LED selection by tank dimensions or capacity?

[biglurr54]

I am researching LEDs for my new tank. It seems that people are designing the LED's by tank capacity over dimensions. The tank is a 92 gallon. RapidLED says for a 90 gallon tank you need 48 LED's. People on here have had success with AI Sol Blues. Success with both one module and success with two modules.

Im trying to wrap my head around all this. One AI SOL Blue is really 24 cree LEDS. If I did a DIY led setup with 24 cree leds in the same arrangement as AI Sol Blue wouldnt I have the same light with out the same control ability? Would output be the same, which is half the amount of LED's recommended for that tank size?

I feel like the fancy programming from the manufactured units is really cool and would be fun to mess around with for the first week. Then it would get old. It's alot of money for a week of playing compared to a DIY setup.

 

[Stomatopod1701]

get a reefbreeders photon 16, 24 or 32 . Any of those would work well on your corner for the price of DIY.

 

[Breadman03]

I think that a lot of the "capacity" ratings are due to most aquariums being one of the standard sizes.

If you go with a DIY setup, set it up with dimmable drivers. Apex supports 0-10v dimming. Reef Angel does 0-10v OR PWM dimming, depending upon which you order. You can get most of the performance of a manufactured unit, plus all of the other stuff a controller can do.

Having said that, I don't think one can truly say that one is better than the other.