Is 12 LED enogh for LPS in a 29 Biocube

[Supernova26]

I will be upgrading the 29 biocube to LED from Rapidled. I will only be keeping LPS in there and I can't decide to go for the 12 or 24 LED's. What do yo guys think? I know that light spread is going to be somewhat of an issue with only 12 LED's. I was thinking to get the 80 optics.

[Mando77]

I think you could do 12. Remember to space the lights and corals properly. I would do SPS though unless it was directly uder light and high up. LPS and softies should be OK.

 

 

[Supernova26]

I like it . It's $100 less for 12

[BowieReefer84]

I have 24 and it's BRIGHT! 12 would likely be fine. I would not use any optics.

[BowieReefer84]

I would get this

 

http://www.rapidled.com/servlet/the-65/14-Ultra-Premium-LED/Detail

 

instead of doing 7 of each, I would ask for them to do 9 blue and 5 white. This will be close to 20k look.

[Supernova26]

Thank You. I will be going with the 14 LEDs. Waiting on Uncle Sam for some tax money.

[BowieReefer84]

Thank You. I will be going with the 14 LEDs. Waiting on Uncle Sam for some tax money.

 

What heatsink are you using? What ratio of LED's do you plan to use, and which LED's, and which drivers?

[Supernova26]

I will prob get a 23"x 4" heatsink from rapidled. I am getting the dimmable driver and I am still deciding if I am doing 8/6 or 7/7 LED's. XP-G R5 for the white and XR-E for the royal blue.

[BowieReefer84]

I will prob get a 23"x 4" heatsink from rapidled. I am getting the dimmable driver and I am still deciding if I am doing 8/6 or 7/7 LED's. XP-G R5 for the white and XR-E for the royal blue.

I would get 8 blue and 6 white. My setup is 12 blue and 12 white with the xp-g and xr-e. I did not get dimmable, and I wish mine looked more blue... If you do 50/50 it will look crisp white. There won't be much blue tint at all. With LPS you will get much more glow with 8/6 imo.

 

Here is a pick of mine with both whites and blues.

 

Whites only

 

Blues only

[Supernova26]

Cool, thanks for the pictures. I can see the difference and I do like the blue look a little better.

[TonyD]

I will prob get a 23"x 4" heatsink from rapidled. I am getting the dimmable driver and I am still deciding if I am doing 8/6 or 7/7 LED's. XP-G R5 for the white and XR-E for the royal blue.

 

Are you planning on using 1 driver? I would suggest not mixing XP-G LEDs with XR-E LEDs if you are using 1 driver. It's a constant current source and if you drive your LEDs too hard for the XP-Gs, you'll fry the XR-Es. If you drive the LEDs for the XR-Es, you'll underdrive the XP-Gs....not as bad as frying LEDs but won't be as bright as it could be. XP-Gs are rated at 1500mA max. XR-Es are rated at 1000mA max so you will probably drive it around 700mA....half of what the XP-Gs are rated for. The XP-Gs would be dimmer than its full potential.

 

Now...if you are using 2 drivers, that' a different story.

[TonyD]

Blues only

 

Getting in line for a frag of this....

[BowieReefer84]

Are you planning on using 1 driver? I would suggest not mixing XP-G LEDs with XR-E LEDs if you are using 1 driver. It's a constant current source and if you drive your LEDs too hard for the XP-Gs, you'll fry the XR-Es. If you drive the LEDs for the XR-Es, you'll underdrive the XP-Gs....not as bad as frying LEDs but won't be as bright as it could be. XP-Gs are rated at 1500mA max. XR-Es are rated at 1000mA max so you will probably drive it around 700mA....half of what the XP-Gs are rated for. The XP-Gs would be dimmer than its full potential.

 

Now...if you are using 2 drivers, that' a different story.

 

 

Good call. I would skip the xp-g's, and just use cool white xr-e's that are driven at 700. Make sure you do not drive more than 14 XR-E LED's on the lpc-60-48d....

[Supernova26]

Thanks for the input. I will replace the XP-G with the XR-E.