Light questions

[StevenSeas]

Well as I was laying out my LEDs before I build I had a few questions.
1. Why does AI use a 2 to 1 ratio of white to blue LEDs but every diy'er use a 1:1 or 1:2 ratio using the exact same LEDs as AI?
2. I have a little space in the middle of the fixture where I can put another few LEDs. And am wondering what to put there, cyan, blue, royal blue, white, red, or uv.

My arrangement Will be made using as of now with strips that are made up of 4 LEDs I have four blue and 2 white. It will be laid out as follows

b w b b w b
b w b b w b
b w b b w b
b w b b w b

In the middle between the two blue strips I have space for another strip or a 3 up or something like that. Just wondering everyone thoughts on what to do and if it's worth the money to put anything there.

[Europhyllia]

1. Why does AI use a 2 to 1 ratio of white to blue LEDs but every diy'er use a 1:1 or 1:2 ratio using the exact same LEDs as AI?

my guess:
because 2w/1b would be the most natural setting for most of the corals people keep: simulating a reef crest environment where SPS, etc. thrive.
It's what corals would choose if they had a vote! lol
For some reason though hobbyists -apparently especially those with reef crest corals- like the looks of a deep sea environment, meaning more blue. Since hobbyists and not corals pay for the stuff the hobbyist gets the vote and that means blue, bluer, the bluest. ;)
I think it would be super cool if people would go more for the biotope look: bluer for NPS and deepwater species of fish (think gorgos, sun corals and some anthias) and more sunlight equivalents for stuff naturally growing closer to the surface, etc.

[StevenSeas]

Well I'm only doing zoas and lps so I guess that's the blue side? Should I replace some blue with white? And I agree with you the more natural looking tends to be better, but I haven't ever been diving so I don't know what that is lol. And I couldn't find anything on the color temps at depth where these come from.

[txg8gxp]

The AI fixtures at full power are not that blue, most owners seem to dial down the whites to there liking. This is why I like dimmable drivers, then the led ratio is not that big of a deal. Normally they rate 3whites to 2 blues around 12K and 3 blues to 2 whites around 20k

[StevenSeas]

K well I just looked and found out that I could just use 2 meanwells to drive my whole setup and save me bout 80 bucks. That coupled with the ten to twenty that corruption saved me on my other thread that gets me to enough for a rkl... Too bad only the rke runs the light dimming program. But until i save up for that w/ the meanwells apparently there is An addapter to be able to manually control the LEDs. Any thoughts on the meanwells?

[txg8gxp]

The dimmable meanwell operate off a 1-10v circuit, that is why they can be connected to the reef keeper light contoller( or any other light controller ) Any simple voltage regulator will work to dim the led's

[StevenSeas]

So can a rkl be used to dim the meanwells? I thoght only the rke could do that

[txg8gxp]

I would have to double check, but I think my RKL has the dimmable features(almost possitive)...you just need the ALC module to plug the lights in, the modules have two 1-10v circuits.

[StevenSeas]

So bout to buy my meanwells, do I need the eln-48-60 d or p? I will be controlling these by a rkl with a alc modual.

[txg8gxp]

You want the d series. The d series in 1-10v and the p series is PWM.