90 gallon LED suggestions

[iGotJokess]

Have a traditional 90 gallon rimmed tank. Looking to setup mixed reef. Since I have a brace in the middle, I’m thinking 2 smaller led’s over one. Looking for lighting suggestions, please no echotech I’m aware of their quality but can’t swing that price tag.

 

[lpsouth1978]

I have a 75g with the same dimensions, just not as tall. I have 2 Hydra 26's in an Aquatic Life Hybrid. The T5's really help to reduce the shadow from the center brace. Alternatively, you could go with 4 Primes and angle the 2 center primes slightly so they light under the brace.

 

[ApoIsland]

I have a 75g with the same dimensions, just not as tall. I have 2 Hydra 26's in an Aquatic Life Hybrid. The T5's really help to reduce the shadow from the center brace. Alternatively, you could go with 4 Primes and angle the 2 center primes slightly so they light under the brace.

While AI Primes did make my corals look great the lights are just way too weak to grow anything nice half way down that 90g tank. Plus I had 2 lights fail out of 3 so not exactly a quality product. If I remember correctly 4 primes would run more than $800. If you are relatively new at growing corals I would just go with 2 of the chinese black boxes. Corals wont look quite as nice but those lights grow will grow your corals a lot faster than the primes. And the total will be under $300. If you want to upgrade next year you can always sell those used boxes for at least $50 -$75 each and get something better. If you want to spend a total of about $400 and get better colors go with the black boxes from SB Reef Lights. Their customer service is absolute garbage though and product isn't exactly top quality either.

My 120g tank in this pic has been run on the chinese black boxes for the last 5 years. I feel the lights have to be nearing their end though so I have just begun my upgrade search...

 

[TriggerFinger]

I have 2 165w viparspectras on my 90g. I have some zoas, multiple Euphyllia, an acan, 2 montis and one Acro; a green slimer. So far they have all shown growth and they are still sitting in my sand bed. There are no problems getting these lights down into a deep tank. I have them set at 5% white and 45% blue. This is my first tank and I’m happy with the results. I couldn’t afford the high end lighting although I’m sure they would do a better job. There are many successful tanks running with these lights.

 

[Victor_C3]

I know you mentioned specifically that you want LED lights, but have you given any consideration to T5’s?

The advantage with T5 over LED is the spread of the light and a lack of shadowing in the tank. Also, they are pretty much turn on and forget. You don’t have to dial in different spectrums and play games with the fixture. They just work.

4x T5 bulbs will do pretty much any softy or LPS, 6x bulbs would be good for mixed corals, and 8x T5 would be more than suitable for SPS.

If you go with retrofit kits, you could easily upgrade and add to your lighting setup as you see fit.

 

[Shaummy]

I'm not sure what your budget is, but I switched my 90g over to a single Photon V2+ (48) ~$700 and have no trouble lighting anything I want in the tank. I've got LPS, SPS etc.. and they are doing pretty well. I haven't even ramped it up to anywhere near 100%. My PAR about mid-tank is 350. I also considered 2 fixtures, but I haven't seen where bridging the center brace with a single fixture has really impacted anything. The Photon has some nice features for ramping up/down and pretty easy to program once you get the hang of it.

 

[Deschutes541]

Im still in the planning stages of my 90 gallon build but I decided to start off with an Aquatic Life T5 hybrid.

48" Hybrid T5HO 4x54W Fixture

Welcome to the future of aquarium lighting! Combine your favorite LED Light module along with Aquatic Lifes T5 lighting fixture to create a stellar lighting system! Accepts many of your favorite LED lighting modules! Includes standard LED Light Brackets Powder Coated Aluminum Frame Individual...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

It's good enough for LPS and Softies but you can add high end LEDs in the future if/when you wanted to keep SPS.

 

[iGotJokess]

I know you mentioned specifically that you want LED lights, but have you given any consideration to T5’s?

The advantage with T5 over LED is the spread of the light and a lack of shadowing in the tank. Also, they are pretty much turn on and forget. You don’t have to dial in different spectrums and play games with the fixture. They just work.

4x T5 bulbs will do pretty much any softy or LPS, 6x bulbs would be good for mixed corals, and 8x T5 would be more than suitable for SPS.

If you go with retrofit kits, you could easily upgrade and add to your lighting setup as you see fit.

The reason i was looking into LED’s is simply for the looks and ease of maintenance in the long run. I’ve been in freshwater for 10+ years but this is my first salt build. Still learning the ropes. LED’s seem to be pretty much plug and play once you find the right setting, T5’s seem to me atleast, slightly more in depth. Dealing with adjusting new bulbs and heat omitted. Again I know both have pro’s and cons that’s kind of why I’m reaching out. Not set on LED’s, but was the direction I’m currently leaning. Any input otherwise is appreciated as I’m just trying to soak as much knowledge as possible.

 

[iGotJokess]

Anyone have reviews on the reefbreeders?

 

[Phil D.]

You may want to check out the Red Sea Reef LED 50s. The app is easy to use and Red Sea researched coral growth and found corals use the 360-480nm spectrum the most. So they based the new LEDs on that.

 

[pscheel2]

I'm not sure what your budget is, but I switched my 90g over to a single Photon V2+ (48) ~$700 and have no trouble lighting anything I want in the tank. I've got LPS, SPS etc.. and they are doing pretty well. I haven't even ramped it up to anywhere near 100%. My PAR about mid-tank is 350. I also considered 2 fixtures, but I haven't seen where bridging the center brace with a single fixture has really impacted anything. The Photon has some nice features for ramping up/down and pretty easy to program once you get the hang of it.

I'm thinking of getting these. What are your settings?

 

[iGotJokess]

You may want to check out the Red Sea Reef LED 50s. The app is easy to use and Red Sea researched coral growth and found corals use the 360-480nm spectrum the most. So they based the new LEDs on that.

Says they only go 20” deep?

 

[Phil D.]

My daughters E-170 is 22" deep. How deep is you 90g?

 

[Shaummy]

I'm thinking of getting these. What are your settings?

I do a 3pm to 11pm cycle, since that's when I'm around the tank more, but this is what I'm currently running:

 

[iGotJokess]

My daughters E-170 is 22" deep. How deep is you 90g?

48x18x25

 

[Phil D.]

The Reef LED would be fine

 

[SteveEreef]

Anyone have reviews on the reefbreeders?

The reef dork - Alex has a review of the light that he posted today on YouTube. He gives some of the pros and cons . But he has only had the lights for a week.

 

[Dr. Jim]

Interesting that nobody mentioned Radions. It seemed like years ago these were the "go-to" LED's to have. Is there a tendency for reefers to be steering away from them? If so, is it mainly due to cost?
I just bought two G5XR15's for a relatively new 40G cube (for SPS only). These are my first LED's after 24 years of halides, so I have no way to compare them to other LED's.

 

[lpsouth1978]

Interesting that nobody mentioned Radions. It seemed like years ago these were the "go-to" LED's to have. Is there a tendency for reefers to be steering away from them? If so, is it mainly due to cost?
I just bought two G5XR15's for a relatively new 40G cube (for SPS only). These are my first LED's after 24 years of halides, so I have no way to compare them to other LED's.

I have seen the Radions in action, and while they are nice, I doubt I will ever own them. I just can't justify the cost when there are other options that do the job as well, for much less. There are still a lot of Radion users out there. I think another part of the reason is that there have been a lot of issues with the new G5 Radions. You can EASILY find used ones for sale already, and they have only been out a few months.

 

[NormanB]

+1 on the Reefbreeder V2+ 48". I'm using it on my standard size 75 and its perfect for me.