LED Q&A (You ask, I'll answer)

[Reef Breeders]

I have been working with LEDs for quite a while now, and I am also an electrician. I started this thread to answer any LED questions you might have, so fire away!

 

[revsgirl]

Great thread..

 

[revhtree]

I like this!

 

[Andrew L]

What led brand do you think would grow SPS the best as in par, color, and actual growth?

 

[rajkovich207]

Alright ill give this a shot. I recently ordered a DIY led kit from aquastyle. I am running maxwellen drivers with 11 royal blue and 1 UV on one driver and 8 10k 3 RB and 1 UV on the other. I am using 25 ohm potientometers from the shack and when I turn up or down the leds the crackle and the drivers hum/buzz fairly loud. What could this be from? I've checked all connections and they are all strong. TIA Tony

 

[Reef Breeders]

What led brand do you think would grow SPS the best as in par, color, and actual growth?

It depends on how efficient you want it to be, if you use crees, you will have more power, using less electricity. With Bridgelux, you need more LEDs, and more electricity for the same amount of power, but there are more colors available. The best option is a hybrid system, in which you have the newest crees (XT-Es) as the royal blues on one circuit (1300ma max) and cool whites on another (7500k is the best cool white, also 1300ma max), and some red XP-Es, green XP-E Crees, and blue XP-E Crees, along with 420nm bridgelux violets on a seperate driver, at 650ma max. The max current I reccomend is below the maximum, to increase LED life.

 

[Reef Breeders]

Alright ill give this a shot. I recently ordered a DIY led kit from aquastyle. I am running maxwellen drivers with 11 royal blue and 1 UV on one driver and 8 10k 3 RB and 1 UV on the other. I am using 25 ohm potientometers from the shack and when I turn up or down the leds the crackle and the drivers hum/buzz fairly loud. What could this be from? I've checked all connections and they are all strong. TIA Tony

Tony, maxwellen drivers are off brand, and prone to doing just what you describe. I believe that they should be used with a 100k potentiometer, but I would scrap them in favor of hyperion drivers, which are also pot dimming, with a 10k pot, and will make no noise, and run more efficiently than the maxwellens. There max output is usually 700ma, so I would add a 1 watt resistor to the 10v input, to bring it down to 90% power max, or 630ma so as not to burn out any LEDs. I believe that their forward voltage range is 20-40, so I would add a couple LEDs to each string to get a higher forward voltage, and put even less stress on the LEDs. The lower you run them, the longer they last, the same goes for efficiency, they are more efficient percentage wise at lower currents.

 

[Pkunk35]

The best option is a hybrid system, in which you have the newest crees (XT-Es) as the royal blues on one circuit (1300ma max) and cool whites on another (7500k is the best cool white, also 1300ma max), and some red XP-Es, green XP-E Crees, and blue XP-E Crees, along with 420nm bridgelux violets on a seperate driver, at 650ma max.

I got some questions...i'm really newb at LED so please forgive any really obvious newb questions:

1) In the above statement you state the "best option", do you mean that this is the best for efficiency/power consumption or LED colors or both?
2) Are the colors that the lights give out more for our visual enjoyment or do you feel that a wider range of colors also changes coral growth/coloration?
3) What is your favorite plug n play LED fixture out there now? Why?
4) Any links you can share that give a decent primer on LED lighting and how they relate to reef tanks?

Thanks a lot for sharing your opinions and experience!

 

[Reef Breeders]

I got some questions...i'm really newb at LED so please forgive any really obvious newb questions:

1) In the above statement you state the "best option", do you mean that this is the best for efficiency/power consumption or LED colors or both?
2) Are the colors that the lights give out more for our visual enjoyment or do you feel that a wider range of colors also changes coral growth/coloration?
3) What is your favorite plug n play LED fixture out there now? Why?
4) Any links you can share that give a decent primer on LED lighting and how they relate to reef tanks?

Thanks a lot for sharing your opinions and experience!

By best, I mean most efficient, and with the broadest range of colors. Yes, the colors are very important, they will accent coral colors, and give them pop that the cool whites and royal blues will not achieve on their own. Reds, greens, and blues, are good in smaller amounts, maybe up to 6 per 36 or so cool whites and royal blues. You can use as many 420nm violets as you want, they hit the chloryphyll a growth spectrum at its highest peak, and will give your corals a huge benefit. As for fixtures, there aren't any that are hybrid systems yet, that I know of. For now, you are best off with bridgelux fixtures, as they are cheap, and have the violet LEDs available. Be sure that any fixture you buy is dimmable, that is even more important than full spectrum. LEDs are powerful, too much power, and you will bleach corals. As for links, I would do a google search, and look around on forums. LED lighting has been adapted quite well to the aquarium trade.

 

[jerwin]

Hi anemonekeeper

I have been doing LEDs for over 1 1/2 years now and with all my reseach and for my new build your and my research come out exactly the same. LEDs going on 180 tank.

Each 2 foot section
6 - 420nm bridgelux violets ( String 6 3 sections running in parellel)
4 - red XP-E Crees (String 5, 3 sections x 4 = 12)
4 - green XP-E Crees (String 4, 3 sections x 4 = 12)
9 - blue XP-E Crees (String 3)
18 - Royal Blue XT-E Crees (String 2 parellel 9 each )
6 - Neutral Whites and 6 Cool Whites XT-E Crees (String 1 mixed)

All being controlled by an apex controller with 2 extra Variable Speed boxes
VS1 (whites 1, Section1)
VS2 (whites 2, Section2)
VS3 (whites 3, Section3)
VS4 (RB 1, Section1)
VS5 (RB 2, Section2)
VS6 (RB 3, Section3)
VS7 (Blue , ALL)
VS8 (Green, ALL)
VS9 (Violets, ALL)
VS10 (Neutral White, Refugium)

 

[Reef Breeders]

Hi anemonekeeper

I have been doing LEDs for over 1 1/2 years now and with all my reseach and for my new build your and my research come out exactly the same. LEDs going on 180 tank.

Each 2 foot section
6 - 420nm bridgelux violets ( String 6 3 sections running in parellel)
4 - red XP-E Crees (String 5, 3 sections x 4 = 12)
4 - green XP-E Crees (String 4, 3 sections x 4 = 12)
9 - blue XP-E Crees (String 3)
18 - Royal Blue XT-E Crees (String 2 parellel 9 each )
6 - Neutral Whites and 6 Cool Whites (String 1 mixed)

All being controlled by an apex controller with 2 extra Variable Speed boxes
VS1 (whites 1, Section1)
VS2 (whites 2, Section2)
VS3 (whites 3, Section3)
VS4 (RB 1, Section1)
VS5 (RB 2, Section2)
VS6 (RB 3, Section3)
VS7 (Blue , ALL)
VS8 (Green, ALL)
VS9 (Violets, ALL)
VS10 (Neutral White, Refugium)

Sounds like a great setup, any pics? Like I said before, hybrid systems are the best option out there.

 

[jerwin]

I just put up a picture in the my original thread with the layout. I will be starting a build on my 180 shortly. I just got the back mounting frames built for the tank. All the lights will be cantilever from the back of the tank so each of the light pods will look like they are floating over the tank and each one will be able to be raised or lowered independantly of each other.

I personally have yet to find a pre done LED fixture that does what I want. They either dont have full colors or have all the LEDs in one area and give a spot light affect some.

Power compacts/ T5 - Spread light over full tank
Metal/ Most LEDs ( Light is in center)

I personally want my light to be totally spread over the whole area. So no spot light affects and dark areas at the corners.

 

[cparka23]

Do you have any clever ideas on how to build a protective circuit for parallel stings of LEDs? If one LED in a string goes down, extra current will flow through the other strings and can burn them out. Are fuses enough to protect each string?

I generally don't wire my LEDs in parallel, but I notice a lot of people do. Just wondering what safeguards could be used with this approach.

 

[Reef Breeders]

Do you have any clever ideas on how to build a protective circuit for parallel stings of LEDs? If one LED in a string goes down, extra current will flow through the other strings and can burn them out. Are fuses enough to protect each string?

I generally don't wire my LEDs in parallel, but I notice a lot of people do. Just wondering what safeguards could be used with this approach.

Most people will use quick blow fuses, rated at the LEDs max drive current. For example, if I ran 2 parellel strings of bridgelux LEDs, each string would get a 700ma quick-blow fuse. I like 20mm glass fuses, you can find them, and the holders for them, on eBay within a couple minutes of searching.

 

[jerwin]

yes. Just want Anemonekeeper said. I have been running this way for over 1 year with some and have blown the fuse one one string and the LEDs were just fine.

 

[Fatman]

I want to build an LED fixture for my frag tank. It's a 24" X 24" X 12" tank. I'm currently lighting it (and overheating my water) with a Hamilton 250 that's hung up very high above the water. The frags are on an egg crate rack about 4" off the bottom. I'm currently growing Zoas and some Acans, but am looking to get into SPS. What would you recommend for this tank? I'm thinking about 24 LEDs with a 50% mix of white and blue with a couple of red and violet tossed in to give come color. It can be controlled by a Reef Angel controller so I need a PMW driver. Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Fat

 

[Reef Breeders]

I want to build an LED fixture for my frag tank. It's a 24" X 24" X 12" tank. I'm currently lighting it (and overheating my water) with a Hamilton 250 that's hung up very high above the water. The frags are on an egg crate rack about 4" off the bottom. I'm currently growing Zoas and some Acans, but am looking to get into SPS. What would you recommend for this tank? I'm thinking about 24 LEDs with a 50% mix of white and blue with a couple of red and violet tossed in to give come color. It can be controlled by a Reef Angel controller so I need a PMW driver. Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Fat

Sounds good to me, so long as those royal blues and cool whites are XT-Es/XP-Gs You will not need any optics, but 90 degree optics will help to reduce light leakage. Start out at 10%, and increase the intensity 5% every few days

 

[Dsdaley77]

Chinese led excitement

I for one am pretty excited about the LEDs coming from Chinese companies like Evergrow and sites like aliexpress.com make it really easy to customize your own dimmable fixtures. My question is this though, could you accent a basic 55 piece 120 watt 1:1 rb to cw dimmable unit with Ecoxotics stunners which come in a wide variety of colors? On a side note, could the new Ecoxotic marine pro fixtures with built in dimmers work to fully sustain a mixed reef minus acros? I was thinking 2 48 inch units for a standard 75g.

 

[rockinzebra457]

​

I have a 75 gallon mixed reef tank which is 48x18x18. I was looking into DIY LEDs from aqua style online. I was planning on getting the 72 bridglux pack and was going to do
24 10000k white
24 royal blue
12 blue
6 red
6 green
6 uv
With the maxwellen drivers. Does this sound okay and safe?
Or would you go with Cree and just use less so the cost isn't so much. I was trying to stay around or under 300
Thanks for any advice.

 

[guy]

Thank you for your time. Can one run both LED's and MH anf if so what are the risks? Do you know how well a mixed tank dose with LED's vs. MH? What is the best material to addhere the LED's to? What do you use for a cotroller and is it programable one that will alow for a 24 dour cycle or longr? What dose one to use for a storm affect?


Thanx for taking the time!!!!