UV and Red stunner strip?

Discussion in 'RapidLED' started by LoJack, Sep 15, 2012.

to remove this notice and enjoy 3reef content with less ads. 3reef membership is free.

  1. LoJack

    LoJack Sea Dragon

    Joined:
    Aug 3, 2009
    Messages:
    535
    Location:
    Thompson, Manitoba, Canada
    Good Morning Guys,

    I built my lighting for my tank with LED's from rapid and went with a 36 RB and 36 CW combo spread over 3 heatsinks. At the time this was the only option really in terms of color.

    Now that UV and red are so readily available, I'd like to supplement my lighting with a constant current UV Strip.

    Looking at the kits though, I see that the 12 UV kit is perfect for my application with the 1.4" x 48" heatsink. I want to go drilled and tapped because I've had issues with adhesive on my current setup letting go.

    Will adding 12 reds and 12 UV's as supplementary lighting work, or will it be very spotty?

    Should I stick with just the UV's and spread them further? The plan was just to run a constant current driver ... and have the timer activated just after my sunrise is over

    So I guess the question I'm asking is, for supplementary stunner strip style lighting is it better to go with 12 UV LED's by themselves, or alternate 12 UV and 12 RED on the same heat sink strip?
     
  2. Click Here!

  3. Thatgrimguy

    Thatgrimguy Flying Squid

    Joined:
    May 15, 2011
    Messages:
    3,026
    Location:
    North Biloxi, MS
    12 reds would be very overpowering. I would consider seriously dropping the number of those. I use 9 on my 6' 210g and have had to put scotch tape over them to keep from browning some sps and to keep it from looking too red. (that's 9 reds to a total of 49 royal blue, 40 cool white, 40 blue, 9 green and 9 violet) I wish I had less blue, less red and more violet.
     
  4. LoJack

    LoJack Sea Dragon

    Joined:
    Aug 3, 2009
    Messages:
    535
    Location:
    Thompson, Manitoba, Canada
    Thanks for the reply. I actually have changed the plan up a bit.

    Right now I have 36RB and 36CW, and I'm in the same boat as you ... wish I had less blue.

    The plan is a 48" long heat sink that has a UV every second spot. with red and cyan mixing in. UV, red, UV, Cyan and so on...

    UV-R-UV-C-UV-R-UV-C-UV-R-UV-C-UV-R-UV-C-UV-R-UV-C-UV-R-UV-C

    Hopefully that will prevent the reds from being too overpowering.

    Do you figure less red still Grim?

    Would you increase the number of UV's and decrease the reds further?

    Thanks
     
  5. LoJack

    LoJack Sea Dragon

    Joined:
    Aug 3, 2009
    Messages:
    535
    Location:
    Thompson, Manitoba, Canada
    Also, is it safe to run Cyan LED's on a 700mA driver. I want to run them on the same driver as the reds just because I don't want an extra driver to buy.

    But the Cyans max at 1050mA ... will they be noticeable if I'm only running them at 700mA?

    Should I use optics on any of these?

    Thanks again!
     
  6. Thatgrimguy

    Thatgrimguy Flying Squid

    Joined:
    May 15, 2011
    Messages:
    3,026
    Location:
    North Biloxi, MS
    Can you run the red/cyan on a dimmable driver. I think you will find it to be very overpowering still. It's so hard to tell, mounting height, tank dimensions, and personal preference all vary so much.

    (you can definitely run the cyan at 700ma, it will be plenty of power to still see it very well)
     
  7. Rapid LED

    Rapid LED 3reef Sponsor

    Joined:
    Sep 21, 2010
    Messages:
    27
    I agree, the reds are overpowering and adding that much is going to overpower everything. In your second set-up it looks like you have 6 red/6 cyan instead, I'd say go with 4 of each of those and up the UV instead.

    In the end Grim is right it all varies on personal preference, but personally I wouldn't go with more than 4 reds.