LED? Best for reef

[prohockey86]

Hey I have T5's and I love the look but want more power so I can place lps's and sps's inside my tank. With my current T5's i don't seem to generate enough lighting to keep lps's or sps's just soft coral. What is the best LED system out there? I want a good LED system and it doesnt have to create lightning or anything fancy. I just want a system that is powerful and will bring great natural looking sunlight and maybe some mixed color. Any ideas. I always heard eco tech but thats 700 a fixture.

 

[MikeC]

Well you asked for the best but then indicated the Eco teck was to much?
AI sol blue are good also but might be out of your price rang also?
Then people have had great success with DIY LEDs.
For that matter plenty of people have great success with T5's.

I think you need to come up with a price point and maybe someone can give you a best bang for your buck opinion.

T5s,LEDs,MH all have proven to grow coral

 

[prohockey86]

Well ur tank photos look outstanding. What lights are u currently running. I have a 180g and currently run 2-36inch t5 retro kits. It keeps up ok but only with soft corals like hammers and frog spawns. And money not a problem u would go with the eco tech?

 

[MikeC]

I have 4 AI sol Blu suplimented with 2-36inch t5 retro kits and I like it so far but that's not to say I'm totally against all T5s. I'm not the type of person that sais it can only be done one way.

How manny bulbs do you have ...4?

 

[Hove75]

To keep your cost down do DIY try rapid LEDs I installed mine in my 130max and so far it looks great plus saves on Electric bill

 

[Imbarrie]

Hammers and frogspawns are LPS and they do well in lower lighting environments than SPS.

 

[prohockey86]

Oh sorry I didn't realize that. What is a montipora categorized as. That is a coral i have been having trouble with growing. I am into the harder corals that you mainly see in hawaii.

 

[Imbarrie]

Montipora is SPS and is one of the best for people to start with.
They depend on higher lighting and stable and high quality water conditions.
Reefers can grow montis with great results under T5 but you need a lot of light.
LEDs are more efficient and there are several posts in MR on them.
Use the search feature or use Google and include Manhattan Reefs.

 

[Nottick]

To keep your cost down do DIY try rapid LEDs I installed mine in my 130max and so far it looks great plus saves on Electric bill

Rapid LED has a fixture now which seems to be the best bang for the buck from what they show in their coverage nd spectrum charts. They are shortly releasing a dimmable unit which can be controlled by any 0-10v source ie apex. They are estimated to be around $300-320 per fixture. Non dimmable ( hey most people who run t5 or mh don't dim) for $270 per fixture I believe. Is a no brainer and include the newly infamous UV led bulbs.

Everyone I talk to sees great results with their DIY RapidLed lights so there is the proof.

 

[Imbarrie]

You can get fully assembled dimmable for $300.
Check with Wingo

 

[reefer4eva]

Whatever led lights you decide on make sure you have optic lenses..I bought a reef breeders with just blue and whites for my sps dominant tank and they are seriously bright and also make sure there dimmable.depending on the depth of your tank you can do more harm than good.alot of people buy LEDs on impulse without doing the research about them,there's a lot of things to figure out then just buying a led unit and throwing it on top of your tank as if they where t5's or metal halides..to start any led unit you buy make sure there 3 watts per led,second make sure there dimmable to acclimate your corals to the lights ,and third and most important the height off the waterline is very important..depending on what kind of corals you have I personally have excellent growth with my LEDs...probably more than I have with metal halides!

 

[tomtoothdoc]

as mikec already mentioned, you need to see how much is your budget and then look into what is the best bang for your buck.

assuming your tank dimension is 72x24x24, with the ai you will need (imo at least) 3 units; that's roughly 1200 plus hanging kits and rails if you don't have a canopy. with the diy rapid led at ~300/kit then 900+.

there are also wingo's and fathom led. wingo is not local anymore....he moved to florida. fathom is local and i've heard the customer service is awesome(and so are the lights).

there's also the option of used units.....but that's another can of worm.

 

[Nottick]

Rapid LED just released their New LED Fixtures... They feature a full spectrum ( Including UV ) and just three will cover your tank with 60 degree optics ( if i remember correctly ) as per their site which sounds right. Units are 310 a piece... Thats cheap for a full spectrum CREE LED fixture that looks good. Im picking up two of these units and may ask Smoq to do a follow up review of his DIY RapidLED fixture featuring the same materials

 

[Nottick]

What I personally like about these units that no other reasonably priced unit offers is 3 chan control. You can control your White, Blue and other spectrum LEDs. I think this is a great feature which give outstanding customization for the cost of the unit.

 

[TheHun]

assuming your tank dimension is 72x24x24, with the ai you will need (imo at least) 3 units; that's roughly 1200 plus hanging kits and rails if you don't have a canopy.

3 units is not sufficient for this size of tank with SPS corals; I started with 3 and now I have 6 units

 

[charliethetuna88]

I like kessil proven to me to grow and keep the coral colors true I will be going with 6 a360a on my 300 gallon

 

[prohockey86]

Ok so all seem to have a plus and minus to them. But "THeHUn" six units for a 180 gallon 72x24x24 seems like over kill. For $2000+ you might as well setup the tank with ecotech. In price range of under 1500, basically most recommendsDIY leds. I just wish I could see how these look in person or any other leds for that matter. When I went to two fish stores by me they had 7 different types of leds and some look horrible and were priced 700-800 a fixture.

 

[reefer4eva]

3 units is not sufficient for this size of tank with SPS corals; I started with 3 and now I have 6 units

Reefcre


Reef breeders has different size ufull spectrum uits that are more than efficient for the size tank you have and they even have par readings for every unit they produce and there units have a programmable LCD display that can be adjusted hourly or every half hour.and like I said in a previous post it all depends on how high or low you set the lights up..if you know someone with a par meter it can help with adjustment

 

[reefer4eva]

3 units is not sufficient for this size of tank with SPS corals; I started with 3 and now I have 6 units[


Reef breeders has different size ufull spectrum uits that are more than efficient for the size tank you have and they even have par readings for every unit they produce and there units have a programmable LCD display that can be adjusted hourly or every half hour.and like I said in a previous post it all depends on how high or low you set the lights up..if you know someone with a par meter it can help with adjustment

 

[tomtoothdoc]

Ok so all seem to have a plus and minus to them. But "THeHUn" six units for a 180 gallon 72x24x24 seems like over kill. For $2000+ you might as well setup the tank with ecotech. In price range of under 1500, basically most recommendsDIY leds. I just wish I could see how these look in person or any other leds for that matter. When I went to two fish stores by me they had 7 different types of leds and some look horrible and were priced 700-800 a fixture.

6 units on a 180 is not overkill for an sps tank. i have 6 units of ai over a 48x36x27 sps dominated mixed reef.
i mentioned at least 3 units to start with and add on if needed. if you need more than 3 units of ai's, it would be the same with the radions. supposedly they both cover 24"x 24" per unit.
where are you in bergen? r & r aquatics in washington township has ai's, fathom's, chinese led's, and t5's on their tanks. another member in elmwood park has the fathom's and wingo's on his tanks. fishtown usa in ramsey has radion's, ai's, and a couple of other leds on their tanks.
i've never seen the rapid led ones.