FO LED Setup?

[Paintguru]

Hey all,

I'm interested in setting up my 92 gal cube (30x30x24) with LED lighting. The plan right now is to have it be a FO, so I'd like it to have enough photons to light the fish properly, but right now I'm not overly concerned about PAR for corals. I was looking at getting a 24 piece LED set from RapidLED. Any idea if this will be enough to cover the tank? I'm not looking to spend a ton on this, I mainly want to cut energy costs and heat.

 

[wld1783]

Paintguru

For salt water fish a 1:1 Blue/White is fine. Corbins Exotic Tropical is a LFS and uses a Blue/White Strip with a 1:1 mix and their fish look great.

Just make sure your Royal Blue are Bin D316 this really makes the fish colours pop. Other bins of the Cree Royal Blue do not have the same effect.

24 LEDs would be fine for a FOWLR you might want to skip the optics. This is what the LFS do and they still get a great shimmer.

Bill

 

[Paintguru]

Thanks. I was hoping 24 would be enough to sufficiently light everything. I think the Rapid combos are 1:1 white to blues, so we're good there.

 

[wld1783]

Thanks. I was hoping 24 would be enough to sufficiently light everything. I think the Rapid combos are 1:1 white to blues, so we're good there.

Just make sure your getting the Royal Blue Bin D316...This is the LED that makes colour really pop.

Bill

 

[Paintguru]

How does one find this info? The ones in the kit I'm looking at are described thusly:

CREE XR-E Royal Blue 3W LED on Star

 

[Paintguru]

Bill,

How are the Evolution LED fixtures listed on your site? That may be an easy way for me to do the lighting for my FO. Are they built with the D316 Royal Blues that you like so much?

 

[wld1783]

Bill,

How are the Evolution LED fixtures listed on your site? That may be an easy way for me to do the lighting for my FO. Are they built with the D316 Royal Blues that you like so much?

The Evolution LED Colour is awesome. If you don't want to DIY for SPS and Clams...The Evolution fixtures are great. I doubt they have the Cree D316 at this price but the colour is very close..in fact too close.

I'm trying to get a data sheet but this manufacturer is reluctant to release specific info.

Honestly for FOWLR this is a better option than DIY

Bill

 

[Paintguru]

Thanks Bill.

I may EVENTUALLY go back to keeping corals again, but for a while I plan to stick with FO with maybe a few low light corals (again, I think this would be fine for that). I've never had good luck with SPS, so I'm not super worried about ever needing THAT much PAR. Do you think the spread on the Evolution would be enough to evenly cover a 30x30 area? Also, I want to mount this in a oak hood...how much clearance above the lights do you think the unit needs for sufficient cooling? And finally, since it has 119-1W LEDs, does that mean it pulls ~120W? I am trying to keep energy consumption in mind on this "project".

 

[wld1783]

Paintguru

The evolution does not have optics so it has a pretty good spread however two inside a hood might be a little close to the water to give you 30" of spread. You would need about 1" for the airflow and I would vent the hood with fans as these were designed to be stand alone fixtures. If you loose the hood you can adjust the height to get the spread you want.

I have not put a Kilowatt meter on the fixture but I'm sure that the LEDs are under driven. The manufacturer will not say at what mA each LED is driven the type of LEDs and how they are driven is Top Secret with a lot of LED manufacturers. I'm pretty confident that it will pull less than 120 watts...

Bill

 

[Paintguru]

I was planning to just do one fixture over the 30x30, not two. I don't mind the edges being slightly dark, but I don't want to lose half my tank due to a lack of light spread.

The back of the hood is actually open, so I wonder if the fans would pull enough cool air from that to cool the lamp sufficiently. I already have two fans installed on the top of the hood, but they are more for cooling the water via evaporation, not cooling the rest of the stuff inside. Do we think the DIY kits are more easily mounted into existing hoods, or do those require a large amount of cooling too?

What to do....what to do....

 

[wld1783]

Given how close you want the fixture to the water and the size of the tank I would go DIY with no optics. Heatsinks are very easily mounted with self tapping and wood screws along with a small shelf bracket. For a 10K look you could mount four of our Blue White strips on four 4"x12" heatsinks. For a 20K look add a couple of blue strips. For something in between you would have to go with individual stars.

Lots of options say 4 blues on one driver for moonlight with a Mix of 2 Blue for very one white on the four heatsinks spread evenly. 22 LEDs total is another option.


Bill

 

[Paintguru]

I like that idea. With the strips and independent heat sinks, I could space them out and get the coverage that I want. I do prefer the 12-14K look, so perhaps I could swap one of the white strips with a blue one or something. I'll take a look at your site and see what setup seems to make the most sense. I'll shoot you a PM so I can make sure I'm ordering the right stuff. I appreciate you walking me through this.

 

[ben&bobbi]

Just make sure your getting the Royal Blue Bin D316...This is the LED that makes colour really pop.

Bill

wow, are you the same company? i have been comparing both websites, they seem pretty close. pm me if prefered, not trying to high jack, i am just thinking of getting the same kit for our 180.

 

[Troylee]

Bill owns reef led lights and also sells evolution lights on his website...