How much for a 125?

[Reefing Newbie]

I was looking at purchasing a DIY LED kit from you guys in the near future. I was curious what you would suggest for a 125 gallon mixed reef tank with anemones. How many LEDs(looking for a 3 blue to 1 white ratio, with high noon kit)? What heatsink? How many heat sinks? What driver for dimmables on the Reef Keeper Lite? What optics, lights will be 7-8" from the surface? How many fans would you recommend? I know this a lot of questions, but I want to get as much info as I can. BTW the 125 gallon has the standard dimensions. Thanks in advance!

[ReefLEDLights]

72"x18"x22
For heatsink layout and options check out this page
http://reefledlights.com/ledmytank/

I would look for the minimum performance of 250s over your tank.

3-1+HNoon will give you a crisp 14-15k appearance which is my favorite.

I would lean towards the Inventronics drivers as they draw less power you can use more. The ALC module can only provide enough dimming power to about 3-4 drivers. I had to switch my 120g to Apex to dim all my drivers.

Optics - 80degrees

2 per heatsink, if after that it feels too hot to hold, then have to add more is the general guidance. The cooler a fixture runs, the longer your LEDs will last.


No worries about asking, we are reefers and we are happy to help other reefers with their builds!

[Reefing Newbie]

Thanks for all of the help, I am not a very handy person. I do want to save money where I can in this hobby, and this is one area. So I was thinking maybe doing three 12" heatsinks with 24 LEDs each. Should this suffice or would you do more? I have read of others using LEDs(don't think from you) and had there corals and nems bleach, so I don't want to get too many. Would you use three drivers for 72 LEDs or would I have to use more? How would I get the 3 blue to 1 white effect with 72 LEDs? Otherwise would 96 LEDs be too much for what I am wanting? Thanks for the help again!

[ReefLEDLights]

There are 100 different ways to do LED lighting right and 1000 different ways to do it wrong.

There are several different causes for corals bleaching. As far as lighting goes an increase in lighting will cause the symbiotic zooxanthellae algae to produce more food and oxygen. Too much oxygen is toxic and the coral gets rid of excess zooxanthellae algae. In the case of a sudden increase in light the coral often releases too much thus the bleaching. The key with any light change is a slow acclimation to allow the coral to slowly adjust. Some jump from a PC to a 400 watt MH equivalent without a slow acclimation...This is bad and will cause bleaching.

As far as PAR goes, our recommendation is a 400 watt MH equivalent. This has worked on our personal reefs. However, I've seen many great reef with a 250 watt MH equivalent.

If your on a budget 24 XP-E LEDs with optics would give you the same PAR as an AI SOL. Three of these will light you tank and keep your corals happy.

For best growth I would go with three 18" Heatsinks and 72 XP-E Royal Blue, 24 Cool White and 20-24 XP-G Cool White High Noon this would be two of our 48LED Kits with the High Noon option. According to our PAR testing this is the equivalent to two 400 watt MH and give you the right coverage and be great for SPS and Clams.

I would drive these with the 40 watt Inventronics driver which is dimmable so you can program sunrise and sunset and tweak the colour balance to achieve the best look.

If you have any doubts about soldering go with the BJB SolderLess Connectors and our pre drilled and tapped heatsinks. This will save you a lot of frustration in the event you have a cold solder or a grounded solder. The nice thing about DIY is you can approach it in a modular fashion and always add more LEDs later.

[Reefing Newbie]

Thanks for all of the help. I will definantly slowly adjust the lighting over when I get the LEDs going!

[Reefing Newbie]

Hello, I am back and have a few more questions before I buy both the kits and the ReefKeeper Elite controller. When I get two kits does that mean I get 4 Invertronics Dimmable Controllers for each kit, totalling 8 in all? If so does that mean I am going to need more than 1 ALC module to control the lights via RKE? Are all of the high noon options dimmable, and if so what one do you recommend? I was thinking along the lines of the 12 XP-G w LPC60-1050 Driver for high noon. Now would this be another driver in addition to the 48 LEDs? One last question, what is your 12 position euro brace? Thanks, I will let you know further questions when they pop up. I can't remember all of them.

[ReefLEDLights]

Hello, I am back and have a few more questions before I buy both the kits and the ReefKeeper Elite controller. When I get two kits does that mean I get 4 Invertronics Dimmable Controllers for each kit, totalling 8 in all? If so does that mean I am going to need more than 1 ALC module to control the lights via RKE? Are all of the high noon options dimmable, and if so what one do you recommend? I was thinking along the lines of the 12 XP-G w LPC60-1050 Driver for high noon. Now would this be another driver in addition to the 48 LEDs? One last question, what is your 12 position euro brace? Thanks, I will let you know further questions when they pop up. I can't remember all of them.


Yes it would be 8 Drivers. The ReefKeeper Elite is a good controller but I know a lot op people who upgraded to the APEX as the RKM module does not control multiple drivers well. Two RKMs will be around $200 and an APEX Jr with a VDM is around $250 and will control all your drivers much better with 4 channels.

The LPC60-1050 is a non dimmable driver and is either 100% on or off.

I'm like the looks of the euro brace and am neutral on a center brace. I would arrange the LEDs so any bracing does not block their light.

Bill

[ReefLEDLights]

Hello, I am back and have a few more questions before I buy both the kits and the ReefKeeper Elite controller. When I get two kits does that mean I get 4 Invertronics Dimmable Controllers for each kit, totalling 8 in all? If so does that mean I am going to need more than 1 ALC module to control the lights via RKE? Are all of the high noon options dimmable, and if so what one do you recommend? I was thinking along the lines of the 12 XP-G w LPC60-1050 Driver for high noon. Now would this be another driver in addition to the 48 LEDs? One last question, what is your 12 position euro brace? Thanks, I will let you know further questions when they pop up. I can't remember all of them.


Yes it would be 8 Drivers. The ReefKeeper Elite is a good controller but I know a lot of people who upgraded to the APEX as the RKM module does not control multiple drivers well. Two RKMs will be around $200 and an APEX Jr with a VDM is around $250 and will control all your drivers much better with 4 channels.

The LPC60-1050 is a non dimmable driver and is either 100% on or off.

I'm like the looks of the euro brace and I'm neutral on a center brace. I would arrange the LEDs so any bracing does not block their light.

Bill

[Reefing Newbie]

I decided to go with the full Apex package which includes an eb8, the controller, temp probe, and pH probe. Would the 8 drivers take up all 8 outlets on the eb8?

[ReefLEDLights]

I decided to go with the full Apex package which includes an eb8, the controller, temp probe, and pH probe. Would the 8 drivers take up all 8 outlets on the eb8?


You can plug the white drivers into one power strip, and then the power strip into one outlet, and then all the blue drivers into another power strip and then into another outlet.