LED Scrubber question.

[wisewendell]

Hello all,
I had a quick question.
I already have a scrubber running, 11x11 with 4 23w cfls, two on each side.
I am somewhat knowledged with the DIY LED building since I built an LED light system for my 150 gallon 4 ft tank.
My question is this, how many LED's does this 11x11 scrubber need? At what power? I was planning on just using 660 reds and 455 blues, last thread I read recommended these, or is this no longer the case?
Many thanks for any and all input,
Thanks.
Wendell

[Ace25]

To answer your question, at least 7 per side. I run a 10.5"x13.5" screen and 7 LEDs works nicely.

Cheapest method and you can use more LEDs per side, use a meanwell LPC-60-1050 driver, and run 2 strings of 8-12 LEDs in series (just make sure they each side has equal amounts), that way each string gets 525mA. Get some cheap ebay LEDs (most likely they will be FEDY) and a couple heatsinks and make yourself a nice light. 6:1 red to blue is a good ratio but there is no reason you can't go 8:2 or 9:3. You are most likely going to get a 20 pack of one type and a 10 pack of another, may as well use what you can and have a few spares. Looks like the cheapest is around $34 for a 20 pack of 660nm and around $20 for a 10 pack of royal blues. A couple 8x8 heatsinks run about $20ea and the driver is $18. So your looking at roughly $112 before shipping for all the parts, cheaper if you can find your own heatsinks.

[wisewendell]

To answer your question, at least 7 per side. I run a 10.5"x13.5" screen and 7 LEDs works nicely.

Cheapest method and you can use more LEDs per side, use a meanwell LPC-60-1050 driver, and run 2 strings of 8-12 LEDs in series (just make sure they each side has equal amounts), that way each string gets 525mA. Get some cheap ebay LEDs (most likely they will be FEDY) and a couple heatsinks and make yourself a nice light. 6:1 red to blue is a good ratio but there is no reason you can't go 8:2 or 9:3. You are most likely going to get a 20 pack of one type and a 10 pack of another, may as well use what you can and have a few spares. Looks like the cheapest is around $34 for a 20 pack of 660nm and around $20 for a 10 pack of royal blues. A couple 8x8 heatsinks run about $20ea and the driver is $18. So your looking at roughly $112 before shipping for all the parts, cheaper if you can find your own heatsinks.

Thanks for the quick reply! I'll probably use c-channel, its what I used on my DT fixture.
I should put the blue right in the middle?

[Floyd R Turbo]

Wow Ace that seems low to me, I'm putting one LED on each side for every 2x2 section and running them at 700mA. You're running one for every 4x4 section of screen, that's 1/4 the 'density'...did I miss something? I guess I recall now in my LED guidelines thread that you did post this...

[Floyd R Turbo]

Oh yeah and on the blue, putting it in the middle - yes

[Ace25]

You have seen my thread Floyd... nothing has changed and results speak for themselves, right? Still, that is the bare minimum I would recommend for that size screen (but I am running at 700mA as well), which is why I said adding more certainly wouldn't hurt nor cost much more to do. The difference in output between 525mA and 700mA is very negligible though. Talking the difference between 2.1w per LED vs 1.9w.

[SWhite]

To answer your question, at least 7 per side. I run a 10.5"x13.5" screen and 7 LEDs works nicely.

Cheapest method and you can use more LEDs per side, use a meanwell LPC-60-1050 driver, and run 2 strings of 8-12 LEDs in series (just make sure they each side has equal amounts), that way each string gets 525mA. Get some cheap ebay LEDs (most likely they will be FEDY) and a couple heatsinks and make yourself a nice light. 6:1 red to blue is a good ratio but there is no reason you can't go 8:2 or 9:3. You are most likely going to get a 20 pack of one type and a 10 pack of another, may as well use what you can and have a few spares. Looks like the cheapest is around $34 for a 20 pack of 660nm and around $20 for a 10 pack of royal blues. A couple 8x8 heatsinks run about $20ea and the driver is $18. So your looking at roughly $112 before shipping for all the parts, cheaper if you can find your own heatsinks.

Would this be 3W or 1W LEDs?

[Floyd R Turbo]

Most definitely 3W

[SWhite]

Most definitely 3W

Cool. That's what I assumed, but you know what happens when you ass-u-me...heh.