3 lines of different color gives you nice disco effect as leds are very directional compared to tube lights. Especially if you use optic.
3 lines of different color gives you nice disco effect as leds are very directional compared to tube lights. Especially if you use optic.
I have 2 strips on my 40G, 32 total and I feel i need more. Front strip is 14 LED's, 2@445nm and the other 12 are split into 12,000/19,000K. The Back is 18 LED's 3@445nm and the other 15 are mostly 19,000K. My optics are the short type, 30 degree on the very outside, then 60 degree on the next set in on each side then the rest are 90 degree. My strips are 7" from the water.
I have 20 more LED's coming so I can add one more strip of 14 LED's with 4-5 445nm and the rest 19,000K.
Here is pic using the Droid, I know the tank display glass is a wreck!!! Its spring here in the south, Getting the tractors ready to cut grass, garden, and drag the drive way smooth for the first time this year so the tanks glass cleaning have taken a back seat for a couple weeks.
Those the some quick thrown together DIY fixtures. It works for now though!!
150G. Reef/Mix
125G. 3 Regular Oscars/1 Jack Dempsey
75G. 20+ Africans
40G. Fish/Reef. Algae Scrubbers on ALL my SW
10G. SW Fish/Reef.
10G. SW Hospital/new fish quarantine/pod breeder tank
6 stage RO/DI system 200 GPD.
What brand of LEDs are they, what wattage are they, and how many mA are the drivers putting out?
It could just be your phone but the color seems wrong. Assuming they all have about the same light output, and assuming you have ~5 445nm, ~11 12,000k and ~16 19,000k, then you should have ~15% indego light (lets pretend this is 25,000k, although that is a wildly innaccurate statement), ~50% 19,000k and ~35% 12000k.... When you plug all those in you get an average of something like ~17,000k, which is a pretty deep blue, but your light looks like neutral white, like maybe 4,500k.
I realize its like comparing apples to baseballs, but here is a pic of my quarantine tank, it has one 26 watt 5,100k spiral CFL bulb and one 42 watt 2,700k spiral CFL bulb so the light is somewhere in the 3,600k range... but it looks nearly the same as your ~17,000k lighting...
I have noticed that the LED's look a lot different then tube florescent type. I have gotten LED's from Ledtoplights on ebay and Satisled on ebay. Both seem the same. I might even have the amount 12,000 and 19,000K mixed up I could have a little more 12 then 19 on the front but I am sure I have more 19 on the back strip so it should be close to a 50/50 mix. The camera makes i look a LOT brighter too. Its just a Droid 8 mega pix camera. It makes the torch corals appear to glow and the tube bulb @ 12,000K did not.
I forgot to mention I am running the front strip of 14 on the meanwell LPC-35-700 and the rear strip one of the same as well. I know its only for 14 of them. I need to get a 1 ohm resistor and and put it in line with all my LED's so I can just measure voltage and see what the amps are. I am sure the front is running at about 700ma
150G. Reef/Mix
125G. 3 Regular Oscars/1 Jack Dempsey
75G. 20+ Africans
40G. Fish/Reef. Algae Scrubbers on ALL my SW
10G. SW Fish/Reef.
10G. SW Hospital/new fish quarantine/pod breeder tank
6 stage RO/DI system 200 GPD.
This is my custom nano 16G . LEDs are all CREE.
12 rb XP-E
10 cw XM-3
2 nw XM-3.
Color is very nice in person. Less blue than you see in picture below. Basically I have 2:1 blue and white, as XP-Es are driven at 2W and XM-3s are 1w leds. It is strong enough light for good SPS growth and may be too much for some softies , especially shrooms.
I used individual LEDs on stars, but placed them in clusters blue and white side by side to avoid disco effect.
Very nice, I have a trumpet (candy cane) coral just like yours but it only has 3 heads so far. I also want a cats paw one of these days to.
150G. Reef/Mix
125G. 3 Regular Oscars/1 Jack Dempsey
75G. 20+ Africans
40G. Fish/Reef. Algae Scrubbers on ALL my SW
10G. SW Fish/Reef.
10G. SW Hospital/new fish quarantine/pod breeder tank
6 stage RO/DI system 200 GPD.
Standard 60G tank
24 LED 50/50 blue/white light combo (mix of various LEDs I had laying around, some are XR-Es, some are XP-Es, and some are XP-Gs). This light was made for a 30" 29G but works very well on a 48" 60G, although the ends of the tank do get low PAR (sub 100), which is why I feel 36 LEDs is perfect for a 55/60G, it would eliminate the dimmer ends.
That's real nice Ace25!! I see you have some trumpet corals as well. That button polyp on the end would pass for mine, real nice tank Sir.
150G. Reef/Mix
125G. 3 Regular Oscars/1 Jack Dempsey
75G. 20+ Africans
40G. Fish/Reef. Algae Scrubbers on ALL my SW
10G. SW Fish/Reef.
10G. SW Hospital/new fish quarantine/pod breeder tank
6 stage RO/DI system 200 GPD.
I have more candycane (trumpet) corals than I know what to do with. My "platinum" one I have has well over 100 heads now. I broke off 3 heads of it 6 months ago and those 3 heads are now 30+.
Here is a neon green one that I measured the PAR at, it is only getting 60 PAR and seems happy as can be.
VERY NICE!!
That's just what my neon looks like. The middle head is getting ready to split, its now got two mouths.
150G. Reef/Mix
125G. 3 Regular Oscars/1 Jack Dempsey
75G. 20+ Africans
40G. Fish/Reef. Algae Scrubbers on ALL my SW
10G. SW Fish/Reef.
10G. SW Hospital/new fish quarantine/pod breeder tank
6 stage RO/DI system 200 GPD.
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