DIY LED lighting system, what color bulbs and how many?

Right now, my Aquarium lights are very basic, and I want a top of the line LED lighting system, without the extreme prices of the aquarium lighting companies, so I thought I would try my hand at building one myself! My best friends dad is an electrician, and my AP Physics teacher builds robots, and both offered to help in my project. I've also read a couple articles from industrial engineers on their LED lighting systems, so I think I have a pretty good idea of what I want, but I'm still a newbie to the hobby, and just because I read a couple articles, doesn't mean I know enough. So I thought I would consult the experts! My tank is 48"Lx24"Tx16"W. I wanted to make a panel or two for the tank, but I don't know if what I want is overkill, or not sufficient.
Here is my list:

One 47.5" heatsink
14 Cold white 3W
6 Royal Blue 3W
4 Amber
4 Ultra Violet
4 Red

I would then disperse these LED's evenly about the heatsink, and mount them above my tank. I plan on housing SPS corals later on, so I want to plan for that.
What do you think?

 

Are the LED chips you plan on using CREE 3W? For SPS you'll need more than that. I would suggest going with something like this:

18 Cool White
6 Neutral White
18 Royal Blue
6 Blue

As for your other colors, they do not do anything for coral growth...in fact, they would mainly contribute to nuisance algae. The Neutral White LEDs will give you more red spectrum pop. If you wanted, you could add some Green chips, but use sparingly. I am all for UV LEDs for supplementing, and getting a bit more pop. However, they are so weak, most do not make it very far down the water column. CREE also does not produce a UV diode (no matter what one company claims). I would use dimmable drivers, MeanWell to be specific. In all honesty, one dimmable kit from RapidLED would run you around $400. Heatsinks to cover that would be another $100+. A controller of sorts, or pots to dim each color to your taste, $40-75. It is not much more after build materials are concerned to go with 2 AI Sol Lights with controller...maybe $200 more. But you'd get a warranty, and wouldn't have to build a light. I have built many LED lights, and it can be fun, and a PITA at the same time.

 

Yeah, Cree and Hero LED chips, the website I looked at was Hero LED. Thanks for the input! I really had no idea about which colors I should use. I would really like to have just a couple supplementary Red and Violet LED's, even if its just like 1 or 2, just for the pop, but the health of the livestock means more than the pop. What do you suggest for supplementary colors? As for neutral white, I haven't been able to find much bulbs, would RapidLED be a good source for bulbs? Also, on Hero LED, there were LED dimmers in the 40$ range, here is the URL so you can look at some of the stuff.
Here is the Dimmer
RGB LED Remote Controller with Wall Panel 12v / 24v DC 12A [CT-RGBWPRF] - $49.95 : Led Strips Hero-ledstore.com
Then here are the URLs for the lights
Cree Led Kits : Led Strips Hero-ledstore.com

Hero LEDs : Led Strips Hero-ledstore.com

Also, what are drivers and Al Sol lights with the controller, are those dimmers too? I don't know that much about them I'm looking forward to the challenge of building one though Sometimes PITA's are good learning experiences, and I need all that I can get of those!

 

FYI hero is not the brand of led's you are looking at, thats just the site name, those other leds are bridgelux which are also decent but not as efficient as the cree leds.

 

RapidLED is a sponsor here. They have better prices and customer service is good. If you want to get RED LEDs, then go with Red instead of the NW LEDs. Rapid sells Osram Reds. You'll want to get 40 degree or 670 degree optics depending on how high you plan on hanging your heatsink. Shoot a message to Mike at Rapid...he'll set you up with an idea of what you want.

AI light are Aqua Illumination. The model is Sol White or Sol Blue. Google AI Sol lights. Drivers are the power source to run the LED chips. You will need at least 4 if you go with 48 LEDs ($34 per). A controller is a device that can dim, and control when certain strings of LEDs power on/off via timers. I believe you need to do a lot more research before purchasing any system. There are a lot of BAD LED systems out there...few good ones. A DIY can be a good one, with the right components of course.

 

http://www.ledsupply.com/docs/reef-tank_diy-instructions.pdf

A walkthrough for an led build so you have an idea of what you're getting into! But I'd get the plug and play Cree led's so if you dont like the color option you can change it easy!

 

This is a good write up about color spectrums and optics!

LED My TANK! « « ReefLEDLights | LED Aquarium Lighting ReefLEDLights | LED Aquarium Lighting

 

This is pretty awesome. Nice info to know.

It its what it is and how it should be.

 

I'm no where near purchasing, I'm still saving, haha. But thanks for all the information! It is much appreciated. I'll let keep posting to show progress and probably more questions once I get started. Also, I'll be updating my list of materials according to your expertise. Again, thank you very much! I learned in 6 hours from you, what I still haven't got a response from the reeftank and its been about a week! Thank you very much, 3reef rules!

 

Would I only need 1 dimmer for 4 drivers?