Considering DIY LED lighting

[fishhugger]

I'm considering building my LED lighting and fixture, but have a few questions someone could hopefully help me out with. I've tried looking up guides but nothing I found really seemed to answer my question.
First off, i dont really have any set plans for corals, I would like to keep simple corals but I dont know at all what I want, I know that should be the basis of how I build my light....but I'm not that far along yet.
My tank is a 54g bowfront, and I'm not sure how much coverage I need. Weather I should get just the 6"wx20"L heatsink, or opt to add a 4"wx9"L heatsink as well for more lighting in the back. The tank is a perfect quarter circle, so at any point on the front pane it's 27" to the back corner.
Dont know which color LEDs I would need to keep most corals. I am colorblind so the color spectrum pretty much means nothing to me. To be clear I dont see in black and white, but it is incredibly difficult to differentiate between different shades of the same color.
I dont want my water to look like windex, I like a blue tint, but I prefer for it to be more clear then blue/windex colored.
I watched one video on youtube where a guy used royal blue LEDS, and neutral, cool, and warm white LEDS, at a 1-1-1-1 ratio. I liked the color he was getting.
Also I am not sure of how many LED's to get for a 6x20 heatsink, or the additional 4"x9" heatsink, should I need it. Nor do I have any idea what kind of placement I need.

 

[acrylic51]

First thing I'd say is go the other other big forum and do a search.....There are to many good threads to try to remember to give you a snapshot of everything......I think there's a thread and the OP was JP something and Kcress and a few others are involved and walked you through a good step by step as far as wiring, testing and what not........
As far as color aspect or ratio, the blue/white 1:1 ratio is old, and has been found and proven not be be as affective as thought....So my best suggestion is to erase that train of thought from "our" minds.....Again there are tons of good threads and the one that tops my mind is LED Color Aesthetics "Emperor has no clothes" or along those lines.....Hopefully Corey will correct me, but that is an excellent read.....As far as coloration it's known, that cameras and video does very poorly at capturing true LED color rendition, that's why it's very hard and subjective to look at pics someone posts and state that it's the true color. It will look possibly a bit different and in person......Again we each interpret color differently.
I understand what your stating about the "Windex" look.....With that being said you'd favor more to the RB over the Blue LEDs.....Again there is no hard set rule or fact when it comes to the whites you use.....Most I would assume use a mix or combination of whites to achieve or cover the spectrum's......
As far as heat sink wise, I'm not sure the actually dimensions of your tank......LxWxH.....Without those know measurements it's hard to give a good guess as to a good size heat sink....It might be highly possible that 2 smaller heat sinks possibly 6x10 or 6x8 whatever might be a better fit for your setup vs 1 large heat sink.....Although it might be easier as far as wiring, but I'm trying to keep in mind how you might hang or suspend the fixture over the tank.....Weight is something I'd be looking at as well.....I don't see any need to try to cover the tank completely with heat sink surface....Depending on the height the fixture is hung will play with your coverage....As well as optics can come into play around the edges to minimize light spillage....

 

[fishhugger]

Thanks for the tip there, alot of good info in those posts, HOWEVER....after reading about LED's all day long it really seems like the best option would be to just order an Evergrow LED fixture. Doesn't seem like I can beat their price regardless of how I tweaked my shopping cart or who I purchased from; for the same capabilities Evergrow won every time in price, and I've seen nothing but good reviews for their lights.
Special thanks to sweatervest13 for even bringing their product to my attention.

 

[acrylic51]

Might be the best option....Depends on your DIY level and level of wanting to control independently......To many variables IMHO to say 1 way is better than the other, but it comes down to what best suits your needs.