Beginner 90 gallon RapidLED build

Beginner = I have no idea what I'm doing.

Our first reef is on the way, supplies have been ordered from the LFS. We are going with a 90 gallon tank of 48x18x24. SWMBO has been reading books on inhabitants, my job is to educate myself on the chemistry and mechanicals.

A few sleepless nights mulling over the pros and cons of T5 v. T5/MH v. LED, cost/benefits, water cooling, etc… It’s enough to drive me to drink.

Want enough light, don't want extra heat, don't want to spend the money on turnkey LED systems. At some point, you have to pull the trigger and get on with it.

Ordered from RapidLED.com is 2x 36 LED Ultra kits, which will install into a MakersLED 48” extrusion. I wanted flexibility to redo the light if it all goes sideways, which it oftentimes does.

Between the two kits, here is my plan:

Each of the six Mean Well ELN-60-48D dimmable drivers will control one string:

• 12 Royal Blue
• 12 Royal Blue
• 12 Cool White
• 12 Cool White
• 8 Warm White and 4 Royal Blue
• 8 Royal Blue and 4 Cyan

I am not certain what pattern to use, my mix is similar to some other users on here, I may elect to copy their map.

Bought RapidLED’s dimmer kit, I am not sure if I need to get a second dimmer kit for the mixed color drivers. Eventually I think we will end up with an Apex controller. Budget is shot for right now, gotta wait a little bit.
I will leave room for UV LED and moonlights at a later time. We have other setup tasks to perform, it is ambitious enough to do only what I have listed above with the schedule I have.

Will post updates when I get parts and start to work on it.

 

Prebuild photos:

 

Use a 1:2 ratio of neutral white:royal blues w/ a few deepred, cool blues, cyans, and tv's if you want full spectrum

 

Probably not going to be building this, no time.

Coming soon to eBay, 48" MakersLED extrusion!