Reef Discussion
OK guys,
MagicJ, chimaera, VaultBoy, Synodontis, firechild, Rob (and anyone else I forgot to tag - no disrespect meant).
Here is a copy of the layout I have so far for the 2 identically end size panels. The single red sits towards the centre of the tank. The 2nd panel is a "Flip" of this one - same layout, same pattern just flipped for the sake of symmetry.
The centre will be much the same but it might have 2 reds instead of 1.
Am I on the money or have I completely lost the plot?
With the unused I'd like to add 1 (per panel) for a moonlight. What colour should I make this? And considering that gives me 8 unused holes what are the thoughts on how to best fill them? Any colours I have missed or simply add more of what I have (say 3RB, 2 NW, 2HV, 1 OCW)
The intent is
Also thinking since there are so many I will most likely not need lenses, which will lead to better colour blending???
Thoughts?
Thanks Guys.
MagicJ, chimaera, VaultBoy, Synodontis, firechild, Rob (and anyone else I forgot to tag - no disrespect meant).
Here is a copy of the layout I have so far for the 2 identically end size panels. The single red sits towards the centre of the tank. The 2nd panel is a "Flip" of this one - same layout, same pattern just flipped for the sake of symmetry.
The centre will be much the same but it might have 2 reds instead of 1.
Am I on the money or have I completely lost the plot?
With the unused I'd like to add 1 (per panel) for a moonlight. What colour should I make this? And considering that gives me 8 unused holes what are the thoughts on how to best fill them? Any colours I have missed or simply add more of what I have (say 3RB, 2 NW, 2HV, 1 OCW)
The intent is
- 3 reds (on 3 panels) will be run from 1 drive on 1 channel - only to be used as a "Sunrise" and most likely turned off during the other hours (form what I have read red is very over powering)
- Moonlight will be the same as the red.
- Hopefully I can get away with 1 driver per colour per panel (if that makes sense) - so a total of 4 drivers used (+1 shared for the Red & 1 shared for the moonlight)
Also thinking since there are so many I will most likely not need lenses, which will lead to better colour blending???
Thoughts?
Thanks Guys.
How about a little green in the mix?
I also think you are overdoing the violet 405nm IME...
I have removed 4 violet LEDS from my set up, (nowhere near as large as yours), and corals have shown improved response. (6 remaining - 2 x 3 LEDS on each heat sink)
I am also expermenting with a few pink LEDS, certainly adds to the visual aspect of the display after removing the red LEDS....these were overpowering the daytime spectrum a little and I wasn't keen on the visual appearance with reds in the mix...
I have also removed all my lenses after experimenting with them... as I believe the colours mix better, but have lost a little PAR Due to that. I estimate my overall spectrum to be about 14K with:
6 x 10K / 6 x 6.5K / 4 x RB / 3 x Blue / 3 x Voilet / 2 x pink / 2 x green on each 1200mm heat sink
Looks like your plans will be a nice build.
Good luck
I also think you are overdoing the violet 405nm IME...
I have removed 4 violet LEDS from my set up, (nowhere near as large as yours), and corals have shown improved response. (6 remaining - 2 x 3 LEDS on each heat sink)
I am also expermenting with a few pink LEDS, certainly adds to the visual aspect of the display after removing the red LEDS....these were overpowering the daytime spectrum a little and I wasn't keen on the visual appearance with reds in the mix...
I have also removed all my lenses after experimenting with them... as I believe the colours mix better, but have lost a little PAR Due to that. I estimate my overall spectrum to be about 14K with:
6 x 10K / 6 x 6.5K / 4 x RB / 3 x Blue / 3 x Voilet / 2 x pink / 2 x green on each 1200mm heat sink
Looks like your plans will be a nice build.
Good luck
Looks pretty good to me mate. If you did want to run your reds longer, you could add some cyan/turquoise which balances the colour out, helps them not be overpowering.
Also make sure your violets are controllable ... from what I have read recently, they are one of the msot important spectra and you could in theory add even more, but they can also bleach your coral easily so need control.
Also make sure your violets are controllable ... from what I have read recently, they are one of the msot important spectra and you could in theory add even more, but they can also bleach your coral easily so need control.
Green is an important part of the white light spectrum, also the last colour filtered out at depth. I have found the Green LEDS most beneficial, response with zoos, morphs and other lower light deeper tank corals has been evident.
Pink LEDS are essentially 450 to 475 nm like blue LEDS however they contain an inorganic red emitting phosphor. They tend to turn white over time though, but add a nice edge to the visual appearance of the display.
I also read your other post with interest, IME its not a good option to overpower LED colours with other colours....best to reduce the amount of colour if possible complexity with DIY LEDS for the sake of it is not the best option IME..... I also have noted that corals are very sensitive to UV....should be used with caution as you stated. A coral farm over here in WA is very helpful with LED experimentation....
I have managed to obtain some beaut coloration with SPS using UV, however early on when I overdone it there was some damage done which took a long time to rectify.
The OCW's have Deep Red, Turquoise and Blue LEDs on them. They produce an overall white light with great blending of the colours but cover a braoder spectrum.
I think the red LED's that are by themselves are just for the sunrise and sunset effect...
macca_75 looks pretty good to me maybe a bit overboard on the violet if anything. The problem with violet lights is you can go way overboard and not realise it as they look quite dull however they produce a lot of light that is not visible to our eyes. I would maybe swap a couple with Blue (not royal) they compliment the violets (and OCW) very well and also have more green in them than the royals. Just my $0.02.
I would leave your Violets, as long as you can control them. Some new thinking indicates that they are actually a key spectrum if controlled correctly, it's just that the light is not very visible (though they still make corals 'pop') and over-use can bleach corals easily.
Are you buying from LEDgroupbuy? If so I believe he has a new 3-up in the works ... cyan/red/cool blue is the guess. Could be a nice addition.
Are you buying from LEDgroupbuy? If so I believe he has a new 3-up in the works ... cyan/red/cool blue is the guess. Could be a nice addition.
OK guys,
This project had to take a back seat for a little while as I had some other stuff to sort out.
Anyway, I had a day of work last week so took a trip to a few of the local retailers of Aluminium trying to suss out heatsink.
Unless @syndontis can get me some of that great heat sink he has used (pretty sure when we spoke it was mind blowingly expensive) I have a few other options.
Is flat sheet enough? If so, would the following profile with a few right angle rivetted for strength be OK.
Remembering I need to make a heat sink that is about 430mm (maybe a little either way) wide. Would butting 2 of these together be OK?
Another thought I had was scaffolding. They are 1 piece, all aluminimum (expect he rubber strip)
Certainly strong enough without any additional support, the rubber strip is easily removed and cooling can be done by either putting fans on the end and blowing the air out or fans on top sucking the air through. Any thoughts/pro's/con's? Drill through the top and bottom to feed wires through, etc, can mount the drivers straight to the top, LED's on the bottom, etc. I'm really liking this idea and, as luck would have it, it's about the cheapest option. Would it be effective enough if I didn't cluster the lights (I know @chimaera is a fan of the cluster, but if I don't run lenses (I don't care about light spillage expect maybe the outter rows) I should get good coverage anyway.
This project had to take a back seat for a little while as I had some other stuff to sort out.
Anyway, I had a day of work last week so took a trip to a few of the local retailers of Aluminium trying to suss out heatsink.
Unless @syndontis can get me some of that great heat sink he has used (pretty sure when we spoke it was mind blowingly expensive) I have a few other options.
Is flat sheet enough? If so, would the following profile with a few right angle rivetted for strength be OK.
Remembering I need to make a heat sink that is about 430mm (maybe a little either way) wide. Would butting 2 of these together be OK?
Another thought I had was scaffolding. They are 1 piece, all aluminimum (expect he rubber strip)
Certainly strong enough without any additional support, the rubber strip is easily removed and cooling can be done by either putting fans on the end and blowing the air out or fans on top sucking the air through. Any thoughts/pro's/con's? Drill through the top and bottom to feed wires through, etc, can mount the drivers straight to the top, LED's on the bottom, etc. I'm really liking this idea and, as luck would have it, it's about the cheapest option. Would it be effective enough if I didn't cluster the lights (I know @chimaera is a fan of the cluster, but if I don't run lenses (I don't care about light spillage expect maybe the outter rows) I should get good coverage anyway.
Have a look at www.capral.com.au
I used these with mine 19.4cm-X-2.2cm-X-50cm $29 each however not sure how much postage would be as they got sent with all my drivers and LED's etc
I dont think flat sheet would be enough, as my heatsinks still get fairly hot. I imagine flat sheet wouldn't disperse the heat fast enough
I dont think flat sheet would be enough, as my heatsinks still get fairly hot. I imagine flat sheet wouldn't disperse the heat fast enough
Thanks guys.
@MagicJ - I did call into Capral - pretty much the same stuff in their catalogue but a bit more pricey.
Action Alumimum also had more of a "showroom" to look around at the different profiles, etc in the flesh.
@Synodontis - Can you PM me the price of the heat sink you said you could source please...
And I'll price up that online option @Joshwaaaa - Thanks
@MagicJ - I did call into Capral - pretty much the same stuff in their catalogue but a bit more pricey.
Action Alumimum also had more of a "showroom" to look around at the different profiles, etc in the flesh.
@Synodontis - Can you PM me the price of the heat sink you said you could source please...
And I'll price up that online option @Joshwaaaa - Thanks
I used a small piece of 1/8 aluminium flat sheet about 200mm x 75mm with 6 LEDs on it and a small old pc cpu heatsink and 50mm fan screwed to the middle of the back. It was as cool as a cucumber with all 6 LEDs driven at ~800mA. The point I am making is that you can use flat sheet as long as you can take the heat out of it somehow....
And
@Joshwaaaa - do you have a clustered layout or an even spread? I would imagine this would have a lot to do with the ability to distibute heat.
And that matches some of the reasearch I have seen - some say flat is enough some say it isn't.
@Joshwaaaa - do you have a clustered layout or an even spread? I would imagine this would have a lot to do with the ability to distibute heat.
A lot depends on what current they are driven at...
It is similar to a computer CPU - run at default settings air cooling is fine, but for those that want to overclock then alternative cooling methods are required.
Some people want to drive their led's at the maximum i.e. 1.5A, but some are happy at lower levels i.e. 800mA - there is significantly more heat generated at the higher current levels as the led is not able to convert all of the extra power into light and thus it becomes heat. Doubling the current level does not double the light output - there is a reducing return as the current increases.
I use an aluminium angle (roughly 50mm x 20mm x 2mm) and it gets warm, but not hot - when I eventually redo my lights I plan to add some fans but for now there is no additional cooling.
