Best high-ish range light for Mixed reef?

[uhgster1]

Do you think I could get away with 2 in a 40 breeder?

Two of the new primes can definitely work over a 40 for a mixed tank. You can buy used ones, make sure they’re the 16’s, and you might have enough leftover for a t5 fixture to supplement them. You’ll notice in my 65 that much SPS are in the top portion of the tank and I even have some growing in the middle. I have 3 over mine but one of them is a first generation AI I’ve had for years. The good thing about 40’s is they don’t have a middle brace over the top so you can play around better with the light distribution. My 65 has a brace through the middle which is why my lights look offset.

 

[Spkarim]

I have a $230 300W Viparspectra and it’s doing great for acros, LPS and a clam in my 40g. It is 31” long and just cranks out the power. I have it blasting almost full power, blue channel at 100%, white at 10-20%. A maxima clam on sand bed is doing fine.

I sold a 360X to buy this light and never looked back. I think the brand name LEDs are certainly overpriced. Notwithstanding changes in spectrum, photons are photons. You will save a lot of money and still achieve good growth.

 

[duberii]

I have a $230 300W Viparspectra and it’s doing great for acros, LPS and a clam in my 40g. It is 31” long and just cranks out the power. I have it blasting almost full power, blue channel at 100%, white at 10-20%. A maxima clam on sand bed is doing fine.

I sold a 360X to buy this light and never looked back. I think the brand name LEDs are certainly overpriced. Notwithstanding changes in spectrum, photons are photons. You will save a lot of money and still achieve good growth.

I do think that's true as well- but I do think there's room for a better spectrum beyond black boxes. I have one and honestly I'm happy with it, but since I have the money to upgrade lights, I'd like to go with a light that's more refined in terms of spectrum than a blackbox. That being said they do have a shockingly good spectrum- better lights than my current IC marine light IME.

 

[duberii]

Nothing I've seen suggests that the ReeFi lights are being sold to LFSs- maybe @danlu_gt can confirm that? If so, I'm gonna go with the Kessil AP9X- seems to be about the same in terms of tunability and spectrum- Though the ReeFi is obviously better in terms of price

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Nothing I've seen suggests that the ReeFi lights are being sold to LFSs- maybe @danlu_gt can confirm that? If so, I'm gonna go with the Kessil AP9X- seems to be about the same in terms of tunability and spectrum- Though the ReeFi is obviously better in terms of price

Hello I am sorry but Reef Fi is going to have to become a sponsor here to continue discussing their lights. You may continue to discuss it, as well as other members, but it is only fair to our paying sponsors. I'm letting you know why you probably won't get a response. Thanks for understanding.

 

[duberii]

Hello I am sorry but Reef Fi is going to have to become a sponsor here to continue discussing their lights. You may continue to discuss it, as well as other members, but it is only fair to our paying sponsors. I'm letting you know why you probably won't get a response. Thanks for understanding.

No problem! Totally understandable- there's no reason this needs to be on reef2reef regardless- it's more of a personal inquiry anyway

 

[duberii]

Now I'm kinda changing my mind- If I really want to go for coloration, a t5 hybrid seems like a better choice. I really don't like how the bulbs lose robustness of spectrum over time, but I guess it's better than never having that robustness in the first place. Only issue I'm seeing is that the t5 fixture can go for $500, plus I'd need lights like AI prime 16 hds or kessil A160s. Plus I'm not sure if I could hang the lights from the ceiling, so I'd need an option that is compatible with an arm. Does anybody know where I should start looking?

(Currently looking into 2 AI primes with some type of T5/XHO supplement, like @Waynerock and @uhgster1 have- what fixtures do you use for supplementing the primes?)

 

[Robertellis30]

Well as far as primes and spectrum goes I have had 3 over my mixed reef and I don’t get any complaints. I recently added a XHO strip just to make everything a little more bright but everything in here is from the Primes. They work Great!

This system has that much growth and color with just primes? Please share your settings!

 

[Waynerock]

This system has that much growth and color with just primes? Please share your settings!

I could definitely go higher but my N’s and P’s are always so low stuff gets super pale. I have an XHO 24inch at about 66% and that runs from 2-9. Those XHO’s where giving me an extra 100 par at 100% on the top I had to dial them down.