going to need to be really far away... That is about 10000 lumens The Fluval plant 3 light for an equivalent sized tank is only about 3000.
I think those boards run CRI 80 LM301Bs, so colour spec will be a little off, but great for a blackwater look and nice as light in the evening. I can't stand lighting above 3000K in the house at night.

 

Thanks for the feedback. Are the LM301Bs not used in the planted tank arena? I have been out of the game for 5-6 years now I need to catch up. When you say the colors spec will be a little off, is that just aesthetically speaking or from a performance perspective too? I know those LEDs are the bees knees in the cannabis or vegetable growing world (I use them for peppers) when it comes to spectrum and output, so I assume they'd be pretty good for plants underwater?

 

Wow that's a bright fixture. I say try it, maybe put a dimmer on it. Back when DIY multichip LEDs were all the rage, I bought a cheap 3k 50w from ebay and slapped it on a cpu heatsink and it grew everything in my 27gal cube. I even had a carpet of hair grass.

 

Being a square light it is a bit of an odd fit..Pars listed at easily 230 average par at 18" from light to sensor.

66watts at full

Easily dimmed though

Dimension of 45P: 45x27x30cm (approx:18"x10.6"x12" 10 gal

 

It probably has a dimmable mean well driver on, but even so it only dims 50% normally. so that will still be in excess of 5000lm.
I know 35W from a short strip was too much for my tank

 

Huh? Light is constant voltage panel. Strings of series diodes in parallel.
Well I'm 100% sure..
A $3 manual dimmer will work with it
Needs to be able to do 2.3A which most (I'd say all) do.
SHOULD be able to dim to 1% to off really
Even Meanwell 10v analog AC/DC dimming drivers will dim "normally" to 10%.
At which point it gets wonky and it is recommended to use a switch to take driver off the AC line.

I suppose some AC triac dimming types would only go to greater than 10% max dimming.
Different animal all together.

THIS from their own sales blurb is a simple PWM dimmer for any constant voltage array..
No Idea about their mumblings on a Meanwell "driver" It's a simple 24v power supply more than likely.
sounds like marketing bs..

Also compatible with DC LED Rotary and Remote PWM dimmers that are rated 24VDC 2.5A or higher.

I'd like to see a pic of the actual "driver" though..

 

Thanks for the input everyone. I think I am going to go a different direction and not use this light. Seems like to much of a headache. If I change my mind I'll report back.

 

Yeah it really is a shame. Like others mentioned grow lights are no good because:

• way more powerful than we need
• color spectrum won't make tank as pleasing to look at

Plants will grow great though

My lights are BuildMyLED lights from years ago. After a while they stopped making aquarium lights altogether to focus on grow lights for greenhouses. They are by far the best lights I have ever owned

 

It looks like the Samsung LM301 comes in a 6500k version and there are boards+heatsinks, that would be perfect for my 45p, on flea Bay for ~$30. They are called sunboards and come with 90 LM301 LEDs. Still way too much light for my application but I think I already have a driver that has dimming capabilities that would work perfectly. I think I'm going to roll the dice for 30 bucks to potentially have a really good fixture.

The LM301 are some of the best chips on the market for horticultural use and I'm surprised they're not used more in the planted tank arena. There has to be some overlap from a performance perspective... I guess I'll find out.

 

at operating current most rigs push about 60 lumens from each diode...
So for about 3000 lumens, you will need around 50 diodes.
You can look at Samsung influx-H strips... they come in several densities as well as single row and double row, and are available in a range of colours up to at least 5000K for LM301B chips.
CRI no very high though. I'd rather go with gen 3 bridgelux even if they are less efficient and don't have the fancy metal board and masking.

 

I'd honestly do a small scale test first... in cannabis, something like 6500K will stunt plants and leave them much smaller and more compact than say 3000K...
Even 4000K vs 3000K leads to about a foot shorter plants than running 3000K side by side.(not suggesting you run 3000K though although it looks nice in night time photos of the house.
For me, personally, 4000K is where it is at for a natural sunlike look without going with so much blue and green.

 

Is there a reason you want to go with COBs over hard strips? Usually, the COBs require more hardcore heatsinking and the point source causes a hot spot with a hard dropoff.
Strips normally come in 28, 56 and 112cm.... A 56cm strip with 120-degree dispersion has no problem lighting a 1m length.

 

Dimension of 45P: 45x27x30cm (approx:18"x10.6"x12") 10 gal.

Lumistrips Search results for: 'lumistrips plug play led us linearz 26 nichia led strip zhaga optisolis cri98 neutral white 5000k 752lm 175ma 375v 26 leds 28cm '

Lumistrips is dedicated to the development and production of high performance LED lighting strips and modules with the best LEDs on the market, from leading brands such as Nichia, Samsung or Seoul Semiconductor. With experiences going back to 2004, we were a part of the early success of LEDs and...

www.us.lumistrips.com

28cm strip
37.5v, 175 mA (finding driver may be difficult)
6.5W
$16.38 or $2.50/watt.

Need 2 and fit is odd.

92R(f), 100R(g)

CRI-MAX™ CRI 95+ High Efficacy High Brightness LED Flexible Strip 5600K - 128 LEDs/m - 5m/Reel

YUJILEDS® new high efficacy flexible strip with upgraded design and mounted with 3rd generation of 2835M LEDs. The 3rd generation of 2835M provides typical 21% improvement on the luminous efficacy but the spectrum, which means the color rendition is not changed.

store.yujiintl.com

$79.60 /5 meters.
Of course you only need 1.2 meters max. 57w / meter/4 (?)= 14.25 watts/ meter. ( Best guess using diode specs and lumens/diodes/ meter )

10 9w 6500k cobs, $80

In a sense it doesn't matter the size of dimmable cobs only the cost.

One more high cri, high, output, high color accuracy between cobs ( 2 step McAdams)
13.56 each. Easily 35w per cob but can be driven lower. 360mA is probably the lowest.
12.96w each. Running 2 @ 100% would be difficult.

https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/luminus-devices-inc/CVM-14-56-95-36-AC00-F2-2/5041238?s=N4IgjCBcpgbGAWKoDGUBmBDANgZwKYA0IA9lANogBMCCAzGAJwgC6xADgC5QgDKnAJwCWAOwDmIAL7EmADmbQQaSFjxFSFEAHZW0kAFoIi5aoLEykSmCqJdxfVWRKoggK7qLlAKy7JkoA

5000-5600 is easier to find than 6500k
You may be better off downgrading a bit

Luxeon SunPlus Cool White 3W

www.stevesleds.com

R(f) 92 R(g) 99 CRI 94.9 Beam angle 162 degrees (note this best for glass covered tanks without using lenses on the diodes)
BEST mounting height is 1" without lenses
6:1 White/deep red adds red enhancement and a k temp of approx 5000.
Running the whites at about 2.5W each 6 is plenty (15W) over a 10 gal plus red if you so desire.

Heck 8 whites and 2 reds set you back $15
R(f) 89 R(g)107 Slightly south of 5000k
Calc lists it at 800-ish lumens. Seems off
Est 40 par at your substrate level. Hard to calculate though.
You can "do" up to about 12 whites ($15 worth) on one LDD-HW (30W total) and a 48v power supply


Luxeon SunPlus Cool White 3W

Of course diode costs are only part of the equation.

Going full 98CRI seems fun but sometimes it isn't practical in a cost sense.
But it depends..


Small Bridgelux COB's

https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/bridgelux/BXRE-65S0801-D-74/12349842?utm_adgroup=LED%20Lighting%20-%20COBs%2C%20Engines%2C%20Modules&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Shopping_Product_Optoelectronics_NEW&utm_term=&utm_content=LED%20Lighting%20-%20COBs%2C%20Engines%2C%20Modules&gclid=Cj0KCQjwmouZBhDSARIsALYcourBvdkBiDgWgxKZT5b8ZW3hsHOJntxasN0LhLB-e5mRqPEhzL7bLQwaAsf5EALw_wcB

2 in series (max per ldd driver/48v power supply (need about 39V ) there are other drivers) $7.70
17.8W @ 500mA (350-700mA range) approx.
2000+ lumens
Mounting height about 3"

Now for a small wrench.. Fidelity isn't exactly the same as "preferable"
That all hinges on red saturation apparently (science, go figure).
Want more pop, throw in a deep red channel.

Bridgelux is dirt cheap but the Sunplus lower spec array has a more even spread (maybe too even).

 

Options, options, options wow I have some research to do. Thank you for all that.

Comparison to one of the best:

5000k, 95+ cri (Samsung 80cri)

40w @ 1 A drive current. 48v power supply.

(Use ldd-1000hw)

https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/bridgelux/BXEB-L1120Z-50S4000-C-C3/13181786

$17.68 each ..

To bring this conversation full circle, what if I went with your original recommendation, in the quote above, and cut the strip to fit my 45p? I could get two strips 45 cm long + a little extra. I might have to scrape off some of the film to get to the traces and solder connections, which wouldn't be a problem.

That should give me more than enough light. I'm just curious from schematic standpoint how these LEDs are wired, do you know if these are all in series or series and parallel combinations? I'm hoping they're all in series that way I can just find a constant current driver with a voltage rating around the sum of all the Vf of the diodes..

Do you think that is a practical option?

Is there a reason you want to go with COBs over hard strips? Usually, the COBs require more hardcore heatsinking and the point source causes a hot spot with a hard dropoff.
Strips normally come in 28, 56 and 112cm.... A 56cm strip with 120-degree dispersion has no problem lighting a 1m length.

If I went with cobs, I would go with as many low (power versions) as I could from a practical standpoint and distribute them across the length of the tank. I feel like this would give me better light distribution than a 280 mm strip, centered. I understand that light is distributed is 120° angle from the strip but the edges of the tank will definitely be lit less then the center.

If the cobs are too bright I can always raise them and get decent distribution still. Definitely not ideal but better, in my opinion, then a 280 mm strip centered in the middle of the tank.

I'd honestly do a small scale test first... in cannabis, something like 6500K will stunt plants and leave them much smaller and more compact than say 3000K...
Even 4000K vs 3000K leads to about a foot shorter plants than running 3000K side by side.(not suggesting you run 3000K though although it looks nice in night time photos of the house.
For me, personally, 4000K is where it is at for a natural sunlike look without going with so much blue and green.

I don't grow cannabis but I thought it was the other way around with color temperature? Regardless, I'm really concerned about aesthetics and not necessarily speed of plant growth in my tank, unless the plants are stunted... But I don't think that'll be an issue with any of the lights discussed in this thread.

 

If I went with cobs, I would go with as many low (power versions) as I could from a practical standpoint and distribute them across the length of the tank. I feel like this would give me better light distribution than a 280 mm strip, centered. I understand that light is distributed is 120° angle from the strip but the edges of the tank will definitely be lit less then the center.

If the cobs are too bright I can always raise them and get decent distribution still. Definitely not ideal but better, in my opinion, then a 280 mm strip centered in the middle of the tank.

Well you can move cobs so the distance from the side is less than the distance between cobs. This pretty well eliminates the middle hot spot and illuminates the edges to equal
You can get an idea from brs and their ai prime spacing videos.
Don't underestimate glass reflections.
3 or 4 of the Bridgelux V8 cobs would be plenty
Your best choice is use 2 drivers, one for 2 cobs or set them up as a constant voltage drive.
4 parallel cobs with a series resistor.

Usually not done with cobs but insides already have series/ parallel diodes.
Rough idea 20v ps :

,

17.3v 350mA
17.8 500mA

18v power supply.
Lot of Meanwell switching power supplies have headroom.
Lrs50-15 can be tweaked to 18v
Sheer luck.
Probably best to do the 75-15 sooo 4a capability. You can add more cobs..
Up to 4 more.

Bottom line...
Set of 15 Pieces 1 Ohm 1 Watt (1W) Metal Film Resistor Tolerance: 1%: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

And 4 $8 cobs...
You can add RGB strips to it if you so choose though that required a separate err "circuit" since they run either 12 or 24 v.
Good thing is any of those controllers can work on your 18 volt circuit since most are designed for 12-24 inputs.

18v " may" light 24v strips but ??? Would need to be tested for that. They would be pretty dim though.
12v strips generally have a design tolerance of up to 17v intermittent. Pretty sure they would fail @ 18v constant though dimmed to say 50% may work ok . Still 18v but only 1)2 the on time.
Anyways one can build 18v strips w 1 or 3w leds.
Like 9 2v @350mA deep red diodes uses the same 1 w 1 ohm resistors.

 

Bottom line...
Set of 15 Pieces 1 Ohm 1 Watt (1W) Metal Film Resistor Tolerance: 1%: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific
View attachment 1047113

And 4 $8 cobs...
You can add RGB strips to it if you so choose though that required a separate err "circuit" since they run either 12 or 24 v.
Good thing is any of those controllers can work on your 18 volt circuit since most are designed for 12-24 inputs.

18v " may" light 24v strips but ??? Would need to be tested for that. They would be pretty dim though.
12v strips generally have a design tolerance of up to 17v intermittent. Pretty sure they would fail @ 18v constant though dimmed to say 50% may work ok . Still 18v but only 1)2 the on time.
Anyways one can build 18v strips w 1 or 3w leds.
Like 9 2v @350mA deep red diodes uses the same 1 w 1 ohm resistors.

Going with the cob seems like a good option but what do you think about cutting the strip to fit my tank as I mentioned in post number 22? You may have missed it as I was responding to Nordic's questions.

 

20.3, 20.3, 40.6 volts.
50 100, 200 diodes
I'll guess 3.2 to 3.4 v each.
3.4 x 6 = 20.4 v
50/6 = 8.33 diodes each if you have 50 diodes
Best guess is still 5 diodes in series 10 strings in parallel
Even that is not quite right giving one 4.08 v per diode
54 diodes is sort of the magic number for 6 in series, 9 parallel strings.
3.4v per diode.

Around 50mA per series string

Point is neither works w/ 50 diodes. 54 works.
54/6= 9
6 x 3.4 = 20.4

Gen 2 eb..(NOT thrive)
32 diodes @ 19.5v
That doesn't really work either.
4 or 8 4.87v or 2.43v ???


I'm missing something..
Moving on..

Now something to consider and another bonus is the bridgelux strips don’t need heat sinks as they are barely warm to the touch at nominal wattages, where as the other options need heatsinks to run at those levels.

Soo you don't need a heatsink but you may want a heatsink.
Heatsinking I'd an art and science. I'm ve gone through some rules of thumb and trying to decipher manuf specs. No fun.
Non-anodized but a thin coat of black enamel on the fin side is about as good.

Aluminum Heatsink Suppliers | HeatsinkUSA

We provide businesses and individuals with high-quality aluminum heatsinks extruded and shipped in the USA. Visit HeatsinkUSA and shop our heatsinks today.

www.heatsinkusa.com

 

20.3, 20.3, 40.6 volts.
50 100, 200 diodes
I'll guess 3.2 to 3.4 v each.
3.4 x 6 = 20.4 v
50/6 = 8.33 diodes each if you have 50 diodes
Best guess is still 5 diodes in series 10 strings in parallel
Even that is not quite right giving one 4.08 v per diode
54 diodes is sort of the magic number for 6 in series, 9 parallel strings.
3.4v per diode.

Around 50mA per series string

Point is neither works w/ 50 diodes. 54 works.
54/6= 9
6 x 3.4 = 20.4

Gen 2 eb..(NOT thrive)
32 diodes @ 19.5v
That doesn't really work either.
4 or 8 4.87v or 2.43v ???


I'm missing something..
Moving on..

I made a mistake in my math and in the little drawing. There are 8 strings of 7 per 280mm strip. Also I will be removing 8 strings from the center. Below is an updated sketch.