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

[jeffblly]

I have a couple questions. I have led fixture with bridgelux leds but I would like to replace the bridgelux white leds with some cree neutral whites. Is it possible to run both bridgelux and crees on the same 700 ma driver?
Can cree xpg whites be driven on a 700 ma driver?

If any of this requires a multimeter, I have one but dont know what to do with it.
Thanks.

 

[Reef Breeders]

I have a couple questions. I have led fixture with bridgelux leds but I would like to replace the bridgelux white leds with some cree neutral whites. Is it possible to run both bridgelux and crees on the same 700 ma driver?
Can cree xpg whites be driven on a 700 ma driver?

If any of this requires a multimeter, I have one but dont know what to do with it.
Thanks.

How do you plan on doing this? is it a manufactured, or a diy fixture? I would use 7500k cool whites, as nuetral whites will give your corals pastel colors.

 

[jeffblly]

How do you plan on doing this? is it a manufactured, or a diy fixture? I would use 7500k cool whites, as nuetral whites will give your corals pastel colors.

Its a diy fixture. I currently have bridgelux cool whites but am having problems bringing out the reds in my corals. My red corals have turned orange.

 

[EcoFrags]

any thoughts on radions? been running acan lighting 12" fixtures over my tanks they are only blue and whites and are descent and have thought about going over to radions. I've done some looking around and realized that i'm not an electrician and will never be lol

 

[Reef Breeders]

Its a diy fixture. I currently have bridgelux cool whites but am having problems bringing out the reds in my corals. My red corals have turned orange.

Nuetral whites will make it much worse, I would keep what you have now, and add some 660nm reds, to bring out the reds in your corals. The 630nm reds may not do it for you.

 

[Reef Breeders]

any thoughts on radions? been running acan lighting 12" fixtures over my tanks they are only blue and whites and are descent and have thought about going over to radions. I've done some looking around and realized that i'm not an electrician and will never be lol

The radions? you can build the same thing for half the price, or go double or nothing with the same amount of money. There are plenty of cheaper fixtures out there, I believe I said it before, all the control is a gimmick, you really don't need much other than basic dimming, and timers to have a nice lighting system. You can use solderless kits with relative ease, just do a ton of reading. Reef LED lights has a good section on diy on their site, and I reccomend their kits.

 

[Reef Breeders]

Sorry for taking so long to get back to you guys, I was working all day!

 

[Reef Breeders]

Bump for more ?s, I have the day off too!

 

[Edventure]

OK, been following along here for awhile and now its time to start a LED build of my own. Have a couple of questions before I get started with my layout.
I plan on using all Cree LED's over a 48" x 18" tank. Layout is in progress but will be working in XT-E Royal Blues, XP-E Blues, XT-E Cool White (have some Neutral whites also), XP-E Reds and Greens.

1. In looking at the Cree data sheet what Vf do you use to figure how many lamps in each series string. The 'Typical' or 'Max' voltage or somewhere in between?

2. If I limit the drive current to say 700ma can I mix the XP-E blues and XT-E RB's in the same string or do they have to be in their own string. Not sure what effect the different forward voltage would have. I would like to control the both blues with their own driver.

Also beside keeping within the voltage and current ratings is there something else I should be looking at for driver selection? I'll be using 1-10 volt control from a Reefkeeper.

Thanks for any help you can give.

 

[Reef Breeders]

OK, been following along here for awhile and now its time to start a LED build of my own. Have a couple of questions before I get started with my layout.
I plan on using all Cree LED's over a 48" x 18" tank. Layout is in progress but will be working in XT-E Royal Blues, XP-E Blues, XT-E Cool White (have some Neutral whites also), XP-E Reds and Greens.

1. In looking at the Cree data sheet what Vf do you use to figure how many lamps in each series string. The 'Typical' or 'Max' voltage or somewhere in between?

2. If I limit the drive current to say 700ma can I mix the XP-E blues and XT-E RB's in the same string or do they have to be in their own string. Not sure what effect the different forward voltage would have. I would like to control the both blues with their own driver.

Also beside keeping within the voltage and current ratings is there something else I should be looking at for driver selection? I'll be using 1-10 volt control from a Reefkeeper.

Thanks for any help you can give.

For a 0-10v driver, meanwells are the way to go. On an ELN 60-48D, you can have 9 XT-Es. At 700ma, this is 27v, at 1300ma, this is 45v. That is the best way to use them, to their full potential. At 700ma, you can run parellel strings, and put more LEDs on one driver, so if you kept the curent lower, you could use up to 24 XT-Es at 700ma, in strings of 12, wired parellel. At that current, I would reccomend 36 XT-Es for each half of your tank, plus colored LEDs. I would go as followed: 1 driver with 2 strings of 12 royal blues, each string on a different heatsink, one driver with 2 strings of 12 cool whites, 1 string on each heat sink, 1 driver with 1 string of 6 XT-E royal blues, 3 reds, 2 blues, and 1 green, 1 string of 6 XT-E royal blue, 3 reds, 2 blues, 1 green, and 1 driver with 2 strings of 12, each one with 3 cool white XT-Es, 1 warm white XT-E, 2 neutral white XT-E, 3 blues, 3 greens (or maybe more reds if you want). Each driver will have one string on one 18" heat sink, and the other on the other 18" heat sink for the other side of your tank. Also, you can use another meanwell to add up to 24 420nm violet LEDs, I would add 12, 6 on each heatsink (not wired parellel). There are bigger drivers that you can use to have more XT-Es, and run them at a higher amperage, which is what I reccomend. The strings I suggested above were meant to be driven at 700ma, and the violets at 650ma. GL with your project!

 

[Edventure]

Thank you for your reply. Looks like I have the basics and just need to start building.
I too was also looking at the larger HLG drivers from Meanwell just to keep the hardware footprint down even though they are a bit more costly.

 

[goodtimes]

biocube 14 LED build

I have a 14 gallon Biocube and will most likely be ordering from Rapid Led. My biggest consern is getting the right color without having to buy a dozen extra led's. There stock Biocube replacement kit comes with 50/50 white and blue. I was thinking of having 5 NW, 5 RB, 1-2 UV, 1 red. Do you have any recommendations. I like a 14k look when I was using metal halide but want the corals color to pop. Thanks

 

[Reef Breeders]

I have a 14 gallon Biocube and will most likely be ordering from Rapid Led. My biggest consern is getting the right color without having to buy a dozen extra led's. There stock Biocube replacement kit comes with 50/50 white and blue. I was thinking of having 5 NW, 5 RB, 1-2 UV, 1 red. Do you have any recommendations. I like a 14k look when I was using metal halide but want the corals color to pop. Thanks

Do not use too many nuetral whites, I would go with 1NW XP-G, 5 cool white 7500k XP-G on one driver, 6 royal blue XT-E on the other, and another drive to add 2 reds, 3 violets, and 2 greens. You can add a couple blues to that driver if you want to. Make sure you get the dimmable, with that combo you can get it as blue or white as you want. GL with your build!

 

[Reef Breeders]

Bump for more questions!

 

[rajkovich207]

Alright this might have been discussed already but I am looking for a cheap DIY controller or a cheap way to have my basic rkl automatically ramp up and down my 24 leds on 2 maxwellen drivers. Do you know where I can find out how to do this?

 

[VB68]

I have a 100g tank(5'long, 18" wide, 20"deep). I am running 2- 175MH and 4- 80w T%'s actinic(420nm). The lights set 11" off of the water surface. What color of LED would bring out the color in the corals and fish and benifit them also? How many LEDS? Would they be washed out by the MH's or should they be run before and after the MH's?

 

[Davesgt]

I have a question? I am setting up another reef tank and its gonna be what i call my Trio tank, which is going to be filled with my three favorite corals(Zoanthids, Montiporas, and Ricordeas) I have a huge variety of these corals with some amazing colors under my metal halides. From what ive seen lately the Leds colors just simply look amazing but im clueless on what to buy and also dont want to go broke lol. The tank is a 55 gal and i would like to know what you would recommend(Brand, color combo, spectrum,etc)

 

[Reef Breeders]

Alright this might have been discussed already but I am looking for a cheap DIY controller or a cheap way to have my basic rkl automatically ramp up and down my 24 leds on 2 maxwellen drivers. Do you know where I can find out how to do this?

Maxwellen drivers are not controller compatible. the Dim4 will contorl meanwell ELN 60 and 30-48D drivers, and other 0-10v analog dimming divers.

 

[Reef Breeders]

I have a 100g tank(5'long, 18" wide, 20"deep). I am running 2- 175MH and 4- 80w T%'s actinic(420nm). The lights set 11" off of the water surface. What color of LED would bring out the color in the corals and fish and benifit them also? How many LEDS? Would they be washed out by the MH's or should they be run before and after the MH's?

2 strips of 12 5 watt cree XT-E 450nm royal blues will bring out coral colors, and you will defenitely notice. I would use 24"x1.75" heat sinks, and drive the LEDs at 1300ma.

 

[Reef Breeders]

I have a question? I am setting up another reef tank and its gonna be what i call my Trio tank, which is going to be filled with my three favorite corals(Zoanthids, Montiporas, and Ricordeas) I have a huge variety of these corals with some amazing colors under my metal halides. From what ive seen lately the Leds colors just simply look amazing but im clueless on what to buy and also dont want to go broke lol. The tank is a 55 gal and i would like to know what you would recommend(Brand, color combo, spectrum,etc)

Radions are the better of the commercial fixtures with full spectrum LEDs, but they are overpriced, so I would go DIY. I made a few suggestions for similar sized tanks earlier in this thread.