Convert DIY freshwater LED to reef?

[gus6464]

I am tearing down my 50g rimless freshwater tank and instead of just getting rid of it I want to go reef with it as I've never had a reef larger than 12g. I made a DIY light for it consisting of Vero 18 Decor and 90CRI 5600K and rapidled violet 4-cores. The light has 3 of each. They are on an 8up LDD board and 3x of the LDD are the 1600ma version from O2Surplus. Rest are LDD1000 and 1x LDD700H. I don't want to get rid of my Vero's so want to convert it to reef capable. My controller is a 4-channel Typhon. I only want to do this if I can keep my Vero's in the new light so this is what I was thinking:

Channel 1 - 3x Vero 18 Decor 2700K in parallel to a 1600ma LDD.
Channel 2 - 3x Vero 18 90CRI 5600K in parallel to a 1600ma LDD.
Channel 3 - 3x Luxeon K 8-up Royal Blue each on an LDD1000H.
Channel 4 - 3x Rapidled 4core in series to an LDD700H plus 6x LGB 405nm and 6x LGB 430nm in series to an LDD-1000.

I can go up to 3x Luxeon K 16-up if the 8-up is not enough.

The LEDs are mounted to a 32x5" heatsink being cooled by 4x 120mm and 1x 200mm fans. PSU is a 7.2A 48V. The tank dimensions are 36x18x18 (it's a CAD rimless low-iron 90P). I want enough light to grow whatever I want.

 

[O2Surplus]

Geez Gus, didn't you just start that tank? LOL You need to hit up the Jedimaster with this question. He'll know what mix of leds it will take to "salvage" the Vero's and create a light worthy of a marine reef tank. My guess- You're going to need a butt load of blue wavelengths to overcome the Vero's. Could get spendy- lol

 

[gus6464]

Geez Gus, didn't you just start that tank? LOL You need to hit up the Jedimaster with this question. He'll know what mix of leds it will take to "salvage" the Vero's and create a light worthy of a marine reef tank. My guess- You're going to need a butt load of blue wavelengths to overcome the Vero's. Could get spendy- lol

Haha yeah I did but then I hated my hardscape and got massive algae and a lotta plants died. And then of course the plants that had to die were the buce's that I spent quite a lot on.

I decided to reboot the tank completely and then I got to thinking I have never done a big reef and I already got the base for a ridiculously powerful light. Doesn't help that I got a CAD Zen 60P tank as well so that one is taking care of my planted tank fix.

So you think not even 3x Luxeon K 16-ups will be enough blue? I could put the 2700K Decor and 5600K decor on one channel and the even mix would equal a 4000K CCT.

The Luxeon K plus violets is only $100.

 

[Yodeling]

The Veros are very strong. I run the K16 RBs alongside Vero 10s 4000k 90CRI. At 1:1 ratio my Veros will overpower the K16s (and yours are much stronger than the 10s). If I didn't have my Limes on, I could probably run the Veros maybe at 70% or so before the tank starts looking yellow. So yeah I would say your setup wouldn't work with 2 Veros 18s for each K16. Why not leave the 5600ks in and replace the 2700ks with Rebel blues/cyans?

 

[gus6464]

The Veros are very strong. I run the K16 RBs alongside Vero 10s 4000k 90CRI. At 1:1 ratio my Veros will overpower the K16s (and yours are much stronger than the 10s). If I didn't have my Limes on, I could probably run the Veros maybe at 70% or so before the tank starts looking yellow. So yeah I would say your setup wouldn't work with 2 Veros 18s for each K16. Why not leave the 5600ks in and replace the 2700ks with Rebel blues/cyans?

The 2700Ks were expensive and don't want to basically trash them.