Full Spectrum LEDs (1 Viewer)

[d00dy]

Ok...maybe not full spectrum, but closer...

I am in the process of building some DIY "full spectrum" LED lights that will go over my 40 breeder (36x17x18 LxWxH). I am hoping for some feedback from some LED gurus on the two plans below. My goal is to be able to house any type of coral while also displaying vivid and amazing colors. I have been currently using cheap LEDs 25 white 20 blue which have a par reading of ~265 at water surface. Explains why sps does terrible in my tank... On top of that, the colors don't really pop in any of my corals.

Both plans will be run off 4 controllable drivers.

The first plan is designed from a Radion PRO. I heard good things about the radion, but the price tag is a bit steep. The LEDs are slightly different, but in the same fashion. The one thing I worry about this set up is having the disco effect.

The white box represents 3.5" x 9" and the stars are as accurate as I could make them.
LED Colors:
White: 8 Cree XT-E Cool White (6000-6500K)
Red: 4 Cree XP-E Red (620nm-630nm)
Turquoise: 2 Exotic Turquoise (495nm)
Green: 4 Cree XP-E Green (520nm)
Blue: 8 Cree XP-E Blue (468nm)
Royal Blue: 8 Cree XT-E Royal Blue (450nm-455nm)
True Violet: 8 Exotic True Violet (405nm)



The second design was created by uglybuckling on nano-reef, Full spectrum LED layouts - Lighting Forum - Nano-Reef.com Forums

What I like about this build is the LED's are a lot closer, but I am not 100% sure how far apart the LED stars should be from each other.

The white box represents 3.5" x 9" and the stars are as accurate as I could make them.
LED Colors:
Royal Blue: 16 Cree XT-E Royal Blue (450nm-455nm)
White: 8 Cree XT-E Neutral White (4000-5000K)
True Violet: 8 Exotic True Violet (405nm)
Ocean Coral White: 4 Exotic Ocean Coral White (470nm 495nm 660nm)



Any tips or advice would be appreciated.

 

[kgk]

I like the design with the 3-way stars. You may find you have a hard time finding optics for those, however, if you ever decide you need them.

I'm also not sure you'll need that much violet or red in the fixture - I'd use more varied white LEDs to gain the spectrum you're trying for with the reds. I tried red before, and trust me, a point-source red LED looks like a silly spotlight if you don't get it blended in well.

From a price/perf standpoint I like Philips Lux emitters more than Cree's. I got all of mine @ Steve's LEDs (Steve's LEDs, discount DIY LED supplies). I don't like his drivers or heatsinks, though.

What do you plan on controlling with your 4 channels, and how are you going to control them? Apex I assume?

 

[d00dy]

For the OCW they have 60, 90, 120 optics...not sure about the cree XT-E ones. For the controller I have thought about using an old Arduino and building a custom schedule a long with other things... I haven't gotten into detail on that much yet. As far as what will be controlled, depending on which light set up I go with, it will be something like blue, white, violet, other colors, on their own driver. I will not be able to run all the blue on one driver and will probably put a couple with the white led driver.

 

[gabe_j]

keep inmind that with that many leds packed tight you can't run as high an output because of heat issues, and the 3 up chips don't like lots of amperage. my advice is use a pair of big 120mm fans aimed down onto the heatsink and let them run at high. it'll keep the dies cool and shining bright. the color looks good too just be careful with too much red if you use NW you'll notice you don't need much if any red. i personally popped mine off and am doing fine without them. on deeper tanks or in situations where there is lots of air space between the heatsink 1 or 2 per 12" is good but no more than that.

 

[d00dy]

Yes, I do plan on including 2 120mm fans. Would blowing air down on the heatsink be better than pulling air off?

 

[gabe_j]

yes its actually a lot better because you are pushing more air across the fins from the top down vs. sucking air through the fins and up the fan. think about trying to blow a paper away from you on a table. easy right, now try to suck that same paper towards you at the same distance. it would require a significant suction force to move the paper.

 

[d00dy]

Ok, I do think I will use the Luxeon ES. If I go with the 3-up's, would I need to space them a little further apart to eliminate shadows?

 

[gabe_j]

keep your spacing tighter than 2.5inches and the unit over 4" from the surface and you'll befine.

 

[lesd]

Take a look at my build - somewhat similar, but I put 60 LEDs on a 10x10 heatsink for a single high powered pendant.

http://www.marsh-reef.org/do-yourself/30473-diy-led-pendant-frag-tank.html

 

[steveb]

Take a look at my build - somewhat similar, but I put 60 LEDs on a 10x10 heatsink for a single high powered pendant.

http://www.marsh-reef.org/do-yourself/30473-diy-led-pendant-frag-tank.html

Whatever happened with the 420nm leds? Did they eventually die? I noticed steves led has some with a "newly" formulated lens that is supposed to avoid the browning.

 

[gabe_j]

the browning is from over heating the dies. lower 400nm leds shouldn't run more than 500mA or 80C i justpop them off and used a polyurathane sealant to recoat them. then after they dry they are fine. granted i'm running 2 big fans on 36 leds and at higher amperages.

 

[lesd]

Yeah, I ended up popping the brown lenses off the LEDs. I did kill one completely in the process, but the others are still running. Major props to Milad at ledgroupbuy.com - he gave me full credit for the price of the old LEDs.

Recently acquired some new 430nm and 405nm LEDs, so I will probably replace at least 6 of the old ones with those.

Back to the original topic, d00dy have you considered adding neutral whites instead of using all cool whites? I am planning to swap a few of my cool whites out with neutrals and see if that improves SPS coloration. So far, I haven't been impressed with acropora colors under the LEDs.

--Les

 

[gabe_j]

go full NW it looks much better and you can get rid of the reds

 

[d00dy]

Yeah, the 2nd build is only NW, no CW at all.

 

[rparker2112]

I went from cw:rb to nw:rb to finally ocw:nw:rb:uv on my 40b

I love the ocw. Makes the colors come out in the corals. It actually blends to white but iys a "full spectrum white" my frogspawn used to look brown, put on the new lights and the green pops and purple pops. No adjustment to the pic.....it looks like that

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[steveb]

what is OCW?

 

[d00dy]

It is a 3 star called Ocean Coral White that is Red 660nM, Blue 475nM, Green(Cyan) 495nM... When combined close together it produces full spectrum white.

 

[gabe_j]

it appears white but that graph is very misleading. rb only has a variance of +/- 2-5 nm the green isn't much more that +/-5nm an the red is around the same. so the graph in the middle is much tighter where the colors don't really blend as much. its more of a color rendition combo that give a better mix. but i would be sure to include a more wide spead white like NW. and use the rest of the colors to supplement the base mix of RB and NW.

 

[rparker2112]

You don't use very many ocw, its just supplement coloration. You main white is still from a white led. But it does make a big difference to have some supplement colors in you setup. I have seen it first hand.

If you go with ocw and violet vs red, blue, cyan, green ect thrown throughout your layout it all gets to the final conclusion, to hit more spectrum. Just the ocw helps blends the colors better so you don't have weird green and red shadows, ocw is so easy even a cave man can do it!!

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