TropTrea

Realy depends what you mean by cheap? I'm running 24 LED's on 2 of my 40 breeders and the average LED price in $5.00 each. Add the drivers 3 X 19 and you already have $180.00. Then you need Alumnium rails or a heat sink which I watch the scrap at the metal wholesaler so it only adds another $20.00 or so. You can cut some of the price by going with two drivers one 60 watt and one 35 watt if your using 5 Watt LED's on the 60 watt Driver.

I just built a simular set up for someone with 4 Neutral White. Here was the pricing.

4 XM-L Neutral Whites @6.50 = $26
8 XT-E Royal Blues @3.25 = $26
4 XP-E True Blues @3.50 = $14
2 Vioet 430nm @ 4.50 = $9.
LPC-35-700 Driver $18.00
LPC-60-1400 Driver $ 20.00
Total was $113 but he furnished the three 2" X 1" Alumnium rails.

Now if you want to mix t-5's with LED's then send me a new note. Message was too long for here.

So what kind of light would you recommend for my 40 gallon breeder I would like to try led I'm very new to the hobby I'm trying to get everything together before starting it up the light is the only thing I have left to get I can't find one that cheap and good to grow corals any suggestions?

I can go along with the no optics. But why the 3 watt instead of the 3 watt LED's. I'm finding Cree XP-E's harder to get compared to there 5 Watt and 10 Watt LED's. And price wise the 5 Watt LED's are roughly a dollar cheaper than the 3 watt ones right now.

I do have a space problem as the tank is only 17'5" front to back, of that 5 inches is used for the overflow, and another 6 inches for the T-5 lights. This leaves me 6.5" for the LED's. Two rails I think would be much better using 2" Channeling with a 1/2" spread putting the LED's 1 1/2" from the front glass of the tank.

Trying to match up drivers a pair of 60-48 drivers will handle 24 5 Watt LED's running them at 4.5 Watts each. For a total of 108 Watts. With the 3 Watt LED's I'd end up using 60-1050 Drivers meaning up to 16 LED's per driver and only 96 Watts total. I'm also concerned with 16 LED's on a rail and 2.75" spacing running into a cooling issue.

Any corrections to my logic?

Dennis

I can go along with the no optics. But why the 3 watt instead of the 3 watt LED's. I'm finding Cree XP-E's harder to get compared to there 5 Watt and 10 Watt LED's. And price wise the 5 Watt LED's are roughly a dollar cheaper than the 3 watt ones right now.

I do have a space problem as the tank is only 17'5" front to back, of that 5 inches is used for the overflow, and another 6 inches for the T-5 lights. This leaves me 6.5" for the LED's. Two rails I think would be much better using 2" Channeling with a 1/2" spread putting the LED's 1 1/2" from the front glass of the tank.

Trying to match up drivers a pair of 60-48 drivers will handle 24 5 Watt LED's running them at 4.5 Watts each. For a total of 108 Watts. With the 3 Watt LED's I'd end up using 60-1050 Drivers meaning up to 16 LED's per driver and only 96 Watts total. I'm also concerned with 16 LED's on a rail and 2.75" spacing running into a cooling issue.

Any corrections to my logic?

Dennis

3 or 5 watt led's?

I'd use more 3 watt ones. The mix sounds right. I'd hook up the LED's and see what they look like then decide which T5's to use. I'd do 3 rows of 14 LED's, 2 blue rows and one blue white mixed, no optics.