Cheap LED for Beginner Soft Coral in 40B

[EricR]

Looking to buy a cheap LED that would be good enough for a beginner soft coral (probably GSP, Xenia, or Kenya Tree) in a 40 gallon breeder.


Guidelines:
-- Budget = about $100. (Something completely awesome at $200 could sway me but not beyond that)
-- LED only, no T5 or hybrid
-- No plans to go beyond just maybe a couple of easy/beginner soft corals. (Just not committed enough right now)
-- Will keep the beginner "weed" corals on one side of the tank so could focus light on one side of the tank and maybe do cheapie white light LED on the other side, to start, if that even makes any sense.

*If answer is, "not worth it, save up $xxx or don't bother", that's fair. (I won't be offended)


Reasoning:
-- About to tank transfer from a 5 month old 37 gallon TALL tank (FOWLR + inverts)
-- Current is just white light LED bars mounted inside a cheapie plastic lid so I'll need to get a new light anyway (as well as figure out how I want to make a new lid, probably clear mesh)
-- Still have to deal with flow (but I'll worry about that after transfer)
-- My tastes lean towards the Kessil 160/360 design in concept but not willing to spend anywhere near that much right now (and would probably want 2 so twice as far out)


After lots of reading I'm overloaded so just looking for targeted opinions based on what I said above.


This is the one I'm currently leaning towards:

*worried about the possible disco ball effect but willing to try and live with whatever happens for awhile -- my tastes lean more toward shimmer from single light emission point but haven't seen anything in my price range that seems useable

WILLS 165W Full Spectrum LED


...and if I thought two of these would be WAY better for twice the price, I'm thinking of this:

NICREW 30W Full Spectrum LED

 

[Gtinnel]

You basically are going to have to go with some kind of blackbox, so I'd strongly reccomend the 165w Viparspectra. I currently run 2 of the 300w versions on my 125 and they'll grow anything and have plenty of power. As you seem to already know the shimmer isn't great because of the panel of light.
I've heard good things about the smatfarm led on amazon recently. But I have no personal experience with them. They look like a Noopsyche knockoff, which is kinda funny that it's a cheap Chinese knockoff of a cheap Chinese light. You could also try to find some used Noopsyche k7 pro ii lights used on here within budget. I've never used Noopsyche either but I will be changing my lights to the newer version of their lights in the near future.

 

[Cjmc]

Looking to buy a cheap LED that would be good enough for a beginner soft coral (probably GSP, Xenia, or Kenya Tree) in a 40 gallon breeder.


Guidelines:
-- Budget = about $100. (Something completely awesome at $200 could sway me but not beyond that)
-- LED only, no T5 or hybrid
-- No plans to go beyond just maybe a couple of easy/beginner soft corals. (Just not committed enough right now)
-- Will keep the beginner "weed" corals on one side of the tank so could focus light on one side of the tank and maybe do cheapie white light LED on the other side, to start, if that even makes any sense.

*If answer is, "not worth it, save up $xxx or don't bother", that's fair. (I won't be offended)


Reasoning:
-- About to tank transfer from a 5 month old 37 gallon TALL tank (FOWLR + inverts)
-- Current is just white light LED bars mounted inside a cheapie plastic lid so I'll need to get a new light anyway (as well as figure out how I want to make a new lid, probably clear mesh)
-- Still have to deal with flow (but I'll worry about that after transfer)
-- My tastes lean towards the Kessil 160/360 design in concept but not willing to spend anywhere near that much right now (and would probably want 2 so twice as far out)


After lots of reading I'm overloaded so just looking for targeted opinions based on what I said above.


This is the one I'm currently leaning towards:

*worried about the possible disco ball effect but willing to try and live with whatever happens for awhile -- my tastes lean more toward shimmer from single light emission point but haven't seen anything in my price range that seems useable

WILLS 165W Full Spectrum LED


...and if I thought two of these would be WAY better for twice the price, I'm thinking of this:

NICREW 30W Full Spectrum LED

Take a look at these lights. I can't vouch for them as I have no first had experience. But they have a denser array of LEDs behind single lenses. So they should limit the disco ball effect. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B08V...L&psc=1#aw-udpv3-customer-reviews_feature_div

 

[GHOSTLY]

You could pick up a used fluval desktop coral light

 

[MaxTremors]

Based on your preferences and budget, I would recommend getting two of the aqua knight V2s. They’re around a $100 each, but would provide the shimmer you’re looking for and would allow you to grow softies and LPS, and SPS if placed higher up under the lights.

 

[Rmckoy]

Black boxes are the only thing that comes to mind to somewhat fit the budget .
But …. There are other posts regarding black boxes … being over powered or the intensity is off ?
I personally have never used leds ..
I have always had t5’s ranging from 4 bulbs to 8

when I upgraded to the 230 gal . I bought it used from a guy. He threw in 3 black boxes …
They are being stored in the closet until I can think of another build to use them

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

21LEDUSA DOT COM My first LED was Single Strips in a Plastic Rain Gutter. I started with a more expensive strip, and everyone has partially failed. The 21LEDUSA are still going strong. Right know I’m slowly buying their Reefbar Pros. What I like about this is “Not all my Eggs are in one Basket.” Also if I upsize I can still use the Reefbars. I have a bit of shimmer, but it’s been tamped down by the glass top.

 

[Rmckoy]

21LEDUSA DOT COM My first LED was Single Strips in a Plastic Rain Gutter. I started with a more expensive strip, and everyone has partially failed. The 21LEDUSA are still going strong. Right know I’m slowly buying their Reefbar Pros. What I like about this is “Not all my Eggs are in one Basket.” Also if I upsize I can still use the Reefbars. I have a bit of shimmer, but it’s been tamped down by the glass top.

Do you have a link for the reefbars ?

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

I put it up, at the beginning. You just have to put it in the right format. I ran a website for my work, and we would not permit a direct link. It was to keep Spam and Viruses down.

 

[Gtinnel]

Do you have a link for the reefbars ?

I believe this is the light bars he was referring to.

ReefBar Pro

ReefBar Pro

www.21ledusa.com

I've never heard of them before but the pro models look decent, the regular ones look like the led lights that you would hang in a kids room.

 

[Not an IT guy]

Check out the current LED. The bar. Or their box.

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

The Reef Bars, are not a kids toy. I actually dropped mine in the tank, while it was powered. Except for the Linking Plug, no water entered the Electrical. I cleaned that with RO/DI water and Isopropyl Alcohol. Also I made the mistake of plugging 24 Volt into the Reefbar, didn’t discover my mistake till the next day. No harm done to the strip.

Reefbar Pro

Currents are the Failing Strips, they’ve never been wet.

Reefbar is the Strip that is 100% lit. I normally use the Dimmer on it.

 

[Gtinnel]

The Reef Bars, are not a kids toy. I actually dropped mine in the tank, while it was powered. Except for the Linking Plug, no water entered the Electrical. I cleaned that with RO/DI water and Isopropyl Alcohol. Also I made the mistake of plugging 24 Volt into the Reefbar, didn’t discover my mistake till the next day. No harm done to the strip.

I just said that what they looked like. I just hung lights in my daughter room that went into a aluminum channel that looked similar. Also being water resistant doesn't prove anything you can buy a lot of the cheap strip lights to use around the house that are water resistant. I'll take your work for it that they're good lights, since I have no way of knowing. I had never even heard of the company until you posted it. I do think the pro versions look really nice though.

 

[cooltowncorals]

The NICREW lights off of Amazon are great you can control them won’t 0-10v in the future if you get an apex or hydros

I use a hydros to control their biggest light have to run it at 25% blues 15 percent whites due to how much output it has par was insane.

 

[cooltowncorals]

I would think you will need two of those 30 or 50 watt spread mounted on on each side to get good light coverage over a 40b they are pretty long

most led light (even 900$ Ones) cover 24x24

you could try the 100 watt and hang it high 24-36 off water to cover whole tanks as you don’t need tons of par for softies

 

[cooltowncorals]

But the color and and spread of the nicrew are nice I’ve had AI lights before I can’t tell difference beyond individual channel control

 

[cooltowncorals]

Oh and You can run it on a cheap wall timer I did while waiting on the control cables in the mail when turned on and off with a wall control it turns back on at the same level it was on when it turned off

 

[EricR]

Thanks all for the responses. Now I have even MORE STUFF to think about. DOH!
All good,,, I'm still a few weekends away from actually committing the time to do my tank transfer. (No rush)

@Gtinnel -- I considered the Viaspectra 165W but the WILLS 165W that I linked in my original post feels like the exact same thing for half the price. What am I missing?

@Cjmc -- I like the idea of the ones you linked. I wonder if I could get away with just one of those a little off center to get photosynthesis ability on one side of the tank and still have enough light for general observation across the whole tank.
*kinda weird that Amazon link says "SMATFARM" <-- is that the company's way of people searching for "Smart Farm" and stumbling into their products? If so, I like the marketing plan.

 

[oreo54]

Who knows how the Chinese come up with US names or if there actually is any logic to them.

BRS at one time showed differences between different black boxes.
You may want to hunt for that vid .

BTW be aware that listings like 165w don' t mean a darn thing really
Vipaspectre does list real watts in the text.
Most will be the same...around 110w on full for a "165w" fixture
Haven' t figured out SMAT yet but their implied wattage comes, in average, to 4watts per diode
I consider this highly unlikely
You can run these inexpensive diodes at that current but lifespan in all likelihood is seriously impacted even with fans... But ???

More funny names and a sort if disposable led.
Lists lifespan at 20000hrs.
No it is not 300w....

 

[kittenbritches]

You basically are going to have to go with some kind of blackbox, so I'd strongly reccomend the 165w Viparspectra. I currently run 2 of the 300w versions on my 125 and they'll grow anything and have plenty of power. As you seem to already know the shimmer isn't great because of the panel of light.
I've heard good things about the smatfarm led on amazon recently. But I have no personal experience with them. They look like a Noopsyche knockoff, which is kinda funny that it's a cheap Chinese knockoff of a cheap Chinese light. You could also try to find some used Noopsyche k7 pro ii lights used on here within budget. I've never used Noopsyche either but I will be changing my lights to the newer version of their lights in the near future.

+1 on Viparspectra (just based on feedback I've heard from the community at large). I wound up going for something else, but this has been camped out on my Amazon wishlist for months. They've got a $10 off coupon right now.

Viparspectra