shallow aquariums under 16".

 

[Troylee]

Well if you go with Cree the best for application I think "but not positive" you can only get 3w.... I would stick with the 3watters there tried and true... Best thing to do would be not use as many... Agreed I cook things in my tanks with LEDs there very powerfull!!!

 

[GR808]

i have a 120g long with 96 LEDs. still acclimating my tank to avoid "cooking" but 2 weeks in and my cw/rb combo is up to 50% and rb is 40%. The beauty of a DIY led system is that u are able to add stars if you feel you don't have enough light. plan for a slightly larger heatsink or lay out your stars to the flexibility of adding. a controller really gives the advantage when you want to dial in how bright or dim you want your lights.