Flat Back Hex LED Options
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OceanRevive
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This is a very interesting remake of a fixture. It will be interesting to see what you think of it after it's done. Good luck.
Ron Reefman
Active member
All of the led fixtures I've done have had a mix of warm, neutral and cool white leds. If you look at the spectrum graphs for all 3, they just really aren't all that different. And you will be running so few they make even less of a difference.
It looks like your moonlights and red leds will have 120 degree lenses, I'd definitely have them on the greens as well. I might even want them on the 420nm violets (just food for thought).
Ok, last layout, I promise. Please give me a sanity check before I place my order.
I swapped around the 480 moonlights for 420s and rearranged the spread. Since I reduced my 480s by three, I ended up going with this:
480s = 14 (channel 1 (8), channel 2 (6), channel 3 (0)
450s = 20 (channel 1 (0), channel 2 (20), channel 3 (0)
420s = 7 (channel 1 (4), channel 2 (0), channel 3 (3)
My Reds/Greens/Violets will all have 120 degree lenses.
I will also order two more 14K LEDs in case I can't get the 10K color.
Anymore advice? I definitely appreciate your help with this.
I swapped around the 480 moonlights for 420s and rearranged the spread. Since I reduced my 480s by three, I ended up going with this:
480s = 14 (channel 1 (8), channel 2 (6), channel 3 (0)
450s = 20 (channel 1 (0), channel 2 (20), channel 3 (0)
420s = 7 (channel 1 (4), channel 2 (0), channel 3 (3)
My Reds/Greens/Violets will all have 120 degree lenses.
I will also order two more 14K LEDs in case I can't get the 10K color.
Anymore advice? I definitely appreciate your help with this.
Ron Reefman
Active member
I think you have a very good looking layout and I only wish I could stop by and see it running in person! I expect to be doing a number of 48 led fixtures in the near future (maybe as many as 7-9) and I'd like to know just what you think of this layout after it's done and how far you have to push the power of the white channel to get a white tank.
Good luck and keep us posted.
Good luck and keep us posted.
Absolutely. Thanks again for your help on this. I feel comfortable that I am getting a better fixture (for my needs) than an AI or Ecotech.
While those units are great, I think I am getting a cooler running unit custom designed to what I need (specifically, more blue LEDs!). I'll be sure to update you as things come along.
While those units are great, I think I am getting a cooler running unit custom designed to what I need (specifically, more blue LEDs!). I'll be sure to update you as things come along.
Ron, I have another question for you.
I ordered my two units the other day, I should be getting them in two weeks. I ended up going with the Evergrow IT2040s with the three independant controllers, like the Photon16s.
Anyway, since my units will have almost a 5:1 blue:white ratio, any recommendations on acclimating my corals to the T5s I was running? Currently, my setup is five 39 watt T5's overdriven by Icecap660 ballasts.
I ordered my two units the other day, I should be getting them in two weeks. I ended up going with the Evergrow IT2040s with the three independant controllers, like the Photon16s.
Anyway, since my units will have almost a 5:1 blue:white ratio, any recommendations on acclimating my corals to the T5s I was running? Currently, my setup is five 39 watt T5's overdriven by Icecap660 ballasts.
Lights came in to my vendor tonight, I'll hopefully be picking them up tomorrow. I need to cut into the hood and pull the old T5s out. I should have a review for you by the end of the weekend.
Thanks again for all your help on this!
Ron Reefman
Active member
I'd say to start with the balance of blue and white and see if you can get the fixture to the color you want in the tank. I'd suggest doing something like 50% power on the blue and then run up the whites to get the look you want. Given your blue to white ratio, you may very well need to have the white channel higher than the blue, which is the opposite of almost all led fixtures. So if the white ends up higher power than the blue set the white around 50% power and ramp the blues up.
Once you get the balance you want (assuming you can) them just try to maintain that relationship and have your average power setting at something like 30%-50% at the start. That is, add your blue setting and your white setting together and divide by 2. Example: White at 60% and blue at 40%. add then together is 100% and divide by 2 is 50% of the total power.
Then bump them up every week until you get what you want. You can tweak the ratio between blue and white without concern. Given you had t5 rather than MH, I'd be doing the bumps in small numbers, like 5% to 10% a week. I had 1000w of MH and 160W of t5 before I switched to 2 IT2080 (double your led count). I started at 60% blue and 20% white, but my fixture is about 2.6:1 blue to white. After a month I ended up at 90% blue and 50% white for 5 hours a day with a 4 hour sunrise and 5 hour sunset. I adjusted that to an 8 hour sunrise, 1 hour at 100% blue and 60% white and then an 8 hour sunset. The hours either side of midday are still close to midday percentages and early dawn and late dusk are totally blue and in the 40% down to 10%.
Once you get the balance you want (assuming you can) them just try to maintain that relationship and have your average power setting at something like 30%-50% at the start. That is, add your blue setting and your white setting together and divide by 2. Example: White at 60% and blue at 40%. add then together is 100% and divide by 2 is 50% of the total power.
Then bump them up every week until you get what you want. You can tweak the ratio between blue and white without concern. Given you had t5 rather than MH, I'd be doing the bumps in small numbers, like 5% to 10% a week. I had 1000w of MH and 160W of t5 before I switched to 2 IT2080 (double your led count). I started at 60% blue and 20% white, but my fixture is about 2.6:1 blue to white. After a month I ended up at 90% blue and 50% white for 5 hours a day with a 4 hour sunrise and 5 hour sunset. I adjusted that to an 8 hour sunrise, 1 hour at 100% blue and 60% white and then an 8 hour sunset. The hours either side of midday are still close to midday percentages and early dawn and late dusk are totally blue and in the 40% down to 10%.
Ok, got the lights up and running. I'm still playing with the ratios but I think it might be just a little too blue. Right now I'm running at a low enough percentage I can get the color I want, but I think I'll need to swap in some more whites in the future.
If I do, I'll probably swap out two of my reds for two whites. That will leave me with two green and two reds.
Regardless, these things are so much nicer than my T5s. The colors completely pop, the controllability is sweet, and great call on changing the moonlights. I'll let you know as I get things more dialed in.
If I do, I'll probably swap out two of my reds for two whites. That will leave me with two green and two reds.
Regardless, these things are so much nicer than my T5s. The colors completely pop, the controllability is sweet, and great call on changing the moonlights. I'll let you know as I get things more dialed in.
Ron Reefman
Active member
I was concerned that 5:1 might be too blue to get a white overall look in the tank. Thanks a lot for the feed back. And I'm glad I could help in terms of the moon lights. BTW, I run my moonlights a bit higher for an hour after sunset and an hour before sunrise to create a bit of a dusk and dawn look. I'm pretty sure nobody in the tank really cares too much, but I'm just trying to make it all as 'natural' as I can.
If you run everything at equal power settings say 100% on both channels, what is the overall tank color to your eye? 12K, 14K, 20K, more?
And if it's too blue, can you get it more white by dialing back the blues some? Or are the blues so dominant that you have to drop them a lot to get an improvement in how white the tank looks?
If you run everything at equal power settings say 100% on both channels, what is the overall tank color to your eye? 12K, 14K, 20K, more?
And if it's too blue, can you get it more white by dialing back the blues some? Or are the blues so dominant that you have to drop them a lot to get an improvement in how white the tank looks?
I still need time to play around with it. Two days ago, I built the brackets, pre-drilled them, and painted them to match. Yesterday, I cut into the canopy top and mounted the lights. I played around a little but I wanted to get the custom light cycle built in as quickly as possible to reduce the stress on my fish and to ensure I could go to work today without bleaching my corals.
From what I saw, it was a little too blue. At 100% on both channels, it gave a light blue color, probably around 12K I guess. I am a T5 guy, so I'm not exactly sure on how a tanks color converts to K, other than white being 10K, and 14K moving toards the windex look.
I didn't crank the white channel up to 100% while slowly adding in blues though. I need to look at that when I go home. I will say though, if I wanted a white tank, it was best for me to have only my moonlight channel on (blues < 10%) so I'm thinking I might be a little too blue.
I also noticed a little extra red in my shadows. Nothing crazy, just a little. That's what's leading me to replace my two extra reds with my two whites. But I'd like to play around a little first.
Unfortunately, I don't have any reefers local to me that run MH to get a good idea on the K rating. Do you have a good website or internet reference to what a tank looks like at 10K, 12K, 14K, and 20K?
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