Opinions on my lighting configuration

[Wildman]

I am building a LED fixture from scratch. I ordered LEDs a year ago and am just now getting around to building it. It's for a 75gal mixed reef. So will be two 9"X18" heat sinks. Each with 24 LEDs(48 total). I would like to get opinions on color ratio.
2 cyan, 2 green, 4 red, 8 UV (violet), 12 RB, 12 CW, and 8 NW. The whites are 5w, everything else is 3w. All crees.
This doesn't really follow the 2:1 ratio, but with the UV should give me good florescence without a 20K look...maybe? I'm looking for more 12K with excellent coral florescence I think.

I am not really looking to discuss which type of lighting is best(LED, HQI, T-5s etc). Would like to keep it to a discussion just on temperature and coral health. When I ordered I got all RB and CW. I am definitely going to make another order to fill out the color some. Would like some input before I make a final decision on how many of what.

Thanks,
Travis

 

[Rob.D]

I would definitely add more blues. The number of 5 watt whites are going to wash out the blues.

 

[cee]

I think it depends a lot on what you intend to keep. LPS and zoanthid keepers tend to prefer the bluer spectrum but I, as a SPS collector, tend to like the 12-14k spectrum. Too blue is nice for aesthetics but I prefer something that mimics a shallow reef environment. Since your whites are 5 W I probably would have gone with a few more RBs but water under the bridge at this point. You could always substitute the warmer whites out for a cool white and that might help. I don't find the UV/violets to make as much as an impact as the Royal blues but are likely necessary for the proper spectrum.

 

[Wildman]

This tank will be less sps. I will be doing another build after this one so I need more of everything. That is why I can change the numbers around now.
Interesting Cee. I have heard the violet is what really makes the corals fluoresce. Maybe not as good for overall color. I have also read the warmer white are better for coral health. That is the reason I wanted to add some of those.

The issue I will have adding more blue is having to add another driver. Probably better anyway. I am kinda leery of running them at their max of 14 LEDs. It would also leave me room to add in either direction to adjust color later.

 

[c_healy]

What drivers do you have? I have the meanwell 60-48d drivers and run 24 leds on each driver. You may want to add more rb. Also look into deep red. I just added some and I love the slight color they give to the tank. And they give off the same wavelength chlorophyll a has a spike in. Check out the rapid led drivers, they come pre drilled for 36 leds. I have one over my 55 and drilled and tapped 12 more holes for a total of 48 leds.

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[Wildman]

On this one I am making my own heatsinks out of u-channel.

Am I missing something? I thought the 60-48 only did up to 14 as well. I have the 35-700.

 

[c_healy]

You can run the leds in two strings of up to 12 leds on each string. The numbers on each string must be the same other wise the string with more leds will not turn on.

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[cee]

You can run the leds in two strings of up to 12 leds on each string. The numbers on each string must be the same other wise the string with more leds will not turn on.

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You can, but at half the power. I run 24 Bridgelux LEDs this way with a 1 A driver but it would be under powering the Cree LEDs.

 

[Wildman]

What if I added 4 blue and subtracted 2 white? That would be 24 blue to 18 white. That still leaves me 9- 5w white per side for a 75gal. Do you think that will be good for lower end sps?

 

[Wildman]

You can run the leds in two strings of up to 12 leds on each string. The numbers on each string must be the same other wise the string with more leds will not turn on.

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I have read about running parallel strings with larger drivers but that is a little more technical than I want to get.