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I just caught this thread, I have been working on a huge LED array for my 400 gal reef system. The led array is going to be 10 feet by 2.5 feet...
Anyways I am using the Luxeon LED's partially because they have the proper spectrum if specific led's are mixed in specific percentages (I have been working on this for about 1-2 years). As mentioned above some of the blue LED’s are the 470 NM which makes for a great moon light. I have not looked into the Cree LED's and am unfamiliar with the spectrum of them. It seems like Cree is making good advances and may give a better Lum/Watt.
I had a prototype built (I am working with Electrical Engineers to make this actually work) and it was only 8 Luxeon K2 LED's I put it into the tank hood with the other lights (175W MH and Actinic) on and I could see the area where the LED's were shining as it was visibly more light... I do not have a PAR meter but it looked brighter, I turned them off and on several times in different areas of the tank and I was able to have more light on the sand floor of my 72 Bow Front tank. The thing to remember is that LED's are much more of a direct point source light meaning that they shine directly down in the tank unlike MH and other lighting sources, this gives them a higher efficiency.
The reason I went this direction is that after the initial cost I will not have to deal with it for 4-5 years, I will spend less on electricity and have no cost for replacement bulbs twice per year. Additionally I will not have the heat issues of the MH bulbs.
Good luck on your project, keep asking questions and look at the company sites all of the information is available, it just takes time to figure out what will work best for you. As mentioned before you will need drivers for the LED's, if you go with something like the Buck Puck it will be cost prohibitive for large arrays. You will want to figure out how to create a Pulse Wave Modulated power supply for the LED's mine can drive something like 30 led's per power supply. This is where things become tricky and where my personal knowledge ends. The other thing to consider is how you will turn them on and off, will you dim the lights… I am running mine to slowly dim on and then off, everything is controlled from an Aqua controller.
I figure most people could figure out the wiring, heat sinks, and other items, but when it comes to creating the PWM controller and other aspects the average person will need help. I would work on finding someone who knows that stuff first, they will most likely be able to help you in the rest of it as well. I was surprised and very lucky to find the people I did, they are just like us here on RC willing to spend our time and sometimes money helping other fellow refers out. They are still in collage and willing to help me to learn more, they are spending my money to play with things that they could only imagine building otherwise and are talking about building it for me close to free… Yeah I am amazed and happy to say the least.
I hope that gives you some ideas, things to consider and help in your endeavors, I wish you the best of luck.
-Ryan
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