Biocube 29 LED build thoughts

[mike030987]

Hey there, I have been doing some reading and researching on how to do my biocube LED build. I am a novice with the whole LED such stuff and would love some input or info or what not. This is what im thinking about doing:

16 cree xp-e Royal Blue
2 cree xp-e Blue
8 cree xp-g Neutral White
4 cree xp-g Cool White
5 royal blue moonlights


Im planning on running them with 3 meanwell eln-60-48d drivers with dimmers.
2 of them will control the blues as one will control the whites.

This will all be on the nanocustoms biocube 29 heatsink.

My layout is below and if anyone has any thoughts or info or anything at all to say id love to hear it.

 

[JonsReef]

just tonight i ordered a LED DIY setup for my 14g Biocube. I ordered 6 CREE XP-G cool white LEDs and 6 CREE XP-E royal blue LEDs. here are some of my thoughts based on the research i have done. i am by no means an expert so these are just my opinions:

-i believe the XP-E/G LEDs are more efficient than the XR-Es. they are also about $1/LED cheaper and produce more light.

-i dont see the need for the different shades of white and blue LEDs. most set-ups i have seen use only cool white and royal blue. as long as each color is on a different power supply and dimmer, you should be able to create the color you are looking for with only those two colors. ive never seen anyone use the other shades of blue and white.

-it may be cheaper to get a heatsink from heatsinkusa.com. that is where i ordered mine. I am using a 8.5" x 5" for the BC14. i do not necessarily see the merit in drilling/tapping all those wholes (or - in your case - paying someone a premium to have it done) when thermal transfer adhesive pads (hexatherm) supposedly work just as well. they are for sale on ledupply.com in the accessories section.

-not sure if you have seen this thread but it is worth checking out to see how this guy integrated the stock switches in the BC hood as well as added an additional fan. i have a bunch of other bookmarked example tanks/builds i can send you the links to if you PM me.

-i plan to retain my stock BC hood fans and wire them directly to the old 12V power source that was used for the stock moonlight LEDs.


once i get my stuff in (the power supplies will take 2wks to ship), i plan to put together a detailed write-up with before/after pics, etc. perhaps we can trade ideas

 

[mike030987]

To quickly comment, I have actually read a bunch of places that the introduction of different blues and whites bring out different colors in corals and what not. That is why I chose to do that.

The reason why I'm getting the drilled and tapped heatsink is for ease of replacing led's in the event I want to change or replace any colors entire lots of them for my personal pleasure lol. I understand it is coating me almost double but it helps with my piece of mind down the road.

I actually didn't comment on fans because I was only posting my led ideas but I do plan on upgrading. I'm using a kit from rapidled.com. It's two different 60mm fans with variable speed controls.

That just explains all my reasons for what I have done. Correct or not that's why I have the set ip thoughts I do haha.

 

[JonsReef]

hey mike-

can you point me in the direction of the places where you've read about using different whites/blues? i'm very interested to read up on it because i didnt come across that anywhere on other reef forums. im curious whether the different colors are simply for aesthetics or if they actually are beneficial for coral growth?

makes total sense about a drilled/tapped heatsink. that would certainly make life easier when/if you decide to swap LEDs out of the system. the write-up i saw mentioned using an 80mm fan installed directly in the middle of the stock hood. i plan to use this in addition to the two stock fans. your setup might be a bit different because you have the larger BC to work with.

 

[mike030987]

I've done so much reading in the past couple weeks I'd have to look again to find where I read it lol. I believe from what I read it was mainly aesthetics but it did help with growth. I also heard adding violets and cyan help a lot also but didn't need to add more colors to my mix. When I get some time after work I'll try and find where I read it. I remember it was like a 45 page write up almost that started about s year ago that I got most of my info from but I'll see if I can find it again.

The fan idea is really not the look I want for the tank. I want it to look very sleek as it does out of the box. Cutting into the hood and putting a larger fan just doesn't cut it for me looks wise. I'd rather just keep the original look and upgrade the quality. I read that the fans are rarely needed in the biocube with the nanotuners heatsink as it doesn't get hot enough anyways. But with my heavy led load I feel more comfortable upgrading at least.