# DIY LED Light for Fluval Edge Help



## Dolan (13 Sep 2018)

I have a Fluval Edge 42L and want to make a high tech tank, so the stock LED lights will have to go.

I want to build my own light with LEDs from here (or maybe another place):

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1W-3W-10W-LED-Component-Grow-Light-Aquarium-red-green-royal-blue-violet-UV/131345637382?_trkparms=aid=555017&algo=PL.CASSINI&ao=1&asc=20151016114640&meid=7c3bef6b4d6e448d91c07c4c8b689862&pid=100507&rk=1&rkt=1&&itm=131345637382&_trksid=p2045573.c100507.m3226

There are many different LEDs to choose from:

PAR Full Spectrum - 380-840nm
Ultraviolet - 380-390nm
Violet Purple  - 410-420nm
Royal Blue - 440-450nm
Bright Blue - 460-470nm
Cyan - 500-510nm
Green - 520-530nm
Yellow - 585-595nm
Amber - 595-610nm
Bright Red - 620-630nm
Deep Red - 640-660nm
Far Red - 740-745nm
Warm and Cold White
*What combination of LEDs and how many should I use for my Fluval Edge 42L to make my plants most happy?*


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## rebel (13 Sep 2018)

Depends on what colour temperature you want. Do you like a warm or cooler coloured tank?


Otherwise use white 6500K, White 10000K, Deep red and Royal blue. Will you have seperate channels? If so you can even have a green channel.


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## Barbara Turner (13 Sep 2018)

The light I'm currently using has for a 370 Litre tank

10 x 10w white 6500K 
10 x 10w PAR Full Spectrum - 380-840nm
 5 x  10w Green - 520-530nm
If I run them any more than 50% power I found that I started to blow LED's, Getting the heat sink right is crucial.

The idea was that the full spectrum for plant growth, the cool white to view the tank and the green light to stop it look to pink

If I build another one I would be tempted to go for RGB  with separate control on each color, I would probably aim for 470nm + 525nm + 630nm


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## lazybones51 (13 Sep 2018)

You'll probably find this thread interesting, a few of us have built DIY LED lights.


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## Dolan (13 Sep 2018)

rebel said:


> Otherwise use white 6500K, White 10000K, Deep red and Royal blue. Will you have seperate channels? If so you can even have a green channel.



What about PAR Full spectrums?


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## mow said (14 Sep 2018)

When it comes to colour its up to you if you want it blue add more blues if you want it red add more and if you want it plain white then 6.5k leds will do. Example

Mine to build in the next month  83w
Red 10 / 12%
Blue 10 / 12%
Green 10 / 12%
3k led 15 / 18%
6.5k led 17 / 21%
10k led 21/ 25%







Twinstar rgb i dont know which one as they have s and e one is more blue than the other.
54 white =35%
40 red = 26%
30 blu = 20%
30 green = 20%


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## mow said (14 Sep 2018)

600s version


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## rebel (14 Sep 2018)

@mow said , The Twinstar 600s appears to be using orange (middle row) as well isn't it?


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## rebel (14 Sep 2018)

Dolan said:


> What about PAR Full spectrums?


They have a purple colour. Yes you can definitely use some instead of the red and blue.


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## Dolan (14 Sep 2018)

mow said said:


> When it comes to colour its up to you if you want it blue add more blues if you want it red add more and if you want it plain white then 6.5k leds will do.



I don't particularly care about what colour it is, I just want the best for my plants. Which combination will make my plants the most happy?

Edit: Don't say 100% PAR Spectrum LEDs


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## rebel (14 Sep 2018)

Dolan said:


> Which combination will make my plants the most happy?


Almost any white light will do. Plants just want light.

In that case just use 6500K LEDs for simplicity.



* Your question is actually a good one. The answer is complex but I don't think anyone knows what makes aquatic plants absolutely happy. Anecdotal evidence suggests that any 'white' light will be fine.


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## zozo (14 Sep 2018)

With mixing light colors you actualy can adchieve quite some nice efects or the opposite ofcourse.. I've played a while with RGB light mixing to create the for me personal taste most appealing invironmetal light.

For example i wanted to create a realistic as possible moon light scenery in different intensities as if clouds were moving in front of the moon. Working with % in very low intensities With slight fluctuating color changes but stay in the same range.

I found this website with an RGB color chart in %.. And it actualy comes pretty close to how light mixes and reflects from a white wall.

http://www.december.com/html/spec/colorper.html

All 3 colors at same intensity at 100% give you a white lit invironment.. With the help of the chart you can actualy calculate what kind of invironmental color it will give if you start changing the amounts or intensities in percentage. For example this color. Which was as a light color pretty pleasant to watch above an aqaurium.



If you would use 10 red leds, 9 green leds and 7 blue leds with eqaul luminious output you'll come pretty close to this invironmental color.

Or if you have a RGB led unit, dim it in a 100 x 90 x 67 = Honey color reflecting off a white wall. If you devide the whole sum in 3 and dim it 33 x 30 x 22 % you still will have the same color in lower intensities. Same goes for 11 x 10 x 7 % and with 5 x 4 x 2% you still be pretty close in the same color range.

Obviously results will be simmular with changing the number of leds.. Mixing colors beyond RGB i don't know if we have charts for that.. I guess not, it will be much more of a trail and error.

Depending on how you like to use the lights apart from growing plants.. If you liek to create from dusk till dawn effects. I personaly would go with white lights between 2700k and 8000k for the day time schedule.. And use RGB for the easthetic effects in between, because than you can +/- calculate what the end results will be.


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## mow said (14 Sep 2018)

rebel said:


> @mow said , The Twinstar 600s appears to be using orange (middle row) as well isn't it?


Maybe red and deep red but not orange.


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## mow said (14 Sep 2018)

Dolan said:


> I don't particularly care about what colour it is, I just want the best for my plants. Which combination will make my plants the most happy?
> 
> Edit: Don't say 100% PAR Spectrum LEDs



Best for your plant will be difficult to answer. As @rebel said any 6.5k will do but if you do not like a simple 6.5k then mixing reds and blues and greens will be good as these will benefit your plants too and the way your eyes view your tank.


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## zozo (14 Sep 2018)

According to Phillips Horti cultural laboratory the best ligh spectrum for growing plants is Day Ligh Spectrum. Now day light spectrum is a not absolute 100% determined value. Even at noon (sun highest) under a clear blue sky, there still can be atmospheric infuences having effect on the color spectrum.




> *The Sun*
> The Sun closely approximates a black-body radiator. The effective temperature, defined by the total radiative power per square unit, is about 5780 K.[5] The color temperature of sunlight above the atmosphere is about 5900 K.[6]
> 
> As the Sun crosses the sky, it may appear to be red, orange, yellow or white, depending on its position. The changing color of the Sun over the course of the day is mainly a result of the scattering of light and is not due to changes in black-body radiation. The blue color of the sky is caused by Rayleigh scattering of the sunlight by the atmosphere, which tends to scatter blue light more than red light.
> ...



Thus since it actualy aint that easy to determine in science they kinda setlled on 6500K as a standard for Natural white - Daylight Spectrum.

If it's best? How would you determine that? since there are so many other factors in play having effect on plantgrowth. So even with the best lights determined in a lab setup, you would need to replicate all the rest as well with the same constant.. If you don't you might have the best light but still not the best results.. But this is just a what if theorisation, because sience yet doesn't fully understand what a plant exactly does with all the light besides blue and red.

In horticulture they came to the conclusions any white light source within our vissible range contains the full spectrum between this and that iin nanometres and it grows plants. So that would be any white light source in between 2500k and 10000k as we know it (lamps) from the shelf.

Now since our hobby is more about visual easthetics.. You best choose a light in this range that is most pleasing to your personal taste in how it looks to you.. It will grow plants anyway.


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## Dolan (14 Sep 2018)

rebel said:


> Anecdotal evidence suggests that any 'white' light will be fine.



I am not too sure about this

I once tried to use these lights on one of my aquariums:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01IB9AF7Y/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

However I was shocked when nothing grew. I changed the lights and then suddenly all my plants started growing and pearling!

*This brings me to a theory*

Some "white" lights are high in *LUX *but low in *PAR/PUR *(like the one I bought above). Which means we can see the tank clearly... but the plants can't use much of the light

Please correct me if I could be wrong


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## mow said (14 Sep 2018)

As you can see diffent par measurements on different angles of the tank. The lux is what us human see and par is what plants need making it simple to under stand but i left a link for you to read. If the tank was not measured with a par meter you would think every angle is the same par as the led is bright enough to light up the whole tank your eyes will tell you its enough but obviously your plants wont thats why you need a par meter ti measure . But they dont come cheap thats the reason i measure mine using tropica lumen. Multiply lumens per led times the leds you have then you will have the total lumens, devide it by the litres of the tank water you have then you have lumens per litre.

Sorry i had to use a reef tank example as that is what u could find online 

https://www.lumigrow.com/demystifying-lumens-lux-and-par/


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## rebel (17 Sep 2018)

Dolan said:


> Please correct me if I could be wrong


I think you are wrong. 
Listen to the Cara wade podcast by Scapefu.

If your eyes sees it to be bright (for white light) then plants will grow.


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