Cheap black box vs more expensive LED's question

[Oldreefer44]

Like all of the other lighting threads, most people are going to try to enlist support for whatever choices they have made. Valid arguments on both sides just like there are valid arguments for a Hyundai or a Mercedes. IMO there are too many other factors in the successful growth of corals, and even among the different types of corals to be able to say with certainty that one is necessarily better than another.

 

[alton]

In all honesty I am not sure why, but you are the 1st person I heard that had to buy new MA fixtures after 2 years. Looking at your pic above, I am guessing it is your 180g tank. If that is the case, 1 MA fixture wouldnt be able to do much for that tank at all, especially at the height you have it mounted. Suggested height is min 8 inches from water line, most have it 10"-12".

This tank had three Mars Aquatic fixtures. One that I bought and used on my Quarantine tank for a year. Since it did so well and I liked the color, I bought two more and added them when I set up this tank. And you are right they sat 12" on top of the tank to get even distribution.
How many people in the hobby who spend $90 on a BB spend $400 on a Par meter, none! I am lucky my local fish club has one for rent. It is amazing how we test for everything in our tank, but not Lighting /Par.

 

[DEWreefing]

I have had my tank running for almost 2 years I love my black boxes started running t5 supplements about 1 year in.
Video was taken last night I have had to replace a couple of diodes but it's very easy.

Watch "REEF TANK UPDATE 180G NO WATER CHANGES EVER" on YouTube

 

[cvrle1]

This tank had three Mars Aquatic fixtures. One that I bought and used on my Quarantine tank for a year. Since it did so well and I liked the color, I bought two more and added them when I set up this tank. And you are right they sat 12" on top of the tank to get even distribution.
How many people in the hobby who spend $90 on a BB spend $400 on a Par meter, none! I am lucky my local fish club has one for rent. It is amazing how we test for everything in our tank, but not Lighting /Par.

PAR meters can be found for less than $200 (see seneye reef monitor as one example, whcih I happen to own) Also, folks have been using lux meters for years to get ballpark figure of their PAR reading, and those are only $20 or so.

 

[alton]

PAR meters can be found for less than $200 (see seneye reef monitor as one example, whcih I happen to own) Also, folks have been using lux meters for years to get ballpark figure of their PAR reading, and those are only $20 or so.

Lux to Par conversion tables only work if the person testing has both and places the info on a given LED fixture. Example I received a Marineland Reef Capable LED from one of my LFS. 4,000 foot candles under one of the leds. As a comparison 4,000 foot candles is about 43,000 lux. Placed a Par meter at the same distance and location and I got a Par reading of 200. My 250 watt metal halide 2600 foot candles as compared to a Par reading of 1800. At my desk I have 60 foot candles, but only a Par reading of 3. But say if you took a Mars Aqua Fixtures measured Par and then Foot candles/Lux then it would work for another person using your info who only had a foot candle/lux meter.

 

[cvrle1]

Lux to Par conversion tables only work if the person testing has both and places the info on a given LED fixture. Example I received a Marineland Reef Capable LED from one of my LFS. 4,000 foot candles under one of the leds. As a comparison 4,000 foot candles is about 43,000 lux. Placed a Par meter at the same distance and location and I got a Par reading of 200. My 250 watt metal halide 2600 foot candles as compared to a Par reading of 1800. At my desk I have 60 foot candles, but only a Par reading of 3. But say if you took a Mars Aqua Fixtures measured Par and then Foot candles/Lux then it would work for another person using your info who only had a foot candle/lux meter.

It's more complicated than that. You need to use proper conversion for each light spectrum. You cant just turn fixture on, get a lux reading and convert to PAR. That will give you completely wrong results. Either way, this is taking things off topic, and I dont want to thread jack this.

 

[Neoalchemist]

This is my only concern, they catch my house on fire. I watched the BRS video on these and they were saying that the components are very cheap (I already knew this) and they can catch on fire which is scary. So is there a higher quality black box with better-made components?

Personally, the catch on fire thing doesn't mean much to me. Consider the build quality on every other thing connected to power in your home. 80% of it was built or contains components built in China or Taiwan. What about the box fan in your kids room? Is it manufactured with solid state failsafe components? Probably not.

 

[Neoalchemist]

I love the BRS videos don't get me wrong, but I sometimes wonder if the videos are a little skewed to what they sell? Not to go off-topic but I still wonder why they don't sell fritz products.

First, they can't recommend anything that isn't beginner user friendly or at least has a manual and manufacturer support. Other wise they would have to print manuals and warranty support some ghost company's stuff. (I use Sb reef lights which are a black box but with some upgraded components and a tweaked color spectrum and the language barrier makes any instruction worthless).
I'm pretty sure Fritz is Dr. Fosters and Smith, which is now Petco. Sooo, direct competition.

 

[BZOFIQ]

Yep, you can get the same results with black boxes as with Radions. But reefing this days is 99% about "LOOK AT WHAT I HAVE, ITS EXPENSIVE" and 1% about corals.

With that kind of attitude you'll never have Ecotehmm reach out to you re sponsorship.

 

[TheHarold]

With that kind of attitude you'll never have Ecotehmm reach out to you re sponsorship.

I decided screw sponsorship.... screw “influencers” that are shills . I bought my Radions with hard earned cash!

(and Jebao powerheads, because no way I am spending $700 on a pair of Vortechs when I can get the same results with $120 of Jebao )

Kind of funny, I think their LEDs are worth it but not the powerheads lol

 

[Qasimja]

anyone know some black box leds with wifi built in i have 3 of the the ones below they work well but theres no wifi and i have to turn the lights on and off every morning no ramp up or down lookin for an led light with wifi so i can setup a schedule on the lights

reef led

 

[cvrle1]

anyone know some black box leds with wifi built in i have 3 of the the ones below they work well but theres no wifi and i have to turn the lights on and off every morning no ramp up or down lookin for an led light with wifi so i can setup a schedule on the lights

reef led

SB Reef Lights have few models with WiFi, but I think they went under from what I read
DSunny LEDs has WiFi model
Reefbreeders Photon V2/V2 + has WiFi, and they are great lights from what I read. SOme will argue these are not BBs as they look nice and are pricier
Noopsyche K7 Pro II dont have WiFi, but have good controller, timer and have ramp up/down features as well.

Or you can look into getting a $5 timer and using that with your BBs that you have now, or a bit more expensive WiFi power strip and use that to turn lights on/off (you can program times for on/off as well)

 

[djray77]

This is the one I got, looks the same.

 

[Qasimja]

that may be something to consider for the short term til i can get some ones with wifi built in thanks

This is the one I got, looks the same.

 

[Qasimja]

actually on second reasd i didnt see that power strip had wifi built into it thanks i will give it a shot

 

[djray77]

What about these?

 

[Qasimja]

What about these?

im gonna grab one of those power strips with wifi built in i dont need on with alexa and all that just something simple i honestly didnt know they even had wifi power strips lol thanks for the suggestion

 

[GeoSquid]

I've been running $85 165 watt black boxes on my 180 for about a year and half. Don't remember what kind they are. They have worked great so far and corals seem to grow fine. A year ago, I was doing a water change and actually spilled salt water on one of them accidentally and completely drenched it. I sat it out in the sun for a couple days and let it dry....it fired right back up and has been working ever since. I was using metal halide prior and I do like the look of the halide's better, but I'm getting great service out of these LED's.

 

[Crustaceon]

I'm really believe that the big 800 dollar lights is just hype and a marketing scam lol! "you need these lights to grow sps crap" lol. I feel fooled in a way.

This is the nature of the hobby. There’s a false sense of quality that goes along with paying a premium. An example would be one of my maxspect gyre xf250’s having a drive unit fail within a month. They also made a ton of noise which they weren’t supposed to. I’ve had jebaos last for years and run quieter than my gyres. The same goes for most things in this hobby. Either they last for years or they don’t. Either they perform well or they don’t. Price rarely has anything to do with it. I think there are very few products that actually work as well as we expect them to and with any semblance of longevity or reliability. I’d put eheim feeders on that very short list.

 

[GeoSquid]

This is the nature of the hobby. There’s a false sense of quality that goes along with paying a premium. An example would be one of my maxspect gyre xf250’s having a drive unit fail within a month. They also made a ton of noise which they weren’t supposed to. I’ve had jebaos last for years and run quieter than my gyres. The same goes for most things in this hobby. Either they last for years or they don’t. Either they perform well or they don’t. Price rarely has anything to do with it. I think there are very few products that actually work as well as we expect them to and with any semblance of longevity or reliability. I’d put eheim feeders on that very short list.

No doubt!
I bought a new clothes washer and dryer, not top of the line but just under, and they both lasted about 3 years before taking a crap. My friend remodeled his kitchen and got near top of the line appliances. He's had to get the stove and fridge fixed within the first 2 years. I just put in a new $1000 dishwater and door runs on a pulley system using nylon rope! How long is that going to last? I put one about the same model in 2009 in a different house and the pulley system was metal cable. We bought a used washer and dryer ($150 for both) to replace the new one's that broke and they have been working for as long as the new one's did. I'm at the point where I'm going to look for appliances from the 1970's so I can stop having to replace everything. Don't even get me started on vacuum cleaners......$200 pieces of cheap plastic!