Spell this out for me plz. MH to LED

[dvskin]

Ok, I'm old school and swore to myself that I would never make the switch.. Well, I lied. I'm leaning towards LEDs right now.

Tank 80 DeepBlue Rimless. 48x24x16
I am looking to house easier SPS, monti's, birds nests, porci's. LPS, zoa's. No softies.

I run an Apex, with 4 variable speed ports begging to be used.

I'm no stranger to DIY, and would prefer to actually DIY it. Can anyone suggest a good DIY kit, with 4 dimmable drivers. And also, what would be a good mix of LEDs? Should I just out an even amount of each, and use the controller to adjust intensity/color? LEDs are new to me, and any help would be greatly appreciated.

Chad

 

[dvskin]

Ok, just one more question as well. In an effort to conserve plug space on my EB8, can I plug the drivers into a surge protector, and plug that into the EB8?

 

[Bad Company]

Go to rapidled.com for leds,drivers, power supplies etc. Also stevesleds.com sell awesome tubular heat sinks and blowers for DIY. As for mix, look at reefradiance.com, they have nice lights with a good mix of colors.

I have a reef radiance DM-155e. I could not beat the price doing it myself... but I don' have all the bells an whistles either. No video feed of driver temp etc...

:]

 

[Reefing Madness]

https://reefledlights.com/product-category/led-kits/
Rapid LED
Steve's LEDs, discount DIY LED supplies
DIY LED Lighting - DIY LED Kits - AquaStyle Online

 

[Reefing Madness]

Ok, just one more question as well. In an effort to conserve plug space on my EB8, can I plug the drivers into a surge protector, and plug that into the EB8?

Yes. This would only allow on/off capabilities.

 

[dvskin]

Yes. This would only allow on/off capabilities.

I would still be using the dimming ports as well. But I understand it now.

Thanks for the tips. I was actually looking at Steve's and those heat sinks look sweet. Steve also gave a comparison of LED combinations to average Kelvin ratings that we strive for in reef tanks, so that helped as well. Thanks for some tips. Off to more research.

 

[Reefing Madness]

 

[dvskin]

Go to rapidled.com for leds,drivers, power supplies etc. Also stevesleds.com sell awesome tubular heat sinks and blowers for DIY. As for mix, look at reefradiance.com, they have nice lights with a good mix of colors.

I have a reef radiance DM-155e. I could not beat the price doing it myself... but I don' have all the bells an whistles either. No video feed of driver temp etc...

:]

This helped out a lot. I check reef radiance, and definitely understand this more now. My only question, when I look at the reef radiance fixtures, the LEDs are physically close together. Is this needed, or will the lense choices fix that?

 

[ReefLEDLights]

This helped out a lot. I check reef radiance, and definitely understand this more now. My only question, when I look at the reef radiance fixtures, the LEDs are physically close together. Is this needed, or will the lense choices fix that?

This is a whole balancing act.

Blending the colours without that Disco Effect some talk about on smaller tanks with the LEDs close to the water is a concern.

Lenses are huge as they are a force multiplier. When used well you will have more PAR and Less Spill...

Lenses vary greatly in quality with some being as low as 60% and then quality mirrored reflectors which can be close to 90% ...Lots of options.

Either way we waste a lot of light . I'm reminded of this every day cleaning the algae off my glass.

I would focus on the best LED available then tweak the fixture using optics to suit your tank and canopy.

After that mount it slightly forward then angle it slightly to the back

Bill