JBJ RL-20 frag tank lighting

[dannylez]

Hi.
I'm looking into getting the JBJ RL-20 frag tank. I want to start propogating mainly zoas and soft coral. The tank size is 24x20x9. I'm having trouble deciding on the correct lighting for this purpose. I was looking into the Ocean Blue NP Ultimate 1500 30w system. It seems to be exactly what I need.

Is this system adequate for my size tank and how far above the water should it be placed due to the shallow depth?

Any other product suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your help;
Dan

[devonjohnsgard]

Apr 21, 2014 11:38:52 GMT -5 dannylez said:

Hi.
I'm looking into getting the JBJ RL-20 frag tank. I want to start propogating mainly zoas and soft coral. The tank size is 24x20x9. I'm having trouble deciding on the correct lighting for this purpose. I was looking into the Ocean Blue NP Ultimate 1500 30w system. It seems to be exactly what I need.

Is this system adequate for my size tank and how far above the water should it be placed due to the shallow depth?

Any other product suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your help;
Dan

Hi Dan,
Welcome to the forum. Good group of people around here.

I think this would be a great for your tank. The spread will be spot on. Honestly, you could frag whatever you wanted, even the hardest sps with this LED and this tank size. For the AquaRay LED .8 watts per gallon is all you need for the hardest corals. .6 for softies. This 30 watt fixture will have more light than you really need, and it will be spread throughout the whole tank. These Ocean Blues are great for more shallow tanks. They have all patented emitters and some fiji emitters for some pop in color from your corals. Softies look fantastic under this light.

What are you think to mount? TMC has mounting brackets that are meant for a rimless tank. That would be a good opinion or you can suspend them from the ceiling. There are plenty of DIY options I've seen too.

Sounds like a fun fraging project. Hoped this helped and welcome again!

[Carl]

I agree with Devon's suggestion.

Height above the tank can vary as per lighting needs, starting at 6" and moving up from here.

Part of the reason for the larger AquaRay fixture when a Mini 500 might otherwise work in actual wattage output is your dimensions as per length and width, which requires a larger foot print than aquarium of similar gallons but smaller outside dimensions other than height

Product Resource:
www.americanaquariumproducts.com/LEDLights.html

Further Aquarium Lighting Information:
www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Aquarium_Lighting.html

Carl

[dannylez]

Thanks Devon and Carl for all the information and the links to LED info. Very helpful.

One other question. I was thinking of using the TYPHON LED controller. It is a lot cheaper ($50) and it is PWM. Do you think this would work with this LED system?

Do you know if TMC is going to have a booth or someone representing them at the show this weekend in Orlando, Florida?

[Carl]

I do not think TMC will be at that particular show, at least based on their Facebook Page
See:
www.facebook.com/TropicalMarineCentre?ref=br_tf

While the Boost claims PWM, I would question this based on the cost to make a PWM capable device.
That said, it may be, and if truly compatible would only need to have USB female receptacle

Carl

[dannylez]

once again thanks for your help and advise.
dan

[devonjohnsgard]

Apr 22, 2014 13:24:30 GMT -5 dannylez said:

Thanks Devon and Carl for all the information and the links to LED info. Very helpful.

One other question. I was thinking of using the TYPHON LED controller. It is a lot cheaper ($50) and it is PWM. Do you think this would work with this LED system?

Do you know if TMC is going to have a booth or someone representing them at the show this weekend in Orlando, Florida?

As long as it is PWM, it should work. I know there are DIY PWM set-up out there that people use too. If you go for it, I would suggest making sure the LEDs dim and keep there color.

[Carl]

With some time to think on your question, in particular harking back to discussions with my Dad, who was an electronics engineer, about PWM & Sine Waves, I have more thoughts

While these controllers, along with these "DIY PWM set-ups" Devon mentioned might be PWM, these are likely a modified version for prices similar to how with DC to AC inverters can be either square wave (poor), modified sine wave (fair), or pure sine wave (best)
Based on the costs and circuitry required, I am rather certain that these are a modified version that are not a 100% true PWM

Here is a reference:
powerelectronics.com/discrete-power-semis/modified-sine-wave-inverter-enhanced

Just look at the cost of inverters; there is a price difference between modified and pure/true sine wave inverters, although the price is coming down for both

In looking at some schematics for advanced versus basic PWM circuits, there is definitely more to an advanced circuit. Often these basic schematics do not include a Micro-controller.

With these basic PWM circuits, there appears to more of a chance to burn out motors or whatever other device is being run via PWM. As well there appears to be more energy lost as heat

Carl

[devonjohnsgard]

Apr 23, 2014 12:21:38 GMT -5 Carl said:

With some time to think on your question, in particular harking back to discussions with my Dad about who was an electronics engineer PWM & Sine Waves, I have more thoughts

While these controllers, along with these "DIY PWM set-ups" Devon mentioned might be PWM, these are likely a modified version for prices similar to how with DC to AC inverters can be either square wave (poor), modified sine wave (fair), or pure sine wave (best)
Based on the costs and circuitry required, I am rather certain that these are a modified version that are not a 100% true PWM

Here is a reference:
powerelectronics.com/discrete-power-semis/modified-sine-wave-inverter-enhanced

Just look at the cost of inverters; there is a price difference between modified and pure/true sine wave inverters, although the price is coming down for both

In looking at some schematics for advanced versus basic PWM circuits, there is definitely more to an advanced circuit. Often these basic schematics do not include a Micro-controller.

With these basic PWM circuits, there appears to more of a chance to burn out motors or whatever other device is being run via PWM. As well there appears to be more energy lost as heat

Carl

(Clap)(Clap)<---me clapping

Another home-run for Mr. Strohmeyer

[Carl]

Here are some more resources, although since our application is somewhat different, one has to arrive at some conclusions by inferring the data to our application.

circuitsdiy.com/simplest-modified-sinewave-inverter-without-microcontroller/
iosrjournals.org/iosr-jeee/Papers/Vol5-issue2/D0522128.pdf

Carl