NEED led advice

but if i really have to i will just pay the extra 50 and get something from reefbreeders but i really like doing DIY because its how you learn the most out of any hobby to tell truth

 

I hear ya! It's a tough call, honestly, i'd take a week or so and read up, email Mike at rapid, and weigh money and options. I LOVE my reefbreeders light, but the rapid is nice for customizing. Honestly you could part this whole project out and save money. See what reefbreeders will hook you up with for leds and drivers. Then get that new heatsink from Makers(i believe), part it out over a month to save your wallet the shock. Personally, if I did a DIY again, I'd do Cree white and RB's and bridgelux for the rest of the color spectrum, and run them on 2-3 drivers in parallel. Bridgelux are nice because they all run at the same max current, I beleive

 

That is correct, however bridgelux are around 2v until they are maxed out at 700ma, so just know that when you are building a fixture

 

ya i saw that, and idk that reefbreeders would sell you just the leds and drives. and for the heat sink cant i get it from rapidled to?

 

i feel like i should be taking an electrical engineering class lol

 

you can get the rapid heatsink, its nice but that makers is awesome
MakersLED | The Versatile LED Fixture System

And don't stress, I did at your stage of the game, but its unnecessary, once you have all the parts and 3reef, you're fine. assembly is not hard, just time consuming

BTW PM sent

 

yes its nothing but stress but all great things start as an idea that stress's and bugs the living hell out of you, but when all is said and done the price you paid for it is all worth it. thats why ill set this up as a FOWLR then slowly build up my frags in it and eventually it will be a reef.

 

Thats the way to do it, just get the lighting system that will work best for your ultimate goal, which either of your options is great.