Stu September 19, 2011 Share September 19, 2011 It seems like a lot of WAMAS members are doing DIY LED builds, and consequently have a lot of questions about color mixing. For anyone attempting a DIY LED build, I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend reading this thread first: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=246394 It's very long, but is extremely informative, and it was an immense help in planning my build. Several people participating in the discussion have done pretty extensive testing of different LED colors, and posted their results. Cool white, royal blue, neutral white, blue, green, red, UV, etc. are all covered. It takes a while to read through, but once you do, you will be glad you did. I consider it an excellent primer on the aesthetics of different LEDs over a reef tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AcePuck35 September 19, 2011 Share September 19, 2011 Has anyone else checked out the above link? I skimmed through all the posts. One main thing they figured out was a 2:1 ratio of Blue to white and mixing royal blue with blue because the blue brings out colors in some coal that the royal blue does not. This is completely got me back to the drawing board for my LED set up. Thanks Stu for posting the link! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad September 19, 2011 Share September 19, 2011 ^I have read some of it, I will get through it in time. It actually validates what I have been thinking with a RB, B, CW, NW, WW mix... I am just trying to figure out how exactly to do that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest thefishman65 September 19, 2011 Share September 19, 2011 I am on page ten. So we shall see what they say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu September 19, 2011 Author Share September 19, 2011 Has anyone else checked out the above link? I skimmed through all the posts. One main thing they figured out was a 2:1 ratio of Blue to white and mixing royal blue with blue because the blue brings out colors in some coal that the royal blue does not. This is completely got me back to the drawing board for my LED set up. Thanks Stu for posting the link! No problem; I hope it helps. Replacing just 3 RB's with blues in my array made a big difference, particularly with red corals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowieReefer84 September 19, 2011 Share September 19, 2011 No problem; I hope it helps. Replacing just 3 RB's with blues in my array made a big difference, particularly with red corals. whats your ratio/setup now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu September 19, 2011 Author Share September 19, 2011 whats your ratio/setup now? 17 RB 3 B 10 NW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowieReefer84 September 19, 2011 Share September 19, 2011 17 RB 3 B 10 NW Yea, I have 12rb and 12cw right now. I placed an order for 4 warm white, 4 neutral white, and 4 blue. I want to play around to get the best combo while maintaining 24 led's in total. I am leaning towards the following setup: 6cw 4ww 2nw 8rb 4b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu September 19, 2011 Author Share September 19, 2011 Yea, I have 12rb and 12cw right now. I placed an order for 4 warm white, 4 neutral white, and 4 blue. I want to play around to get the best combo while maintaining 24 led's in total. I am leaning towards the following setup: 6cw 4ww 2nw 8rb 4b Let me know how it goes. Unfortunately with these builds it seems playing with combinations is the only way to truly get a customized product. I just wish it wasn't so time consuming/semi-permanent! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowieReefer84 September 19, 2011 Share September 19, 2011 Let me know how it goes. Unfortunately with these builds it seems playing with combinations is the only way to truly get a customized product. I just wish it wasn't so time consuming/semi-permanent! My heatsink is drilled/tapped and I use solderless connections. Makes it a lot easier for me to play around with. Just a matter of unscrewing two small screws for each led... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypertech September 19, 2011 Share September 19, 2011 My heatsink is drilled/tapped and I use solderless connections. Makes it a lot easier for me to play around with. Just a matter of unscrewing two small screws for each led... Thats the only way I'd do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest thefishman65 September 20, 2011 Share September 20, 2011 6cw4ww 2nw 8rb 4b Sounds a little white, but I wait to here the results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowieReefer84 September 20, 2011 Share September 20, 2011 Sounds a little white, but I wait to here the results. Yea, I plan on leaving the blues and royal blues at full power on one meanwell. The whites will be on a seperate meanwell and will be dimmed down until I am happy with the color... I do not need all the PAR they provide so it should be ok (I hope). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest thefishman65 September 20, 2011 Share September 20, 2011 IIRC you have 12/12 now so you can always put some of the RB you take out onto the white channel if you need more PAR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowieReefer84 September 20, 2011 Share September 20, 2011 IIRC you have 12/12 now so you can always put some of the RB you take out onto the white channel if you need more PAR. Yup, that's what I am thinking. I will end up with extra led's when this is all said and done. I'll make a day out of it while watching football one of these weekends. My main concern is that the colors all blend ok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fry_school101 September 20, 2011 Share September 20, 2011 Has anyone else here used reds or warm yellows (whites)? I haven't put together my last purchase yet, but my first one had zero color pop on the red and yellow corals / fish. It looks very washed out and bland. I went with cool white and royal blues on that one, but I'm going to need to mix it up a little. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad September 20, 2011 Share September 20, 2011 Not yet, but mine will be running soon and will include ~18% warm white. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowieReefer84 September 20, 2011 Share September 20, 2011 Not yet, but mine will be running soon and will include ~18% warm white. Honestly, I think 16%-17% would be better based on my research. You sure 18% is the correct amount of warm white's? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad September 20, 2011 Share September 20, 2011 gahhh!!! flop, twitch, twitch, flop, twitch, twitch!!! (Edit: I actually started writing a response, but then thought you were probably messing with me!!!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu September 20, 2011 Author Share September 20, 2011 Has anyone else here used reds or warm yellows (whites)? I haven't put together my last purchase yet, but my first one had zero color pop on the red and yellow corals / fish. It looks very washed out and bland. I went with cool white and royal blues on that one, but I'm going to need to mix it up a little. I understand the desire to experiment with warm whites, but as an FYI, NW's (which are I believe ~2000k higher than WW's) are VERY yellow. Some of the guys on nano reef experimented with WW's and attempted to balance them out with RB's/B's, and the outcome was "Wonka-like" (not in a good way). I'm never one to discourage experimentation, but I don't think going much lower on the Kelvin scale than NW's will be very aesthetically pleasing. The key to adding reds (which many people scrapped) seems to be driving them at a lower current (not sure if this is the right terminology). Essentially, running even one LED at the same intensity as the other LEDs in the array was enough to give a terrible "disco-ball" look...think red bouncing all over the sand from the shimmer. I have, however, seen a few builds where a 1W red was added (amongst 3W LEDs), and the effect worked. All this to say that I also had the problems with red/yellow color pop, and it was instantly cured by replacing a few royal blues with blues. See this post for some other clarification on mixing whites: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=246394&view=findpost&p=3314433 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest thefishman65 September 20, 2011 Share September 20, 2011 I just finished the Aesthetics thread over on nano-reef. I felt the general view was 6 NW : 10 RB : 2 CB or about there. I got no solid opinion that anything else was needed. I have the advantage of having only XR-E so my CW are warmer than XP-Gs. I will be changing have of them to NW and 4 of 24 RB to CB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basser9 September 24, 2011 Share September 24, 2011 Funny thing about leds are that the cheap chinese 18k led have a fat blue spectrum so much better then anything that cree makes. Maybe running your whites at full blast and using the cheap chinese ones is better then running cree white at 70 percent. Think about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowieReefer84 September 25, 2011 Share September 25, 2011 Just swapped some led's while watching my fantasy league tick me off... 24 leds total broken down as follows: 10rb 4b 2ww 2nw 6cw I am happy with the change. The difference is not huge, but it is a definite improvement I believe. Used to be 12cw and 12rb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad September 25, 2011 Share September 25, 2011 before after pics, Mike? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowieReefer84 September 26, 2011 Share September 26, 2011 before after pics, Mike? I just updated my build thread. Anything before today are the before pictures... It makes it look more blue than it really is. Basically I can go from blue to crisp white with the setup I have now. Hard to take a good picture with the led's. Most are underexposed... Also, I would say mix up the led's. I see nothing negative with what I have done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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