Best light bar?

Davy Jones · May 11, 2020

Hello, title says it all. I know of the following light bars
Reef Brite xho
Orphek or2
Illumagic viatamini
Sb bar
ReefBreeders lumenbar
(If I am missing any please let me know!)

I am looking for the light bar that will provide good coverage and usable par in the tank.

Considering a 4x3x20 tank, and will be using a giesemann aurora as the primary light, but need to add a couple of light bars to fill out the 36" front to back of the tank.

Thanks all!

RCS82 · May 11, 2020

I think ReedBreeders has one too that you can check out.
Although expensive, the ReefBrite XHO is a beast and built real well. That would be my pick over Orphek and SB.

Davy Jones · May 11, 2020

RCS82 said:
I think ReedBreeders has one too that you can check out.
Although expensive, the ReefBrite XHO is a beast and built real well. That would be my pick over Orphek and SB.

Added the reefbreeders bar! Thanks!

As for the XHO, I thought most people just used it for the color, and that they do not produce much usable par? Granted ive never had them before so It is possible i am completely wrong!

AaaRr · May 11, 2020

I am curious to hear from others as well. I feel like the OR3, sBar and lumenbar are all very similar and those are what I am currently looking at.

Aardvark1134 · May 11, 2020

Reefbrite xho or orphik

oreo54 · May 11, 2020

Aardvark1134 said:
Reefbrite xho or orphik

What diode colors, lenses, and power do the xho's have?

"
Thanks for the pic. As you can see there are two different leds used. It would be nice if their website had information about what nm leds they are using in what fixture. "

"Saw this video and Tullio comments about the secret spectrum while talking to Mark. "

ReefBrite xho Q's - Page 2 - Reef Central Online Community

Page 2- ReefBrite xho Q's Lighting, Filtration & Other Equipment

www.reefcentral.com

Drives me crazy.............

vetteguy53081 · May 11, 2020

In order of preference from ownership experience:

Orphek
Reef Brite
SB Reef

Aardvark1134 · May 11, 2020

Here are the reef brite 50/50 and actanic charts...I have no idea why everyone says they won't tell anyone...all I did was let them know I was thinking of buying some but worried as most brands show their spectrums and I didn't see theirs posted and they emailed the spectrum charts for both xho that I asked for...as a thank you I kept my word and bought some.

oreo54 · May 11, 2020

Aardvark1134 said:
Here are the reef brite 50/50 and actanic charts...I have no idea why everyone says they won't tell anyone...all I did was let them know I was thinking of buying some but worried as most brands show their spectrums and I didn't see theirs posted and they emailed the spectrum charts for both xho that I asked for...as a thank you I kept my word and bought some.

Why don't they just post them?
Whats so hard?

What size diodes?
What power consumption?
What lens angle?
PAR?

BTW it's not "just" them.

oreo54 · May 11, 2020

vetteguy53081 said:
In order of preference from ownership experience:

Orphek
Reef Brite
SB Reef

What criteria?
O/p's sort of vague.. spread and usable par is really sort of vague..
Most of these bars are bout 1 t5ho equiv in output.
Most are 90 degrees, some are 120 (assume the cheaper Reefbrites (not xho) and Illumagic)

Lousybreed · May 11, 2020

Orphek no contest. Great build quality, monster par and best spectrum. I own RB’s and Orpheks. I think Orpheks have a better build. The colors pop better under the Orpheks too.

vetteguy53081 · May 11, 2020

oreo5457 said:
What criteria?
O/p's sort of vague.. spread and usable par is really sort of vague..
Most of these bars are bout 1 t5ho equiv in output.
Most are 90 degrees, some are 120 (assume the cheaper Reefbrites (not xho) and Illumagic)

Criteria I am using is brightness/spectrum. What can light up a 10 ft tank easily.
I should mention . . . 72" reefbrite as good as two Orpheks but orpheks offer more color

oreo54 · May 11, 2020

vetteguy53081 said:
Criteria I am using is brightness/spectrum. What can light up a 10 ft tank easily.
I should mention . . . 72" reefbrite as good as two Orpheks but orpheks offer more color

Thanks..
Orphek "par map" at 22.4" in free air:

Davy Jones · May 11, 2020

oreo5457 said:
What criteria?
O/p's sort of vague.. spread and usable par is really sort of vague..
Most of these bars are bout 1 t5ho equiv in output.
Most are 90 degrees, some are 120 (assume the cheaper Reefbrites (not xho) and Illumagic)

I feel like I laid it out pretty good?

I need to add usable light to my current fixture, to be able to light a 36" width front to back. I've never had a tank that wide, and am not familiar with light bars, hence the thread. I want the bars to do more than just add some blue, I want the light to actually provide par for the corals if possible

Lousybreed · May 11, 2020

Davy Jones said:
I feel like I laid it out pretty good?

I need to add usable light to my current fixture, to be able to light a 36" width front to back. I've never had a tank that wide, and am not familiar with light bars, hence the thread. I want the bars to do more than just add some blue, I want the light to actually provide par for the corals if possible

Go with two OR3’s angle them slightly in to paint your tank with light!

oreo54 · May 12, 2020

Lousybreed said:
Go with two OR3’s angle them slightly in to paint your tank with light!

Splitting hairs..
Don't think angling in is a great idea..
This is a "normal" setup and assuming the designers ray traced correctly and drew to scale..the current light distribution.
LEd's are lensed at 120 and of course the current t5's are slightly angled in by design..

Green line is the op's est. tank. Geisseman standard height off the tank/water line is listed at 3.5"-ish..
Low in comparison to current "standards" but due to the wide angles of the LEd's and spread of the t5's.

Personally, some matching t5's are a better solution..
There are aesthetics to consider..
To fill the tank w/ just the orig fixture one would need to raise the fixture to about 7" off the top w/ obvious loss of PAR at depth..and out of it's design range.

rough estimates of course..
150gal tank w/ 436W currently..

Sorry, pushing this a bit off base but that light is fascinating and difficult.
Personaly, I'd push it forward and fill in the back with.... almost anything (well blue bars would add a sense of depth ) but would depend on layout and placement.

Tank w/out and with an xho, tilted slightly back btw. Both at 100%. Now the usual caveat about pictures though.

Giesemann Aurora LED/T5 Hybrid Par Readings

In case it helps anyone considering this light, here are my par readings at peak power with the fixture about 7" off the water. I'm running a 60" Aurora on a 71" (l) x 24" (w) x 22" (d) tank. All reading were taken with an Apogee MQ-510. T5 bulbs: 1x Aquablue Coral, 1x Aquablue Azure, 1x Super...

www.reef2reef.com

oreo54 · May 12, 2020

Davy Jones said:
I feel like I laid it out pretty good?

I need to add usable light to my current fixture, to be able to light a 36" width front to back. I've never had a tank that wide, and am not familiar with light bars, hence the thread. I want the bars to do more than just add some blue, I want the light to actually provide par for the corals if possible

Yea sort of. Thing is do you want to match your current "coloring"?
And bar lens angles are important..
Blue is 100% par and almost 100% PUR.
See above for a thought exercise.

your light was designed more to produce a blanket of light than a barn burner PAR at depth..

Aardvark1134 · May 12, 2020

The issue I have with orphik is even on their own site and all the others they list the leds and spectrum from back when they made 3 bar models...that ended several months ago. They stopped making the UV bar and said the blue bar is now a mix of the old blue bar and the old uv bar...but are unable to provide any spectrum charts for this current new blue bar. The only way you even find out that all the charts and graphs are NOT for the one you will get in the mail is if you ask. They gave the one with different specs the exact same name, didn't take down the old data, and didn't put out the new data even if you email and ask for it they will admit it's different now but don't send you the new data...and I found this out from them months ago...and they still haven't updated their own site to show the new correct data. Lastly you can buy 3 of the same bar and find that the LEDs aren't even in the same order between the 3 of them. This shows a total lack of QC