led help

[UpAcreekWithOutApaddle]

Hi I'm looking in to making a led fixture 50 inches long and 10inches wide for my 50g tank.thinking its going to house 48 blue and 48 white I will also have 12 red and 12 black lights I don't know the color range,what ones I need, or how the red and black light will affect the fish. Any input is welcome

 

[Reefing Madness]

What are the Black Lights for? Or are you referring to UV LEDs?
The reds will be ok.

 

[UpAcreekWithOutApaddle]

Yes UV led. Do you think the 96 lights will be to much, I'm not counting red as they will be on at night and will be dimmed.

 

[kevinsmixed90]

depends on what you will have in the tank and if you plan to use a dimmer for acclimation purposes. BTW I use the red channel at night at times to feed the corals and just to watch the critters as I don't think they can see the red.

 

[UpAcreekWithOutApaddle]

BTW I use the red channel at night at times to feed the corals and just to watch the critters as I don't think they can see the red.

I was hopeimg they can't see it. I have quite a bit of red lava rock and it looks nice with red LEDs.

 

[UpAcreekWithOutApaddle]

Any one know what spectrum in blue I need

 

[kevinsmixed90]

420 to 450 nm and 620 to 650 nm

 

[ReefLEDLights]

When it comes to LEDs, I like to to use MH Bulbs as a reference.

Not all LEDs are the same. Some feel they are saving $ by purchasing dated 3 watt LEDs for less than $2. I like the Cree 5 watt LEDs for $3 as they can be twice as bright at 700mA

For a tank your size I would recommend the following

60 Cree XT-E Royal Blue Binned at 450NM driven at 1000mA
15 Cree XP-E2 Blue driven at 700mA
30 Cree XT-E Cool White Binned at 7-7.5K driven at 1000mA

This with quality optics will give you the equivalent of two 400 watt Radium MHs

If you go with BJB solderless connectors the T Slot Heatsink from Heatsink USA works perfect.

To this you can add 660nm Red and some 410-420 Violet to suit your taste.

If you put each LED bank on an LDD Driver with the Storm Controller you can control the looks and have complete seasonal sunrise and sunset.

Bill

 

[UpAcreekWithOutApaddle]

Thank you

 

[dacianb]

This is how I am building my light:
- channel 1 - violet / UV - covering range from 400-430 nm
- channel 2 - deep blue - 450 nm (real 440-450 nm leds) - Osram Square (6W) + another strings with 455-460 nm range (Cree or Osram SSL)
- channel 3 - 6000K
- channel 4 - 4500k whites (but very high CRI) mixed with deep blue (1/1)
- channel 5 - combination of blue and cyan
- channel 6 - deep red / far reds - 660 nm and 730 nm