How Many LEDs

[JoshuAcOOk]

How many LEDs should i use to light up a 10 gallon frag tank. The dimensions are 10"D x 20"W x 12"H. I want to be able to handle hard corals. How many of each color (blue and white) and how high off the frags should it be? I want to make my own led light so that I have complete control over it, and it is cheaper and if something breaks, easier to fix.

 

[loscaer]

10 cree leds should be plenty. The color is completely up to you. I am doing 1:1 for my tank. You can always play around with the hight later.

 

[TimeConsumer]

Toss in some UV leds for better color and growth

 

[joelespinoza]

I would go for 10-12 total 3w LEDs with no optics and no more than 14.

I just bought some Luxeon LEDs off stevesleds, he has them for 2.99 each and he even lists bin numbers and stuff.

Personally I would buy 8-9 of the Luxeon Royal Blues and 3-4 of the neutral-warm white from steve, depending on how warm you like the tank to look. That would be 12 x 2.99 = $35.88

Then I would get the http://www.rapidled.com/mean-well-lpc-35-700-constant-current-driver/ from rapidled for $16.

You could even throw in 2 of the violet LEDs if you wanted: http://www.rapidled.com/violet-uv-3w-led/ but honestly I dont think I would bother. I believe those are the ones that burn out pretty quick if they are actually run at 700mA, although I could be wrong about that.

 

[rwb500]

10 cree leds should be plenty. The color is completely up to you. I am doing 1:1 for my tank. You can always play around with the hight later.

color is up to you, as is everything else, but 1:1 is absolutely not what most people want. most people want 2 royal blue for every white. but there are a lot of factors.

Toss in some UV leds for better color and growth

this advice is questionable at best. toss in some (small) UV led's if you have money to blow. if not, enjoy your white/blue fixture, like many others have for years.

 

[JoshuAcOOk]

and that many will support sps? and how high off the corals should it be?

 

[rwb500]

with 60 degree optics, about 6" off the water. A little closer with 80 degree optics. yes ten should support sps, but more would be safer. give you a little more wiggle room. i would use about 15 if it was mine.

 

[Voxboy]

I was thinking 6 RB 2 UV 2 6500K and 2 10000k 80 degree optics 6 to 8 or so inches above water. JMO.

 

[Bluewater04]

I would say probably 10-12 3w's 2:1 RB to CW or 8 RB 2 CW and 2 WW. I have this set up and it is able to support all my coral and an LTA with no problem.

 

[JoshuAcOOk]

how would this kit work http://www.rapidled.com/12-led-plug-n-play-retrofit-kit/
I was thinking of a 6:6 ratio with 80 degree lenses

 

[joelespinoza]

how would this kit work http://www.rapidled.com/12-led-plug-n-play-retrofit-kit/
I was thinking of a 6:6 ratio with 80 degree lenses

That would be the easiest solution. It would be a sterile windex blue and I think it would be ugly as sin, but if its a frag tank and not a display tank it is a possibility.

So its not the most cost effective or the best solution, but if you are very leery of soldering, its not out of the question.

Keep in mind the general rule of thumb is 15-20 square inches of tank surface area per high quality 3 watt led for tanks up to about 24 inces deep (this assumes optics somewhere between 40-80 degrees). A 10 gallon tank is 200 square inches of surface area, so assuming you want high light you should be looking at 200/15 = 13.333. So if your tank was 24 inches deep I would say get 14 LEDs and 60 degree optics and you are good to go. However your tank is only 12 inches deep, so you dont need the penetration, which is why I say 10-12 LEDs with no optics will be more than sufficient, any more and you will start cooking frags.

 

[JoshuAcOOk]

That would be the easiest solution. It would be a sterile windex blue and I think it would be ugly as sin, but if its a frag tank and not a display tank it is a possibility.

So its not the most cost effective or the best solution, but if you are very leery of soldering, its not out of the question.

Keep in mind the general rule of thumb is 15-20 square inches of tank surface area per high quality 3 watt led for tanks up to about 24 inces deep (this assumes optics somewhere between 40-80 degrees). A 10 gallon tank is 200 square inches of surface area, so assuming you want high light you should be looking at 200/15 = 13.333. So if your tank was 24 inches deep I would say get 14 LEDs and 60 degree optics and you are good to go. However your tank is only 12 inches deep, so you dont need the penetration, which is why I say 10-12 LEDs with no optics will be more than sufficient, any more and you will start cooking frags.

so you don't think i should use lenses at all? and 8:4 ratio of blue:white? wouldi t look natural if i did 7:5 ratio of blue:white or would there be weird color patches?

 

[joelespinoza]

so you don't think i should use lenses at all? and 8:4 ratio of blue:white? wouldi t look natural if i did 7:5 ratio of blue:white or would there be weird color patches?

What do you mean by natural? You mean an even blend of colors, so the whole tank looks a single color? If so then not having lenses of any kind will make the color more even looking.

Or do you mean a natural looking color? If you mean a natural looking color.... Do you mean the color things look at the surface of the ocean? Or the color things look 100 feet down?

Depending on what brand of LEDs you get this can vary some, but this should give you a basic color guide:

1:1 Royal blue to cool white gives a very sterile cold color.

1:1 Royal blue to neutral white looks almost 10k, About daylight colored, there will be some yellow looking light and most reefers would consider this ugly.

2:1 Royal Blue to neutral white looks fairly white with a moderate blue tint. This is currently what I would consider the "Standard" LED base build.

3:1 Royal Blue to neutral white would be a very blue color, probably bluer than most would want for a display tank, but should be excellent for coral growth, and one of the 2 choices I would do for a frag tank.

3:1 Royal Blue to warm white (either 4000k or 2700k from stevesleds) should be a warmer purple looking color. Personally if I was doing a 10 gallon frag tank I would do this, I would get 9 Luxeon Royal Blues and 3 Luxeon warm whites (2700k) from stevesleds and the $16 700mA driver and possibly (if budget allowed) 2 of the violet LEDs from rapidled.

Then all you need is a plug to plug into the wall, a small roll of 20-22 gauge wire, a heatsink/fan, some thermal adhesive and a plexiglass shield.

 

[joelespinoza]

Or you could toss all that and get 1-2 of these for $33.50 each: http://www.ebay.com/itm/270935350932?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

And 1-2 of these for $14.50 each: http://www.ebay.com/itm/90-265V-45m...193?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f0ed0dae1

Then buy 1-2 CPU heatsinks like this for less than $5 each: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Heatsink-Co...?pt=US_CPU_Fans_Heatsinks&hash=item1e6dc65aee

You would still need thermal paste, a little wire, and 2 household electrical plugs and maybe a piece of plexiglass from home depot but it should be pretty simple to setup.

A single pendant would probably not cover an entire 10 gallon, but it would definately cover most of it if hung in the middle, and if these LEDs are 420-422nm as they claim they pretty much dead on the sweet spot for chlorophyll a resulting in good lighting for coral frags.

 

[JoshuAcOOk]

is this how i should align the leds?

 

[Bluewater04]

is this how i should align the leds?

That should work fine.

 

[joelespinoza]

The easiest way would be to put them in groups of 3. Just place 4 groups that each have one white and 2 royal blues.

 

[JoshuAcOOk]

The easiest way would be to put them in groups of 3. Just place 4 groups that each have one white and 2 royal blues.

i was thinking of that, but my heatsink isn't wide enough and i would loose a lot of light off the sides also, i think.

 

[JoshuAcOOk]

actually, i think i am going to go with the 4 groups of three. i was hesitant because i wasn't sure if the heatsink was wide enough, but it is.

 

[joelespinoza]

Something like this is fine, or even have all the whites on the same side or whatever, without optics it wont make a noticable difference any way you do it.