Best led lights on a budget

[Kial]

im looking at options of leds to get for my 4ft tank but all the decent ones where you can asjust different colours etc are EXPENSIVE!
I'm currently using the standard light that came with m aquareef 400 but the colours are not very good, bright white or dark blue . Seeing pictures of other tanks with hydras or similar make the tanks look awesome.
Also if I were to get hydras in the future how many would I need, tank is 4ft and rather deep. (Not sure on exact measurements)

 

[ChrisOFL]

If you are DIY inclined, rapidled.com has pre-packaged kits based on tank size that come with everything you need for 4-channel controllable/dimmable lighting. You can even get solderless LEDs which saves you immense amounts of time and energy. This would be the cheapest reef capable LED lighting I would know of. Pre-made LED fixtures are just incredibly expensive because of high demand right now. We should be seeing prices come down due to advances in technology but it seems to me LED lighting has just become more expensive over the past three years I've been in this hobby.

 

[Kial]

Unfortunately I'm useless at DIY but I'll take a look anyway thanks. I've seen some lights around the same price I paid for my whole tank, it's crazy!
I'm in Australia so prices do seem to be higher.

 

[pluikens]

What are your tank dimensions? What do you plan to keep? You wouldn't be keeping SPS but the Zetlight QMaven 6800 is an option. BRS recommends it as one of the budget LED options. As for the Hydra 26, you could start with two since their max spread is 24 inches and add more as budget allows. If budget is of concern, I like going with the modular lighting so I can add units as my corals needs change.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

With hydras , two or three.

Black boxes are the inexpensive go to. Two to three 16" models or one 30in model.

I'm an sbreeflight fan over the eBay ones. Two year warranty and the money goes to a guy and his wife who lives in Florida

 

[Crabs McJones]

With hydras , two or three.

Black boxes are the inexpensive go to. Two to three 16" models or one 30in model.

I'm an sbreeflight fan over the eBay ones. Two year warranty and the money goes to a guy and his wife who lives in Florida

I'm with salty on this one. The SB reef lights work great and grow coral like crazy, and come in at a great price point

 

[Kial]

What are your tank dimensions? What do you plan to keep? You wouldn't be keeping SPS but the Zetlight QMaven 6800 is an option. BRS recommends it as one of the budget LED options. As for the Hydra 26, you could start with two since their max spread is 24 inches and add more as budget allows. If budget is of concern, I like going with the modular lighting so I can add units as my corals needs change.

The tank is 4ft x 19 x 28 deep. I currently got lps and softies but I do eventually want sps once I get the hang of things.

 

[Kial]

Do the sb reef lights have all the different colours that you can play around with?

 

[Crabs McJones]

Do the sb reef lights have all the different colours that you can play around with?

Its basically white channel and blue channel. You are unable to adjust the individual colors like you can with a Radion or an AI Prime.

 

[listen2bob]

Reefbreeders photon v2 works well for me on a 48x24x16

 

[Kial]

Ah ok that's sort of what i have at the moment. Just going to have to save up for the expensive ones

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Do the sb reef lights have all the different colours that you can play around with?

No.

Why play around with stuff we know little about.
We do know that if we set the intensity correctly it will grow corals like crazy.
Just like t5 and mh.


I answer more threads on how to mix the right colors it's nuts.

 

[mfinn]

I have a friend on a budget that got Ocean Revive leds last year and she is still very happy with them.

 

[Crabs McJones]

No.

Why play around with stuff we know little about.
We do know that if we set the intensity correctly it will grow corals like crazy.
Just like t5 and mh.


I answer more threads on how to mix the right colors it's nuts.

Agreed. That's one of the things I like about the black box lights (along with my kessils) instead of giving you the slider bars and letting you figure out the color blend, these have just simple knobs to turn the white and blue channel up.

 

[Kial]

I just love how they make the tank look

 

[reefrottie]

im looking at options of leds to get for my 4ft tank but all the decent ones where you can asjust different colours etc are EXPENSIVE!
I'm currently using the standard light that came with m aquareef 400 but the colours are not very good, bright white or dark blue . Seeing pictures of other tanks with hydras or similar make the tanks look awesome.
Also if I were to get hydras in the future how many would I need, tank is 4ft and rather deep. (Not sure on exact measurements)

What's your budget? I have a set of zetlight shieldo 7000, not even a year old for sale. Fully programmable, pretty nice lights, especially for the money. PM me if interested.

 

[Somuchflo99]

 

[pluikens]

And what is he supposed to do with that on a 28 inch deep tank with plans to keep SPS? A 15 inch sand bed?

 

[Somuchflo99]

They seem to grow just fine

 

[pluikens]

Ok, when you add that he should use four of them things change a little. Have you modified them to be able to dim them? For what it's worth, I have looked at that exact bulb for my 10 gallon. I'd like to see a custom fixture of those in something like a 2x4 or 2x6 configuration. Are yours all inline? Inline would likely be fine for him with 19 inches front to back.