LED question (1 Viewer)

[coralman]

I am upgrading my actinic lighting on my 38 gallon tank to LED’s. I am currently running 2-95 watt VHO bulbs. I did find some on E-bay from a company called babaoshop in Hong Kong that are less expensive, but not sure of the quality. I would be interested in your input. These are the LED’s I plan on using unless anyone knows of other options.

http://www.ledsupply.com/leds/cree-xte-indus-star-1-up-royal-blue-high-power-led

Not sure how many I would need to be comparable to the actinic lighting I have now. I was thinking 24, using dimming drivers to balance out the blue and white light to desired level.
I just replaced my 400 watt 20000K MK bulb so I am going to wait until next year to switch it over to LED’s.
I would like to if possible put a timer(s) between the power supply and the drivers so I would be able to run my actinic, white and moon lights all from the same power supply.
Has anyone done this in their projects and if can you recommend a timer to use.
Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

[postie1686]

Are you looking to change out the whole light? or are you just trying to change the blues to led?

 

[coralman]

Just the blues at this time.

 

[David Grigor]

If your replacing your VHO actinics, I wouldn't do any whites, you mention dimmable to balance out the blue and white and really shouldn't be necessary if just using as supplmental.

12-14 per strip should be fine, no need to go with cree the 700mAa ones like exotic or bridgelux are perfectly fine for this purpose and usually closer to $2 each. I'd either go all royal blue or mix match some violet/UV ones with it.

 

[Fragtastic Reef]

If your going to be running it as a moonlight also just be careful how many UV's and violets you put into it.

 

[David Grigor]

Yeah, I forgot about the 20K MH bulb probably has plenty of UV already. Royal Blue will give a bit extra pop and give an interesting look that MH just can't do.