Chinese 165w black box

[DEWreefing]

I am curious to see if people are using these. I have 3 over my 180g tank sps dominate. My colors and growth have been pretty good. I want to switch to gen 4 pros wondering if anybody has switched and got better results.

 

[FactoryKTMmotocross46]

I have a 125g with 3 165w and 4 T5's.

 

[DEWreefing]

Very nice how long has the tank been running?

 

[FactoryKTMmotocross46]

Most of the rocks have been wet since I started in the hobby, 2007. This tank was up since 2015 when I rebuilt the stand. I've been using black boxes since 2013 when tao tronics came out with their leds.

 

[DEWreefing]

That is a tank to be proud of. That is a picture of my tank at the 1 year mark have not taken pictures of the tank for the last 6 months

 

[FactoryKTMmotocross46]

Thanks, you're tank looks awesome.

 

[EW_Fish]

I would add t5s over gen 4s. BUT thats just me. I also run black box and sps tank. I have no doubt that you can pull colors with them

 

[DEWreefing]

I have installed 2 row of the brs diy t5 kits

 

[Jon Fishman]

I run three 300w black-boxies on my 140-ish gallon. Couldn’t beat the price vs coverage ratio. I tested at a pretty low setting and I get 100-500 PAR bed to surface....

 

[Halal Hotdog]

I am curious to see if people are using these. I have 3 over my 180g tank sps dominate. My colors and growth have been pretty good. I want to switch to gen 4 pros wondering if anybody has switched and got better results.

I have three black boxes (Galaxy Hyrdo) lights on my 72"x24"x24" tank for around three years. They do well but last year I added a T5 kit. That made all the difference in the world. I thought everything was great, but the T5s definitely took it to the next level. I have looked into upgrading to a branded LED fixture, but don't see the value versus the black boxes. Adding the T5s however is a game changer and am very happy with it. If I was to change lights I would probably go all T5s. I feel even with diffuser, LEDs still create hot spots and low spots. I don't find that with T5.

 

[Jon Fishman]

I have three black boxes (Galaxy Hyrdo) lights on my 72"x24"x24" tank for around three years. They do well but last year I added a T5 kit. That made all the difference in the world. I thought everything was great, but the T5s definitely took it to the next level. I have looked into upgrading to a branded LED fixture, but don't see the value versus the black boxes. Adding the T5s however is a game changer and am very happy with it. If I was to change lights I would probably go all T5s. I feel even with diffuser, LEDs still create hot spots and low spots. I don't find that with T5.

Do you have pictures etc? I’d love to supplement with T5’s but have no idea about ballasts, how I would hang them, etc

 

[Halal Hotdog]

Do you have pictures etc? I’d love to supplement with T5’s but have no idea about ballasts, how I would hang them, etc

I will take some pictures later today. I am in the same boat with ballasts and wiring. I purchased a retrofit kit that was already assembled and ready to go . All I had to do was mount and turn it on. I purchased it 8/14/18 and it was the CD-78545 Aruba Sun T5 Low Profile Retrofit Lighting Kit 60", 168W (I love gmail).

 

[Bj’s Reef]

If its not broke don’t fix it. Your tank looks amazing, I understand wanting to tinker but really if my tank looked like yours I would be happy.

 

[DEWreefing]

This is how I set my up 6 months ago what bulbs do you guys use.

I run 2 super actintic 1 purpleplus and 1 aqua blue special.

 

[Jvesche20]

I used aquatic life t247 black boxes for a year. Never really had crazy coral growth. I changed to a360we and t5 hybrid. I know its not gen 4 like you are asking but I have to say some of my corals have been growing like crazy with the new lights. I had 4 heads of AOI for 3 months and they never grew a new head. Now that I have the new lights I have 10-12 easily within a few months.

 

[Halal Hotdog]

I used aquatic life t247 black boxes for a year. Never really had crazy coral growth. I changed to a360we and t5 hybrid. I know its not gen 4 like you are asking but I have to say some of my corals have been growing like crazy with the new lights. I had 4 heads of AOI for 3 months and they never grew a new head. Now that I have the new lights I have 10-12 easily within a few months.

I noticed a very similar phenomenon when I added T5s to my black boxes. Somethings were growing well with just the LEDs, but once I added the T5s everything started growing well.

 

[DEWreefing]

Since adding my t5 I have not noticed a major growth spurt an anything been 6 to 8 months

 

[Halal Hotdog]

Your light setup looks great. Four t5 bulbs would definitely fill in any voids in spectrum caused by LEDs. My retrofit kit only has two 60" bulbs. Off the top of my head I can't recall the exact bulbs, but one is full spectrum while the other is more on the blue spectrum. Planning on replacing them with ATI blue plus. With what you have I can't imagine switching to branded LED fixture will make any difference.

 

[DEWreefing]

My friend and I have the same set up and his coral grow 3 times faster with his being hydra 52 instead of the black boxes.