LED question

[Justin0329]

I am looking at building my own LED fixture however I am curious how much wattage it should have. Its a standard 55 gallon tank and I am thinking I'll be adding corals later. Currently I have a T5 fixture that houses 4 54 watt bulbs (2 actinic and 2 10k) for a total of 216 watts witch seems standard for that type of fixture. I really like the way LED's light the tank thus the "upgrade". Also, I like the idea of not having to change the bulbs or forgetting for that matter. So, when planning on using 3 watt LED bulbs, how many total watts are ideal for corals so that bleaching isn't an issue?

 

[Stryk9]

Hard to say with LEDs.. I just upgraded my biocube 14 to LEDs. I used 12 3watt Crees and am very happy with it. Bright enought to house anything. I have sps and a clam in there. I got the dimmable which I highly suggest so you can acclimate your corals to the lighting to prevent any bleaching. Total equals 2.5 watts per gallon for me but it works out to be plenty. I also added a couple stunner led strips to add more color. Mike from rapidled.com is awesome!!!