LF LED instead of T5HO

Thanks for the information from so many of you. Today I had a chance to really start my research. Wikipedia has this to say,

"LEDs are being used increasingly commonly for aquarium lighting. Particular for reef aquariums, LED lights provide an efficient light source with less heat output to help maintain optimal aquarium temperatures. LED-based aquarium fixtures also have the advantage of being manually adjustable to produce a specific color-spectrum for ideal coloration of corals, fish, and invertebrates while optimizing photosynethically active radiation (PAR) which increases growth and sustainability of photosynthetic life such as corals, anemones, clams, and macroalgae. These fixtures can be electronically programmed in order to simulate various lighting conditions throughout the day, reflecting phases of the sun and moon for a dynamic reef experience. LED fixtures typically cost up to five times as much as similarly rated fluorescent or high-intensity discharge lighting designed for reef aquariums and are not as high output to date."

I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of homework that was done for their article and looking forward to learning more.

I'm thinking of building a fixture for a class project and if i get good par i could build you one here is my set up
blue 470nm=x
white about 10000k=q
warm white about 6500k=o
aqua 570nm=a
violet 420nm=v
UV 405nm=u

x x x  a v a  x x x
q o q           q o q
a a a    u     a a a
q o q           q o q
x x x  a v a  x x x

If I have the WL map right it should be very close to full spectrum. I could even get a bigger ps and switch it to this.

x x x   a v a   x x x   a v a  x x x
q o q     u      q o q      u     q o q
a a a     u      a a a      u     a a a
q o q     u      q o q      u     q o q
x x x   a v a   x x x   a v a  x x x

Its hard to do a good diagram but yeah
Just let me know

Ok red is covered by violet, red led's dont even nav right, the the led's i'm using the 90% of the spectrum is being used.

here is a WL map for the sun

if you notice the intensity of every color is pretty much right about at an average of  41415 counts.

HEre is your average LED Fixture running about a 14000-15000k look

This averages at about 15302 counts

here is a red led

This one barley peaks at about 6000  counts

here is the violet led
[imghttp://www.superbrightleds.com/images/spectrals/RL5-V1015_sp.gif[/img]
As you can see it covers two aera's and has an average count of about 9400 or so

The LED's ive chosen are that way for a reason, but you dont have to buy it, i never said you had to. I just thought I'd be nice and offer something with a wide spectrum I just wish you would think before you ask questions or ask questions that you could answer you self.

this is just weird....

Edited by bur01014 - September 14 2010 at 12:32pm

Oh that's what I call the light spectrum. Wavelength is one word, that's why I couldn't figure it out.

The biggest concern I have right now is that individual LED's emit only sufficient intensity of such a narrow band of the spectrum/WL map that it would take a lot of different colored LED's to give the light that I want not only to give proper color rendering of the coral but also provide the right wavelengths needed to thrive.

Mark, the cree's are about the size of a quarter mounted on discs.  You can group them together to help with spot lighting.

Does anyone have any fixtures that have more than white and blue?
Sorry, but if it doesn't take good pictures then it's not going to look good to ordinary people.
It's gotta make the tank look colorful like this with a tad more fluorescent greens and reds:



Edited by Mark Peterson - September 15 2010 at 5:26pm

Come see my LEDs that are just the whites and blues and tell me you don't get all the colors to come out.