Would love some help deciding colors for DIY light

[Zanarya]

Hey everyone, first time poster here looking for some insight from you guys about a DIY light. I know lately it's pretty easy and not that expensive to get an AI Prime and leave it at that, but where I live import taxes and shipping make that a lot more expensive, so I can't really afford one at the moment and want to try making a DIY.
Right now I have one of those cheap chinese reef lights, but even my softies are struggling, I keep zoas at the top of the aquarium and they still stretch quite a lot for more light.
Since I'm not based in the US availability is limited, I found a place where I can get the LEDs and drivers. Mostly the help I need is deciding two things, which PCB to get, if I should go with the one for 18 leds on one channel or the one for 24 leds on 3 channels(8 leds each). And I also would love some recommendations on how many LEDs of each color to get, I've been doing some research but a lot of the time it seems to be a lot about personal preference, I know I want my display to be more on the actinic side but still don't know how many I should get.
As I said, some stuff is quite limited so I have access to 3w 700mA regular LEDs in the next colors:
UV 395-400nm
UV 400-405nm
Violet 410-420nm
Violet 420-430nm
Ambar 592nm
Royal Blue 450-460nm
Deep Blue 435-440nm
White 10k
White 6.5k
Cyan 490-500nm
Red 620-630nm
Deep Red 660nm
Green 525-530nm

My tank is a 22 gallon 24inches long, 14 inches wide and 16 inches high, would love to keep some sps in the future, once I have more experience, so I would love some advice on which PCB(18 or 24 leds) and how many of each LED to get so I can use this light for them as well. I appreciate any opinions or advice you have, thanks in advance and happy reefing!

 

[theatrus]

On spectrum, my recommendations:

UV 395-400nm
UV 400-405nm
Violet 410-420nm

All optional. Pick one, note that output drops off fast for LEDs below 400.

Violet 420-430nm

Include this, at about 1:4 to royal blue.

Ambar 592nm

Skip, unless its a PC Amber which is a wide spectrum phosphor LED, which you can use to balance white.

Royal Blue 450-460nm

30-60% of your LEDs should be Royal Blues.

Deep Blue 435-440nm

Include a blue at about 1:3 or 1:4 to royal blue.

White 10k
White 6.5k

10000k whites don't really exist, so lets use a daylight option (6500k), or include a mid spectrum (4000k) if you're targeting a more daylight look (which you're not). I would use a white at about 1:2 ratio to royal blue if you're targeting a blue look.

Cyan 490-500nm

I'm a big proponent of always including one Cyan, as its a gap in white LEDs.

Red 620-630nm
Deep Red 660nm
Green 525-530nm

Skip all of these.

What does that leave?
Violet, Royal Blue, Blue, Cyan, White

For power and spread, I would target two LED pucks of about 20-30W each over each half.

 

[Zanarya]

On spectrum, my recommendations:

UV 395-400nm
UV 400-405nm
Violet 410-420nm

All optional. Pick one, note that output drops off fast for LEDs below 400.

Violet 420-430nm

Include this, at about 1:4 to royal blue.

Ambar 592nm

Skip, unless its a PC Amber which is a wide spectrum phosphor LED, which you can use to balance white.

Royal Blue 450-460nm

30-60% of your LEDs should be Royal Blues.

Deep Blue 435-440nm

Include a blue at about 1:3 or 1:4 to royal blue.

White 10k
White 6.5k

10000k whites don't really exist, so lets use a daylight option (6500k), or include a mid spectrum (4000k) if you're targeting a more daylight look (which you're not). I would use a white at about 1:2 ratio to royal blue if you're targeting a blue look.

Cyan 490-500nm

I'm a big proponent of always including one Cyan, as its a gap in white LEDs.

Red 620-630nm
Deep Red 660nm
Green 525-530nm

Skip all of these.

What does that leave?
Violet, Royal Blue, Blue, Cyan, White

For power and spread, I would target two LED pucks of about 20-30W each over each half.

Thank you so much for such a thorough reply, I really appreciate it. The ratios are really helpful as it gives me a pretty good idea what to pick. Considering my tank size, how many LEDs do you think would work best? 18 or 24? would 24 be too much even if I wanted SPS at some point?

 

[theatrus]

Thank you so much for such a thorough reply, I really appreciate it. The ratios are really helpful as it gives me a pretty good idea what to pick. Considering my tank size, how many LEDs do you think would work best? 18 or 24? would 24 be too much even if I wanted SPS at some point?

Do you have a picture of the assemblies you're looking at? If they're compact pucks, I'd pick 2x 18, and under-drive them, primarily for spread. This may not be in budget, but would be my first suggestion.

 

[Zanarya]

Do you have a picture of the assemblies you're looking at? If they're compact pucks, I'd pick 2x 18, and under-drive them, primarily for spread. This may not be in budget, but would be my first suggestion.

I do have a picture of the 18 one, the 24 is just longer, they're not really compact as the LEDs are the cheaper kind so not too small
This is the 18 ledPCB it's 5.8 inches x 4.25inches, while the 24 leds its 7.28inches x 5.70 inches

And this the LEDs that go with it

Thank you for the suggestion, if I do the 2x18s it would be over the budget I had in mind but definitely a lot cheaper than getting just an AI Prime or Radion, not even half probably, so I would consider it an option. Honestly I was afraid doing the 24 leds was overkill, but then again I'm pretty new to the hobby and have not really seen better lights, just the cheap ones I have.