Best spectrum for led build

[Roblox84]

I am planning on using 96 cree xpe's in my build over my 125 6foot. I will have dimmable ballasts but I would like to get the best color temp. without touching the dimmer. I would like a 20k look, would 60 rb's and 36cw achieve this or would that be too much blue? Any pictures using different ratios of xre's would be appreciated

[eisaiasjr]

WAYYY too much blue

1 CW + 1 RB gives you about a 20k look, however be advised that this combination of LEDs gives you incredible looking greens and purples but terribly dulls out Reds, oranges and yellows.

This has been discussed in other forums and it seems like the general consensus is 3 Neutral white for every 6 Royal blues and 1 cool blue yields the best colors.

I personally dont like the 20k look since in my opinion it makes everything look kind of fake and bleached out, but I would advice that you try a few different combinations to see what color you like the most.

Here is a short list of the ones I would try... Just build a small heatsink and put all of these in series and drive them with a single driver...

1)
3 NW
6 RB
1 Blue

2)
1 CW
1 RB

3)
1 CW
1 NW
1 RB
1 Blue

Also, it has been discussed that you can throw in 1 red for every ~15 LEDs that you put in your tank, I think it adds alot of color and you are also able to simulate sunrise and sunset with a controller like the Neptune APEX.

Best of luck, and I hope you report your findings!

Estefano

[Roblox84]

WAYYY too much blue

1 CW + 1 RB gives you about a 20k look, however be advised that this combination of LEDs gives you incredible looking greens and purples but terribly dulls out Reds, oranges and yellows.

This has been discussed in other forums and it seems like the general consensus is 3 Neutral white for every 6 Royal blues and 1 cool blue yields the best colors.

I personally dont like the 20k look since in my opinion it makes everything look kind of fake and bleached out, but I would advice that you try a few different combinations to see what color you like the most.

Here is a short list of the ones I would try... Just build a small heatsink and put all of these in series and drive them with a single driver...

1)
3 NW
6 RB
1 Blue

2)
1 CW
1 RB

3)
1 CW
1 NW
1 RB
1 Blue

Also, it has been discussed that you can throw in 1 red for every ~15 LEDs that you put in your tank, I think it adds alot of color and you are also able to simulate sunrise and sunset with a controller like the Neptune APEX.

Best of luck, and I hope you report your findings!

Estefano

I guess I could throw in 6 red leds in there. Maybe I will have 2 in the middle of each of my 3 aquarium sections that are divided by the cross bars.

As for your #1 choice, doesn't that come out to be more blues then I previously posted? And if I am correct with 96 leds I could use 10 blues. Does placement matter or should I just scatter them around?

[Roblox84]

I'm thinking that I will go with #3 and add 6 reds in there somewhere. Do you think that the reds will not blend well and will just leave red spotlights on the rocks or sand?

[Roblox84]

Eisa, or anyone if you can critique this setup. I will be running 2 kits of 48 xpe's. I will just show you the color pattern that I would like to do on 48 leds first. I will do 4 strings of 12 driven by 2 mean wells.

B, NW, B, NW, B, NW, B, NW, B, NW, B, NW
CW, RB, CW, RB, CW, RB, CW, RB, CW, RB, CW, RB
B, NW, B, NW, B, NW, B, NW, B, NW, B, NW
CW, RB, CW, RB, CW, RB, CW, RB, CW, RB, CW, RB

this is the only alternating way that I could figure out because it will still let me control the blues and whites separately. Will the color blending be alright with this sort of pattern? Should I take out a natural white in each string and add a royal blue to increase the blue to white ratio?

[eisaiasjr]

Roblox:

Dont use optics on your reds, or if your fixture is too far away from the tank you will need to add more and simply drive them at a much lower amperage.

Also, I would strongly advice you against just picking one of the configurations and simply plugging it in. take the extra time and buy the LEDs that you need to build a small 12 LED (or smaller) heatsink and put them together. The additional cost is marginal and that way you know EXACTLY what light you like.

I like much more yellow setups than most people on this forum (about 14k-16k), so I dont want you to think that I am ill advising you by choosing one of the configurations.

Simply go to rapidled.com which are great guys and buy the LEDS and the SOLDERLESS CONNECTORS. that way you can quickly and easily change your LEDS by swapping configurations and seeing what you like.

Best Regards,

Estefano

[imagex]

with the nw you wont need reds... the nw are used to have a supplement of red... i personally dont like the reds... they're way tooo overpowering... looks like your looking thru a photo room... also with a 6ft fixture i doubt your able to run 4 rows with 96 leds... it's not enough leds... with a 2 inch gap on a 72" fixture is 36 leds... you'd need 144 leds to complete 4 rows... on this led fixture i built for someone's 125 i used 2 rows of xp-e and white xp-g and no optics and was fine on his tank... the alternating your doing it depends on if your doing optics or not... without optics it's easier to mesh the colors together... with optics you mite have spotlighting from the different colors your doing... also the reg blues are overpowering too... i'd say use 1 per 6 or 1 per 12 if running 2 -12 leds... i definitely wouldnt do 1:1 with the rb... it'll make it look like a tank full of windex... basically i would use 72 leds rb and cw... and if using the xr-e you can run actually 14 maybe 15 leds per driver so the extra 2 or 3 you have per driver add the cool blues or the nw... it'll mesh in pretty well... but for a example on a 24" fixture 2 12 led rows i used 2 blues and it was enough to make the color just right...

also are you running these parallel?? you do realize the when running it in parallel it'll lower the amps going to each led in half right??

dunno if i can post this or not but here is a good thread on nanoreef that shows the coloration of all the leds and later on in the thread they play with different combinations... http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=246394&st=40&p=2998450&#entry2998450

[eisaiasjr]

1 to 1 RB to Blue will definitely make your tank look like windex if you use cool whites, however if you use Neutral Whites or even Warm Whites it will not. Needless to say, this is something you have to be aware of so that you can correct the problem if you dont like the look.

Best Regards,

Estefano