Amazon budget lights?

VintageReefer · Dec 2, 2023

Smatfarm is another good one

I never finish anythi · Dec 2, 2023

Timfish said:
Yup, Nicrew is a good choice. Popbloom is another.

I second pop bloom

Kzang · Dec 2, 2023

Viperspectra. Amazing par. It can grow anything you want and has a built in timer. It’s super powerful lights that can light the deepest tanks. Well over best bang for buck you can get. They don’t look as great like a fancy ecotech radion, but man do they work

cdemoss01 · Dec 2, 2023

I've tried viparspectra with my 65 gallon and had no luck. I think i'm gonna do a hiparegero mainly because the tank I'm setting up is a nano. Its 30 watts is this enough or too much? Customer reviews have put the light on 10-55 gallons so i'm not sure if the light is too little or too much. My tank is ten gallons and dimensions are 20 x 12 x 10 inches

ninjamyst · Dec 2, 2023

flashsmith said:
I don't know what budget you have but personally I would opt for something else. You could get an AI prime or Red Sea 50 or Maxspect jump for around $250 or so new and probably $150 or so used and have a light with app control. Spending a little extra for the control is worth it and you'll have a better light overall. It's not like you're lighting a 6ft. SPS tank that will cost you thousands. Buy a good light and cry just once I say. I see used primes every day for around $125 through local trading/selling pages.

AI Prime is 55w. It's a relatively weak light. For the same price, you can get a 100w light on Amazon. Light control is overrated because once you set it, you leave it. Red Sea lights have gotten horrible reviews. Maxspect jump is also low wattage. You are paying for marketing and branding.

ninjamyst · Dec 2, 2023

cdemoss01 said:
I've tried viparspectra with my 65 gallon and had no luck. I think i'm gonna do a hiparegero mainly because the tank I'm setting up is a nano. Its 30 watts is this enough or too much? Customer reviews have put the light on 10-55 gallons so i'm not sure if the light is too little or too much. My tank is ten gallons and dimensions are 20 x 12 x 10 inches

I have the hiparegero. I use it over my 8g frag tank. Just know the mount sucks and the white overpowers the blue. The white can be lowered but then you are running at like 50%. Price per wattage, it's not great. You are better off getting their 100w light and make it future proof. I also highly recommend the SmatFarm 95w light. It's $130 and much much much better than the 30w hiparegero

cdemoss01 · Dec 2, 2023

ninjamyst said:
I have the hiparegero. I use it over my 8g frag tank. Just know the mount sucks and the white overpowers the blue. The white can be lowered but then you are running at like 50%. Price per wattage, it's not great. You are better off getting their 100w light and make it future proof. I also highly recommend the SmatFarm 95w light. It's $130 and much much much better than the 30w hiparegero

Alright.. I might get the 50 watt Nicrew Hyperreef light.

EricR · Dec 2, 2023

Did you ever mention tank dimensions?
FWIW, I ran Nicrew HyperReef 50W on half of my 40 gallon tank for a while and it was fine but just limited controls -- I used old Kessil Spectral A controller to ramp it up/down and that mostly worked but I'd lean towards the Smatfarm 95W (over Nicrew + controller) that someone mentioned if it were me.

ninjamyst · Dec 2, 2023

cdemoss01 said:
Alright.. I might get the 50 watt Nicrew Hyperreef light.

For $30 more, get the SmatFarm. Better control and twice the power.

Sleeping Giant · Dec 2, 2023

noopsyche all day

cdemoss01 · Dec 2, 2023

ninjamyst said:
For $30 more, get the SmatFarm. Better control and twice the power.

Alright... I will have to do some research on both of them thank you all!

flashsmith · Dec 2, 2023

ninjamyst said:
AI Prime is 55w. It's a relatively weak light. For the same price, you can get a 100w light on Amazon. Light control is overrated because once you set it, you leave it. Red Sea lights have gotten horrible reviews. Maxspect jump is also low wattage. You are paying for marketing and branding.

Who needs a 100 watt light on a nano? Now that's wasteful. Being able to have instant control is far easier than trying to decipher a Chinese instruction manual and wasting a bunch of time trying to find instructions on the Internet I think. Then 3 months later have to go through the entire process again because you forgot how you set it up when you want to change settings. I learned my lesson when I bought a certain Chinese brand skimmer trying to get it fine tuned and forget about trying to get any kind of support or any parts if needed. I'm just glad the skimmer was a trial and I got reimbursed..lol No knock off stuff for me. You'll just end up buying it all again at some point. Buy once cry once. Lol

ninjamyst · Dec 2, 2023

flashsmith said:
Who needs a 100 watt light on a nano? Now that's wasteful. Being able to have instant control is far easier than trying to decipher a Chinese instruction manual and wasting a bunch of time trying to find instructions on the Internet I think. Then 3 months later have to go through the entire process again because you forgot how you set it up when you want to change settings. I learned my lesson when I bought a certain Chinese brand skimmer trying to get it fine tuned and forget about trying to get any kind of support or any parts if needed. I'm just glad the skimmer was a trial and I got reimbursed..lol No knock off stuff for me. You'll just end up buying it all again at some point. Buy once cry once. Lol

I agree. If you don't have the capacity to operate a light, you should not get one of these off brand ones.

Kzang · Dec 2, 2023

cdemoss01 said:
I've tried viparspectra with my 65 gallon and had no luck. I think i'm gonna do a hiparegero mainly because the tank I'm setting up is a nano. Its 30 watts is this enough or too much? Customer reviews have put the light on 10-55 gallons so i'm not sure if the light is too little or too much. My tank is ten gallons and dimensions are 20 x 12 x 10 inches

Why did you have no luck? What happened?

VintageReefer · Dec 2, 2023

fwiw I chose an ai prime for my nano and I am not thrilled with it. The fan is already buzzing and noisy and it’s nothing special

I might go back to my aqua knight v2 which has less control but I feel looked and worked better

ninjamyst · Dec 2, 2023

VintageReefer said:
fwiw I chose an ai prime for my nano and I am not thrilled with it. The fan is already buzzing and noisy and it’s nothing special

I might go back to my aqua knight v2 which has less control but I feel looked and worked better

AI Prime is one of the most overrated and overpriced light in the hobby. Very low power output and small spread. Even for a standard 10 gallon tank, it doesn't have enough spread.

VintageReefer · Dec 2, 2023

I have 15g peninsula Waterbox mini, and the light is sub par at best. My aqua knight didn’t have preset modes, so if I wanted full actinic look temporarily it was a manual but quick adjustment. I got the ai prime to make things easier, but the light output and quality itself is definitely not as good. I view it as an entry level light and there definitely is better for less money.

I might be going to the smatfarm or a noop. I wouldn’t even feel comfortable selling my ai prime. And I hear they burn lenses.