Aquastyleonline.com LED questions.

I built my second fixture with 4500Ks in place of the 10KKs and i would say i like the color better. The 10KKs seem to blast through the blue, and on my testing white board i can pretty much see where they are on the heatsink. On the other hand, the 4500Ks blend the whole thing, it has a hint of yellowing, not too much though. Still hard to tell...

I might put a few 10KKs in the mix, maybe 4 of the 12, I do have quite a few of the 4500Ks close together in the center without any blues near now, with the 2 UVs... 4 10KKs could offset them a little... Hmm. I might have to test them over the tank for a better idea what they will look like. =D

I tried to get some spectrograph pics, and its 'special' at best. But since i took them i might as well share them.


First 3 are 12x 10,000K, 17x royal blue, 1x UV; next 3 are 12x 4500K, 16x royal blue, 2x UV; last one is my ~14,000K 250W MH light at about ~8 months.

Ooo pretty colors, right? Wish i knew how to do this color comparison stuff better.
 
Not yet, have been busy working on the canopy. I took the lights down and waiting for the xml's to come in. I also want to change the pots that came with the kit for better ones.
Once im done i will have readings with the bridgelux alone and then with the xml set to 1050 ma no optics.
 
I have been running my fixture about a month and I am very satisfied. I did find the potentiometer that came with the kit to be lacking in sensitivity to adjusting the light level. I changed both potentiometers out with Radio Shack 25-ohm 3 watt Rheostats and found the sensitivity to adjustment much improved. Was less than $10 for both - part number 271-0265.

I am going to start thinking about lighting up my 120 gal tank next.
 
Tagging along. Would love to hear some numbers from Nemo and hear from some people keeping sps.
 
hobbzz said:
Tagging along. Would love to hear some numbers from Nemo and hear from some people keeping sps.
Click to expand...

I honestly have to say, it's not a good idea to follow me, reason being my tank is 30 inches tall, most tanks are around 18-24. withthe numbers i posted already, i doubt it will get signifacantly higher. water is still cloudy though, i just got the system running today. i have it running with just water no salt for now and i think the water will take a while to clear up, since i did not rinse the dry sand. i opted to run filter socks instead. won't add salt until i get my power heads, but they are not released for sale yet.

i would say these kits are good for any 4 ft tank, without large depth.
then you would need lots more to cover the tank. like i posted earlier, it's also a good idea to use these in clusters, keep them closer together and you will get better par readings. i have mine on a c-channel spaced 2.5 inches apart and 18 per channel on a 4ft channel. the readings on the sand bed vary from 200 to 100 depeending on where i put the meter. i strongly believe that if i had a 18-24 inch deep tank (front to back) i would have been able to keep the channels closer and get better penetration. one last thing with my setup, i have way more RB than i do white. 2-1 to be exact, from the 72 led kit.

there is no way you could run these full power on a standard 55 gal or lower tank, unless you mount them real high.if you fall within this range then you will be good.i am going to put 12 on my 20 long with no optics. led group buy has bridgelux leds, so i will get it from them. faster shipping.
 
Whether it's these or cree, I'll be doing 36-42 over a 40B. With crees, probably 36. With these at least 42. Also without optics. Everyone on the other forum seems to like them, but not a single person talks about any numbers, par or efficiency, and they all use the optics. I obviously love the price, but there are so few numbers on these from either the manufacturer or users that I'm having a hard time convincing myself.
 
hobbzz said:
Whether it's these or cree, I'll be doing 36-42 over a 40B. With crees, probably 36. With these at least 42. Also without optics. Everyone on the other forum seems to like them, but not a single person talks about any numbers, par or efficiency, and they all use the optics. I obviously love the price, but there are so few numbers on these from either the manufacturer or users that I'm having a hard time convincing myself.
Click to expand...

I think 36 of these would be good enough on a 40 breeder, how high do you plan to hang it from the surface? you can run 36 with just two of their drivers.
and you don't need to tune anything. just wire up and adjust with the pot. no wall wart needed either.
 
I'm going to hang it for the ease of moving it out of the way for top down shots and maintenance, but it will be close to the water, as if it were mounted to the tank. I could go 3-4 inches off the water. Does anyone know if the spead without optics is roughly 120 degrees like other leds?
 
nemosworld said:
I think 36 of these would be good enough on a 40 breeder, how high do you plan to hang it from the surface? you can run 36 with just two of their drivers.
and you don't need to tune anything. just wire up and adjust with the pot. no wall wart needed either.
Click to expand...

Just to let you know I have 28 above my 40 gallon breeder with the fixture mounted 3 feet above the tank and they are still way too bright. I had to turn down the whites a lot. 36-42 would be really bright tithe point I couldn't imagine unless a good portion of them were blues.
 
That's the problem though. What one person thinks is bright, doesn't necessarily mean it's actually putting out enough par/pur to to keep higher light demanding corals. So far, with the bridgelux, it's just a bunch of people who have bought them saying "it looks bright enough". No numbers or proven success with corals to back it up.
 
I dont know what kind of PAR/PUR my BLs are putting downt he 29" high tank but i do know that my Valida that was completely Bleached(in the frag tank) is now turning purple at the tips again. the Valida is sitting about half way up the tank and its pretty much under the Brace(72X24X29) yet it continues to encrust more, as well as color up ;) Numbers or not, right now they are doing it for my SPS! Also keep in mind that this tank is only weeks old, new tank syndrom is in full effect here Algae everywhere and the SPS are looking plenty happy under all the BLs... one thing i am going to most certainly do is add some 80* optics. The 60* optics are sitting about 12" above the water and im still not getting enough light coverage.

40LED's per 7X16 they are really lightly fit together! literally about 3/4" from one start to the next. 5 Strings of 8 per string, running at full blast, but the 14k look is starting to get to me so im going to add a pair of T5's with some Blue+(60") to give me a bluer look. Eventually i need to order some 80* optics and play around with coverage bc i do have a nice spotlight in the middle of each 24X24 opening lol.... I will say one other thing though, the Clams.... Could not be happier!!! at the sandbed(maybe 26") they are open and the color is still on point :).

I wanted to buy a par meter but honestly if i do it will be used until i get my lights configured(optics) and after that it will no longer be needed so i think i will spend my 150 on a nice fish ;). Just my opinion i guess, im plenty happy with the BL leds right now with what im starting to see from the SPS as far as color :)
 
Thanks madtanks. That's the kind of stuff we need to hear. Either numbers, or proven success. I'd personlally like to hear form someone who has had them for a little longer. Maybe someone that could comment on growth as well. What mix did you go with Madtanks? At 12 inches off the water you should definitely go with the 80's. 60's should be used no lower than 18" iirc.
 
I ended up going with a 1:1(well sorta 2 reds in each heatsink 18 blue, 20 white) ratio which to some looks plenty blue and honestly at first i was like holy smokes thats blue but after looking at the tank for a while my eyes "acclimating" tot he light it looks too white again lol.

I cant attest to the growth yet since i was killing my SPS in the frag tank bc it was too much light! at about 18 to 20" down there(corals only like 5" below water total heigh of 10" in the frag tank) but i can say that since its been moved the ORA valida has gone from bleached no PE, and receeding to: Encrusted frag plug, coloration from white(bleached) to brown and now turning purple again. Polyp extension is just as good as it was with my old Cree setup in my Custom 100G.

If i could find my DSLR i would take pictures but my phone pictures dont show the color since its washed out by the blue. I will look for my camera this weekend(moved like 3months ago) and try to post pics.
 
i am also between a 72 aquastyles kit or a 48 cree kit for my &@ bow front..money is a big thing in the back of my mind but i do know the 48 cree with meanwell drives will have par now as for the bridgelux..still no solid numbers..plus almost double the lights, more sounds better lol but gotta fight the urge

i have a question though. the tank is 12 wide on the ends and moves up to 18 in the center.. i have a 2.5 maybe 2.7 inch glass overflow i added thats tinted gray glass, im scared of getting a shadow, what should i do, get 18" by 5" heatsing and not mount them over the overflow? tilt the heat sink so it kinda aims it to the back under the over flow?

i wanted to diy some U channel and make a wider sink but the overflow is wat worries me
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

griss
Radion Questions
3 4 5
Replies
87
Views
1K
griss
griss
B
JBJ Arctica 1/10 hp Chiller Modification for External Control
Replies
9
Views
186
griss
griss
Corals.com
***Saturday Spotlight!*** Wilsoni Corals! ~Corals.com
Replies
1
Views
44
Corals.com
Corals.com
S
New to the forms starting my second tank
Replies
8
Views
139
Vinny Kreyling
Vinny Kreyling
M
$0.94 Actinics
Replies
4
Views
162
reefing102
reefing102
Back
Top