(Another) DIY LED Build - Linear Design

Currently a 95 gallon wave

Currently a 95 gallon wave

I really hope you can offer some advice as to how big too go. Currently running 95 gallon wave tank and will be for awhile,eventually going to a 6 ft 150 gallon. I want to switch to LEDS and bulb replacement time is near. I am currently running 2x250W mh and 4t5's. Sps, lps. Etc. I liked yur design an will be using channel instead with fans and will have to build some skirting as well. My question is should I be making modules and then adding? Or do u think I can make a 48 fixture work on both?
 
beginnersluckpg said:
I really hope you can offer some advice as to how big too go. Currently running 95 gallon wave tank and will be for awhile,eventually going to a 6 ft 150 gallon. I want to switch to LEDS and bulb replacement time is near. I am currently running 2x250W mh and 4t5's. Sps, lps. Etc. I liked yur design an will be using channel instead with fans and will have to build some skirting as well. My question is should I be making modules and then adding? Or do u think I can make a 48 fixture work on both?
Click to expand...

I'm not 100% sure of your tank dimensions but Im guessing your 95 gallon is 48" X 18" and you will be going to a tank that is 72" X 18". With that in mind I would look at making the modules 24" X 18" so you can have 2 modules now and then add a third module when you move to the 6 foot long tank.

Based on what you have now your basicly running 700+ Watts of lighting on your 95 gallon. With LED's you can easily cut that in less than half. From what you have now I'd look at using 48 LED's per module. This will reduce your present 700+ watts of power usage to around 288 Watts for the 95 and eventualy about 432 Watts for the 150 Gallon.

For LED's on these units I'd start with 8 Neutral White XP-G, 4 cyan Philips Rebel , 16 Royal Blues XP-E and 20 Blue LED's XP-E, For each Module. Note this is more than I'd normaly put on a tank this size however you do have a lot of light on it right now and looking at matching your PAR ratings.

For drivers I would actualy run 4 for each module with each on its own timer so the lights can come on in and off in phases.

Phase 1 = 12 Blue LED's
Phase 2 = 8 Royal Blues + 4 Cyans
Phase 3 = 8 Royal Blues + 4 Neutral Whites
Phase 4 = 4 Neutral Whites + 8 Blues

Build up one module first then run it and see how you like the color. There is a lot of personal taste on how moch blue one person likes comopared to how much white another person likes. this is a 5 Blue to 1 White ratio that I like when I use the neutral whites. It compares with a 2 to1 ratio if you used Cool Whites which I do not recommend.

When you build the second module as you order parts remember you can pull say some Blues out of the first module to use on the secod and replace them with more whites or vice versa to balance the color to your personal taste.

I personly like the Alumnium channeling for heat sinks. But unlike others I prefer 2" X 1" rails with 1/2" to 1" gap between the rails. The 2 " rails give more surface are for heat dispensation. with these rails on a an 18" tank you could go with 6 rails using a 1/2" spacing. so you have 8 LED's per rail and a 3" spacing between LED's. If youy use 700 ma drivers you will not have any heat issues, and you might even be able to run them up to 1050 ma without fans. At 700 ma your talking roughly 120 Watts per module, and with 1050 MA drivers about 170 Watts per module.
 
@Beginnersluck,
Tell me your tank dimensions for both. Do you have already in mind what kind of LEDs to use? Do you have color preference? Are you a blue guy? An iwasaki guy? Or a ushio 10k guy? What mh bulbs brand and kelvin are you running now?
 
katchupoy said:
Here is a LED calculator I just made for all of you....

PLS CLICK HERE.

Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

Did the spreadsheet disappear? I thought it was great!

I've got a 20x10x10 Nano I want to illuminate with some LED's and narrow lenses. I want to eventually keep SPS in it, but I have a month or two while the rock will grow out and cycle. Don't even have the tank yet :D

== John ==​
 
color separation

color separation

Hello,

Just wondering if anyone else has done a design like mine and if so if you are getting color separation (disco effect, white spots dancing with blue spots)? Which I would like to reduce or get rid of.

It seems that when I have blues only the tank looks great and uniform but when I turn on the whites I get white spots dancing with blue spots. I have 80 deg optics on all my leds on a standard 90 gallon.

I have 36 LEDs 12 XPG Whites at 1amp, and 24 XTE Royal Blues at .75amps 9" over the water with 80deg lenses in a linear configuration.

my config is 12 leds per 48" strip (B is royal blue, W is white, they are about 3" apart)
B-W-B-B-W-B-B-W-B-B-W-B (Strip 1)
B-W-B-B-W-B-B-W-B-B-W-B (Strip 2)
B-W-B-B-W-B-B-W-B-B-W-B (Strip 3)

Thanks
 
warrdda.. you will have the effect because of your arrangement... you should have staggered it....

See the effect is very obvious if the arrangement is parralel to your eyes... But if the arrangement is perpendicular, its not much...

Try to look at it on the side of your tank, do you still see the effect?
 
Thanks for the help it's greatly appreciated

Thanks for the help it's greatly appreciated

katchupoy said:
@Beginnersluck,
Tell me your tank dimensions for both.
95 gallon wave
48L x 16 deep on left side and 24 deep on right side x 25h

150 gallon
72L x 24W x 20H

Do you have already in mind what kind of LEDs to use?

From what I'm reading Cree and oshram but I am definitely open to suggestions. Don't want to waste my time by trying to save a few more bucks.

Do you have color preference? Are you a blue guy? An iwasaki guy? Or a ushio 10k guy?

I am a bright coral guy, i do prefer a bit of a blue overtone. I want it to mimic my mh fixture I have now but save some money over time.

What mh bulbs brand and kelvin are you running now?
Click to expand...
2x250 geismann 13000k
2 x Fuji pink t5
2 x Super actinic uri's t5
 
Thanks so much for your info, I do have a little over kill on. Lighting and I should have mentioned my schedule as well.
T5....11-11
Mh left is 2:45-6:45
Mh right is 3:00-7:00
Moon lights run
From 10 pm to noon
 
wardda said:
Hello,

Just wondering if anyone else has done a design like mine and if so if you are getting color separation (disco effect, white spots dancing with blue spots)? Which I would like to reduce or get rid of.

It seems that when I have blues only the tank looks great and uniform but when I turn on the whites I get white spots dancing with blue spots. I have 80 deg optics on all my leds on a standard 90 gallon.

I have 36 LEDs 12 XPG Whites at 1amp, and 24 XTE Royal Blues at .75amps 9" over the water with 80deg lenses in a linear configuration.

my config is 12 leds per 48" strip (B is royal blue, W is white, they are about 3" apart)
B-W-B-B-W-B-B-W-B-B-W-B (Strip 1)
B-W-B-B-W-B-B-W-B-B-W-B (Strip 2)
B-W-B-B-W-B-B-W-B-B-W-B (Strip 3)

Thanks
Click to expand...

From the lay out you listed I see banding issues with the whites all lined up..
consider something like this

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

The other thing I found is that I like the effect of not just using Royal Blues but mixing them up with Blue LED's. It gives a more true Blue effect rather than a Blue Purple effect.

Finaly Which Whites are you using. There are Neutral Whites that I prefer but if you compare the whites to get the same over all color effect you need

1 to 1 Blues to Cool Whites
2 to 1 Blues to Neutral Whites
3 to 1 Blues to Warm Whites (beware of a red cast)

I personly like either 3 to 1 or 4 to 1 with Neutral Whites.
 
@beginnersluckpg,

I think if you are going to do it my way, then you can do it step by step... I cant imagine how you are lighting your 95 wave. How are your T5 and VHO's arranged? Maybe buy 24 white LEDs for now to replace your MH?... Read on....

Anyways, lets see... you have 960 sq in of water surface area for the 95 wave. You will need LEDs from 48 (20 sq.in/led) to 60 (15 sq.in/led). And since your tank is deeper (top to bottom), I will recommend to go with the 60 LEDs.

So I guess you are more of a 10k-14k person... White but with a tint of blue... still very subjective though, my 14k will be different that your 14k... So maybe 2:1 or maybe 3:2? Lets say 40 Blue and 20 whites? or to make it by 12... 36 blue? and 24 white? I think that is very good combo...

Here is a diagram I created for you...

95wave.jpg


See that is 3:2... and you will notice that in the middle, there is a circle and triangle at the same time? That is if you feel you want to add more whites to the mix, this you might put it...

so buy 36 blues and 24 whites + 4 extra whites...? if that make sense? just in case you cannot decide about how blue you want or how white...

Now wit regards to coloring, whether cyan, blue or royal blues or WW, NW or CW... its up to you.... I will let you do some more research on that one... In my case, I have 4 CW that went out, so I replaced them with WW, and my RBTA (red corals) are very happy... Also if I may add, go with the dimmable drivers. Also, to give you more reading materials, Here are something to read about a simple controller.

Hope this helps...
 
Last edited:
I looked at your patern katchupy and I would definatly do things differently.

it looks like your using 3/4" channeling while I would use 2" channeling. The big difference is in cool surface area. With your spread of 3 1/4 inches between LED's with 3/4" channeling you are getting 14.square inches of cooling, however with 2" X 1" channeling and your 3 1/4" spacing you would get 26 square inches of cooling per Led. The normal recomendation is 16 square inches for 1 Watt LED's and 25 square inches for 3 watt LED's. However this is without fans.

Secondly the ratio of whites to blues will vary considerably by the type of White LED's your using. For that 12,000K effect you would want something like a 2 to 3 ratio of your using Cool whites, 1 to 1 ratio if your using neutral whites. and even a 2 to 1 ratio if your using warm whites.

I initialy did strips of one color but with a 3" spread between strips I was able to notice some color banding. I like to switch sets of LED's on one at a time to create a pre dawn, post dawn and midday effect. Idealy this looks best if you have a ratio of roughly
1 predawn LED, to 2 Dawn LED's to 3 Midday LED's. As well as changing the ratio from all Blues at Pre dawn to mostly blues at dawn, and your final ratio at midday. With the LED's lined up in rows by there colors this would not be practical in getting an even color distribution.
 
trop, of course, you can arrange it however you want it. That's the fun with DIY. Nothing is set in stone. And I'm sure the bigger the channel is the better. Its just that, that what's available on my HD store at that time for a price that is reasonable. Besides, heat is not an issue with my setup. Hovers around 100F at full intensity without using fan. Just warm when you touch the heat sink. Never had one either. Also with this setup, color banding is not an issue also. Its like strips of T5 or vho's when put together. Maybe the distance from the water is too close that's why you see spotlighting or the optics used is too narrow.. I don't now about how many sq inches of heatsink per LED. Care to give us a link? And thanks for the info....
 
Here is the actual setup that I have (more details):
B- Royal Blue (XTE's)
G- Green (XPE's I think)
C- Cool White (XP-G's)
N- Neutral White (XP-G's)

B-C-B-B-N-B-B-C-B-B-N-B (Row 1)
B-N-B-G-C-B-B-N-G-B-C-B (Row 2)
B-C-B-B-N-B-B-C-B-B-N-B (Row 3)

I'm thinking of going to
B-C-B-B-N-B-B-C-B-B-N-B (Row 1)
N-B-G-C-B-B-N-B-B-C-G-B (Row 2)
B-B-N-B-G-C-B-G-N-B-B-C (Row 3)
B-C-B-B-N-B-B-C-B-B-N-B (Row 4)

My questions are:
Is this too much Green?
Is there enough Red?
Should I replace some royal blues with blues?

Thanks,
Dan


TropTrea said:
From the lay out you listed I see banding issues with the whites all lined up..
consider something like this

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

The other thing I found is that I like the effect of not just using Royal Blues but mixing them up with Blue LED's. It gives a more true Blue effect rather than a Blue Purple effect.

Finaly Which Whites are you using. There are Neutral Whites that I prefer but if you compare the whites to get the same over all color effect you need

1 to 1 Blues to Cool Whites
2 to 1 Blues to Neutral Whites
3 to 1 Blues to Warm Whites (beware of a red cast)

I personly like either 3 to 1 or 4 to 1 with Neutral Whites.
Click to expand...
 
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