Ideal led's for a custom blackbox.

[otrips]

Ok here's the deal. I see a lot of talk about changing out the led's on the black boxes.
One of the manufactures is willing to customize their boxes for $1 per led changed from standard.
I'm seriously considering having them make me up a couple and wanted some expert advice from you guys as to what would be an ideal light?
This would be a typical 165w 55x3w 2ch box with dimemrs, optional Wifi. Using Bridgelux leds.

 

[Ron Reefman]

If you really don't know what would be better or not, then asking here is probably just going to make matters worse. Ask 10 reefers a question and you'll get 15 different answers! Ask about leds and you'll get at least 20!

Take out the red and green leds and add more blue.

IMHO, most of these basic black box fixtures have too much white and not enough blue (as a general rule). Almost everybody ends up running the blue channel a 2 or even 3 times the power level they run the white channel. That may help some.

Fine tuning beyond that is for those who fool themselves into thinking they know what the corals want. Like me.:hammer: Every coral is different and has some slightly different needs than every other coral. Even the same species from 2 different depths have been getting different light. All you can really do is try to make a good compromise for everybody. So anybody offering real specifics about led spectrums is kidding themselves. Even serious marine biologists can't say there is any 'best' or 'right' spectrums to add beyond the basics.

Oh, and that basic black box with it's factory led array will grow coral just fine!

 

[Dans85]

Ok here's the deal. I see a lot of talk about changing out the led's on the black boxes.
One of the manufactures is willing to customize their boxes for $1 per led changed from standard.
I'm seriously considering having them make me up a couple and wanted some expert advice from you guys as to what would be an ideal light?
This would be a typical 165w 55x3w 2ch box with dimemrs, optional Wifi. Using Bridgelux leds.

Would you mind sharing the manufacturer and where you found them?

 

[otrips]

True, everyone does have their own opinion & there is no set answer. If there was the mfgs would all be making the same basic light. Throw in thousands of different corals, fish and everything else people put in their tanks, natural, maricultured, aquacultured and now lab grown there is no possible single best answer.

I was thinking about replacing a couple on the "blue" ch with 390nm UV as I don't think it would make much sense to put UV's on the "white" ch. Then replacing a couple on the "white" ch with some type of blue.
As far as the "blue" goes what's a good ratio of 460nm's to 420nm's without making everything appear too purple?
Does anyone like the red or green leds & why? It seems those are always the first to go.