(Another) DIY LED Build - Linear Design

katchupoy said:
I believe you are good, but i would try to put 2 whites in there without optics.
the blue alone is similar to black light so you might not like it... you only see corals that fluoresce... so adding 2 CWs will should work..

B B W B B B B B B W B B

And get the dimmable "48D" so you can fine tune how low is your low...
Click to expand...

So are 2 Cool Whites enough to make it mostly blue but not overwhelming? Or should there be a 3rd in the middle?
 
So I was looking at the kits rapidled sells and they have a premium and ultra premium ones. Ultra premium has XP-E LEDs and the premium kit has XR-E LEDs. Which ones are better?
 
I thought XP-E was better, was just weird that the XR-E kit was more money. By the way both come with lenses of your choice anyway.
 
Yeah. I was wrong. The ultra was more expensive untill thet decided to drop the price few weeks ago. The ultra kit in the pass was mixed with xp and xr and they only give us lens for xr. We have to buy lens for xp. But right now, its cheaper so i got this kit.
 
So the ultra premium kit with Royal Blue XP-E and Cool White XP-G is definitely better than the XR-E premium version right?
 
vincent201089 said:
IMG00153-20110425-1608-1.jpg
Click to expand...

Also on this picture... this is still on amps setting....

If you are going to read volts then you have to put the red cable on the other hole... Vma hole...

Although we have our meter on volts, we are actually testing amps.. its hard to explain but it has something to do with the inline resistor.
 
vincent201089 said:
No, not yours. If I look closer to the pic on the first page. I could see the way you set your meter.
I set mine at 2000m and got 650. Did you try another way and still got the same reading?
Click to expand...

You know what! I cant remember me testing it without resistor... hmmm maybe you are right... Maybe there is a difference with or without resistor.

I will need to retest my rig and report back to you on this.
 
katchupoy said:
You know what! I cant remember me testing it without resistor... hmmm maybe you are right... Maybe there is a difference with or without resistor.

I will need to retest my rig and report back to you on this.
Click to expand...
Yes, please. If you don't mind.

Here is my plan. I'm gonna place 2x30 leds which are on 2 8x10 heatsink over my 75g (36x24x20). The fixture will be place 12'' from water level.

On each heatsink are 6 XP-E Blue, 12 XP-E RB and 12 XP-G CW. What is the best layout that you think would work best?
Untitled-1.png

Untitled1-1.png

Untitled2-1.png
 
On the whole XP-E are better than the XR-E so in general get the XP-Es, but it also depends. The brightness bins overlap they both come as D316 the brightest for these models. However most likely Rapid does not have the brighter XR-E bins as they are harder to find. The difference that may matter to us is if you are mounting low with no lenses the XR-E spread is 100-110 degree and the XP-E is closer to 130 if I remember the number correctly, if you use lenses then this is a moot point.

vincent, I think any would work but I like the second option.
 
Vincent, you may find that is too many blues for that size setup. Some people have complained that you use too many and thing may look windexy in the tank. The blue is about 20 nm longer in wavelength then the royals are, and are mainly put in to close a spectrum hole in the led spectrum curve in the 480 to 510 range. Some say greens may do that even better than the blues. For example I only used 4 blue on a 65 led setup (see my pics about 1 page back). Furthermore, the royal blues are the sweetspot for the photsynthesis wavelengths we are looking for with corals.

In general however, you need to be very careful adding colors that are not royal blue or those from the white family. Not saying a few may add some nice pop, but keep the numbers very low, and be careful. I would put 2 blues in the array you have shown.
 
King Nikon said:
So are 2 Cool Whites enough to make it mostly blue but not overwhelming? Or should there be a 3rd in the middle?
Click to expand...

Its really up to you. But may i suggest to just buy extra white? so that when you want it with 3 whites then you can simply add it.. try blue with optics and white without..
 
vincent201089 said:
Yes, please. If you don't mind.

Here is my plan. I'm gonna place 2x30 leds which are on 2 8x10 heatsink over my 75g (36x24x20). The fixture will be place 12'' from water level.

On each heatsink are 6 XP-E Blue, 12 XP-E RB and 12 XP-G CW. What is the best layout that you think would work best?
Click to expand...

So the CWs will have its own driver...
and the RBs will have the same...
So the blue will have their own too?...

If this is the case, then you can actually control the blues separately from the rest. If i may suggest... I really like the FIRST image where everything is in line with one color... Also if you can remove 2 blues and replace it with 2 reds, i believe that would be awesome... then put it on a dimmable driver... so you can adjust it as you wish.

IMO, the blues are great, but actually if you mix RBs and CWs in a way, you can also achieve the same effect? So I would really like instead of Blues is more RBs and 2 reds.

Or, 2xRBs, 2xBlues, and 2xReds

RB, RED, BLUE, BLUE, RED, RB.

this is just for the middle strip... I cant wait to see your rig.
 
Did you know that at 12" off the water... A 60degree optic can cover 18" spread of front to back of a tank...

This is what I have right now... Well I just made a hood since I cannot mount my lights to the ceiling... (renting), And i have my lights sits 12" off the water.

So when I layout my 3 rails, even if i put them together as in no spacing... RBs, CWs, RBs. The spread can cover the whole tank...

I was not able to do this when at 9" off the water... Of course, I lost a lot of par... But I can always lower my lights to 9"

Just sharing....
 
My biggest problem with led is I haven't seen any DIY myself and this is also why I have asked too many questions and hoped all you guys don't mind about that.

All led fixtures I see is from your pictures that made me very interesting. However, I could see many commercial setups at the MAX or Reef-a-palooza but the one made me liked most is the AI soil blue on a nano of my friend. I didn't have chance to take a look closer but I really like the color of the combo RB-CW-B (which are XP ver).

I also like the bluer color when I setup my T5, I don't know why but the white makes me feel weird and the corals look fake.
Here's newest pic of my tank and I love this. However, I have this after some quick PS. 6x39w ATI sunpower which are blue-blue-red-blue-white-blue (front to back)
DSC01210.jpg

Vincent, you may find that is too many blues for that size setup.
Click to expand...
I wish that I could have a chance to see your fixture in real life. That would help me alot with my setup. I can't image what a DIY led fixture looks like.
So the CWs will have its own driver...
and the RBs will have the same...
So the blue will have their own too?...

If this is the case, then you can actually control the blues separately from the rest.
Click to expand...
Yes, all are controllable with separate drivers. (the 6 blues from fixture I will be connected to the other 6 blues on fixture II and they are run with a dim driver. So total I have 5 drivers)
Also if you can remove 2 blues and replace it with 2 reds, i believe that would be awesome... then put it on a dimmable driver... so you can adjust it as you wish.
Click to expand...
I like this setup too but would the red leds make some spot light? In that case, there's gonna have 4 red areas in my tank.
Did you know that at 12" off the water... A 60degree optic can cover 18" spread of front to back of a tank...
Click to expand...
Thanks for reminding me about this, I almost don't think about this. I only want the light focus on the coral area and some on the sandbed, so I would use 40 optics for the outside leds, I hate to clean the glass everyday.
vincent, I think any would work but I like the second option.
Click to expand...
I love this too.

I'm having 2 rails one blue and one white 5-6'' above the water line and the color doesn't blend together at that height. Half back of the tank is blue and half front is white. So this is the reason I have 3 layouts and I want to see your opinions which one will blend perfectly.

I have too many to aks you guys but right now, that's all. I waiting for the 8x10 heatsinks and I'll order another kit later and I'll buy some reds too. Maybe next month. Mr. Benjamin Franklin doesn't let me do it now. :D
 
Good DIY thread- Some of the earlier pics aren't coming up for me. Is there another updated thread or can I still go by this?
 
Ninja... so sorry about that... we just move (office) and all servers that i manage are still in boxes... bare with me and maybe tomorrow (monday) i will be able to fire it up...

apologies.
 
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