Best $120 light T5 or LED?

MeatMountain · Sep 20, 2018

I need a decent light to replace my 2 foot 2 bulb T5 fixture over my 6 foot 150 gallon reef. It has been doing great but its not big enough. It's a newer tank that's starting to fill and it needs better coverage. I'm thinking about getting the Odyssea T5 4 foot 4 bulb fixture for $110 with bulbs shipped or an ebay LED something like:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/360W-LED-Aquarium-Light-Dimmable-Panel-Lamp-Full-Spectrum-Reef-Coral-Fish-Tank/351823711278?_trkparms=aid=555018&algo=PL.SIM&ao=1&asc=20131003132420&meid=5c97d850b4e34eb79c40c78a8779e5a8&pid=100005&rk=1&rkt=12&mehot=pp&sd=391909026090&itm=351823711278&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851

If I do get the LED I can will add another soon. Any suggestions or tips?

saltyfilmfolks · Sep 20, 2018

That odyssey fixture is ok. You’ll want to slowly add better tubes.

You can add a decent led strip later.

mcarroll · Sep 20, 2018

I dunno how you're lighting a six footer with a two-foot fixture.

(PM sent!)

JMetaxas · Sep 22, 2018

Odyssea is a great deal for the money. I ran one over my 36" 65 gallon tank and everything grew well.

Ron Reefman · Sep 23, 2018

I'm 100% with mcarroll, how do you light a 6' tank with a 2 bulb 2' t5???

The specs on the led you linked say it's only 24" long. I suspect that may be wrong and that it's 32", but even that really isn't long enough for a 6' long tank. I had 2 fixtures at 32" over my 6' tank. You might squeeze by with 2 fixtures that are 24" or maybe even 16", but it wouldn't be very good coverage and they would have to be hung so high that the PAR would suffer some as well. For zoas and soft corals... maybe OK, but for sps... only directly under the fixtures.

Good luck.

BigJohnny · Sep 23, 2018

You are using one single 2 foot 2 bulb t5 fixture on a 6 foot tank?

mcarroll · Sep 23, 2018

BigJohnny said:
You are using one single 2 foot 2 bulb t5 fixture on a 6 foot tank?

While he's shopping...

Gotta do what you gotta do sometimes. Might be moving it around on the tank periodically?

BigJohnny · Sep 23, 2018

mcarroll said:
While he's shopping...

Gotta do what you gotta do sometimes. Might be moving it around on the tank periodically?

I'm just asking for clarification, feel like it was a typo

MeatMountain · Sep 25, 2018

Nope it was a 2 foot 2 bulb t5, no typos...I wish lol! I did have a crappy 4 foot shop led above it for light(not much par). It was dull and not strong enough but my MH was running hot!

That wasn't the point of the post though...but thanks for those who chimed in!

I ended up hooking my metal-halide up higher and with a small fan for now until I can buy a couple LEDs. I have decided I really want the color of LEDs.

MeatMountain · Sep 25, 2018

Thanks Mcarroll for the PMs!

MeatMountain · Sep 25, 2018

Yes I was thinking of buying 2 of the LEDs I linked. I was hoping someone had bought that model here.

Ron Reefman · Sep 26, 2018

I've never bought that particular led fixture. But with 120 3w leds running at 360 watt output and in a 24" x 8" footprint, that fixture should make some incredible PAR levels! If what I read is all true and the PAR is high, this could be a great basic led fixture for people with tanks that are more than 24" deep. And it's a great price as well! I've used led fixtures with 55 3w leds running at just 120 watts (only 2.2w/led versus 3.0w/led) and in a 16" x 8" form and some with 99 3w leds also running at 2.2w/led in a 32"x 8" form and had great success growing most kinds of sps corals with both. BTW, the 99 led fixture was considerably more than the $108. they are asking for the fixture you linked. I also like that it's not the standard black box design, it's much slimmer at only 1".

Have you bought these yet?

I think I may buy 2, one for use over my refugium and one as a backup to the Reef Breeders Photon V2 over my 50g cube!

MeatMountain · Sep 30, 2018

Ron Reefman said:
I've never bought that particular led fixture. But with 120 3w leds running at 360 watt output and in a 24" x 8" footprint, that fixture should make some incredible PAR levels! If what I read is all true and the PAR is high, this could be a great basic led fixture for people with tanks that are more than 24" deep. And it's a great price as well! I've used led fixtures with 55 3w leds running at just 120 watts (only 2.2w/led versus 3.0w/led) and in a 16" x 8" form and some with 99 3w leds also running at 2.2w/led in a 32"x 8" form and had great success growing most kinds of sps corals with both. BTW, the 99 led fixture was considerably more than the $108. they are asking for the fixture you linked. I also like that it's not the standard black box design, it's much slimmer at only 1".

Have you bought these yet?

I think I may buy 2, one for use over my refugium and one as a backup to the Reef Breeders Photon V2 over my 50g cube!

I did order one LED to see how they work. I’ll post back when it arrives. I’m also going to try to build a couple Tuna blue replicas.

Ron Reefman · Sep 30, 2018

I ordered one of these and one smaller unit. They should be delivered on Wednesday or Thursday.

We can compare notes and I do have a PAR meter so I can take readings.

Ron Reefman · Oct 5, 2018

My leds from "teammadegroup2011" arrived and I have to admit, they are quite nice looking and work well. The light controller (dimmer) is a bit funky as it's a, 8 or 10 step dimmer rather than a continuous 0 to 100%, but it still works fine. They both came with stainless hanging kits and the smaller fixture had stiff wire legs as well. BTW, I've had other leds with expandable wire legs that were soft metal and easily bent. These are hard and do not bend, I like them MUCH better.

I haven't checked the PAR levels yet as I'm still playing with them.

The bigger fixture did not come with wire legs (and it was NOT supposed to). But I want some so I emailed them and not only did they get right back to me, they asked specific questions about what leg parts I want and asked for a photo of the legs on the smaller fixture. I sent them back another email with more info and as soon as I hear back from them I'll let everybody know. But so far I'm pretty impressed with both the led fixture and the company's customer service. That's not something we see a lot of on EBay products!

shred5 · Oct 5, 2018

odyssey is garbage do a search.
I had a ballast on my start smoking and got so friggen hot.

MeatMountain · Oct 5, 2018

Mine came in and looks nice! Not quite the colors I wanted but you get what you pay for. I’m not a fan of the controller, I don’t think a timer will work at all.

The colors do look much better compared to my old Metal Halide. Mine is the 24” and it came with the steel wire hangers. They did overcharge me by $8 and then was very rude about it. I wanted to order another but I refuse to after that...

I’m interested in your par readings.

Ron Reefman · Oct 7, 2018

MeatMountain said:
Mine came in and looks nice! Not quite the colors I wanted but you get what you pay for. I’m not a fan of the controller, I don’t think a timer will work at all.

I’m interested in your par readings.

My timer, a basic on/off unit the power plugs into works just fine with it. An Apex should be able to turn it on and off.

I checked the PAR and on full power (both channels) I got 500+ at 8" of air and 250 at 24" of air. It's not as powerful as I thought it might be given it's supposed to be running at 360 watts, but then it's certainly as powerful as it needs to be to grow coral in a 24" deep tank. Next I should break out my Kill-a-Watt meter and see just how much power it really is using. Most led fixtures like this only push 3 watt leds at 2.2.watts so they run cooler and last longer.