Best Overall Full Spectrum LED Bar?

[naterealbig]

Looking for the best option for fill light to supplement my Kessil A500X... Looking for best growth and color - not necessarily best color rendition...

Have the XHO 50/50, but was hoping to get something closer to the AB+ spectrum with a little UV...

Love the OR2s, but I can't mount more than 8" above the tank, and I'm worried about color separation.

I also like the AI Glow, and I'm leaning towards this now. I hope I'm missing some options here - price is not a consideration.

PROs - if you could use any light you know of for your SPS heavy reef - what would you pick?

 

[oreo54]

Might find something here

Quanta Love | Quanta Lights

Quanta Pro LED light bars set the new standard for performance, spectrum, simplicity, and value. Make your corals thrive! Learn more.

www.quantareef.com

Reefbreeders also carries bars.

LumenBar Color - ReefBreeders.com

The LumenBar Color is the perfect way to add some pop to your current lighting system.

reefbreeders.com

 

[Hooz]

If you're stuck mounting the bars 8" or less from the top of the water, then the Blades are probably the best choice. Most other options use 90° lenses (or less), so they really need to be 12" off the water or more to get good blending.

 

[GARRIGA]

No reef light is full spectrum. All lean blue. Grab a 5500 full spectrum used in photography. That’s full spectrum. My XR15 Pro set to 5500 kelvin is anything but 5500 kelvin. Set on what it designated as full force run which is all LED at 100% and it’s still blue when trying to take a photograph.

Been decades since watching under MH but I think those were offered in full spectrum. Don’t quote me. Been almost 40 years last I did that and was a FW setup. All reef setups were 14k or 20k.

 

[oreo54]

No reef light is full spectrum. All lean blue. Grab a 5500 full spectrum used in photography. That’s full spectrum. My XR15 Pro set to 5500 kelvin is anything but 5500 kelvin. Set on what it designated as full force run which is all LED at 100% and it’s still blue when trying to take a photograph.

Been decades since watching under MH but I think those were offered in full spectrum. Don’t quote me. Been almost 40 years last I did that and was a FW setup. All reef setups were 14k or 20k.

"Purests" will never consider anything " full spectrum" unless it contains IR and UV.
Regardless of how few photons are in some nm's in the visible range or even gaps.
Contentious point.

If one only considers daylight 6500k- ish standard as full spectrum ( visible portion) there are plenty of LEDs.

Yes many have a blue tone (the yellow tone normally associated with low k ie 5500 +/- being " unacceptable". Even Iwasaki 6500k mh guilty of this) but are still, broadly, full spectrum with a "fatter" distribution of nm's.

Oh a note on lenses, pretty sure different angles can be requested for many of these.
Doesn't hurt to ask ..

 

[vetteguy53081]

Reefbreeders and the Orphek OR3 Sky Blue. I do also like XHO

 

[landlubber]

I have to wonder if full spectrum is not popular in reefing for a reason. I have no doubts it would bring the best color out of corals and fish but would also give that same added boost to problematic algae.

 

[twentyleagues]

AI glow are a supplemental blue/'uv' light. Grow is more of a "full spectrum" light. I have a grow and its working great for what I have atm.

 

[minus9]

Quanta Pro bars, they don't suffer from the mounting height issues that other bars have and they're great lights.

 

[GARRIGA]

"Purests" will never consider anything " full spectrum" unless it contains IR and UV.
Regardless of how few photons are in some nm's in the visible range or even gaps.
Contentious point.

If one only considers daylight 6500k- ish standard as full spectrum ( visible portion) there are plenty of LEDs.

Yes many have a blue tone (the yellow tone normally associated with low k ie 5500 +/- being " unacceptable". Even Iwasaki 6500k mh guilty of this) but are still, broadly, full spectrum with a "fatter" distribution of nm's.

Oh a note on lenses, pretty sure different angles can be requested for many of these.
Doesn't hurt to ask ..

I believe the accepted term being broad spectrum to your point on UV although in photography that likely brings no visual benefits and I’m not convinced it does with corals, either.

 

[GARRIGA]

I have to wonder if full spectrum is not popular in reefing for a reason. I have no doubts it would bring the best color out of corals and fish but would also give that same added boost to problematic algae.

True full spectrum lacks the black light popping affect many seek. Most corals would likely look brown as they do in shallow reefs. Easy enough to prove. Visit any coral farm that keeps the same coral under LED and outside with shade. Beautiful vs brown what I’ve seen

 

[rtparty]

If you want some violet added in, get the AI Glow. You can mount it 8" or lower very easily, great app control to setup, fantastic spread and power. Best "bar" light I have seen or used by a mile. Blows the XHO away IMO

 

[twentyleagues]

Quanta pro bars look intriguing but them not being controllable is kind of a deal breaker atm for me. The AI blades are really nice, controllable and deceivingly powerful. I got the new extended mounts and only bumped up the power usage by 5% to account for the light being farther from the water surface a couple of corals didnt respond great to the increase. I bumped it back to only the blues at 3%+ and everything went back to how they looked before the lift. Its only running at about 40%. Its a small tank and only softies, torches and hammers for the most part.

 

[naterealbig]

Thanks for your reply on these.

Might find something here

Have been looking at these.... didn't see the side by side graphs which is helpful. I'm really liking the Reefcrest Daylight and the Tropic sun... if I'm going all in, it's the Tropic Sun for sure. Nothing in the UV range for any of the bars?

Reefbreeders also carries bars.

These look cool and have some options with UV.... All super blue from what i can tell... They have 4 different colors but only 3 spectral plots ( and none of them are labeled) - annoying.

@oreo54 - which is your fave?

 

[naterealbig]

"Purests" will never consider anything " full spectrum" unless it contains IR and UV.
Regardless of how few photons are in some nm's in the visible range or even gaps.
Contentious point.

If one only considers daylight 6500k- ish standard as full spectrum ( visible portion) there are plenty of LEDs.

Yes many have a blue tone (the yellow tone normally associated with low k ie 5500 +/- being " unacceptable". Even Iwasaki 6500k mh guilty of this) but are still, broadly, full spectrum with a "fatter" distribution of nm's.

Oh a note on lenses, pretty sure different angles can be requested for many of these.
Doesn't hurt to ask ..

Good point on the request - I'll reach out to RB to check on lenses, and maybe even see if they can do a custom job...

 

[naterealbig]

I have to wonder if full spectrum is not popular in reefing for a reason. I have no doubts it would bring the best color out of corals and fish but would also give that same added boost to problematic algae.

I think your right, but that's a price I'm willing to pay. With the availability of tech, great skimmers, and chemical/biological nutrient reduction methods now a days, i think a relatively easy obstacle to overcome...

I'm running my coral QTs now with (literally) skimmer-only filtration, feeding the tanks heavy, running Kessil A360X at full color for 40% off the photoperiod.. i know it's not apples:apples exactly, but I think it could be done without a ton of concessions..

 

[naterealbig]

If you want some violet added in, get the AI Glow. You can mount it 8" or lower very easily, great app control to setup, fantastic spread and power. Best "bar" light I have seen or used by a mile. Blows the XHO away IMO

I like the AIs, but feel like I'd have to get the glows AND the grows to get close to what I'm trying to do... I'd be ok with that, would just need to sell off my (brand new) XHO Actinics...

How do the AI Glows compare to the XHO? I'm still looking for a couple hours a day of the midnight bowling look

 

[rtparty]

I like the AIs, but feel like I'd have to get the glows AND the grows to get close to what I'm trying to do... I'd be ok with that, would just need to sell off my (brand new) XHO Actinics...

How do the AI Glows compare to the XHO? I'm still looking for a couple hours a day of the midnight bowling look

The Glows provide way more violet than the XHOs. Essentially because the XHOs have no violet LEDs.

If you’ve been around long enough and have seen or used the old VHO T12 Actinic bulbs, you can replicate those with the Glow. The XHOs are just blue and never should have been called actinic IMO. For our use, actinic means violet 420nm or so light. Hard for a light be to “actinic” when it has zero “actinic” LEDs.

Don’t take this as a jab at the XHOs. My pair is a year old and have been great. I find nothing wrong with them. They just aren’t the Blades and the Blades are better. All be it at a higher cost and much shorter track record.

 

[naterealbig]

The Glows provide way more violet than the XHOs. Essentially because the XHOs have no violet LEDs.

If you’ve been around long enough and have seen or used the old VHO T12 Actinic bulbs, you can replicate those with the Glow. The XHOs are just blue and never should have been called actinic IMO. For our use, actinic means violet 420nm or so light. Hard for a light be to “actinic” when it has zero “actinic” LEDs.

Don’t take this as a jab at the XHOs. My pair is a year old and have been great. I find nothing wrong with them. They just aren’t the Blades and the Blades are better. All be it at a higher cost and much shorter track record.

Ah yes, been around a while. I've been doing salt water tanks since i was in third grade, and the first time i saw a reef tank was at Rob's Reef in Jacksonville - lit with nothing but VHO Super Actinics - one on the best lights ever.... i need to get this right first try, as this is my first time attempting 100% LED - have had incredible success with MH T5 combos since me first reef in O6.

 

[TheSheff]

If you want some violet added in, get the AI Glow. You can mount it 8" or lower very easily, great app control to setup, fantastic spread and power. Best "bar" light I have seen or used by a mile. Blows the XHO away IMO

ahhh $400 more dollars for the same light with wifi control. Quanta pro bars don't have a dimming function from factory but one can be added. Their par to money ratio is unbeatable.