LED Lighting for Nano
- Thread starter Stephen73ta
- Start date
maybe just a bit of overkill 
IMHO, avoid the cool white and just use neutral whites they will give better color. you really dont need that many LEDs 3x 3ups with NW, RB, B would suffice, probalby never turned up all the way either, then add in some violet for extra flourecent Pop. skip the cyan or any other color as with a tank that small you'll see pretty bad color banding in the shadows, worse the more colors you add. been there, tried that. 3ups will greatly minimize this given the shallow nature of your tank. you also don't need any optics.
for reference I use 14 over one half of a 55 gallon, only 2 of them are RB, and 2 are B, 6 violets and 50/50 WW, and NW. no optics and only on at 680mA is enought to grow SPS near the top! My two cents for what it's worth.
IMHO, avoid the cool white and just use neutral whites they will give better color. you really dont need that many LEDs 3x 3ups with NW, RB, B would suffice, probalby never turned up all the way either, then add in some violet for extra flourecent Pop. skip the cyan or any other color as with a tank that small you'll see pretty bad color banding in the shadows, worse the more colors you add. been there, tried that. 3ups will greatly minimize this given the shallow nature of your tank. you also don't need any optics.
for reference I use 14 over one half of a 55 gallon, only 2 of them are RB, and 2 are B, 6 violets and 50/50 WW, and NW. no optics and only on at 680mA is enought to grow SPS near the top! My two cents for what it's worth.
Dave Thebrewguy
New member
I agree that you should stay away from CW, Nw or WW would be a much better choice. I also agree that you are planning to use more LEDs than you need, 10 to 12 would be enough. I'd also say that 6 is way too many blues, I put 10 blues on my 90 gal and ended up swapping out 4 of them for cyan, which is still more than I need.
The one thing I'd recommend more of is violet (and it's not UV, violet is above 400nm, UV is below) preferably around 420nm.
I'd be inclined to go with something like 3 violet, 4 RB, 1 blue OR cyan and 4 warm white. Warm white will give some of the deep red (around 660nm) without the need for a seperate emitter. You could split the whites between NW and WW if you like.
I like the idea of 3-ups in theory, but I have yet to see a useful combination of emitters for an application like this, I guess you could get one 3-up with a RB, WW and blue or cyan.
Color banding/disco effect has nothing to do with the number of colors, it's caused by inappropriate choices of optics and mounting height. without knowing more about your setup it's hard to say if you should be worried or not.
The one thing I'd recommend more of is violet (and it's not UV, violet is above 400nm, UV is below) preferably around 420nm.
I'd be inclined to go with something like 3 violet, 4 RB, 1 blue OR cyan and 4 warm white. Warm white will give some of the deep red (around 660nm) without the need for a seperate emitter. You could split the whites between NW and WW if you like.
I like the idea of 3-ups in theory, but I have yet to see a useful combination of emitters for an application like this, I guess you could get one 3-up with a RB, WW and blue or cyan.
Color banding/disco effect has nothing to do with the number of colors, it's caused by inappropriate choices of optics and mounting height. without knowing more about your setup it's hard to say if you should be worried or not.
Stephen73ta
New member
Great replies, thank you. I'm going to change out the cool whites for neutral whites and go with the 3 clusters like y'all mentioned. Prolly add in 3 violets in each cluster. How should I space them?
I've included a picture of what my tank will look like. It's going to be two tanks; tank 1) 8"x8"x7" tank 2) 16"x8"x8". Tank 1 will sit on top of tank 2 and will overflow into tank 2 through a rock waterfall. Should I go with a smaller heatsink? I don't know how far the fixture will be off te water on tank 1. With at least 18" of spacing between the fixture and the bottom of tank 2 I will prolly need optics. Only for half the fixture though. I could use some help with led spacing and placement of the fixture. How high would you guys hang it? I was thinking 4-6" above tank 1. Thanks again for the helpful comments.
Ps the measurements of the cardboard box aren't accurate. Just used as a model.
I've included a picture of what my tank will look like. It's going to be two tanks; tank 1) 8"x8"x7" tank 2) 16"x8"x8". Tank 1 will sit on top of tank 2 and will overflow into tank 2 through a rock waterfall. Should I go with a smaller heatsink? I don't know how far the fixture will be off te water on tank 1. With at least 18" of spacing between the fixture and the bottom of tank 2 I will prolly need optics. Only for half the fixture though. I could use some help with led spacing and placement of the fixture. How high would you guys hang it? I was thinking 4-6" above tank 1. Thanks again for the helpful comments.
Ps the measurements of the cardboard box aren't accurate. Just used as a model.
Attachments
Stephen73ta
New member
Add 3 violets, 1 in each cluster**
Stephen73ta
New member
megadeth72
New member
what are you going to be keeping and what is your target par?
corals really do not care how big of a tank they are in, 5g or 500g does not mean anything to them
corals really do not care how big of a tank they are in, 5g or 500g does not mean anything to them
Stephen73ta
New member
I'd like to keep anything from softies, clams to sps. Par target would be around 250-300 i think.
megadeth72
New member
what wattage/brand emitters are those? You should be able to calculate par based on other peoples readings
Stephen73ta
New member
3 watts
clustering the different colors is excellent and reduces the chance of any banding in the shadows. given the small size of your tank you might use 80 degree optics on the upper tanks cluster and then use 30 or 45 degree optics for two clusters centered over the lower tank. then adjust the height to get the needed spread. just one possiblity, you can play around with beam angles on paper and figure out your light mounting height that way.
just on a side not the 14 LED fixture i mentioned earlier is a 4"x4" cube with LEDs stars touching. and when it original included a red and a green inplace of two of the whits the disco banding without any optics haning 6" above water over a 55 gallon was horrid. it required a difusing cover to blend the light. this worked very well but reduced the light output too much so I got rid of the red and green on this settup, in favor of the ww, nw combo.
just on a side not the 14 LED fixture i mentioned earlier is a 4"x4" cube with LEDs stars touching. and when it original included a red and a green inplace of two of the whits the disco banding without any optics haning 6" above water over a 55 gallon was horrid. it required a difusing cover to blend the light. this worked very well but reduced the light output too much so I got rid of the red and green on this settup, in favor of the ww, nw combo.
Stephen73ta
New member
Great info man! Thanks!
Similar threads
