# LED Lighting - What Ratio, Amount, and Spectrum Needed for Reef?



## Vinoy Thomas (Jan 4, 2013)

Hi Everyone,

I have decided to go with LED.

I have been doing some research on DIY fixtures and I found this online website called Rapid LED (thanks altcharacter). On their website they have for sale many different spectrum LEDs (blue, violet, white, natural white, cool white, etc.). The website allows people to assemble a fully customized LED fixture for a reasonable price.

It's all so confusing for me and I don't want to purchase the wrong parts then end up having all my coral die or lose their colors.

So, I ask the experienced community for help with choosing the right LED components needed to support coral.

I would like to know with the help of you all, the ratio of different types of LEDs (ex. blue vs white) and also the number of LEDs needed to support coral (SPS, LPS, etc.)

Here is a link to the website:

http://www.rapidled.com/

Thanks all for your time and knowledge,
Vinoy


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## d3rsk (Feb 3, 2013)

email them with tank size and specs and see what they send back to you.

I did that a while ago and they were pretty helpful with telling me what I needed. I have not bought it yet, as I wanted to save up a tad more cash before dropping more into the tank.

Just make sure you tell them its coming to Canada...shipping may be a tad different.


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

I found the other company. A few people on the forums have used their products with success and it's worth checking out

http://www.aquastyleonline.com/products/Aquarium-24-LEDs-DIY-Kit.html
That 24 LED kit is pretty good and you could buy two of them if you had a larger tank. Still under 200 bucks.


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## Vinoy Thomas (Jan 4, 2013)

Hey,

Thanks for the replies.

I've been doing some research on the AquaStyleOnline DIY LED kits and the majority of people who have used their products seem to always refer to the poor amount of light they emit. So, to stay on the safe side I think I will stick with Rapid LED even though their prices may be slightly higher. Aside from the reviews for AquaStyleOnline, I can't solder AT ALL and I'll need to solder for the kits form their website, on the other hand Rapid LED offers solder less LEDs.

So, coming back to my main question, what would be the ratio of LEDs be (ex. blue vs white etc.) needed to support all types of coral. Also, how many LEDs would I have to have to support coral. Lastly, do I need to include multiple colors (blue, white, violet, UV, green, pink, etc.)?

Thanks for all the help,
Vinoy


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## marblerye (Jul 25, 2010)

I follow the LED industry somewhat, and I can honestly say if you stick with the CREE brand you can't go wrong. This company is the leader in LED innovation- constantly coming out with newer and more efficient diodes that no one has ever done before. Let us not forget it was CREE who has broken the 200 lumens per watt barrier; something many people contested to be impossible.

I made a purchase recently to RapidLED but have yet to set it all up for a build I'm doing but just when I thought the XLamp XM-L LEDs were the best you can get, CREE comes out with XM-L2 which are 20% more efficient and run at a more stable temperature. They have not yet been introduced to the reef enthusiast market but I bet later in the year the higher end LEDs you can get will be XM-L2's from sites like RapidLED. However, this high powered LED isn't for everyone as the XM-L's require higher ranged current output. The maximum current is 3000mA or 3.0 Amps. I plan on running them at 1750mA on a chain of 10 XM-Ls. One thing I love about RapidLED is that they pick and choose the better bins for each CREE LED they sell. For example, XM-L LEDs have a range of different bins and the U2 bin is the better ones you can get. They specify which bin they are offering so you know your LED is on the better end and is rated at working the most efficient out of the series.

For colors you can refer to the higher end fixtures that offer full or broad range spectrums and mimic them such as Ecotech Radions or the value fixture Maxspect Razor- many of which use CREE LEDs for whites in different temperatures, blues, and even reds and greens.

If I may borrow this table from another site;










If you refer to the different types of light spectrums that are common to certain photosynthetic processes, you can see that you can easily build an LED fixture that can provide for your corals a plethora of light in all the right wavelengths. Notice the blues, the UV, all the way to green as well as parts of the red spectrum.

A lot of it is playing with your colors to get a good idea of what you like; one thing I did was looked up full spectrum led for reefs on other forums and you'll easily find a lot of people have been messing around with this sorta stuff for a while now they can offer you loads of advice based on their experiences. Another safe bet is if you setup certain channels with dimmable drivers you can actually increase or decrease the intensity of certain colors until you find yourself discovering a good overall color you're happy with. However if you use only constant current drivers you're stuck with an on/off switch that will always be one set color, or both blended together.

Hope that helps!


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## smcx (Mar 31, 2012)

LED for reef systems is still evolving. While there may be lights out there that will grow corals, I have yet to see a system that provides the colour I like. Most do fluoresce some corals more than t5 or MH but I really can't find one that shows a range of corals equally well like MH can. Good thing I don't pay for electricity for my tank at work


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## Shoryureppa (Jul 1, 2011)

What size is the tank?

I would consider this:

http://reefbreeders.com/it2080.html

Read this, it's something to consider:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2256795


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## Vinoy Thomas (Jan 4, 2013)

Hey,

Thanks for all the replies, marblyre thanks for your great advice and post.

I will be sticking with RapidED as many people have had success with their lights and also they have pretty good prices.

One last question, is it okay if I just use blue and white LEDs (no other colours)?

Thanks,
Vinoy


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## d3rsk (Feb 3, 2013)

from what i've read, you can use other colours...but usually royal blue and cool white are the most used.

Red is occasionally used. I read somewhere that depending on the depth of your tank that red can be bad also. Not sure if that is true or not


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## PureHash (Nov 29, 2012)

altcharacter said:


> I found the other company. A few people on the forums have used their products with success and it's worth checking out
> 
> http://www.aquastyleonline.com/products/Aquarium-24-LEDs-DIY-Kit.html
> That 24 LED kit is pretty good and you could buy two of them if you had a larger tank. Still under 200 bucks.


They want 80$ for a 3.2amp transformer.. LOL

*shakes head*


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## 50seven (Feb 14, 2010)

What voltage driver do you want? 

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## boxboy (Jun 11, 2012)

IMO www.brightaquatics.com True Spectrum and call it a day


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## twps (Feb 11, 2013)

I looked long and hard at a DIY using RapidLED. The team there was very helpful and I liked what they had to offer. In the end I was lucky enough to pickup a Orphek light (blue, white & UV bulbs) that covers my 65g tall perfectly, and the price was unbeatable from the Coral Reef Shop in Burlington. 

Having only a 36" tank made it costly to buy any other product or go the DIY route. I was able to go to a single LED fixture cheaper than the DIY kits, I have a single power cord, timers, a great looking fixture and I didn't have to worry about S&H and then building. Honestly, though I was looking forward to building it myself. 

I moved from 4x39W T5HO bulbs to the LED's (60 total @ 2W each) my entire tank responded quickly to the new lighting with coral growth and colour intensity. I spend less time cleaning my glass and find the colour is more to my liking. 

This may not be for everyone, and I did get an amazing deal.


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## rburns24 (Jan 31, 2011)

Sounds good. I have a 65 myself. What model Orphek did you buy?


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## twps (Feb 11, 2013)

rburns24 said:


> Sounds good. I have a 65 myself. What model Orphek did you buy?


I picked up the PR-156-UV 60x LED's, more white than blue, and 4 UV's. 4 of the blue LED's are on a separate timer as well. I really like the colour, it's on the blue side, but not as blue as some of the other units on the market. It's surely bluer than the T5's were, and a crisper clearer light IMO.


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## Vinoy Thomas (Jan 4, 2013)

I decided to go with the Chinese LED lights from eBay.

They arrived a few days ago and they look really nice. Also, the build quality is pretty good, comes with three fans each and optical lens. It looks great.

I got a pack of 3 (30 blue 25 white) 120W each for my 55G.

So far so good with these lights, I want to see how they do with corals when I get some.

Vinoy


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## rburns24 (Jan 31, 2011)

twps said:


> I picked up the PR-156-UV 60x LED's, more white than blue, and 4 UV's. 4 of the blue LED's are on a separate timer as well. I really like the colour, it's on the blue side, but not as blue as some of the other units on the market. It's surely bluer than the T5's were, and a crisper clearer light IMO.


Thanks for the reply. I did a search on Goggle and there is a link to your comment at the top of the second page of search results. These have very good reviews, for sure.


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