Best bang for the buck LED lighting?

[stephenwjr]

Hello All,

I will be converting my fresh water tank to salt and have a few months before needing a light and wanted some input from the community on what light would be best for my 36 gallon corner tank. see picture below.

 

[Wildcats1023]

Viparspectra $100 on ebay direct from Viparspectra. Built in timer 2 channel control. Will grow anything very powerful light

 

[stephenwjr]

After doing some research, I will be going with the AI Prime. Best bang for the buck imo.
Thank You again BRS for the awesome informative video's.

 

[vicefire17]

I bought a 30W Nicrew pendant with timer on Amazon for $74. I upgraded to a larger tank and my black box wasn’t cutting it. I bought 2 and the colors I’m getting are amazing.

 

[stephenwjr]

I bought a 30W Nicrew pendant with timer on Amazon for $74. I upgraded to a larger tank and my black box wasn’t cutting it. I bought 2 and the colors I’m getting are amazing.

I see you are able to ramp the light up and down but the PAR(100 max) is a lot lower.

 

[Uncle99]

After doing some research, I will be going with the AI Prime. Best bang for the buck imo.
Thank You again BRS for the awesome informative video's.

AI is great if you like control.
Visparspectra is great if you just want light.
Corals grow well under both.

 

[ZoWhat]

I'm super happy with my Noopysche lighting system purchase.....which is super close to the AI 16.

I would give the award handsdown to AI on the interface side, as Noopysche's user interface reminds me of a 1980's 16bit program built into a plastic-ey cheap remote. The LED head units are high quality but the remote looks and feels like smthg Atari made in 1982. Lol

With the Noop's LED diodes, I'm seeing excellent growth and the ability to mix 7 different light color (wavelength) levels for $160 a unit. High quality LED output at a non-gouged price point with Noop's (yeah im talking to you Ecotech, Kessil, Orphek,lol)

Google them if you are not familiar with the company Noopysche

.

 

[stephenwjr]

AI is great if you like control.
Visparspectra is great if you just want light.
Corals grow well under both.

I also like how compact the AI prime is and the ease of mounting.

 

[vicefire17]

I see you are able to ramp the light up and down but the PAR(100 max) is a lot lower.

I don’t have a par meter, but I’m running it at 100% blues and 40% whites. My Superman Monty and another chalice were blah under my black box lighting. They have been revived under these Nicrew lights. So far I’m extremely happy with these lights, especially for the price.

 

[stephenwjr]

Wanted to get some feedback about this light.

WILLS Newest 165W LED Aquarium Light​

Seems very good for the price. All input is greatly appreciated.

 

[ApoIsland]

After doing some research, I will be going with the AI Prime. Best bang for the buck imo.
Thank You again BRS for the awesome informative video's.

It's an awesome light for sure when it works. Unfortunately I consider the AI Prime 16HD the absolute worst bang for my buck. I have been through 3 lights and only 1 is working past the 2 year date. Basically have over $600 invested and I can barely light a 10g cube. Not exactly good bang for my buck. Hope you have better luck.

 

[stephenwjr]

It's an awesome light for sure when it works. Unfortunately I consider the AI Prime 16HD the absolute worst bang for my buck. I have been through 3 lights and only 1 is working past the 2 year date. Basically have over $600 invested and I can barely light a 10g cube. Not exactly good bang for my buck. Hope you have better luck.

I will agree. After some research the AI prime may not be what I want. What do you think about the WILLS light above? It has more PAR and better coverage.

 

[slojim]

you never indicated what you want to keep. Fish don't care. Lots of simple zoas and palys grow in low light. Higher-quality lights grow more stuff. I have a 30" deep tank with low powered fish only lights - and I have some palys and GSP thriving in the sand bed, a zoa up high that waxed and waned over the last year and finally gave up, and a torch that isn't growing or fading no matter where I put it. Most of those were hitchikers, not purpose bought. And the light was intended to be temporary, but I haven't been motivated to upgrade yet.
I suggest you first think about your intended tank inhabitants, then pick a light.

 

[Sam816]

if you are planning to keep corals then maxspect should be at your lower end. there is a UFO light as well(brand is slipping me) but i don't think it will cover the tank's width. if you are going fish only then freshwater full spectrum light will be enough.

 

[revenant]

Viparspectra $100 on ebay direct from Viparspectra. Built in timer 2 channel control. Will grow anything very powerful light

I second this. I love my two 165w units. Work great - VERY bright.. I run mine at 44blue 30white and it's plenty for my zoas, palys, gsp, and cloves.. they're growing like crazy.. They also come with very nice hanging hardware.

 

[ApoIsland]

I will agree. After some research the AI prime may not be what I want. What do you think about the WILLS light above? It has more PAR and better coverage.

Glad you are getting away from the Primes. Total waste of money there. Sorry I can't help you with the others listed as I have no experience with them. As far as LEDs go I only have personal experience with the following:

AI - Favorite color spectrum and software but worst quality light regarding build and durability/longevity, will never give these thieves more of my money.

Ecotech - Second favorite color spectrum but too expensive.

Kessil - Only good thing I can say about these lights is they seem to last. Absolutely hate the spotlight look of tanks under these lights.

Reefbreeders - system I am currently running. not a huge fan of the spectrum and overall look of the tank light but would get it above all others listed above considering price and quality reputation. Coral colors do look as good/better as any other light above.

Cheap $125 Black Box - I ran these the longest and would suggest to any beginning reefer. Can grow absolutely anything and they are super cheap. Can also sell in less than a day on craigslist/facebook for $50-75 per fixture if you ever decide to upgrade. Maybe you can buy a used one that is a year or two old to test out.
Only downside, and not sure it is still true, but it was for my fixtures that I got a bout 6-7 years ago; they are cheap leds and the colors of some of the corals wont look quite as stunning as the other fixtures above (red/yellow especially).
I experienced better growth with these cheap lights though as the spread is much better than the expensive fixtures above.

There is some other expensive fixture I currently have sitting in storage but I can't remember the name of it. I'll come back and edit if I can remember. Was such a lousy light I ran it for about 3 months. Grew nothing but nuisance algae.

 

[Jekyl]

Glad you are getting away from the Primes. Total waste of money there. Sorry I can't help you with the others listed as I have no experience with them. As far as LEDs go I only have personal experience with the following:

AI - Favorite color spectrum and software but worst quality light regarding build and durability/longevity, will never give these thieves more of my money.

Ecotech - Second favorite color spectrum but too expensive.

Kessil - Only good thing I can say about these lights is they seem to last. Absolutely hate the spotlight look of tanks under these lights.

Reefbreeders - system I am currently running. not a huge fan of the spectrum and overall look of the tank light but would get it above all others listed above considering price and quality reputation. Coral colors do look as good/better as any other light above.

Cheap $125 Black Box - I ran these the longest and would suggest to any beginning reefer. Can grow absolutely anything and they are super cheap. Can also sell in less than a day on craigslist/facebook for $50-75 per fixture if you ever decide to upgrade. Maybe you can buy a used one that is a year or two old to test out.
Only downside, and not sure it is still true, but it was for my fixtures that I got a bout 6-7 years ago; they are cheap leds and the colors of some of the corals wont look quite as stunning as the other fixtures above (red/yellow especially).
I experienced better growth with these cheap lights though as the spread is much better than the expensive fixtures above.

There is some other expensive fixture I currently have sitting in storage but I can't remember the name of it. I'll come back and edit if I can remember. Was such a lousy light I ran it for about 3 months. Grew nothing but nuisance algae.

I have kessil and get no sort of a spotlight look. I have 2 a360 over a 90 gallon and the look is what I like most.

What kind of budget and corals are you trying to grow? I've seen the new kessil ap9x and they are awesome. Just pricey

 

[Jekyl]

Wanted to get some feedback about this light.

WILLS Newest 165W LED Aquarium Light​

Seems very good for the price. All input is greatly appreciated.

These are the same as every black box light. I started with them. Serious focused par underneath, poor quality and make everything look out of focus. They are cheap though and will grow every type of coral.

 

[stephenwjr]

I have kessil and get no sort of a spotlight look. I have 2 a360 over a 90 gallon and the look is what I like most.

What kind of budget and corals are you trying to grow? I've seen the new kessil ap9x and they are awesome. Just pricey

The budget is pretty low(<$200 for a light) and My focus as a beginner will be to grow coralline and Zoa, I heard they not real finicky about water quality that way it will give me time to figure out how to maintain proper water quality. Once I have figured out how to maintain proper water quality, Then my plan is to introduce more difficult corals. My tank is still cycling being setup late last December and should be ready for lights and coral by May.

 

[GuppyHJD]

I'm super happy with my Noopysche lighting system purchase.....which is super close to the AI 16.

I would give the award handsdown to AI on the interface side, as Noopysche's user interface reminds me of a 1980's 16bit program built into a plastic-ey cheap remote. The LED head units are high quality but the remote looks and feels like smthg Atari made in 1982. Lol

With the Noop's LED diodes, I'm seeing excellent growth and the ability to mix 7 different light color (wavelength) levels for $160 a unit. High quality LED output at a non-gouged price point with Noop's (yeah im talking to you Ecotech, Kessil, Orphek,lol)

Google them if you are not familiar with the company Noopysche

.

Skimjim,
You are so right...the user interface for the Noopysche is difficult at best and very crude.