Chinese black box LEDs 120w HELP
- Thread starter nicks reef
- Start date
- Tagged users None
happyhourhero
Burner of the Tips
What lights did you have on it before? I would go 50% blue 25% white for a while and then slowly go up about 5% per week. I ultimately run my SB Reef Lights at 90% Blue 50% white on a primarily SPS tank.
Justin Johns
New Member
- Joined
- Sep 24, 2015
- Messages
- 14
- Reaction score
- 3
Had my Black Boxes for roughly a month now and doing pretty good. I'm still thinking of changing back to t5's
They take A LOT of getting use to. I ran T5's for 5yrs. Switched to a Black Box almost 2yrs ago. Took me a year of tweaking to get them to the point where corals look good and are growing.
But I'll be honest, I've learned a lot since the beginning and although great on the wallet they just don't stack up to those unites using better parts. Not from what I've personally seen.
Turn your whites way down. Not sure why but a lot of Black Box units are supplied with a 1-1 ratio of white an blue. I've found this to be to much. I run mine at 10% max and blues at 55% max.
If you're not a patient person then go back to T5's seriously. These lights definitely aren't set em and forget em upon first use.
I'm saving up for a better unit [emoji6]
But I'll be honest, I've learned a lot since the beginning and although great on the wallet they just don't stack up to those unites using better parts. Not from what I've personally seen.
Turn your whites way down. Not sure why but a lot of Black Box units are supplied with a 1-1 ratio of white an blue. I've found this to be to much. I run mine at 10% max and blues at 55% max.
If you're not a patient person then go back to T5's seriously. These lights definitely aren't set em and forget em upon first use.
I'm saving up for a better unit [emoji6]
It's interesting because I took one apart and modified it, but even though they have an equal amount of blue and white diodes, the blue and white LEDs are usually powered differently.
Mine was a 55 X 3 watt or 165 watt unit. Inside was a 90 watt driver and a 45 watt driver. 90 watts to blue 45 to white. Although mine did have an extra row of blue diodes that still means the ratio of blue to white output should be more like 2:1 than 1:1. Also that a 165 watt Chinese black box is actually a 135 watt black box, lol.
I run mine at 90% blue and white all the way down. Hung pretty high over the tank.
happyhourhero
Burner of the Tips
The differences people experience with these is crazy to me. What you posted has not been my experience at all. I have not messed with my settings (50w, 85 B) except to bump the whites up a bit in 6 months. Any coral I add flourishes and grows assuming I use common sense and place it appropriately.
There is a very big difference between experiences. [emoji6]
Black box are okay for a budget light. But my experience has been they don't last long. I got a year and a half out of mine.
There is a huge difference in quality and reliability and looks when you go high end.
I would never buy a black box again.
There is a huge difference in quality and reliability and looks when you go high end.
I would never buy a black box again.
