LIGHTING... in depth discussion
- Thread starter Jackalope
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Jackalope
Member
that totally doesnt help me monkeytrumpet... the money is in euros... or somthing. i need USD! lol J/K nice site. bulk pricing i hope? i dont know the conversion atm from euro to usd. im sure the usd is so close to 0 its getting silly
Jackalope
Member
ok so, now here's a question on finding out what light spectrum you are producing from your lighting w/o a spectrometer. i was just noticing that there a neat little reflection maybe Refraction of light i can see from one of my panes of glass on my tank. if the room's light is off its very pronounced. it a rainbow. w/o the yellow spectrum and very little green. i tried to take a pic but doesnt show! i wander if this is like the prism effect way of knowing the colors of light your tank lights are emitting. hard to explain.
Sorry for the Off topic post but...
Thanks for the shout out! I Have decided to join here as well now.
jpsika08
Well-Known Member
I have seen this, of course only possible with glass aquariums, but do you think that would be the same color spectrum that goes into the tank?
I am wondering for a DIY LED lighting. how much voltage should my power supplybe? also i hacve free acess to all sorts of LEDS what color combinations are good for reef. no specific corals atm. but i can make the lighting to fluxuate or changethe ammount of lighting. 20gal and 155 gal. also anyone have used UV leds? im looking into uv sterilizer too. and also thinking about the effects of infra-reds. possible sterilizer?. sry using forums via mobile sowas unableto read all the info providwd yet
monkeytrumpet
Member
I'm sure I wont be the only one to recommend against using a large amount of UV leds in the tank, not only because of the damage it can do to your eyesight, but also to your reef. Use them by all means in a seperate system to pass through maybe on a return feed to the tank, but not associated to your main lighting!
As far as your voltage is concerned, you need to check the forward potential of the LEDs you intend to use, that will give you a start point on your calculations. Before you start using them though, I'd recommend reading the rest of this thread though, standard LEDs just wont to, they arent powerful enough, and dont give the right 'type' of light, for want of a better way of putting it!
CREE LEDs seem to be the way to go these days, the technology is moving massively quickly, get the best you can! they aren't cheap though!
As far as your voltage is concerned, you need to check the forward potential of the LEDs you intend to use, that will give you a start point on your calculations. Before you start using them though, I'd recommend reading the rest of this thread though, standard LEDs just wont to, they arent powerful enough, and dont give the right 'type' of light, for want of a better way of putting it!
CREE LEDs seem to be the way to go these days, the technology is moving massively quickly, get the best you can! they aren't cheap though!
jpsika08
Well-Known Member
Welcome to RS Teishokue.
Usually, you can pump up the LED drivers at 9volts, and delivering 770 mAH's, each driver is designed to handle from 12 to 24 LEDS, being 12 better as it will promote longer life to the LED and Driver unit.
Also, look out perfectly which brand LED's you acquire, usually CREE ones are the best as they have proven to work and are most used in the Aquarium trade.
Amount and type of leds would depend on thank dimensions.
Here is a good UV sterilizer Link so you can decide whether to use one or not.
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/fish-diseases-treatments/45307-uv-u-me.html
Usually, you can pump up the LED drivers at 9volts, and delivering 770 mAH's, each driver is designed to handle from 12 to 24 LEDS, being 12 better as it will promote longer life to the LED and Driver unit.
Also, look out perfectly which brand LED's you acquire, usually CREE ones are the best as they have proven to work and are most used in the Aquarium trade.
Amount and type of leds would depend on thank dimensions.
Here is a good UV sterilizer Link so you can decide whether to use one or not.
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/fish-diseases-treatments/45307-uv-u-me.html
Jackalope
Member
i would not push anything below the 400nm range as you are nearing UV. i wold think it would fry your corals. although ive never confirmed this personally.
They are making a good 403nm LED just not sure where i saw it at.
i would def. try to do some of this type of setup if i had the funds: 403nm, royal blue, blue, very few 10K (for mid day sun), and some 660's. I would probably use 10K's the fewest then 660. then the rest equally divided.
They are making a good 403nm LED just not sure where i saw it at.
i would def. try to do some of this type of setup if i had the funds: 403nm, royal blue, blue, very few 10K (for mid day sun), and some 660's. I would probably use 10K's the fewest then 660. then the rest equally divided.
Jackalope
Member
funny how we skipped the ERA OF LIGHTING on this thread. kinda glad. might as well figure that LED's are the futured for lighting and we might as well get a real good grip on it and what it can do for us. so far ive seen some excellent results that are exceeding what halides can do just because of color choice and "color spectrum targetting". some things that cant be done with halides.
Juan thanks for the friend request on CoD. Been playing again since my brother came up unexpectedly and decided we should play more of the newer maps. they are really slick.
Juan thanks for the friend request on CoD. Been playing again since my brother came up unexpectedly and decided we should play more of the newer maps. they are really slick.
chipmunkofdoom2
Well-Known Member
In the hood I made for BigAl's Nanocube, he suspects it was the UVs that fried the one bird's nest he tried in there. We'll probably never know for sure though.
For voltage for power supplies, the voltage is less of a concern than current limiting. The current is what can burn out LEDs in a hurry. As they reach the top end of their output and their heat rises, they start consuming more current, so it's important to have a good current limiting driver on there. Meanwells and Buckpucks are good options.
Jackalope
Member
not sure if i understand your question there. and welcome to ReefSanctuary =-)
jerldrson49
New Member
Currently, LEDs are vastly inferior to T5 fluorescents in terms of efficiency and energy costs. T5 efficiency are around 105/lumens/watt where as the best LEDs you can buy are only 70 lumens/watt.
My NYC electrician friend whose helping me with tank lighting, also told me that the heat dissipation for LEDs is around 80-90% whereas T5s are around 50-60%. This means it will take more energy from fans, chillers, etc. to cool the temperature, and thereby increasing energy costs. But, LEDs are good for spotlight usage, and if it's not a huge tank the downsides will be negligible.
My NYC electrician friend whose helping me with tank lighting, also told me that the heat dissipation for LEDs is around 80-90% whereas T5s are around 50-60%. This means it will take more energy from fans, chillers, etc. to cool the temperature, and thereby increasing energy costs. But, LEDs are good for spotlight usage, and if it's not a huge tank the downsides will be negligible.
I think your friend is missing something? Experience and everything I've read regarding lighting in the aquarium industry is directly opposite. LEDs are better for light and run much cooler, and use less energy?
Is your friend familiar with, and taking into consideration, the use of optics?
chipmunkofdoom2
Well-Known Member
Well all the science is right there. There are questionable numbers without a source and the unverifiable, and probably incorrect due to years of misinformation, opinions of an electrician friend. You can hardly contest with that iron-clad argument.. jerldson must be a lawyer or something
I'm afraid you're getting some "misinformation" friend. Part of the beauty of LED is the fact that any heat they DO produce is produced back away from the water as opposed to being pushed down into the water column like MH does. Yes LED has some heat issues and that's why almost every high quality LED fixture will have a significant heat sink which the LED are attached directly to. This leads to lower tank temps, less energy consumption (no chiller needed usually) and BETTER light into the tank. This is all assuming that HIGH quality components are being used and used correctly.
I can't dispute your friends lumen to watt statement but can tell you this much... when I converted my 12g tank from 54W fluorescent (Which is what T5 are except these were PC) to 12@3w LED (36W) my tank temps went down, energy use WAY down and my tank evaporation (only 1 cooling fan now instead of 2) went from about 1/2 - 1 gallon a week to less than 1 gallon a MONTH. That's real world numbers that have been consistent for going on 2 years now.
LED units are MUCH more useful than "Spotlight" use. I'm not sure how he came up with this theory but it's flawed greatly. Another beauty of LED is that if the tank needs more spread than penetration "Optics" can be installed to increase the spread of the light from mild to WILD levels.
I think (and I truly mean this in a nice way but it's hard to convey attitude in typed text) it would benefit your friend to study up on LED's in relation to reefing. Some of the most advanced lights on the market right now are LED and SUPER high end at that. I think he's behind the times slightly because LED is in some instances "Cutting Edge" when it comes to Reef lighting.