Review my LED Build? Please?

Looks pretty close to what I have set up right now. 

I would either go with less neutral whites and get some cool whites, or just less neutral whites.. they really do cast A LOT of yellow on the tank. I have only 8 on my 150 and they totally change the look and they're running at the lowest acceptable power for the meanwell driver. Since the ones you chose put out more than the ones I have, they would cause even more yellow than you'd probably want.

I would also suggest some shorter wavelength violets that are around 400-430 with about a 415nm peak. They really do add a bit of flavor to the fluorescence of the corals and make some of the deep blue colors show up.

I also think that the turquoise would be a waste of money... if you went with less neutral whites and add some cool whites, that color range would be filled in better.

For the Deep red, you should look at the spectral output and make sure they supply the necessary (albeit not very much) wavelengths for chlorophyll A at the 690nm peak wavelengths. If you're going to do red, I think it would be best to do it at a wavelength used by your corals.

For the XT-E's, just get a higher amperage driver and split the current between two strands.. be sure to add some fuses... some people may disagree and say they wont help, but through LOTS of experience... they do.

Everywhere I've read recommended that number of neutral whites in a 2:1 ratio with the royal blues. If I went to a cool white, I'd have to drop the RB's to a 1:1 ratio. What ratio are yours?

I'm still considering some violets around 405nm, but from everything I've read, very few pigments have absorption peaks in that range (a tiny peak in Chl a...and dinoxanthin. BFP absorbs around 380nm, but I'm not sure I want to dip down into the actual UV range.) The major peaks will be covered by the hyperviolet at 430nm (Chl a peaks at 430nm, diadinoxanthin peaks at 425nm, Neo-dinoxanthin peaks at 425nm, and B-carotene peaks at 430nm. Cyan fluorescence absorbs around 400-450nm, so the 430nm should address this.)

The turquoise is to balance out the red and cool blue. Together the light appears white, but they individually help some fluorescence. More importantly, the turquoise is at 495nm. Green fluorescent proteins (GFP) are the most numerous proteins, and they have a peak absorption at 500nm. I wanted to make sure to excite the GFP's well enough.

As far as I'm aware, Chl a has a peak around 660nm (which is where the red covers). I've seen some aquarium-specific references to a 685nm peak, but it is much smaller than the 660nm and 430nm peaks. The 430nm peak is the largest absorption peak, which I covered with the hyperviolets. I'm purposefully avoiding the far-red as it nears IR. Coral xanthophylls convert blue-spectrum light into heat, but they do not have any protective measure for red-spectrum light...which causes the typical bleaching from red-overexposure. Lastly, I'm using the 660nm reds to balance out the turquoise & cool blue for the white effect.

Nikki I think you are going to find just as many opinions on this subject as anything else in this hobby. I like much of what Phys said. Here is what I recommend from building my own fixtures and modifying countless others:

Hey Phys. As far as studies and literature I would have to see if I can dig any up. I haven't looked at much of the recent postings as I found most of it just restating things that I have already known or just doesn't match what I have seen in building and using LED fixtures for the last 3 years.

I Have had systems that were fully CW and a few blues, I have had others that were 50/50, I have had them with 66/33 Blues to white. I've had systems in the latter two configurations with only Neutral Whites. My current setup has the above mentioned mix of blues and whites along with a pink, green and red with the best coloration and growth response on any of the configurations I have seen or used. I also looked into the AI's and Radions and all of there new systems are using more Neutral White to Cool White and more blue than white. They are also using a mix of RB, B, and 420nm actinic. Some have red and green and others don't.

I'm not sure about your reading but mine always led me to believe that there is still not a ton of solid information about what spectrum corals actually use. They have figured out which ones excite the coral tissues but in my readings they still have not been able to equate what levels of excitement produce growth compared to color. Like I said before It's been a few months since I checked for the current info.

I have always been one to research the technology to understand how it works and what it's believed benefits are but then I let my corals and tank tell me the rest of the story. Being a tinkerer I'm sure I'm not done making changes and trying new configurations. However, this configuration has worked the best so far out of all of the ones mentioned above.

I wasn't trying to throw out information to try and change Nikki's mind as I am sure she has ready everything ever published on this stuff before she posted anything on here at all. I just wanted to add my bits of experience to the mix to give her some real examples instead of just theory and opinion. If she chooses to look into any of if then great, if she doesn't then that's great too. Either way I believe that the the available LED technology out there she will come up with something great that works for her deep tank.

I still think she should look into the spectral change due to current only dimming as I believe she will find that an interesting read if nothing else. She is always very cognoscente of the very fine details and I believe that this is an area overlooked by most.

I will, but right now I'm up to my neck finishing my paper & build...it's due in a few days (at least the rough draft.) It'll need to wait until after I'm done. Sorry.

Keep in mind, that what I was required to do for a thesis may not make 100% sense in the reefkeeping community.   

This thing is up on the 150. It's a 4 foot tanks so it's deep. These lights are outstanding. Looks like daylight when the whites are on at 15%. The color control (6 channels) is something to see. Nikki turned everything off and set the violets at 15% and the color was amazing.

Nice build. I had fun helping on this one. The colors in the tank are really coming along and the funny stick coral are spreading like crazy. This is a reef tour must see next year.

It's passed the weekend.............                          lol

It didn't work.

So, here's the rough draft of my thesis. I know there are a few things I need to fix, but you're welcome to review it as well (haha...it's like 125 pages and almost 18,000 words.)

Reef_Club_LED_Version.pdf