9x9x9 Cube Tank LED Advice?

[ReefinMadness89]

Would 9 quality CREE LED's be too much?

Can I get some recommendations, how many LED's, what color/model LED's?

The tank is 9"x9"x9" acrylic.

I've been doing a lot of reading but not much on the build forums apply directly to my kind of pico.

Thanks! :beer:

 

[HiImSean]

i would do a par bulb and call it a day

 

[ReefinMadness89]

Aw that's no fun!

 

[kaserpick]

As long as they're dimmable, I don't see a problem with 9 LED's. I have a 16" cube with 18 LED's; I feel like I could have gone with 24. As far as ratios are concerned, your tank has about 1/3 the square footage with about 1/2 the height. That being said, I think 9 LED's on your 9" cube would be like 24 LED's on my 16" cube. Granted, that last sentence is exclusively dealing with coverage. With half the height, you'll definitely want dimmable drivers. I hope that helps!

Also, a 9" cube sounds awesome! Can't wait to see the build! :thumbsup:

 

[HiImSean]

if you plan on building, i think 9 is too many. i'm pretty sure there's a few 5.5g tanks around with 5 or less crees on a DIY LED. i'd do a 5x5 heatsink and prolly do 5 crees, 3b 2W, 1 in the middle then the other 4 in the "corners". should provide good coverage and would allow for some room to add more LEDs if you want/need them

 

[Bmgrocks]

I have a 10x10x10 with 12 LED's....WAY too much....bleached the living daylight outta my corals.

I'd say 6 would be a safe bet, 4 blue, 2 white.

 

[SkullV]

I would go with 5 CREE. 15w should be PLENTY for that tank. Personally I would get the EcoPico LED arm with 5 strips. If you can wait until next week I'll have PAR measurements of 5 strips in a 12" deep tank (Ecoxotic EcoPico).

 

[ReefinMadness89]

Thanks, I think 5 LED will be good. I do want to try DIY but this ecopico looks pretty nice. That's my fallback plan, will love to hear back on the PAR.