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For simplicity and aesthetics I would love more than anything to have something like the razer. Im just a control freak about adjusting my LEDs and having the option of changing it instead of buying a new $500 fixture. Just if I had a cnc machine then I'd have the perfect light done DIY. Just would probabably cost more than store bought haha...
I'm in the process of hiding all the wires. If you look at my tank build it looks like crap and a death trap all around the tank. but now I'm happy with the placement and light configuration. Haha
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The color is a marketing thing. White light is made up of all colors in equal measure. Intensity means a great deal more than color when speaking of photosynthetic lighting.
The hipocrasy here is mind-boggling... :doh:It just irks me when posts are made stating opinions as facts.
I didn't see an actual question, but I think I understand what you are asking. Let's start with some basics. Light comes in different "colors," white is not a color. White is what our eye interprets when it is presented with a mix of different colors. White does not have to include all colors, just enough to make our eyes, and our brains, decide to interpret it as white, instead of a mix of individual colors. The visible spectrum is divided into 7 colors. Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Indigo (Royal Blue) and Violet (Roy G. Biv). This is further divided into wavelengths, measured in nanometers (nm), the same way that sound is divided into frequencies that are measured in hertz, kilohertz, etc. The visible spectrum is between 400nm and 700nm, light at wavelengths below 400nm is ultraviolet (UV) and light above 700nm is infrared (IR), we can't see UV or IR light because they are outside the "visible" spectrum.Please answer my question concerning the make up of white light and then explain why the need for the colors...
The hipocrasy here is mind-boggling... :doh:
That first post shows a complete lack of understanding of what white light is. That isn't meant as an insult, we all have our areas of expertise and there are plenty of things that each of us does not know. It irks me that it was stated as fact :wink:
I didn't see an actual question, but I think I understand what you are asking. Let's start with some basics. Light comes in different "colors," white is not a color. White is what our eye interprets when it is presented with a mix of different colors. White does not have to include all colors, just enough to make our eyes, and our brains, decide to interpret it as white, instead of a mix of individual colors. The visible spectrum is divided into 7 colors. Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Indigo (Royal Blue) and Violet (Roy G. Biv). This is further divided into wavelengths, measured in nanometers (nm), the same way that sound is divided into frequencies that are measured in hertz, kilohertz, etc. The visible spectrum is between 400nm and 700nm, light at wavelengths below 400nm is ultraviolet (UV) and light above 700nm is infrared (IR), we can't see UV or IR light because they are outside the "visible" spectrum.
The sun provides every wavelength in the visible spectrum, along with enough UV to give us a sunburn and enough IR to make us feel warmth. There is no LED that c
can come close to this, there is no single T-5 that can come close either. A MH lamp can produce a fairly complete visible spectrum but there is no bulb that can produce the various wavelengths in the same proportions that the sun produces. The best we can do is combine different LEDs and/or T5s (or supplement MH) to try to come as close to natural sunlight as possible.
Color temperature, measured in Kelvin (K) is a way to compare different "white" lights, a warm light will have more red or orange and may be measured as 2000-3500K, a white light that contains more of the blue wavelengths could be 6500-20000K. This says nothing about which wavelengths are actually present, only what the "average" of those wavelengths looks like to us. For reference, the color temperature of sunlight varies a little based on the sun's position relative to the observer, but full daylight is in the range of 5500-6000k.
Does "white" light contain all colors? No, and heres an example. You are looking at a screen (monitor, phone, etc) right now as you read this, there are places on that screen that appear white but that screen is made up entirely of tiny dots that are either red, green or blue and are very narrow bands of wavelengths for each of those colors. Still, your eye can interpret thousands of different colors on that screen, depending on how those few wavelengths are combined. There is no 575nm yellow produce by the screen, but still, your eye "sees" yellow because the correct ratio of green and red has fooled your eye. So, is "white light made up of all colors in equal measure?" No, few sources actually include all colors and even the sun doesn't supply all colors equally.
Photosynthetic zooxanthellae can not be fooled, they need specific wavelengths. If you look at the sun through a prism you see a rainbow, if you look at an cool white LED through that prism you'll see a narrow band of indigo, a space, and some green and yellow. No violet, no blue, no red and, if your lucky, maybe a hint of orange. Different pigments exist in the zooxanthellae and if a certain pigment is able to use only violet or red light, than the cool white LED is going to be useless to that pigment. There is very little guesswork involved in knowing which pigments are commonly found in corals or which wavelengths they require. The research has been done already, you just need to look it up. I won't go into too much detail here but the short version is "lots of violet, lots of indigo (especially the lower wavelengths), some blue and a few select wavelengths of yellow, orange and red." Yes, green is absent from the list. If you want healthy, thriving corals you need to supply ALL the wavelengths that are required by your corals.
You mentioned a few of the popular fixture manufacturers and the idea to ask their tech department why they use the LEDs that are in their fixtures. That's a good start, but why not ask about the LEDs they chose not to use? The honest tech department will probably tell you to ask the accounting department. I'm sure all these companies could produce better fixtures than they already make if the accountants didn't get involved. In the mean time, a DIYer doesn't have to answer to any bean counter (other than a spouse) and is free to do all the research they want and build what they think will work. They won't have access to a lab full of test equipment but they also don't have to pay the R&D people and the board of director's saleries before the first unit is sold.
You also mentioned that a Razor "PAR'd" with a 400w MH. Funny you should pick that fixture, I spent 6-8 months researching and building my fixture, the Razor came out shortly after I finished it. The 16000K razor uses an assortment of LEDs that is very similar to my fixture. I still like mine better, but it's nice to see that manufacturers are catching up with DIY. I also don't really care how much PAR a fixture has. without spectrum, PAR is not very useful. Technically, PAR without spectrum, is a more useful measurement than lumens in the same way that kilometers is a more useful measurement than miles, they both quantify brightenss without any regard to the usefulness of the spectrum. Further, the toy PAR meters used in the hobby are incredibly insensitive below 500nm, exactly the part of the spectrum that matters the most, but they are overly sensitive to light in the 525-575nm range which is of little use in photosynthesis. I could build you a light that looks white and makes more PAR than a 400w MH but does not support photosynthesis.
You're the only one in this thread acting like a pompous jack...
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The pompous arrogant jack assery that goes on when it comes to DIY LEDs stuns me. In every other topic, without exception, it's easy to share polite ideas or opinions. Obviously you are far more innovative and knowledgable than a company like kessil and their $50 million R & D dept. I'm certainly tuned in lol.
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You're the only one in this thread acting like a pompous jack...
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You were the one that was so quick to shoot down assumptions and. ow you're assuming they have a $50 million r&d department? like I stated before. kessil and other companies probably have the perfect light made already but it is not cost effective and much more money can be made with "old" technology. Is apple going to release the iPhone 8 before the 5 if their 5 is already leaps and bounds better than competitors? I understand this analogy does not directly translate to DIY since DIY cell phones are far from the rage. But you get it... I think..
keep in mind businesses don't always have the customer in their best interest.. even the engineers in those businesses are saying "no! we can make it better!"
It seems that you are being cranky because you do not wish to admit that you were incorrect in what you initially stated... I don't get it.
He seriously is...
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