regardless, be careful with leds....a lot of reefers on RC took the plunge into Leds (AI, Ecotech, Radion, Maxspect, etc.) and have since sold them and gone back to t5s (ATI).....LED technology isn't there yet....

 

Not jumping the gun here....people are going back to their t5s....and these are users who forked out a lot of cash for the "high end" led fixtures. 

please refer to the threads/links below, there is really nothing else to say....I say stick with proven technology....if Leds fell into this category, we wouldn't see companies release new fixtures that differ every 6 months....

 

 

 

Where do you get your 454 vho from shaun? I want to run the super actinic/454 combo but cant find the bulb anywhere locally. Just order em online?

Your MH bulbs are disigned in a similar way as you could design a LED system (which really it looks like it hasnt been done at least for the fixture). They have designed them to have a large output in the blue region of the spectrum with peaks in various wavelengths to hit the sensitivity of coral. Here's a good example: http://www.ushio.com/products/petcare/aqualite.htm - http://www.ushio.com/products/petcare/aqualite.htm

Ideally, you'd want to match the sensitivity of the coral at the wavelengths and provide light in those areas the most while diminishing (yet, not fully) the light in other less important wavelengths. This is much more simple with LEDs because you can buy them with restrictive outputs. This is the premise that i'll be working from on my next fixture.

UV does create pigments for the corals but to what amount should you have that is not only safe for the corals, but for YOU! Be careful when dealing with UV light or you may degrade your eye.... then what use will coral colors be.

14 Cree XP-G Neutral White Bin 4a (Highest color temp of NW)

28 Cree XP-E Royal Blue (Bin 316 at 450 nM, highest intensity bin available, lowest wavelength)

4   Cree Blue XP-E

Ordering 

6 Ture VIolet 420 nM 

4 Long Red

2 Cyan

Will have it all on 5 MeanWell ELN-60-48P drivers run through a ReefAngel that I will program for full control over all aspects.

I have read a very large amount of information about this in designing my build.  I think that with LEDs it is VERY difficult to compare one persons experience to another as the use of a lens, spacing of LED on heat sink, Number of LED/Gallon, color mixing of LEDs in build, and even spacing of different colored LED on heat sinks can lead to VASTLY different lighting intensities, colors, and distribution of light intensity in the tank.

IF you use Lenses on your LEDs and your not VERY CAREFUL about spacing them extremely close together you will get serious color blend issues, seriously uneven light intensity readings, and if your doing it exactly wrong you can even end up with higher intensity on the BOTTOM of the tank than the top due to overlap of light cones and additive intensity nearing the bottom whereas the top will have bright cones of light alternating with dark areas...  All of these statements I am making on the basis of looking carefully at MANY designs, with PAR readings, and the evolution of these designs as things were changed to correct issues.

DIY LED is still probably on the bleeding edge a bit in terms of there is nothing close to a universal or even majority consensus on the best way to mix the wavelengths LEDs produce to accomplish three things,

Good Color

Good intensity distribution

Good growth

In my reading, I have come to believe (and I am testing this with my build, so give me a month and PM to come see how it turned out)

Cool whites are NOT the way to go, simply too stark with very poor red color rendition

The current change is moving from Cool Whites to Neutral Whites (companies selling these are seeing a shift to the vast majority of builds using NW now whereas 1 yr ago it was all cool whites)

Royal Blues mix with cool whites but your missing a bit of the 500-520 nm wavelength required to get good colors, so people are adding 1 standard Blue per 5-7 Royal Blue, being careful because you can end up with a windex color if you use too many.

The newest rage is the use of True VIolet 420 nm LEDs which hit a nice photo absorption peak in the corals, and some people are saying that you can mix in a far red LED to get better coloration there.  I am myself concerned with color blending a few reds into my build but will try it and see what happens.

As for the True VIolet, having experience with stunners I am going to use these for sure as a moon light and will try mixing them into the white and royal blue channels during the day, but expect no notable color difference (visually) as its simply too short a wavelengh and will get swamped out.  

ALL my set up will be completely PWM dimmable... the goal here is not so much to tune color (but I am sure I will) but more for lighting effects like storm, cloud, sunrise, sunset etc.  

I am really really hoping that between all the reading I have done, that this build will come out well and the corals will love it.  I will post updates in my build thread after the new year when I get time to actually put all the pieces together.  

My total cost will be LESS than some of the fancy (not that fancy acutally) 36" T5 setups at retail.  But not much less, and you could find NUMEROUS light choices that would cost less, substantially.  For me-  I KNOW this is an experiment.  Its fun and I am willing to play.

IF your looking for an out of the box guaranteed solution, its not there yet.  I think I can PROVE that by just asking you to look at the commercial lighting solutions for LED.  EVERY few months a new one comes out that uses a completely DIFFERENT mix of LEDS.  People jump on the latest and are essentially hoping that company X got it right, but so far, company X changes their product every 6 months, substantially.  

For me DIY was the only way to go, I CAN CHANGE things.  And I anticipate I will need to.  Wish me the best of luck, I probably need it.  

 

Oh... if you want a commercial fixture that looks sweet and dont want to deal with all the wires etc... the MaxSpect Mazarra looks interesting, uses essentially the same LED DIY projects use (which are almost undoubtely the best available) and looks to be essentailly the same as a DIY project in that you can swap out LEDs!  and lens... so for more dollars, you do get something that you can change... which is quite interesting.  I know a few others are upgradable, so do your research, but given the rapidity of change in thinking re color mixing etc... if I did purchase a fixture it would have to be CHANGABLE down to the per LED level.  Because its going to change........... 

 

But for me, I like to play with soldering guns, computer programming for the controller, etc etc... and I can do all that and hopefully get a nice light out for far less money than any commercial solution.

 

In terms of intensity etc, LEDs have long ago proved themselves its just color rendition, light distrubution, and color blending that were all bantering about at this point, very important to be sure. 

FYI, those meanwell drivers sometimes produce more amps than listed. Be VERY careful when using them so you dont fry your LEDs and remember to use fuses religiously. You'll probably need to stock up on 1A Fuses because I've only been able to find them at radioshack.

Good luck and I'm excited to see the results.