Custom LED lighting advice. Input please?

[Coasting]

Oh I know I'm totally overthinking it.
I really do like what I currently have. However more colour POP would be nice (not sure how to obtain that)
So in my mind I guess im having difficulties replicating what I have on my Nova fixture, into this other fixture.

I tried to do research... and everything is so ... EVERYWHERE!
Don't use colours! BLUE AND WHITE ONLY
or
Use colours! It enhances your corals colours.

I am mostly LPS, with a few simple SPS. I have no intentions of dosing or doing anything complicated at this point.

I frequently played with the 2 channels on my Nova fixtures.

I think the shimmer from the kessils would make me nauseous.

Plus I think this is still a better bang for my buck. I will get full coverage of my tank and im paying well under $1000 for lights. Kessil... Ha, I think id need another job...

[mike31154]

For the POP you wish to have, something in the royal blue & UV spectrum will do the trick.

[daplatapus]

After over a year researching what I was going to do with my DIY fixture here's what I came up with that anyone thinking of doing something like this needs to keep in mind:

1) Corals typically grow under natural sunlight which has an extremely vast range of light wavelength - the range of those wavelengths gets shorter and shorter the deeper you go.

2) I believe, that the light we create needs to re-create that spectrum as close as possible to achieve as natural as possible coral growth.

3) LED's light spectrum's are incredibly narrow. So the more variety you have the closer our light fixtures reach natural light. I personally have issues with fixtures that only have Royal Blue and Cool White LED's. Sure they will grow stuff, and sure they look ok to the human eye. But I sincerely believe that they lack 90% of the spectrum (or more). And we really have no idea exactly what parts of the spectrum every symbiotic algae needs in the corals, clams and other creatures that may live in our tanks. It is my personal opinion that is why MH lights work so well over 99% of LED fixtures. They provide the entire light spectrum while every single LED fixture produced, does not.

4) You can cut out certain wavelengths (and this may indeed be desirable in some cases) as some wavelengths do seem to grow undesirable algae's better than others.

The whole subject is difficult to grasp and is not fully understood by even the leading scientists. But it only seems logical that we need to recreate as close as possible natural conditions within our personal constraints of fixture size, budget etc.

And, yes, I know that my ramblings may not be entirely helpful, lol

[Coasting]

See that's why I figured adding reds and greens and warm whites makes sense.... Not all the corals we have are from 100ft or deeper.... tons of reefs are within 1-2 feet of the surface. So if the reds get filtered out by the water, then the water in my tank would help filter them out.

I really do like LEDs... Every overpriced name brand fixture is slightly different. So whos to say which one is correct?
MH would probably cook us to death in the summer.

[ReefMaverick]

How about a DIY project using Radion Puck...there is a good post on Reef Central on how to do this...

[Coasting]

Originally Posted by ReefMaverick

How about a DIY project using Radion Puck...there is a good post on Reef Central on how to do this...

Because I suck at technical stuff :P
And there's usually way to much swearing involved in that kinda stuff

[gobytron]

I would just consider going T5 and supplementing with LED.


You get the full power and spectrum of T5 plus the phosphorescence of LED.

It would also be a lot cheaper and easier.

LED technology is a moving target, you'll likely require a lot of trial and error before you and your coral are happy.

[Coasting]

I was never happy with the colour I got with T5. Tried a few different bulb combos. I mean I have enough 24" t5 fixtures I could probably get away with using those on the tank for the time being, but I was never happy with them. When I sold the 36" one off my 65 and got my Nova, I was much happier. Things actually started growing and I could actually frag them.

Im not in any rush to buy a light, I don't even have the tank yet LOL then Id want it to cycle a bit with some dry rock and heck even use it with a few new fish before I move everyone from my 65 over. So it wont be seeing coral any time soon.

Researching spectrums and what not just makes my brain want to explode. Every article I read is different. Every person has a different opinion. Blah...

[gobytron]

That's because it's an ever developing technology and every reefer has different eyes.

I agree that LED looks so much nicer than t5 but I think you would find the best fit in going with T5 and supplementing with LED.

Even putting a cheap hamilton strip light to accentuate my 2 55 watt CF bulbs in my RSM130 makes huge difference.

You could spend 150-200 bucks on a sweet, controllable led that will make your corals pop and still get the growth you're looking for from T5's.

That being said, if you'll thoroughly enjoy the learning and building process for an LED, that's probably worth the trial and error in and of itself.