DIY LED light for nano tank

[Frooxz]

Hello,
So, I want to try a DIY LED light for my nano tanks
the first one is 60cm x 40cm x 35cm and the second one is 60cm x 50cm x 40cm
My question is, what is the best color choice or maybe the LED "placement"?

I had a suggestion from my local fish store that I can used a 90w LED light that they made by them self. They even sent me some sample picture that they made for 100cm tank.

And what I know is, they used a 3w LED each, so I assume that they will use around 30 LED for my tanks.

What do you guys think? I really new on this hobby.

 

[mitch91175]

Hello,
So, I want to try a DIY LED light for my nano tanks
the first one is 60cm x 40cm x 35cm and the second one is 60cm x 50cm x 40cm
My question is, what is the best color choice or maybe the LED "placement"?

I had a suggestion from my local fish store that I can used a 90w LED light that they made by them self. They even sent me some sample picture that they made for 100cm tank.

And what I know is, they used a 3w LED each, so I assume that they will use around 30 LED for my tanks.

What do you guys think? I really new on this hobby.

Unless you just really want to make your own and deal with the potential headaches that come along with it, you can always just purchase one from ReefBreeders. They have decent LED fixtures that aren’t super expensive and should work for your needs.

 

[Ron Reefman]

3 watt leds are what most black box led fixtures use and they do a fine job.

You want 50% to 75% of your light to produce blue spectrum. The rest can be white. The addition of green and red leds may be helpful, but IMHO they are a waste of led space.

Your corals use blue spectrum light to do photosynthesis, so it's most important. They use other spectrum (all are in white light) to produce other chemistries they require (but are somewhat less important than food).

 

[Ron Reefman]

Unless you just really want to make your own and deal with the potential headaches that come along with it, you can always just purchase one from ReefBreeders. They have decent LED fixtures that aren’t super expensive and should work for your needs.

The OP is in Indonesia and Reef Breeders does not go outside the US (and maybe Canada).

 

[mitch91175]

The OP is in Indonesia and Reef Breeders does not go outside the US (and maybe Canada).

Good catch. That sucks.

 

[mitch91175]

Hey OP I’ll ship you some LEDs if you can ship me some coral in return

 

[Frooxz]

3 watt leds are what most black box led fixtures use and they do a fine job.

You want 50% to 75% of your light to produce blue spectrum. The rest can be white. The addition of green and red leds may be helpful, but IMHO they are a waste of led space.

Your corals use blue spectrum light to do photosynthesis, so it's most important. They use other spectrum (all are in white light) to produce other chemistries they require (but are somewhat less important than food).

Many thanks!
I assumed 90w is enough right?
So, if I make it like,

18 x 3w blue/royal blue
8 x 3w white
2 x 3w red
2 x 3w green

or

20 x 3w blue/royal blue
10 x 3w white

is it good?

 

[TDEcoral]

Many thanks!
I assumed 90w is enough right?
So, if I make it like,

18 x 3w blue/royal blue
8 x 3w white
2 x 3w red
2 x 3w green

or

20 x 3w blue/royal blue
10 x 3w white

is it good?

Personally, I wouldn't bother with the red and green. I would do a majority in royal blue with some blue and/or violets mixed in, then the rest I'd do a mix of lower and higher kelvin whites. Lower kelvin whites (like 3000k for example) have some of the red spectrum in them and higher kelvin (like 6000k) have more green in them, so it's unnecessary to do separate green/red leds. That's kind of a simplistic explanation, but hopefully it's helpful.

All that being said, if I were in your shoes I wouldn't even bother with individual 3 watt leds. I would get one or two of these pucks from ebay and something like a bluefish controller.

5 Channel Custom Made Cree Epileds 21 Multichip LED Aquarium Light For Reef Tank | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 5 Channel Custom Made Cree Epileds 21 Multichip LED Aquarium Light For Reef Tank at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

Read through this thread. It has a ton of good info if you're going to DIY an LED light.

General DIY LED thread

so we have lots of derailing talk in other threads about DIY lights and what would be the optimal LED layout these days. would love to start a conversation about this. As for a project i'm working on. I'm planning a diy light for a frag tank in my fish room as something for some tinkering...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Frooxz]

Personally, I wouldn't bother with the red and green. I would do a majority in royal blue with some blue and/or violets mixed in, then the rest I'd do a mix of lower and higher kelvin whites. Lower kelvin whites (like 3000k for example) have some of the red spectrum in them and higher kelvin (like 6000k) have more green in them, so it's unnecessary to do separate green/red leds. That's kind of a simplistic explanation, but hopefully it's helpful.

All that being said, if I were in your shoes I wouldn't even bother with individual 3 watt leds. I would get one or two of these pucks from ebay and something like a bluefish controller.

5 Channel Custom Made Cree Epileds 21 Multichip LED Aquarium Light For Reef Tank | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 5 Channel Custom Made Cree Epileds 21 Multichip LED Aquarium Light For Reef Tank at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

Read through this thread. It has a ton of good info if you're going to DIY an LED light.

General DIY LED thread

so we have lots of derailing talk in other threads about DIY lights and what would be the optimal LED layout these days. would love to start a conversation about this. As for a project i'm working on. I'm planning a diy light for a frag tank in my fish room as something for some tinkering...

www.reef2reef.com

Many thanks mate!