Full Spectrum DIY guide

[Nanofreak79]

And sorry if I steered the thread the wrong way, I like DIY just not edumacated enough to go start to finish. ( well I probably am just never tried). So quick question in the DIY fashion..... If I was to go with the color layout below, what additional parts would I need to build a ready fixture? It is for a 75 standard with the center brace. Light fixture underside surface to reef floor would be around 24 inches. I am curious can a fixture be built all in one that would be long enough to just have one unit?
With the longer unit desired I changed the number of bulbs to ensure even spread, is that the proper way? How do you know what board to use and how many bulbs it can fit?

4x- 660 nm Red - 6 run at 500ma
4x- 520 nm Green - 6 or use cyan IMO run at 500ma
6x- 410-420 nm UV-Violet - 12 run at 500ma
10x- 450-455nm*Blue - 6 for clusters, and 4 more each side stand alone
22x- 440-445nm*Royal Blue - 24-30usually need more when using lower kelvin whites to balance color
4x- 3000-3500k*Warm White- 8 4500-5000k
8x- 6000-6500k*Pure White - pick these over 10k
8x- 10,000-12,000k*Cool White

would not use IMO cool whites too blue, your already using RB and CB

You could do two heatsinks at roughly 15" by 9" or a full 38"-40" sink. You don't need it to reach the ends of the tank, as long as it has less than 5-6" you'll be fine. I would do groupings of LEDs at least two, but three on each side would be ideal IMO. One fan per sink or two for the full should be fine. I'm not sure if these are going into a canopy, or out in the open but there are some nicer heatsinks. They are found at ledgroupbuy.com and are called makersled heatsink. They are a little more money, but have lots of benefits IMO. As far as drivers go I recommend using as many as you can to give you better control over color. You can and I recommend putting the cyan,red and cool blue in clusters tightly. If you want to add more cool blues that's fine, but don't add too many, it think 4-6 a side is fine. This is not including exotics grouped together. Ledgroupbuy has ocean coral white stars that have the R,C and CB on one star, if you were to go with those I would recommend six of those, or make your own clusters of those colors. I'll go up and add next to your color quantity. Again this is trial and error, and you still can tweak it based on knowledge you have as well.

 

[Nanofreak79]

Im only running 100 watts of leds on my 40 with no optics lights 8" from the surface and I actually dim them down to about 75%.

This is the formula I used to figure mine L X W / +-16

36x18/16=40.5 40.5*3=121.5watts

thats the common rule of thumb for the 3 watt chips ive seen most people use and i just applied that to my 10 watt chips seeing as my chip can be driven anywhere from 1w to 2.5w.

hope that helps

Very good! I don't run mine at full either. I use more LEDs, but run them low which gives you extended life and more control IMO.

 

[dsdaley77]

So here are two layouts I came up with, yes I'm old fashioned and like crayons

This is if I mod a d120 or similar fixture.

This is a sample of a full DIY.

Any input would be appreciated, and FYI I will have two units over a standard size 75G mixed reef. The second unit will layout in reverse so the center in each gets the most light and fades to the glass. Units will also be placed offset about 15 degrees.

THX.

 

[Nanofreak79]

First of all, I love the crayons:lmao: who needs ms paint?
Anyway.... I think those look pretty sweet. I'm liking the use of the orange, I've personally never used them. The layouts look good. I'm hoping to post some pics soon, I've recently moved and unable to find camera with some pics I have on it. I'll try tonight! To all others, start posting your DIY's people!!!!! Don't be shy share your pics or thoughts.

 

[dsdaley77]

Yeah the 630 orange/red really caught my eye. I like that it has just a 5-10nm unit of red and the rest is dark orange. Should bring out more of the true orange in my corals and not turn the rare ones red now I just have to figure out how to do it. I was thinking about going even further though and increasing the bulb per fixture amount to 55 If I skip some learning curve and use a bulb-less Evergrow shell (can't be that hard to track down) that can then hold whatever lights I want as long as the #'s match up

 

[Nanofreak79]

Yeah the 630 orange/red really caught my eye. I like that it has just a 5-10nm unit of red and the rest is dark orange. Should bring out more of the true orange in my corals and not turn the rare ones red now I just have to figure out how to do it. I was thinking about going even further though and increasing the bulb per fixture amount to 55 If I skip some learning curve and use a bulb-less Evergrow shell (can't be that hard to track down) that can then hold whatever lights I want as long as the #'s match up

I like that idea! I might get some oranges and try them out now hmmmm?

 

[dsdaley77]

Where is the best place to order the items needed to build (2) 3 channel fixtures. I want to obviously save money over buying a premade fixture but want decent quality and lots of colors to choose from? I know there were a couple company names thrown out there but thought a specific question/answer would be appropriate.

 

[insomniac2k2]

Cree or bridgelux?

Where is the best place to order the items needed to build (2) 3 channel fixtures. I want to obviously save money over buying a premade fixture but want decent quality and lots of colors to choose from? I know there were a couple company names thrown out there but thought a specific question/answer would be appropriate.

 

[dsdaley77]

Well that's a good question? Not really sure, I would like the color spectrums from my plan above to be available and don't want to pay and arm and a leg to get it done. Are those the only two options? Which would work best with other Equiptment available ie; drivers, optics, dimming, "Solderless" would be a plus since I don't own a soldering machine

 

[insomniac2k2]

aquastyle online has great prices for non-cree. I choose rapidled for cree chips and amazing customer service and support.

You pay quite a bit extra for solderless, but thats your choice in the end

 

[dsdaley77]

Well that's good to know. The colors in my two pics above are the 3W Bridgelux that run about 2W.

 

[Nanofreak79]

The aqua style bridgelux LEDs are ok IMO. I've used them, and "ray" has great cuts. Service. Stevesled has some as well, although I've never purchased from there so maybe someone else will chime in. I did hear from a local here that Steve's drivers sucked, but thats here say. The rebel LEDs are good as well. IMO they don't have to be Cree's

 

[dsdaley77]

Here's the new plan for the 55 X 2. As always any input is appreciated.

 

[bhazard451]

On paper, and in theory, it looks really well thought out. As with any untested ratio and without the equipment to measure it however, it is experimental and you won't know how it looks until you see it in person. Be prepared to make changes if needed.

The benefit in doing this, is being on the bleeding edge of having leds that can help render coral color and growth as close to how MH can or better. The con is that it may require tweaking with some colors and placement to get it the way you want. Spotlighting can occur with the wrong placement as well, such as how my Twilight fixture was blue on one side, and red on the other.

 

[Nanofreak79]

On paper, and in theory, it looks really well thought out. As with any untested ratio and without the equipment to measure it however, it is experimental and you won't know how it looks until you see it in person. Be prepared to make changes if needed.

The benefit in doing this, is being on the bleeding edge of having leds that can help render coral color and growth as close to how MH can or better. The con is that it may require tweaking with some colors and placement to get it the way you want. Spotlighting can occur with the wrong placement as well, such as how my Twilight fixture was blue on one side, and red on the other.

+1 looks promising! Oh and what happened to the crayons?LOL!

 

[advancebc29]

IMO
420 will be greatly overpowered. wont even notice them off or on. 2.5x your number
cut number of 460 in half

 

[bhazard451]

IMO
420 will be greatly overpowered. wont even notice them off or on. 2.5x your number
cut number of 460 in half

Oh crap, you're right. I thought the entire middle was 420 on my monitor. You want at least 6 of those.

 

[dsdaley77]

IMO
420 will be greatly overpowered. wont even notice them off or on. 2.5x your number
cut number of 460 in half

In an email I recieved from an American LED company they state, " While true UV/Pure Blue LEDs are measured at 420nm you must also account for any Full Spectrum White LEDs you plan to install. The three spectrums of white you have selected will add somewhat to the overall total spectrum as being measured in individual nm's. In your example, the 10-12000k you are looking at are indeed a full spectrum white but with more focus on the Blue and green spectrums with some red range mixed in. The ammouts of visible light in most of these spectrums is very low but in similar fashion to a T5 420nm bulb, just because you can't see it doesn't mean it's not beneficial. While all white LEDs have total spectrum, you see differences in the visible light based on what end of the nm ladder the lights were designed for. Traditionally the 10-12000k has been so popular with aquarists such as yourself because the animals you keep, like and are easier sustained in home aquaria with lights that contain additional blue or Actinic."

What does this mean for us? I think it's the basic answer to our most recent question, do exotic colors add any benefit to our corals or are they just for preferential aesthetics?

 

[dsdaley77]

+1 looks promising! Oh and what happened to the crayons?LOL!

Figured best to do one on my CPU so manufacturer doesn't get confused by my beautiful coloring job plus since I up'd it to 55 I figured it was easier

 

[Nanofreak79]

Nice for advancebc29! Good catch. Also I'm not big on the 10k's since we're on that. They are spiking high in the blue, but lack in the rest. Your already using blue/royal blue. I know it's somewhat preference, but there are some articles too. I'll see if I can dig them up. I didn't care for my DIY 10k whites I used in my full spectrum build.