Reef Discussion

[macca_75]

I have just fitted 4 ocean coral whites in place of 4 blue and 4 true violets. I barely noticed the overall colour change but the corals "pop" more than before.

I was playing around with colour combinations with my arduino connected just to see what each different colour actually did in the tank. When I get home tonight I will take a series of pictures showing the 3 different colour channels (12x white - 12x royal blue - 2x blue 2x violet 4x OCW) on my tank at full power. You can really see the differences in colours of the corals and even my yellow tang who looks bright red under the "Exotic" colours.

watch this space...

Any chance of putting something for reference in the photo (can of coke or something) so we can tell how accurate the picture turns out?

 

[VaultBoy]

Here are the three pictures as promised... I didn't have a coke can laying around sorry so the best I could think of was a white mug in the centre of the shot/tank and I tried to get my yellow tang in every shot.

While dicking around with the light yesterday afternoon I managed to blow up what I thought was the driver so I replaced it this morning and realised that it was infact the LED's I blew :rolleyes I destroyed 4 whites or 1/3 of the whites.

I set the camera on a couple of buckets and some books coz I dont own a tripod. I set it to manual and played around with a couple of shots to get a nice clear shot with all setting on manual I know I am getting the "same" image each time. Then I set the levels on each set of LED's and took each shot. These images are straight off the camera the only editing I did was the file names!

All blues - 12 CREE XTE Royal Blues @ 1000mA

All Exotic LED's - 2 CREE XPE Blue, 2 True Violet's, 4 Ocean Coral Whites all @ 400mA

All White - 4 CREE XTE Cool White, 4 CREE XTE Neutral White @ 1000mA

 

[VaultBoy]

Sorry I just realised the actual size of the files :eek Only about 6MB each...

 

[MagicJ]

LOL - so you actually put the mug IN the tank :p

Good pictures BTW.

 

[VaultBoy]

I didn't know where else to put it?!? Where can i put it with it still in the frame and under the lights?

Cheers

 

[macca_75]

Thanks for the Pics and the white cup in the tank was a great idea - I only meant a can in front of it. Your way is far better.

I saw the same effect whilst and Ken & Jen's. Basically some of the LED's all but wash out colors (I didn't know if I was looking at a yellow or scopus tang) but when they are all on getting the balance is critical to make it look "just right"...

Speaking of the road trip to @Synodtis, Rob and I took the trek out there (and from where we live it was a fair hike). Thanks again to K&J for their time.

On the trip back Rob and I discussed the option of (and I have been sold on the idea) instead of running long runs the entire length of the tank I will break it into 3 "pods" - same number of rails, sma enumber of and layout of LED's, etc. I don't see any point in putting LED's directly above the braces. In my tiny little mind here are the Pro's/Cons. Pod's will probably be connected for sunrise red's and moonlight blues. All other colors probably won't be connected.

Pro's:

• Cheaper to get started - only buying for 1/3 of most of the equipment (excluding controller, etc). Where it is cost effectient to buy scale I might, but in genernal probably isn't
• I can make sure I get the exact balance I want in a much smaller quantity (I doubt I will get it right first time, but at least this way my mistakes will be cheaper)
• 3 little units will be easier to remove than 1 big one (I might only need to remove 1 unit for tank maintanence, etc)
• I can get started sooner instead of waiting to save the entire amount)
• Any lessons learnt on the first can be applied to 2nd and 3rd units.

Con's:

• (International) shipping will be more as some things will be shipped in 2 parts (losing economy of scale)
• Discounts might not apply for some things

I'll also probably start with he Typhoon. When I want to move to more advanced features the controller can easily be upgraded if I put the thought into the wiring layout, etc now.

Next is to get the pics of the tank up and start mocking a layout.

 

[Joshwaaaa]

Thats pretty much how I built mine, but since my tank is only 4 ft. I have only 2 separate banks and I only used cheap LEDs though as I am a tight ass with no money. Used a combo of blues, 10k white, 6500k white(yellow), NUV and true violet. Mine just sit in a clip it frame suspended above my tank so it's easy to remove if needed

This was my layouts being done

 

[macca_75]

OK - so it took me a little while to get this crappy picture drawn.

Basically I have removed all the bracing from the picture. What I am left with is 3 "holes" between the bracing. I am thinking 3 modules similar to the one above.

The shelf sits 320mm above the tank so the LED's will probably be sitting somewhere around the 250mm mark I am guessing. I can move all the drivers onto the shelf above without issue.

Here is a crappy pic.

The braces in the centre are 140mm wide. I am thinking if needed to centre module could be made wider to accomidate if it is worth putting lights above the brace.

At a guess aiming for around the 40 LED's per module. For lets say module 1 (either of the outer ones - gee I wish I numbered them. Lesson#1 learnt)

Front to back (430mm)

I am thinking 6 LEDS' then 5, then 6, then 5, then 6, then 5 then 6. The only issue here is trying to get Heatsink at an affordable price. If not it will be a standard layout of 6,6,6,6,6,etc

• from the edge for a row of 6 it would be a gap of 70mm starting at 40mm, 110mm, 180mm, 250mm, 320mm, 390mm
• from the edge for a row of 5 it would be a gap of 70mm starting at 75mm, 145mm, 215mm, 285mm, 355mm
• Left to right the rows would be spaced 100 mm apart starting at 30mm , 130mm, 230mm, 330mm, 430mm, 530mm, 630mm (leaving 30mm to the end)

The numbers above give me (4 x 6) + (3 x 5) = 39 LED's.
Same for the 2 holes gives me 3 x 39 = 117 LED's. (maybe + a few if I light above the braces)

Next crappy drawing - trying to place out the colors given as an example by MagicJ back some threads.

Then, as we know the measurements and height try to figure out the optics and which LED's connect to which driver (to enable features such as controlling the color, Dusk/Dawn, moonlight, cloud simulation, etc.

 

[Buddy]

Watching this thread closely! It may make up my mind for how I want to light my tank :D

 

[VaultBoy]

FYI... My light's footprint measures 350mm x 230mm the heatsink is made of 6 lengths(230mm) of 50mm square aluminium tube with 2.2 or 2.6mm wall thickness (cant remember which and my brother has my vernier :mad: ) all rivetted to 2 x 350mm aluminium angle.... Its a little bit makeshift at the moment because I need to replace the fans and build an outer housing to mount it all properly and stop the light spill into the room.

At that size (350 x 230) I have a total of 40 LED's and it would be perfect over a 2ft x 2ft tank. My tank is a funny shape so the corners are a bit darker than the rest of the tank...

 

[chimaera]

Don't know if you have PowerPoint but I found it easiest in planning out colours and placement etc - much easier than Paint or drawing software.

This is the mix I went with for the new PAR38s but expect it would be too blue for your preferences.

 

[macca_75]

Thanks chimaera - I'll give powerpoint a go (or maybe Visio).

VaultBoy - looks like I will need a few more LED's according to your numbers.

Thinking about it last night some more, there is little advantage to offsetting the 6,5,6,5 pattern and it will making sourcing heatsink far harder so I think I will stick with 6,6,6,6,6, etc.

Also also bring them back to 70mm lengthwise (left to right) so I will have:

• from the edge for a row of 6 it would be a gap of 70mm starting at 40mm, 110mm, 180mm, 250mm, 320mm, 390mm
• Left to right the rows would be spaced 70 mm apart starting at 45mm , 115mm, 185mm, 255mm, 325mm, 405mm, 475mm, 545mm, 615mm (leaving 45mm to the end)

The numbers above give me 6 x 9 = 54 LED's.
Same for the 2 holes gives me 3 x 54 = 162 LED's. (maybe + a few if I light above the braces)

When I work all the prices out I might need to drop the numbers back a bit.

Spacing them at 100mm I will have:

• from the edge for a row of 6 it would start at 15mm, 115mm, 215mm, 315mm, 415mm
• Left to right the rows would start at 30mm, 130mm , 230mm, 330mm, 430mm, 530mm, 630mm

The numbers above give me 5 x 7 = 35 LED's.
Same for the 2 holes gives me 3 x 35 = 105 LED's. (maybe + a few if I light above the braces)

Spacing at 80mm gives the same number of LED's as 70mm.

Working on a area/number of LED's 70/80mm gives a ratio about half @Vaultboys

Have I calculated wrong or am I going to need a massive amount of LED's? (more than first "roughed in")

 

[chimaera]

I'm lost. You are proposing 3x large panels of LEDS, plus 2x skinny panels to mount on the braces?

Personally I would be clustering the LEDs rather than space evenly like Vaultboy, better blending, less disco.

 

[macca_75]

I'm lost. You are proposing 3x large panels of LEDS, plus 2x skinny panels to mount on the braces?

Personally I would be clustering the LEDs rather than space evenly like Vaultboy, better blending, less disco.

If I do light above the bracing the center modeule will be made wider, say somewhere around 430 x 800.

 

[VaultBoy]

Keep in mind that with mine. 24 of the LEDs are the primary light source while the rest are mostly for colour and spectrum. The 12 white and 12 royal blue are driven to a max of 1000mA IIRC the diodes themselves are rated to a maximum current of 1500mA. So even when I drive them at 100% (which is never BTW) they are only working to 66.66% of their actual capacity. Admittedly they would get hotter and you would need a better/heavier heatsink and active cooling, but you could run the same emitters as I do at a higher current lift them up from the tank a bit and cover a greater area while still having enough light intensity to keep more light demanding species. The other 14 LED's are only run to a max 400mA and are rated to 500mA (from my "testing" they will run at 800mA without blowing but they get VERY hot and will melt the lenses with extended use) so at maximum drive power are running at 80% capacity.

I think I could have done better with this light and would follow chimaera advice and place the LED's all very close together and make a series of smaller "spot" lights. For your tank maybe 6 smaller lights with ~20 LEDs on each.... So many choices for you!

Even with 4 white emitters blown on my light I am only running the whites at 60% royal blues at 75% and colours at about 65%

 

[chimaera]

Ah got you, I think! It was the reference to 'same for the 2 holes' that confused me.

Are you planning to use the OCW or 3-up modules? If so you will need to rethink your clustering/spacing.

Two of these clusters are recommended for a 55 gallon tank (48"), so in theory 4 clusters on your 8ft should be plenty. Which would be:

• 12x OCW
• 24x 3-up (2 RB 1NW)
• 16 TV

Which equates to 124 LEDs total, so not far off what you are thinking.

[Broken External Image]:http://www.duke.edu/~awb12/Pics/Full spectrum LED guide/Figure 8.png

[Broken External Image]:http://www.duke.edu/~awb12/Pics/Full spectrum LED guide/Table.png


Good reference thread where LEDGroupBuy himself builds a 6ft fixture: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=311527

 

[macca_75]

So...

Correct me if I am wrong.

Clustering will lead to a "spotlight" effect.

even layout will lead to the disco effect on the sandbed.

Is it a case of picking the lesser of 2 evils?

 

[chimaera]

No, clustering with the right optics will avoid both spotlighting and 'disco' - basically the colours will be blended and evenly spread. So how the Radion, GHL, AI, Vertex units work - a number of LED clusters.

Then again the Illumagic uses the spacing and seems fine ... so not saying that doesn't work, just that all I read about with DIYs is generally that clustering is better.

 

[macca_75]

For give the seemingly silly question, but do lenses concentrate or spread the light?

ie. without lenses will the light blend better (spread the light) but be less focussed the deeper you go?

And I haven't forgotten about doing a mock layout or getting some samples Aluminium pieces, just crazy for the next 2 weeks with other commitments.

Cheers

 

[MagicJ]

Optics (lenses) concentrate the light. A standard CREE XP-G has a spread of around 120 degrees - the optics come in a variety of 'angles' - 30, 45, 60, 90 etc