Full Spectrum DIY guide

[dunk373]

exactly ^^^ the uv i meant the range u specified i just called it uv, because thats what cree calls it. the blues and rb pick up the nm range late and skip the most important range 400-460 some bins of rb will give you 455 but its hit or miss. I think we all can agree that the 400-500nm range is the most important. Its the range after that where we start to disagree. finding where our corals grow is really the key i believe most are about 30' down but we do get some that receive full spectrum like even carpet anemones. The thing is say we collect an acro from the wild, and its in shallow water. that coral is most likely brown. we add it to our tank with a high K, now it has color and depending on the spectrum you give it it could become really any color. I think everyone here has great input on lighting and everyone is right, but where we tend to disagree is where we have different taste, and looking at a different perspective. If someone says you can grow sps with just rb and white I would say yes you can but it won't be 100% colored and healthy. Thats just my take on it so many variables to consider even when we leave water quality out.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Anecdotal need for "other" colors:

MY tank was started with XM20K 150W DE bulbs. The color was VERY blue, but not really actinic. The par was horrible, I mean horrible and the tank was very DIM even though it was bright in a way. Very similar to many of the "blue" LED fixtures today. Oddly, growth was pretty good and coral pigmintation was also fairly decent.

I switched bulbs a few times, as I wanted more crisp white. I went to Phoenix 14K 150W DE bulbs and doubled the par and somewhat increased the brightness of the tank. I did lose some of the the pop created by the blue XM bulbs. The coral pigmintation was still pretty good. I added a UVL T5 super actinic and it helped a lot with POP and pigmintation, but I was still not pleased with the overall brightness.

In a quest for more par, I went to the Ushio 14K bulbs and got a bit more cripsness but oddly lost A LOT of pigmintation and corals started to brown out A LOT. I pulled the UVL super actinic offline and replaced it (on a whim from a club auction win) a UVL 454 bulbs. Coral pigmintation and overall appearance (both visual and heatlh wise) has improved 100%.

It is clear to me that while many combination of spectra can grow coral, there are certain bands of spectra that appear (no pun) to be key. I am firmly under the impression that many of those key bands or wavelengths are in the blue regions and can be present in any final color rendering based on other wavelengths or bands of spectra.

 

[jerpa]

I pulled some spectral analysis from Sanjay's site for the three bulbs you listed. From what I understand the Aquaconnect 150 DE was the Phoenix although I'm not sure. I also had to choose the 250W version of the Ushio as they didn't have the 150 listed.

And the UVL Bulbs you listed.

Just some food for thought.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Careful with the UVL graphs... they are not the same scale. I wish UVL would provide a set of graphs with All of their lamps on the same scale.

 

[Nanofreak79]

Thanks for volunteering to be the guinea pig lol. Why aren't you using uv? I thought they were the all important missing link. I suspect success with a rb, blue, and uv with as many whites to make it look the color you want. I would like to see some red, cyan, orange red, greens in there I do think those colors will help with your coral colors. I contacted rapid led and they recommended red cyan and green along with the needed three. They told me green highlights the red pigments in the tank, so if just to highlight a coral I think its worth 5% of your build.

I have 4 UV 398nm LEDs laying around, so what the heck. I thought they were out of the visual spectrum, as well as the usable spectrum. When I say usable I mean not as beneficial for growth. So basically I'm using a led that visually has no appeal, and might not be doing as much for the coral as say the TV's. I have not used orange yet so I'll add that to the list. I could use the UV's as well with a inventronics moonlight driver I have? It would run them at 350ma? I could run all 4 then.

 

[dunk373]

that could be worth a shot i think 398 while low may add something to the color making of the coral you wont see much but the coral will. I have copies of all the uvl charts and of the ati charts. they label different and it is confusing. those charts are better than the ones i got, i couldn't read the numbers. I couldn't find the actinic white one either. But if we could duplicate the spectrum of that MH graph with led, subtract a few which is a given, we may be able to get just as good color from them as say MH or t5. maybe better. I do get confused with par too why is mh on the low end and led's are so strong.

 

[dunk373]

are the 398, actually 398 or is there a range on them? Now I think that 398 is actually in the real uv range. I would try them though, but carefully, meaning not over my favorite coral lol.

Does anyone have the 250w radium mh chart from what i have seen this gives the best color in sps. If so please post.

 

[jerpa]

Here is where I found the MH info. It seems it has most bulbs and ballast combinations that exist. Keep in mind the PAR values on the site are measured 18" from the bulb with no reflector.

Sanjay's Lighting Guide

250w Radium on PFO M80 HQI Ballast. This is also a different scale than the comparison above.

It's interesting to note many have noticed better color by supplementing the Radiums with actinic as well. I know they are supposed to give the "best" color to SPS but I don't think I'd personally like the look of my tank under these.

are the 398, actually 398 or is there a range on them? Now I think that 398 is actually in the real uv range. I would try them though, but carefully, meaning not over my favorite coral lol.

All LED's have a range to them. All the light will be concentrated within about 15nm either way. So the range on that LED is ~385-415 with the peak wavelength being the 398.

 

[dsdaley77]

What do you guys think of a set up like this? Obviously colors can be tweaked and I would use three dimmable channels (whites, blues, exotics). The panel that hold the exotics would move up/down to allow you to focus them in different areas.

By the way, if I offended any one with previous comments or posts, I appologize

 

[Blayz77]

although creative, i dont understand how or why it would be useful to have led on an angled pivot? wouldnt it be better to just have a larger flat heatsink and mix all the exotics in with the blue/white? if i understand correctly one of the goals to using all these different colors is to make them blend together, wouldnt they blend together better mixed together?

of coarse i know nothing at all about this stuff so take it for whats its worth lol.

 

[dsdaley77]

I was of that thought also. I was just trying to go outside the box, no pun intended I have stunners that accent my reef now and have them set at an angle and they blend perfect with my other lights. Was thinking if I am gonna build a fixture might as well go unique. Heck maybe we find a new standard

 

[BeanAnimal]

Welcome back to the conversation.

I am not sure that the moveable portion gets you. Your plan is fine, but with three fixed channels, you are going to have to play with the number of emitters on the mixded strings to get the color you are after. The sky blue may also be too much windex color but without trial and error, who knows.

 

[Blayz77]

well you never know untill you build it i guess. if your strips blend ok then i suppose this might too, however if it were me making this design with angles i might mix some of the white/blue in with the exotics or just mix all the leds together with some being on the angled panel, that way if the intent is to focus the light where you need it in different areas then it only makes sense that you should have some white/blue to focus as well

 

[dsdaley77]

Great point guys. Thank you. The DIY kit I'm looking at is this one and the 90 piece kit comes with 5 drivers.
The way I see it if I add 90 degree optics to the main panel and 120's to the flap it should give real great coverage and mix. One reason I thought of this design was due to the disco effect everyone worries about that you can get if your exotics are not in the right places. With a cluster of exotics spaced evenly it should in theory provide full (frontal) coverage. Does this makes any sense? If you look at the layout of the exotics, each color (- the uv) are in a wave pattern. I think this could be a good thing also regarding proper blending. Let me know what you guys think.

 

[dsdaley77]

http://www.aquastyleonline.com/products/90--LEDs--DIY-Dimmable-Kit.html

 

[Blayz77]

i see what your saying reguarding the blending, sitting here thinking about how i want to mix the colors into one i might wanna make i am wondeirng what the best placment for them would be. but i would have no idea what does or doesnt make a disco effect since ive never actually seen it in reguards to fish tanks and the only led fixture ive seen in person is the AI at a lfs which is just white blue. been meaning to go to vivid and see the radions they have setup. i am certain of one thing though anythign i make will have more then blue and white since thats just boring to me lol

 

[dsdaley77]

Yeah I agree. I guess if you think of the cone shape of the light, with the even wave of exotics, there should only be small areas where the coverage is not complete. And those areas should be limited to behind my rock work and small areas in the very top outer edge. If this theory works as I suspect, I can deal with some minor cons

 

[Blayz77]

byt the way what is the k rating on the different white colors so i know which ones im getting if i order?

cool white = ? my guess ~6000
nuetral white = ? my guess ~4500
warm white =? my guess ~2700

my guesses are based on actuall lightbulbs lol

 

[wackeeash]

I'm glad someone brought in the ideas of blending 3w with multichips as I had that idea last night. Although not original, I am curious about setting something like this up. Maybe 2 pendants with a multichip in the center and colored 3w surrounding it. Just an idea to make a smaller fixture .... although now thinking about it as I'm typing, a large portion of my original plan were the exotic colors, so not sure it would actually make much difference, as far as size of the fixture goes, but might have to give it some thought.

off topic: man this site can be aggravating at times trying to upload comments, lol

 

[Blayz77]

ok i think i found the ansewr to my own guestion

warm white = 3200k
nuetral white = 5000k
cool white =6500k

does this sound about right?