Anyone looking for a little side project
- Thread starter fetta
- Start date
needmorecowbell
New member
I wouldn't be able to help you much, but I can give you a lot of info. I've been researching it a lot because I've been planning on adding supplemental lighting to my 120w dimmable unit. It only has royal blues and cool whites, which is normal in a commercially made led fixture. Unfortunately that doesn't cover much of the spectrum.
The way I've been planning mine is do what you know works.. Metal halides have worked for years so why not make our leds as close as possible to them. I used the spectroscopy of a 250w icecap mh light and used the info to pick out what leds I get..
The places we are lacking are the 420 nm range and 490-520 nm range. those are the spots for uv and cyan. the other places where we are lacking is the 540-550 and 680-690 range. these are less powerful but the are still there and were missing them. The closest to a 540 nm is green which is about 5 nm off. I would add a few of those if you want good spectrum. The only problem is that they dont make leds in 680nm unless you buy them in a fixture. 680 nm is called far red led and is used in plant growing. . So, buying reds wont help as much as we thought if we are trying to match halides, they are about 660 nm at the highest ( deep red) and that is pretty far off. here are the pics i have been using.. they are from sanjay from michigan reefers and someone off another forum..
View attachment 191450View attachment 191451
The way I've been planning mine is do what you know works.. Metal halides have worked for years so why not make our leds as close as possible to them. I used the spectroscopy of a 250w icecap mh light and used the info to pick out what leds I get..
The places we are lacking are the 420 nm range and 490-520 nm range. those are the spots for uv and cyan. the other places where we are lacking is the 540-550 and 680-690 range. these are less powerful but the are still there and were missing them. The closest to a 540 nm is green which is about 5 nm off. I would add a few of those if you want good spectrum. The only problem is that they dont make leds in 680nm unless you buy them in a fixture. 680 nm is called far red led and is used in plant growing. . So, buying reds wont help as much as we thought if we are trying to match halides, they are about 660 nm at the highest ( deep red) and that is pretty far off. here are the pics i have been using.. they are from sanjay from michigan reefers and someone off another forum..
View attachment 191450View attachment 191451
fetta
New member
Thanks for all the info alot to take in, i did order some led just like the china ones everyone is getting. when i get them i'm going to take a look and see about adding or changing out some led's to change up a lil of the color in them. but if i can't i'll try something else and see how it goes.
needmorecowbell
New member
Lol ya, there's a lot of info out, just hard to make out. I was going to switch out some of the royal blue LEDs in my Chinese fixture and was told not too. Its too risky I guess. You might want to look into adding a uv stunner strip and then maybe skipping out on cyan, that would be the easier way to get some color without all the diy.
needmorecowbell
New member
I wouldn't, you would be risking the whole unit, and you void the warranty, making it a 200$ piece of art.. A DIY strip is pretty cheap and you get exactly what you want.
