Considering DIY.

[tyler1503]

Hello everybody, I have a basic plan of a DIY LED. I'd like to see some peoples suggestions on this one. I'll be using 3W LEDs off eBay and it's going over a 120. I haven't decided on what corals I want yet, but most likely a euphyllia garden, a fungia garden and a couple of birdsnests. That's if I even do coral eventually, I'm going fowlr to start with. But I want this light to be powerful enough for anything I put under it, just in case I decide to go a different direction later.

I also have few of my own questions.

Will I need the 3rd channel (with the colours) if I use that much warm white?
Will the 20000k with all that blue just look terrible?

 

[tyler1503]

Sorry, here's a better photo

 

[ReefLEDLights]

I would be careful of EBay Bridgelux Knockoffs...

For starters I really doubt their is a 20K or even 10K Single Chip White...Some vendors even go as far as calling their Cree Cool Whites 10K (Cree Bins their Cool White to a max of 8K)

If you run the performance numbers a Cree XT-E will be less expensive than an older generation Chinese 3 watt LED.

For a standard 120 three Cree fixtures with 45 LEDs each and Optics driven at only 2 watts each will give you the same performance of a 250-400 watt MH

I have this mix on my tank and really like the look.

24 XT-E Royal Blue, 6 XP-E Blue and 15 XT-E Cool White Binned at 7.5K.

This is the look and power of a 400 watt Radion MH...Some add XP-E Red to taste.

Remember the Cree Cool white already has a nice mid range of Green.

For the Purple the available LEDs are very dim compared to the XT-E Royal Blue. You will need at least 12 to notice the difference on a 6 foot long tank. I have 24 over my 330 gal SPS.

Cheers

Bill