Led light question

[Ron99]

Watts per gallon doesn't really apply with LEDs. It's more about how much PAR you want for a given depth and then choosing optics and the appropriate number of LEDs for that. For an RSM 60 degree optics should be plenty. So that means spacing LEDS 2 to 2.5 inches apart in the rows and then having the rows about 3 inches apart.

What are the dimensions of the RSM?

As for LEDs, I would go Cree instead of Luxeon. The Crees are brighter and more efficient then the Luxeion right now. Cree seems to be leading in LED technology and Phillips has fallen behind.

For the 220 Gallon you will need a crapload of emitters. I would suggest contacting ETG technologies (http://www.etgtech.com/) as they can probably give you good pricing on a larger quantity of Cree XR-E stars and optics. With the depth on that tank you will probably have to go 40 degree optics which means keeping the LEDs 1.5 to 2 inches apart. That is lots of LEDs You could go 60 degree optics if you only keep lower light stuff in the bottom 12 to 18 inches.

If I were building for a 220 I would go 5 or 6 rows depending on how much PAR you think you will need. You would probably have to do two rows of heatsinks as finding a 2 foot wide heatsink is near impossible. So I would build 4 arrays using 8 inch wide by 30 to 32 inches long heatsinks. Each array would have 3 rows of 14 to 15 LEDs for a total of 168 to 180 emitters You will then need 14 meanwell 48V drivers like the ELN60-48. Rough ballpark estimate on cost would be $2000 to $2100 for LEDs, drivers, heatsinks and optics. Bank on maybe $400 to $500 hundred more for misc. parts, fans, wire, aluminum for mounts etc. So $2400 to maybe $2600. Not bad all things considered as an Aqua Illumination setup for the same sized tank would probably cost you $5000 but it is still a big up front investment.

[monocus]

as the canopy i made has 2 slide out shelves for accessing the lights(shelves are 31''x21'' holding 2 28'' coalifes each) i was going to make 2 26x15 arrays.i was also thinking about not using optics or adding them at a later date.i have a whole shop full of tools so building them isn't a problem