Saltwater aquarium light using P7s?

[ErickThakrar]

So I'm getting into saltwater/marine aquarium keeping and I'm looking at solutions for lighting. LEDs are an obvious choice for this for a variety of reasons and to minimize cost I want to put something together myself.
I'm thinking 3-4 P7s supplemented with a similar number of royal blue Cree's or something similar. I'm uncertain as to how best to drive and wire something like this however. Suggestions, comments?

 

[olrac]

It is really going to depend on the type of SW tank your are setting up, if fish only, pretty much any bin you find eye pleasing would work. For reef tanks it is a different approach depending on the type of corals you intend to keep, in that case not only are the total lumens going to be a factor, but the kelvin rating of you LED's as well. On some reefs you can be looking at the inhabitants getting light in the 10,000 and up kelvin range at high noon. i have been keeping reef tanks since 1985 and if you tell me more about your set-up and what you are looking to keep in it I will try to give you some suggestions for lighting. I have had good luck with SPS corals and LED lighting but still prefer metal halide and PC combos, especially with LPS corals.

 

[ErickThakrar]

At least not at first a reef tank. Seems from what I've been reading most things respond well to 6700K and up.
The higher color temps should be achievable by mixing in the royal blue LEDs.
Tank size is 45 gallons. I am not interested at all in MH or PC. The running cost, heat output, etc are all too high.
I have yet to see an LED array for tank lighting being built up using P7s or MC-Es. They all seem to use last generation stuff.

 

[olrac]

Light spectrum is measured by the Kelvin scale. Natural sunlight on a clear day registers at 5500 Kelvin degrees. Kelvin temperatures less than 5500 become more red and yellow and the higher the Kelvin temperature the more blue the light is. Photosynthetic invertebrates should be kept under lamps rated at or near the Kelvin temperature where the invertebrate was collected. Shallow water species should be kept under 10000K lamps while deep water species would prefer 20000K lighting. Longer photoperiods can not compensate for incorrect light spectrum or intensity.
Actinic(blue-violet) lighting peaks in the 420 nanometer range and emits a fluorescent blue light and is usually used as supplemental lighting. Not only is actinic lighting beneficial to photosynthetic invertebrates, it is also aesthetically pleasing to the eye when used to supplement "daylight" lighting.




Here are some drivers that could probably be used. they are for driving 3-6 1watt LEDs. I have used old computer CPU heatsinks to mount my emitters and utilize theirs fans for active cooling.


http://www.nanotuners.com/index.php?cPath=71

 

[ErickThakrar]

Thanks for the link, but I think I'll need something with more juice...

And I should be able to achieve something in the proper color temperature by mixing in the Royal Blue LEDs. RB should be pretty close to actinics, yeh?

 

[olrac]

Thanks for the link, but I think I'll need something with more juice...

And I should be able to achieve something in the proper color temperature by mixing in the Royal Blue LEDs. RB should be pretty close to actinics, yeh?

Those drivers would power one P7 each. You might want to contact CPF member Litemania regarding emitters and power as he has a LED set up that he is marketing. Here is a link:

http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?t=187307