Budget reef light

[White Hair]

I spent about $250 for a T-5 30” light for my 30 gal tank, now i’ m reading about the chinese black box lights and the hipageros lights considerably cheaper, now i know cheaper is not always better, but there has to be a middle ground between $100 light ( chinese black box and the radion for $800 ,i plan on having a variety of corals and would appreciate some input, also just looked at the Mars Aqua

 

[Spare time]

I use Ocean Revive's on my mixed reef and everything does great! They run about 180 and a single would be perfect for that tank.

 

[cvrle1]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with black boxes. They are great, cheap alternative that will grow any coral you want really. Viparspectra/Bloomspect are quite popular.

If you dont want a CBB, I guess you can look at the ones below:

SB Reef Lights
OCean Revive t247
Noopsyche K7 Pro II
Reefbreeders Photon V2/V2+
ReeFi LED Duo

 

[Gareth elliott]

These are the negatives I experienced with my black box.
Mounting can be a pain, SB reef lights off some for theirs but all the other ones are either hang from the ceiling or make something.
Not attractive imo, a canopy can fix this, but without one they look kinda industrial.
If eventually get a controller they have no link up, unless you know how to solder and can follow a wiring diagram,
Disco ball on my sandbed that i really couldnt avoid, raising it helps a bit but for narrow tanks leads to light spill.

they did grow everything i put in my tank from lps to acroporas. Replaced with ai’s. I wanted something that solved most of the issues above. They do not talk to my Profilux but i can control via myai.