Custom LED lighting advice. Input please?

[Coasting]

The Nova is my current light over my 36"x18" tank, perfect coverage on that.

The lights I mentioned in the first post were not Novas. I would need 3 turned sideways to cover a 4ft by 2ft tank

The last ones I just posted Im thinking I would get 2 x 48" ones. Then each ones is responsibe for a 1ft strip of tank. Or 3 of them if I can get my hands on a 200DD tank

[Craigdillman]

Ah ok that makes sense,

Ive been looking at redoing my light set up and maybe make a hood and include some t5s to supplement my rapid led or maybe get new leds and add t5 so this thread sparked my interest lol some of these new cheap leds are tough to beat i think

[GoFish]

Another one to consider is the Evergrow IT5012.
It's 1/2" wider and 1" thinner than the Malibu and has 6 colour channels instead of 4. No idea on price sorry. When talking with Evergrow they're quick to reply at first but when they realize you aren't a business/going to order a 10 fixture minimum for custom colour layouts communication kinda dies off. You MAY be able to utilize Reefsupplies to help you get one instead of dealing with China yourself

If you do decide on a light that has 3w diodes and they won't customize them for you I have a handful of spare diodes in several different colours that could easily be soldered (UV, Cyan, Pink, royal blue)

[maron6977]

Have you considered adding a T5 on front & behind fixture - to get spread on the 2' wide . That's what I did & very happy . Gottem from hydroponic store - I think $35 each with hanging kit , reflector & bulb (not that I used it)

[Coasting]

Ive heard squat back from evergrow.
My very first light was customized directly through them.
I did see the evergrow 5012 and its fairly expensive. Over a grand US i believe and i was searching where to buy that and came accross the malibu fixtures which are more in my budget. They seem to be slightly cheaper then the evergrow 2012.

I really hope i hear back from the malibu light people. Even not customized the lights seem nice. I would just want darker blues.

[Coasting]

Oh goodie! They do allow customization of the Malibu fixtures....

I think perhaps...
Per each section. 4 sections per fixture.
Ch1: 6 x 460nm Blue
Ch2: 6 x 12,000k white
Ch3: 2 x 410nm UV 4x 460nm Royal Blue
Ch4: 1 x 630nm Red 1x 530nm Green 2x 440nm Blue 2x Either warm whites or more blues.....??
Not sure how I feel about channel 4.... What would you put?
Same as below except this ones channel 4 is different then the photo.

[AquaAddict]

First of all, I hope your don't mind me asking the question below -

Maron..

Could you tell me what kind of T5 you bought? I would like to do the same thing but don't know if it should be 5,000 or 15,000 or 67,000 to supplement my LED Zetlight. How is everything working out on your lighting?

AquaAddict

[Coasting]

Okay what do you guys think of this?
What would you change? add? remove? instead of?
Move UV on number 3, and more dark blue on number 1? or leave as is.
the 4th one is still getting me. Not sure what I want.

[maron6977]

Originally Posted by AquaAddict

First of all, I hope your don't mind me asking the question below -

Maron..

Could you tell me what kind of T5 you bought? I would like to do the same thing but don't know if it should be 5,000 or 15,000 or 67,000 to supplement my LED Zetlight. How is everything working out on your lighting?

AquaAddict

I'm using 48" sunblaster T5 HO w/reflector with Ati blue plus .
Using 1 on each side of my Kessils because of my 30" wide tank . These lights can be piggy backed up to I think 6or8 lights - then just one cord.

[mike31154]

Originally Posted by Coasting

Okay what do you guys think of this?
What would you change? add? remove? instead of?
Move UV on number 3, and more dark blue on number 1? or leave as is.
the 4th one is still getting me. Not sure what I want.

Are you sure you're not somewhat overthinking the whole process? Could take hours of study & research if you take it to this level & we don't know for sure what you're trying to keep under your lights with regard to livestock. Have you considered some of the multichip options such as Kessil, which has already come up here? They've already done the research & come up with a blend of colours that suits most applications. Custom is great provided there is an easy way to change colours out if you find you've made the wrong choice for your needs. If you like the Listerine blue look, then go for more blues, based on the ratio you have on your existing fixture. Some folks love to have many controllable channels, but in the end it adds needless complexity & I wager most of them end up setting & forgetting at some point. Don't forget to consider your livestock in this decision too though, although it sounds as if your current fixture has done the job on the previous tank.