TOMwu
New Member
Yes， Smatfarm G5 is more suitable for this tank. G5 has build-in timer and dimmer, support sunrise, sunset, moonlight time setting. G5 has a screen, which others has not. The price is very good now.
Best Cheap Light for Reef
- Thread starter The_ReefB0y_FOX24
- Start date
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- Tags
- coral lighting ligthing
- Tagged users None
reeftankdude
Well-Known Member
Just so that you would know. These lights are 60 percent white and 40 percent blue. I am happy with them, but a little more blue would bring out the colors of the corals a bit more. When I have the play money for a 300 hundred gallon tank I will go 50/50 with the lights.I have two of these on my 20GH. There just $35 each and simple to use. My water is clear as gin using Seachem Matrix carbon with Purigen, and a UVS. Water clarity really helps.
tbrown
Nominated Cronie Intern - Might be failing?
Under $100, great light. @noopsyche has their new app controlled V3 Mini on sale for $85.
Noopsyche K7 Mini 60W APP wifi control
Noo-Psyche K7 Mini is an Brand New Marine Aquarium coral light with Smart App WiFi Control. Category: Pet light for aquarium reef illumination Size: Φ116*55 mm Weight: 0.35 Kg Power: 60 W Voltage: 100-240V 50/60Hz 1.5A Warranty: one year
noopsychereeflight.com
Mmonk005
Community Member
Any idea which one I would need for a tank that’s 36” long, 16.5 wide, and 20.5 tall? Would I need two?
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tbrown
Nominated Cronie Intern - Might be failing?
I'd go with two of these instead - way more controllable and better spectrum. I own both and am significantly happier with my @noopsyche
noopsychereeflight.com
Or 1 of these would work as well
noopsychereeflight.com
Noopsyche K7 Mini 60W APP wifi control
Noo-Psyche K7 Mini is an Brand New Marine Aquarium coral light with Smart App WiFi Control. Category: Pet light for aquarium reef illumination Size: Φ116*55 mm Weight: 0.35 Kg Power: 60 W Voltage: 100-240V 50/60Hz 1.5A Warranty: one year
noopsychereeflight.com
Or 1 of these would work as well
NooPsyche K7 PRO IV Full Set Reef Aquarium LED Coral Light
NP K7 PRO Aquarium LED Coral Light. Better spectrum out / Excellent Growth / Feed Almost all the of the SPS/LPS coral in one reef tank isn't a dream especially red coral / Natural perfect mixing and Shimmer / Superior Color Mixing / The best mixing spectrum technology / Affordable price Best LED...
noopsychereeflight.com
razorskiss
Active Member
I think two of the noopsyche 60w lights may be your best bet, although I've personally never used them. I think generally two smaller lights will give more even illumination than a single larger one.
razorskiss
Active Member
BRS recently posted a great lecture that talks about how to rigorously evaluate light Spectra and which wavelength bands to pay attention to. It's lengthy but worth a watch:
tbrown
Nominated Cronie Intern - Might be failing?
I have a 90 and a 75 (both older @noopsyche lights) over a similar tank. Mine is 22" deep I think. I don't run either light at 100% and barely any white. I've got 2 of the 140s and a 165 watt black box over my 125 (72"*18"*21") and run at 85% blue and maybe 15% white. The more lights the better. You can always turn down the intensity but once you're at 100% you can't get more brighter.
LeftyReefer
2500 Club Member
What lights did your friend recommend then?
Your tank being 36" x 16.5" is basically the same foot print as a 40b (36" x 18") so any light combo that would work for a 40b would be fine over your tank. You will likely need (2) lights due to the 36" length. The 16.5" width is fine to cover with (1) light, but the 36" length will need two lights.
I have (2) Smat Farm G5 lights and a LED bar over a 40b that grows everything well.
doubleshot00
2500 Club Member
This. I have a 50watt for backup/coral qt light and have 2-30watt. Ones in a fish qt tank and the other is on a fluval 13.5 growing RFA, zoas, favias and 2 leathers. Paired up with the controller its a great option.
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Will_W
Active Member
I have the Aquaknight A029 and I think it's a great quality for the prise. I think I paid 65-70 for mine brand new
ikaros70
Active Member
I would highly recommend going with Viparspectra unless you know someone in the hobby with one of the other brands people are suggesting and go check them out for yourself.
It will save you money and frustration in the long run.
I went down the black box led rabbit hole (mostly due to some of the posts by others) with a few different brands and all were sub par compared to Viparspectra.
I tried smattfarm, ordered from Amazon and beat my head against the wall trying to get the white channels to a decent spectrum. Light channels very yellow in general, even on the lowest settings.
Even tried running them with the 3k channel off, still very yellow.
Blue channels only, were not enough for my tank (210 gallon) and I don’t like the windex look.
I was not impressed and they got returned.
Sorry, to all those that have these lights, that was my experience with them, is, what it is.
Next I tried mars aqua, found a used set cheap and figured I would give them a try.
These don’t have digital readout. Basically, you turn the dial to adjust the blue and white channels to your liking. You need a par meter for these, no way around it.
I set blue channel to 100 par on center @ sand bed and white channel to lowest setting. Color was better but still a little yellow for my liking.
I prefer 14-20k look, I’m from the days that MH had a stronghold on the hobby.
These also had a lot of hot spots with the dimpled lenses they come with. I swapped them out with some extra 90* lenses I had and the spread was much better with the lights hung ~14” about the water line.
I order some more 120* lenses and will be installing those when they arrive, 120* lenses very much help with the light spread and I would recommend installing them if you go with this style light fixture.
These were better but still wasn’t close enough to the 14-20k look I was going for.
I have these over my frag tank now, works fine for growing out corals.
A friend had a phlison and we tested that one as well. These are very similar to mars aqua, his phlison did already have the standard 90* lenses (no dimpled lenses).
Par and spectrum was almost identical over my 40 breeder that I use for my frag tank.
Next, I went to Viparspectra.
These have the digital readout which I prefer.
Out of the ones I tested, these had the closest light spectrum, I was looking for.
I would put it at a 14k look with both blue and white channels on, I’m good with that.
These came with 90* lenses, I swapped them out for 120* lenses and that helps with the light spread. No hot spots and good spread.
IMO… All these should come with 120* lenses but I am sure the manufacturers get the 90* lenses cheap and that’s what’s used.
Most , I know, are getting the 120* lenses from AliExpress. They run ~$10 per light.
Well worth the extra 10 bucks per light.
120* lenses is the way to go
Most of these black box led lights have 55 leds, so you’d need that many to do the swap.
That is my experience with these black box leds, hopefully it saves some headaches.
I’m a systems engineer by trade and I have no problem cracking these things opens and changing things to my liking.
Lenses are very easy to change and you can check YouTube for videos on exactly how to swap them out. IMO, most everyone can do this, just do your research up front and have at it.
I didn’t want to drop thousand of dollars on new led lights, I have a 210 display and 40g breeder as a frag tank setup.
I still have my MH setup, going to see how it goes with leds and if I decide to stick with led, I will probably upgrade to something along the lines of radions down the line.
Main reason I made the switch, is MH is getting harder to find and more expensive on bulbs.
Used to get 14k Pheonix MH bulbs pretty cheap, they are now ~80 per bulb and need to be changed out yearly. It adds up quick on larger systems.
It will save you money and frustration in the long run.
I went down the black box led rabbit hole (mostly due to some of the posts by others) with a few different brands and all were sub par compared to Viparspectra.
I tried smattfarm, ordered from Amazon and beat my head against the wall trying to get the white channels to a decent spectrum. Light channels very yellow in general, even on the lowest settings.
Even tried running them with the 3k channel off, still very yellow.
Blue channels only, were not enough for my tank (210 gallon) and I don’t like the windex look.
I was not impressed and they got returned.
Sorry, to all those that have these lights, that was my experience with them, is, what it is.
Next I tried mars aqua, found a used set cheap and figured I would give them a try.
These don’t have digital readout. Basically, you turn the dial to adjust the blue and white channels to your liking. You need a par meter for these, no way around it.
I set blue channel to 100 par on center @ sand bed and white channel to lowest setting. Color was better but still a little yellow for my liking.
I prefer 14-20k look, I’m from the days that MH had a stronghold on the hobby.
These also had a lot of hot spots with the dimpled lenses they come with. I swapped them out with some extra 90* lenses I had and the spread was much better with the lights hung ~14” about the water line.
I order some more 120* lenses and will be installing those when they arrive, 120* lenses very much help with the light spread and I would recommend installing them if you go with this style light fixture.
These were better but still wasn’t close enough to the 14-20k look I was going for.
I have these over my frag tank now, works fine for growing out corals.
A friend had a phlison and we tested that one as well. These are very similar to mars aqua, his phlison did already have the standard 90* lenses (no dimpled lenses).
Par and spectrum was almost identical over my 40 breeder that I use for my frag tank.
Next, I went to Viparspectra.
These have the digital readout which I prefer.
Out of the ones I tested, these had the closest light spectrum, I was looking for.
I would put it at a 14k look with both blue and white channels on, I’m good with that.
These came with 90* lenses, I swapped them out for 120* lenses and that helps with the light spread. No hot spots and good spread.
IMO… All these should come with 120* lenses but I am sure the manufacturers get the 90* lenses cheap and that’s what’s used.
Most , I know, are getting the 120* lenses from AliExpress. They run ~$10 per light.
Well worth the extra 10 bucks per light.
120* lenses is the way to go
Most of these black box led lights have 55 leds, so you’d need that many to do the swap.
That is my experience with these black box leds, hopefully it saves some headaches.
I’m a systems engineer by trade and I have no problem cracking these things opens and changing things to my liking.
Lenses are very easy to change and you can check YouTube for videos on exactly how to swap them out. IMO, most everyone can do this, just do your research up front and have at it.
I didn’t want to drop thousand of dollars on new led lights, I have a 210 display and 40g breeder as a frag tank setup.
I still have my MH setup, going to see how it goes with leds and if I decide to stick with led, I will probably upgrade to something along the lines of radions down the line.
Main reason I made the switch, is MH is getting harder to find and more expensive on bulbs.
Used to get 14k Pheonix MH bulbs pretty cheap, they are now ~80 per bulb and need to be changed out yearly. It adds up quick on larger systems.
SanFernandoValleyAIOReef
Active Member
Don’t forget that these “cheap lights” would be double or even triple the cost to buy at a LFS or US warehouse/distributor (BRS) since they have to pay for overhead , advertising and profit. Vs ordering online straight for china manufacture & as for the European brands, it’s the same as their cars , looks nice , overpriced , unreliable
SanFernandoValleyAIOReef
Active Member
How are you mounting the viparspectra? Don’t really want to hang from ceiling
$149.99 for about 105 watts $1.428/watt
Nicrew 150 watt is $195
I'll de-rate the 150 to 125 watts
$1.56/watt
Ratio of blue to" not blue" is 2"blue":1" not blue"
Vipar is 1:1
Tank mount and optional hanging kit included
Limited function onboard much like the Vipar.
Add $44 for a better controller.
