Biocube rapid led question

[Speedfreak241]

So I've been looking at the rapid led upgrade for my oceanic biocube and was wondering if I buy the solderless version couldn't I just switch LEDs till I find the color combo I want.
Secondly I know there's a lot of people asking this but what is you favorite color combo. I hear people saying to stay away from cool white and how there's different blues and violets. What's the difference and what's best for the corals and your liking.

[ChadO]

I'll take an early stab here as I just went through this about 2 months ago for my Coralife BC 29, and I did buy from RapidLED.

Some thoughts:
You are absolutely correct in the fact that you can switch out on the solderless with relative ease. However, you need to remember that the different LEDs have different max current requirements, and you'll be limited to the lowest guy on the channel. For instance, say you have 1000mA LEDs on a particular channel, and you want to throw in a different LED. That's fine, but if the new LED is limited to say 700mA, then all those other LEDs on that channel are now stuck at 700mA max as well.

I went with 10 RB, 2 Blue, 6 NW, 4 Lime, and 2 UV. I run them on 3 separate channels (1 for all the blues, 1 for the NW, and 1 for the Lime+UV). I read as much as I could, and felt that this gave me a bit of the best of everything. What I will say, is that the info out there is all over the map. It is highly personal taste (to some degree), but in the end, my feeling, is that if you go with one of the major players (Rapid, Steve's, NanoBox, etc.) you're going to get quality stuff, and be able to dial it up and grow whatever you want in a BioCube. I'm not even close to running mine at maximum light levels. I went with Rapid because whenever I emailed them with a question, I got incredibly fast responses, and their kits easily integrated with my Apex setup. I also got to jump on their Black Friday sale which was a good savings.

I'm super happy with what I have right now, and maybe down the road, I'll play around with changing out a few colors here and there, but I know that I got a system that is working great for me, and I have plenty more to learn before I sweat over an absolute optimal color layout.

Also, to help others wanting to maybe chime in with answers here, you might want to add how you intend to control the lights (do you have an existing Apex or other controller), how many separate channels do you want to run, etc.

[Speedfreak241]

I was thinking about using the ldd driver and a storm x controller because it seems like it has good options. Would the ldd and storm x be able to do 3 channels like you said or only 2. I am completely new to leds and my other tanks run off of metal halides and t5s. What would be a good driver and controller combo.

[ChadO]

So, looking on the Rapid site, they say the LDD drivers pair nicely with the Storm X controller. The Storm X controller manual says it supports up to 16 channels, so you'd have tons of room that way.

I didn't use the LDD drivers, but looking at the choices on Rapid's website, it looks like they are fixed voltage, and you just match the LED voltage to the LDD voltage rating. For instance, the 1000mA LDD driver would be paired up to a 1000mA LED string. One thing is that this would drive your LED string at the max the LEDs can handle, so that may call into question longevity issues for the LEDs. As an example, my 1000mA LED string that I have, I only have the driver pushing them at 700mA, instead of the full 1000mA max. You could do something similar by choosing a 700mA LDD for your 1000mA string, as an example.

The gist looks to be that you'd be great going with LDD and the StormX controller as Rapid's site even suggests the combo. The only other piece - and I don't have any experience in this part - is that you need to provide a power supply to work along with those LDD drivers. I don't know about that area as my Mean Well 48D drivers had all of that in a single unit (power supply + driver). I'm sure it's not that hard, though to work out.

[Burtbanner]

I am also looking at the RapidLED biocube kit. ChadO, are you happy with your color combo (10 RB, 2 Blue, 6 NW, 4 Lime, and 2 UV)? I want something that is less blue/cool looking and more vibrant or bright? Would this be accomplished by adding the NW? I realize that the RB is what is essential for growth. Your color combo looks similar to what the Nanobox LEDs setups are using.

Thanks!

Any photos with lighting?