DIY LED layout on a 20" cube???
 

I have 20" cube, so far I have a 20" heatsink, 12xRB, 8x XM-L NW, 2 x Blue , 6 x UV, 2x Red. 80 degree optics. 3 PWM drivers to be controlled by Reef Angel.

Have no idea what length to machine the heatsink down to. Also have no clue on LED mix and layout... My Biocube8 is evenly spaced, but has no optics and only 2 colors. No experience with a bunch of colors and optics?

To make it easier, I labeled pennies, ha ha!

I just randomly cobbled theses together... Would one big array cluster be okay, or two separate ones, (radion-like)

1 Large Arrray:
http://i921.photobucket.com/albums/a...psfb0fc31b.jpg

2x This array:
http://i921.photobucket.com/albums/a...psd31a249b.jpg

I might be doing something like this so I'll be watching your progress.

For the cube I would do one title packed array. If you have two arrays (ie. two light sources) you'll probably end up with colour separation and get that multicolor shadow disco effect. If it was a long tank, you'd need two clusters for the coverage but with a cube, you'll probably get enough spread from a single array. On my biocube is use 22 LEDs (granted many of them are 3-up stars) packed into a tight rectangular array similar in shape to a metal halide reflector. Works well.

I would also recommend adding some ocean coral white and true violet LEDs to that mix there. For me they took me LEDs from meh to awesome.

Thanks for the input, so are "ocean coral white" the 3-up kind? My "UV" are Violet UV 3W, I guess that varies from True Violet?

Thanks again

Ah yes, missed the uv part. Same same.

The ocw are 3-ups from LED groupbuy. I use them more than my whites. They look great.

This is the layout I went on my 20 gallon cube. It works awesome but like scubasteve said, I do get just a teeny bit of light separation in the odd shadow produced by my live rock. You normally don't notice it but it is there if you look hard enough.
http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...LEDlayout2.jpg

I think you will find it a bit too white with that ratio of white to blue. What ratio do you have over your Biocube? You should try it without the optics first. They rate them as 80 degree, but I found the beam a bit too tight. Much less shadowing without them.

id recommend using ocean coral white instead of the red and blue emitters. together the OCW looks white to us but fills in a lot of spectrum lacking by the RB/NW combo. keep the RB and NW as close as possible. if you use the OCW, you could do 2 clusters without any color banding.

I've got mine on a dim4 controller and I use that to colour mix. Each spectrum colour is on individual channels and 3 of those RB's are used only for moon lighting. And I am running no optics, although if I remember correctly the UV comes factory with optics pre-mounted.

Thanks for all the responses guys. I've been away from a "real computer", just a dying smart-phone...
My cube is 8 royal blue and 4 Neutral White, (too many LEDs I know!), no optics. both on same dimable driver. It'd be nice to have ability to dim separately, but I'm happy enough with colour. Definitely not too blue, I'd say most would want more blue/higher K. As for the blueness of my next project we'll see?

Good idea to hold off gluing optics, thanks.

Thanks for input, I'm going to hold off on 3ups or OCW and try and use what I have. Can they only be driven to 500mA? I guess you'd need a separate driver too?

Ya, this point it'll only be 2 dimming channels for 3 drivers. So hopfully it'll be a decent look... My UVs were optic free.

Stevesleds has rebels I think that can be driven to 700ma all day long. He doesn't call them ocw, but they do the same thing. I will probably try them next myself.

I'd like to know what you end up doing with this light build Rob, seeing as I just bought the same tank from you and would also like to try my hand at an LED build. :D

If I spent $300 and ended up with the disco ball effect, or insufficient light for sps I'd be ticked, so am looking to learn from your experience. It will likely be a late summer project for me so you've got lots of time to experiment!

cheers
Paul

One thing I just noticed is you listed XML nw emitters. These are much higher powered than the xte emitters. You can use less than the 2:1 ratio but they need higher current as well. I'd recommend using 3-UPS to prevent disco. clustering the 3ups and other colors will prevent disco. Nanoreef has tons of good info in their lighting forum.

HI, just saw these posts... Email isn't link to my canreef anymore.Will do, keep you posted when I get it finished!
Yes, XM-L with Mean Well ELN-60-27P dimmable driver which can drive up to 2.3amp