LED experts, need your advice. Rate my setup

[blufin]

I have just re-setup my system with LED lighting. I was a MH guy for the past 15 years and grew some pretty amazing SPS with MH and PC lights. When I decided to go with LED, my buddy at the LFS stated he could build me a LED system that would equal my MH setup. 90g aquarium. He built it from scratch as he does with all his LED systems, starting with the chunk of aluminum heat sink, drills it, wires it and places the LED's in them.
Anyway, I am not sure if this is going to give me the wicked growth and color I achieved with the MH/PC approach.
Here's what I have:
4x15w 6500k white
8x8w 455 blue
4x 8w 410 UV

I'm running the whites for 6 hours a day with the blue and UV on 2 hours prior and after the whites to simulate dawn/dusk. Give it to me straight; do I have the setup for a 90g aquarium that will give me what I need for growth/color in an SPS dominated tank.

Thanks,
Charlie

 

[ReefLEDLights]

I have just re-setup my system with LED lighting. I was a MH guy for the past 15 years and grew some pretty amazing SPS with MH and PC lights. When I decided to go with LED, my buddy at the LFS stated he could build me a LED system that would equal my MH setup. 90g aquarium. He built it from scratch as he does with all his LED systems, starting with the chunk of aluminum heat sink, drills it, wires it and places the LED's in them.
Anyway, I am not sure if this is going to give me the wicked growth and color I achieved with the MH/PC approach.
Here's what I have:
4x15w 6500k white
8x8w 455 blue
4x 8w 410 UV

I'm running the whites for 6 hours a day with the blue and UV on 2 hours prior and after the whites to simulate dawn/dusk. Give it to me straight; do I have the setup for a 90g aquarium that will give me what I need for growth/color in an SPS dominated tank.

Thanks,
Charlie

Depends on what Optics and drive current.

Personally I would choose this mix for a 90gal on two 18" Heatsinks Its a bit more PAR than a 400 watt Ratium and with this programming curve I've had had great growth using Carclo Optics.

30 Cree XT-E 7.5K Cool White Driven at 700mA or 2watts
48 Cree XT-E 450nm Royal Blue Driven at 700mA or 2watts
6 Cree XT-E 475nm Blue Driven at 700mA or 2watts

8 watt UV sounds really expensive I would go with 12-24 Semi 2 Watt 410-420nm instead.

Your recipe will work but without a PAR Meter and type of optics its hard to give good feedback.

But

 

[blufin]

I think I could use a tutorial on optics. I have no idea what I have. I also don't know what my par rating is. Also, non-dimmable.

 

[Mr. D]

I would recommend putting the MH back up until you can properly check the par output of the leds. They're dangerous for corals without acclimation to the light. I have also read that some par meters underestimate the amount of blue light given off by leds. May want to take that into consideration.

I also cannot remember if you said yours has optics now, but I would say you would need them for a tank of that depth.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 2

 

[ReefLEDLights]

I would recommend putting the MH back up until you can properly check the par output of the leds. They're dangerous for corals without acclimation to the light. I have also read that some par meters underestimate the amount of blue light given off by leds. May want to take that into consideration.

I also cannot remember if you said yours has optics now, but I would say you would need them for a tank of that depth.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 2

Most PAR Meters do under report the actual PAR.

A lot depends on the specific LED as their are a lot of different ones out there.

10-20% for Cree LEDs is a rough guess.

I cannot speak for different optics. The Carclo Ripple Wide tested best in our field evaluations. I was surprised about the fact that Optics over doubled the PAR and less light spill on the glass rocks as it means less cleaning.

I recently did some field tests on our P47 Fixture which is essentially our Phoenix 45 DIY Kit and here are the 24" results in free air.

without optics
-150 PAR Center
-100 PAR 29"x31"

with Carclo Reflectors
-289 PAR center
-200 PAR 30"x32"

with Carclo Ripple Wide Optics
-590 PAR center
-200 PAR 21" x 27"

I agree that this is just a field test but the results are conclusive. Proper employment of the correct optic or reflector will act as a force multiplier...

Food for thought...

Bill

 

[Eckolancer]

Ive never used optics on any tank. Here is my current setup on my 110 with 2 heat sinks.
CB= cyan blue
CRB=cree royal blue
45=4500 white
65=6500 white
GRC=3 color mix green red cyan
V= UV

Sent from inside the shark tank!

 

[blufin]

So optics is referring to a lens or reflector? I have neither. Only a clear acrylic cover to prevent the salt from getting to the led's. Here's a pic of what I've got. Sorry for the huge pic.

 

[Eckolancer]

Mine only uses a clear piece to cover them from the water. What is the bigger yellow one you are using? Here is a pic on mine.

Sent from inside the shark tank!

 

[jedimasterben]

What is the bigger yellow one you are using?

The big yellow LEDs they have are Bridgelux BXRA chips - real Bridgelux, not the garbage knockoffs that you find on ebay and in cheap LED fixtures. Bridgelux has some of the highest quality phosphor technology, similar to that of Philips, and emit tremendous amounts of light. The 5600K (not 6500K, Bridgelux does not make a BXRA with that high of CCT) have a mid-70s CRI and really should be swapped with a 4000K 80+ CRI chip, such as the BXRA-40E950-B-00.

The other LEDs look to be 3up stars using Philips Rebel or Rebel ES, which are top-notch in quality, even besting Cree in output at higher drive currents. Pairing with such a powerful white LED, though, takes many more than you have to have a... pleasing overall color temperature. The same amount of LEDs should be used, but instead of Rebel/ES, Luxeon M should have been used, as they are in the same 'class' as the Bridgelux, they are 11w or so at full power and emit 4.5 times as much light as a single Rebel ES.

Either way, it's a whole lot better than I was expecting when I read that it used higher-wattage LEDs, but what you have is some of the highest quality LEDs you can purchase at this time.

Another thing you will want to change is the ridiculous amount of space between the LEDs. The LEDs need to basically touching or else you'll get wicked color banding with surface agitation.

 

[Eckolancer]

My whites are bridgelux but royal blues are cree 5w and colors are 3w crees.


Sent from inside the shark tank!

 

[Eckolancer]

Oh and I have 0 spot light effect with my leds right now.

Sent from inside the shark tank!

 

[jedimasterben]

No, your white LEDs are not Bridgelux, they're fakes.

 

[Eckolancer]

They maybe fake as they were from china but still bright.


Sent from inside the shark tank!

 

[jedimasterben]

Anything that emits green light is bright to our eyes - a PAR meter will tell a very different story. Knockoff chips have a 30-50% loss versus XT-E and Rebel ES in luminous output.

 

[blufin]

The big yellow LEDs they have are Bridgelux BXRA chips - real Bridgelux, not the garbage knockoffs that you find on ebay and in cheap LED fixtures. Bridgelux has some of the highest quality phosphor technology, similar to that of Philips, and emit tremendous amounts of light. The 5600K (not 6500K, Bridgelux does not make a BXRA with that high of CCT) have a mid-70s CRI and really should be swapped with a 4000K 80+ CRI chip, such as the BXRA-40E950-B-00.

The other LEDs look to be 3up stars using Philips Rebel or Rebel ES, which are top-notch in quality, even besting Cree in output at higher drive currents. Pairing with such a powerful white LED, though, takes many more than you have to have a... pleasing overall color temperature. The same amount of LEDs should be used, but instead of Rebel/ES, Luxeon M should have been used, as they are in the same 'class' as the Bridgelux, they are 11w or so at full power and emit 4.5 times as much light as a single Rebel ES.

Either way, it's a whole lot better than I was expecting when I read that it used higher-wattage LEDs, but what you have is some of the highest quality LEDs you can purchase at this time.

Another thing you will want to change is the ridiculous amount of space between the LEDs. The LEDs need to basically touching or else you'll get wicked color banding with surface agitation.

So you're saying I have some good stuff, they just need to be adjusted a little?

What is color banding?