Led spectrum?

[Mdj]

Ok building a led for 10 gallon nano. Would these leds be enough they will be on a single string with dimmer 2 neutral white xpg, 2 cool white xpg, 5 rb xpg, 1 luxeon cyan, 1 luxeon lime? What kind of kelvin do you think this may be? Thnx for help.

[lingwendil]

Get rid of the cool white, with all the other colors and whites available they aren't very good for much unless you like a washed out look, instead add a regular blue or two as well as another royal blue. Personally if driving them all in series go for Luxeon on all of them, if you can do two channels put the white/lime on one channel, and everything else on another. The Luxeon stuff are a better product, and if you aren't driving the Crees at high currents you lose the only compelling reason to use them...The lime can be pretty powerful unless you are running a bunch of blues to offset it, as with the other colors it will blend like a white would, so it really should be on its own driver/channel, same could be said of the cyan... Should get a 12-14k look but without being able to tune it you might not be all that happy, so multiple drivers or channels would be best.

Is this over a standard ten gallon? If so, I would do two clusters, each consisting of 1x 4000k neutral white, 2x royal blue, 1x regular blue, 1x cyan, 1x lime. If it was me, I would add an additional royal blue on each cluster to the above numbers, and also add a "hyper" violet from Steve's LEDs or L E D Group B U Y. Grab everything from Steve's LEDs ideally, run them all at 700mA.

What sort of color do you want? Any particular look you are trying to replicate? What are you trying to keep? For demanding SPS I would do three clusters, or add to the above arrays a bit, perhaps doubling the blues and whites.

[Mdj]

Just growing zoas mainly money restricted it to one string for now will be upgrading in future to dual strings just wanting something to help colors pop out was hoping for between 14000k and 16000k look. I will look at Steve's led received these ledfor free just bought nano driver from rapid led to run them had rest of materials needed. I will be doing a 4'x1' by 16" deep will look into Steve's for it it will be little nicer light just need to get money together for it thanks for info.

[lingwendil]

Well, if that's what you have and will just be into zoas, build it up without the cool whites and see how you like it, and add to it from there. Honestly if you just add some royal blues and regular blues to what you have you should be pretty good. For now leave out the cyan and lime until you get more of them, and the additional blues. it will likely be pretty low light without adding to it some... but should be passable for now. I have a feeling it will be too green/white if you simply run everything as-is.

Oh, and for the plans for the setup over a 48x12x16, that will be an easy tank to light well! four clusters each of something like 2x neutral white, 5x or 6x royal blue, 2x blue, 1x lime, 1x cyan, 1x or 2x violet would be a cool starting point. Replace the neutral whites with a single 4000k bridgelux vero 10 90CRI, or a similar COB array from Luminus or Citizen and it will be even better!

[Mdj]

Thanks for advise will deffinetly add some more blue and royal blue in about month going to put another driver and separate out some on the10 gallon for better control. Just jumped the gun on setting tank up and now it's sitting there cycled waiting for something to go in but no lights yet. I was looking at the cobs for the bigger tank but it's still in planning just got done putting it together was a 55 but had a bad chip in bottom corner so I cut it down and used strips for top brace moved top brace to bottom. Hopefully it holds water will find out in about a week thanks for your help. Will post a pic once driver gets here. Thanks again

[Fredfish]

Originally Posted by lingwendil

...

Is this over a standard ten gallon? If so, I would do two clusters, each consisting of 1x 4000k neutral white, 2x royal blue, 1x regular blue, 1x cyan, 1x lime. If it was me, I would add an additional royal blue on each cluster to the above numbers, and also add a "hyper" violet from Steve's LEDs or L E D Group B U Y. Grab everything from Steve's LEDs ideally, run them all at 700mA.

What sort of color do you want? Any particular look you are trying to replicate? What are you trying to keep? For demanding SPS I would do three clusters, or add to the above arrays a bit, perhaps doubling the blues and whites.

Blue Acro does a cluster with that exact combination. One board, plug and play connections. It doesn't get easier than that for LED DIY.

[lingwendil]

True. I have a custom pair of his Luxeon C boards over my 20 long (1x 90CRI 5700k white, 1x mint, 1x blue, 1x royal blue, and 3x royal blue, 1x violet) and I'm very happy with them. I love them, but I also like to tinker and play around with new stuff as it comes around. I always think in the terms of discrete emitters first, and if something happens along that uses them, even better.

The half mega 18k is perfect for most nano builds-
https://blueacro.com/acrostar/

[sfsuphysics]

What I would do is 2 strings, put everything not blue on one string and tie that into the dimmer, let the blue string be full strength. Reason being the effects of blue is what people like, but the problem is with all the other LEDs you might overpower the blues and end up not liking the look. By splitting it into two strings you can dim the non blue to fit a look you like, or if this a dimmer on a timer then you can ramp from a blue tank to a more white tank and back as you see fit.

[karimwassef]

Doesn't anyone enjoy the natural look any more?

It just feels very artificial.

[Mdj]

I really appreciate the advise I plan on adding another string in a few more weeks I will wire it so I can easily add some more leds and separate for better control then so another lime and CYAN 2 more blues 2 ultra violet and another driver. ditch the cool white and I should be good then right. Do you think royal blues on full would be ok this will be right over tank or should I just get dimmable could probably get everything little sooner if i didn't need another dimmable driver.

[lingwendil]

Originally Posted by karimwassef

Doesn't anyone enjoy the natural look any more?

It just feels very artificial.

It depends on individual opinion, experience, taste, even mood

What looks "natural" to one guy may not necessarily look realistic, regardless of whether or not it truly looks natural. Many can't stand a yellowish tank full of washed out corals, and want that deep blue look.

One of the reasons you want adjustability in these setups is to dial it in to just how you want it, for better or for worse.

[karimwassef]

To each their own.

I snorkel and I'd like my tank to be as close to nature as possible. I don't consider it washed out or yellow. The electric blue looks like a video game world.

I add enough UV and blue so that the coral "pop", but they can only pop against a natural white background. I'm just advocating for a different aesthetic.

[Fredfish]

Originally Posted by karimwassef

To each their own.

I snorkel and I'd like my tank to be as close to nature as possible. I don't consider it washed out or yellow. The electric blue looks like a video game world.

I add enough UV and blue so that the coral "pop", but they can only pop against a natural white background. I'm just advocating for a different aesthetic.

I'm with you. I like my tank to look something like what I saw on my dives on the GBR.