LED lights dimmable by a controller

[NYC Joe]

Not sure if this is in the right place...

But Ive been looking at various Led threads lately and was thinking,
I can do this. but one feature of the pre-built units kinda gets me.

Can you do a DIY led build, with lets say 16 Leds.
Im thinking 2 rows.
row 1- 8 royal blues
row 2 6 white, 2 blues. ( just picked random number right now, Looking for 14K)
But.
have them turn on independently with 1 driver? or need 2?
Also.
i like the sunrise, sunset feature some pre-built units have.
Or
would the sunrise, sunset feature, somehow be able to be incorporated into a controller? I do have a reefkeeper lite, and im not sure if theres some sort of feature i dont know about.

I have halides and I am considering replacing them with all Leds but kind of want to start with supplemental lighting. I love the crazy neon glow.

sorry its a many part question with stipulations, but trying to make a rational decision.

Thanx
-Joe

 

[NYC Joe]

so i figured out reefkeeper has an additional module for 80 bucks.
ALC module, this should allow me to control the Leds.
sunrise sunset problem solved.
I think

now for the rest

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

i believe 14k is 50/50 and you want to keep the blues and whites on separate drivers that way you can dim them to pick you color temperature with the reefkeeper module.

 

[smoq]

You can't dim two strings of leds interdependently with one driver unfortunately. If you're planning this for your display Joe, you need a little bit more leds, too. 24 at least. Oh, one more thing, the RKL module for reefkeeper will replace a DIY dimmer but it can't create a sunset or sunrise effects- for that you would have to hook up the thing to apex controller.

BTW, the pink zoas you gave me look insane under leds

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

wait theres a more complicated sunrise and sunset effect? i thought it was just slowly dimming on over a period of an hour and the same with going off.

You can't dim two strings of leds interdependently with one driver unfortunately. If you're planning this for your display Joe, you need a little bit more leds, too. 24 at least. Oh, one more thing, the RKL module for reefkeeper will replace a DIY dimmer but it can't create a sunset or sunrise effects- for that you would have to hook up the thing to apex controller.

BTW, the pink zoas you gave me look insane under leds

 

[NYC Joe]

Hey Marcin,
So essentially I was going to replace just the actinic lighting.
thats why i was going with 8 in a row. (give or take)

To replace the halide would be 8 more?
almost sounds like a better deal.

so with the reefkeeper I would be able to dim manually?
still on or off, but able to control the intensity. from 1-10.

Hey AJ
the dimming you mentioned is the more complicated one.
I wanted the LEDs slowly turning on over 2 hours and slowly turning off 2 hours. (give or take)

crap, not about to change my reefkeeper.

So.
If I only supplement a royal blue strip, instead of the PC lights I have, would it make a difference?
I want that crazy COLOR!
Those pink Zoas arent anything special to me, but im wondering even more now.

gotta picture?


Thanx guys!
-Joe

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

sorry i didnt explain it well enough i was in a rush but i just had to respond lol but yes. you just need the alc module which cost $94 with shipping anywhere you get it. then you just plug it in with that 6 wire phone cable like any other module. then if you buy the meanwell dimmable drivers you just connect the wires from the module to the drivers and you can set the time on the reefkeeper to slowly turn on and off over the period of 2 hours you wanted. if your just supplementing the pc's then just use 1 row of 12 royal blues and i have pics of the actual lights (not on the tank) in my tank thread the link is in my signature.

Hey Marcin,
So essentially I was going to replace just the actinic lighting.
thats why i was going with 8 in a row. (give or take)

To replace the halide would be 8 more?
almost sounds like a better deal.

so with the reefkeeper I would be able to dim manually?
still on or off, but able to control the intensity. from 1-10.

Hey AJ
the dimming you mentioned is the more complicated one.
I wanted the LEDs slowly turning on over 2 hours and slowly turning off 2 hours. (give or take)

crap, not about to change my reefkeeper.

So.
If I only supplement a royal blue strip, instead of the PC lights I have, would it make a difference?
I want that crazy COLOR!
Those pink Zoas arent anything special to me, but im wondering even more now.

gotta picture?


Thanx guys!
-Joe

 

[NYC Joe]

AJ,
saw them, they look good.
So, ALC module- this will allow the dimming on and off of the LEDs. (exactly what i wanted) Nice.
maybe i wont need an Apex, Off to look it up and research it.

I was looking at the meanwell dimmable drivers. most likely going to go with this one:
1 Mean Well ELN-60-48D dimmable driver (driver is not plug and play)
Understood theres no working 2 strings on one driver.

Now my tank is 24 x 24 x 24 60 gal cube.
I can fit 24" across inside the canopy.
but do i need 12 LEDs?
I was looking at (Rapid LED)
09 LED Dimmable Actinic Supplement Kit would 9 light up my life or should i go with 12?
driver could support both.

I have a 150w halide as my main light.


maybe ill eventually replace the MH light with LED too? (not sure)
looking for options. So to replace the MH all together
I would need another 12 lights in white, if I have 12 blue already?

Are these enough LEDs to replace a 150wMH?
Or what is the equivalent?
going for 14K.

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

ok well to start off note that the drivers will not power without the alc module connected and yes you dont need an apex the dimming works the same on a reefkeeper. second the drivers are not plug and play as you probably saw on my thread i had it taken apart because you need to lower the amrage and voltage if you want 9 leds. i think your best bet is to go fully led. just get a heatsink and do four rows of 12 leds white blue white blue etc. thats how i have mine for every partition of my tank is 24x18x24 so all you would have to do is spread the rows farther out which is fine because it will definitely still be enough and my tank has a little more power then its supposed to because i was thinking of maybe upgrading to 180 and i didnt want to replace the lights so i made them more powerful. the 14k look is half white half blue. if you go this route you will have 4 drivers connected to the reefkeeper and dim in slowly and out slowly and you can even pic you color temperature in your case you like 14k. if you still want to suppliment then i guess 9 is ok but 12 would be the best all running on 1 dimmable driver. lmk if i didint cover any of you question in this post its hard to answer it all at once lol.

AJ,
saw them, they look good.
So, ALC module- this will allow the dimming on and off of the LEDs. (exactly what i wanted) Nice.
maybe i wont need an Apex, Off to look it up and research it.

I was looking at the meanwell dimmable drivers. most likely going to go with this one:
1 Mean Well ELN-60-48D dimmable driver (driver is not plug and play)
Understood theres no working 2 strings on one driver.

Now my tank is 24 x 24 x 24 60 gal cube.
I can fit 24" across inside the canopy.
but do i need 12 LEDs?
I was looking at (Rapid LED)
09 LED Dimmable Actinic Supplement Kit would 9 light up my life or should i go with 12?
driver could support both.

I have a 150w halide as my main light.


maybe ill eventually replace the MH light with LED too? (not sure)
looking for options. So to replace the MH all together
I would need another 12 lights in white, if I have 12 blue already?

Are these enough LEDs to replace a 150wMH?
Or what is the equivalent?
going for 14K.

 

[NYC Joe]

So Im about to order the ALC and 2 moonlights.
since it has inputs for 2 of them, I figured what the hell.

So now.Ive read that you should turn down the driver. all the way up and then adjust?
I dont want to start buying extra eqipment. If i go with a good number of LEDs like 12. would i not have to adjust?

side note:
I have a 150w MH fixture. what is the LED equivalent? 24? 36?

The Tank is 24x 24x 24 if that helps.

lil confused.
should i just replace the MH all together?
working my way up. one strip (of 12)
or 3 strips of 12? or would that not fully cover the whole tank ec.