LED color advice

ReeferBill · May 23, 2012

Ok, so I am getting a DYI LED set up for my 24 gallon nano tank...here are the specs...

14 RB 3 watt cree LEDs
5 NW 3 watt LEDs
5 CW 3 watt LEDs

I am thinking of getting a separate driver for 2 UV 3 watt LEDs. Any thoughts on if this is needed for color spectrum? I will already have the NW for a red spectrum coverage, and I know its plenty of light for a small tank. But I have read that the UV gives the full coverage for corals. Should I bother or not. Any advice would help.
Thanks,
Bill

BarbH · May 24, 2012

:bump2:

revsgirl · May 25, 2012

And again :bump:

zemuss · May 25, 2012

I have read that the CW (Cool WHites) are not doing much and Neutral Whites and Royal Blues is all you need. The Reds, Cyan and Violets are just for looks and all that is needed are the NW and RB.

I was told by a vendor that I am going to purchase my LED Kit from for my 34 Gallon Solana.

ReeferBill · May 25, 2012

Thanks for the reply, not sure why I got 2 bumps for free, but thanks. The only concern I have is the NW have a more yellow color than the CW, might do 10 total whites(50/50 CW to NW) and 16 RB. They can all be dimmed, so I can play with the colors too.

reeferdale · May 25, 2012

I know this is of no help, but if you read all the debate it is 50-50 whether you need any UV.

I have a 252 XP-G LEDs in my rig with RB, BL, CW and NW LEDs. I have 60% white LEDs and 40% blue. Everything is going fine. However, this winter, I am going to add a center strip of about 24 more LEDs. I am going to add 4 red, 8 cyan, 8 green, and about 4 UV. I figure for about $150 it can't hurt, even if if there are no actual benefits. I personally feel that some of the LED units that are sold do not have a full spectrum and that is why some people feel they do not work. A lot of the commercial fixtures (until recently), used only CW and RB.

Like I said, for $150 it is worth the peace of mind to me to add some addt'l colors to try to achieve a 'full' range of color. I can run these parallel at 700mA on 1 of the little meanwells, I do not even care if they dim, I will only run them during the mid day hours.
so as far a UV, Iif you are going to be building this, I would replace 4 of your RB with 1green, 1red and 1cyan and 1 UV. You would still ahve a 50-50 white to blue/misc color mix which should be fine.

that is all I can offer. Unless someone has scientific study results, or has the knowledge and background to prove that UV is required, it is pretty much opinion anyway.
Since I wnt to all LED, my tank is thriving and all of my corals look better then they ever have.

ReeferBill · May 25, 2012

great advice, and help. I might start out with just the NW, CW and RB and then add later depending on how things look. It is a PNP, so I can remove and add easily. What is the benefit of the BL compared to RB?
The only problem I have with adding the UV, reds or cyans is they need to be driven lower than my drivers max out at. They are dimmable, so it would work as long as I dont ever turn them up too high.

zemuss · May 25, 2012

I will wait for more to chime in. I might be wrong about the CW leds.

I want to build a LED system myself and have about 6 CW CREE that I might combined in a 2 NW to 1 CW combination.

ReeferBill · May 25, 2012

I actually think you are on to something with it. From my research, those that used other colors, or NW had much more luck than those that just used the CW and RB. Your theory is sound to me..

reeferdale · May 26, 2012

ReeferBill said:
great advice, and help. I might start out with just the NW, CW and RB and then add later depending on how things look. It is a PNP, so I can remove and add easily. What is the benefit of the BL compared to RB?
The only problem I have with adding the UV, reds or cyans is they need to be driven lower than my drivers max out at. They are dimmable, so it would work as long as I dont ever turn them up too high.

I only run mt whites at 700mA as it is and that is plenty bright for my tank (mostly SPS). I have not used a PAR meter but corals are all very very happy at 700 and they are growing better than in my MH tank. As for the other colors, they typically all will run at up to 700 (th XP) series, so as long as you are running at arounf 700mA you should not have a problem adding them into the same string. If you are doing parallel strings just be sure you add the same number of each kind to each string. If you are running series, them just plug them all together and don't crank it ovcer 700mA, with that amount of LEDs and the sze of your tank you will not need to run over 700mA. Becasue I have 60% white, which I would not do again, I would go 50-50 or 40%W and 60%B), I tend to run my blues at about 1000mA.

the whites NW and CW, are so bright thay just wash out the blue. As for the BL vs RB, just trying to get a fuller spectrum, and the BL tend to be a dit brighter than the RB

reeferdale · May 26, 2012

zemuss said:
I will wait for more to chime in. I might be wrong about the CW leds.

I want to build a LED system myself and have about 6 CW CREE that I might combined in a 2 NW to 1 CW combination.

2 NW to 1 CW would be a good mix, as stated above, the NW do tend to be on the yellow side, where the CW are a crisp bluish color. I would add at LEAST 1 RB for every white

zemuss · May 28, 2012

Also what about clustering? What I mean is cluster 2 NW and 1 CW and place the RB around or in the cluster. If your doing a 1 to 1 then you would have a cluster of 6 with 60 degree optics. How would that look ? I would think it would mix up the colors and prevent a disco affect correct?