Chinese Led light Fixtures

[dojic60]

Please I need your guys' opinion.
I am looking to get Led lights with controller and I got this offer from Alibaba in China.. I Have 135 gl. Reef aquarium with mix corals. My aquarium is Tenecor Vista Corner Acrylic aquarium. They are offering me 2 light fixtures with one microcontroller tht simulating sunlight. Each light fixture has 40X3W leds. Price for thise fixtures with shipping $753.00. Please, Ii need advice.

 

[Eternal]

I think you are better of going with a sponsor here on r2r. Price will be close to the same.

 

[sexycorals]

yea koi got thats the same.. they all come from the same place.. and you cant beat his CS and warrantee ! Ive read that one guys dropping it in the tank and was honest with him so he just replace it!! now thats CS.

 

[Ian]

yep, check out Evolution before you buy overseas...

 

[subielover]

The Apollo LED's are made here in PA, so you are local!

 

[swimmingswammi]

I have bought things via Alibaba and have had three bad experiences. There are no ways to safely purchase items via Aliababa. They do have an escrow process but it favors their sellers. They claim tech specification but when challenged you will need to pay shipping both ways to get a replacement.

My experience involved tablets. I bought by specification but found that they made the tablets using old technology which does not match their specifications. Another item was received DOA. I am testing some LED lights now but have found that what I received is different from described and at best resulted in a 10% savings, and at worst, does not provide for the needs of my livestock.

My LFS has also done business with China and now refuses to try further.

Go with experienced products. If you want to save money DIY.

 

[maharsreef]

Reef koi! Nuff said......

 

[Troylee]

I would go with a USA fixture try luke33 reef filtration or koi both sell great fixtures and have great customer service.. Hth

 

[Gonzo]

For the money and performance EVO's all the way

 

[reefkoi]

Gee thanks guys LOL I feel like I owe ya all a hug haha, but seriously I do strive for 100% customer satisfaction and the fastest service around when needed.

Anyway, didnt want to barge in here but with all the Reefkoi nods I had to LOL

C

 

[LILBUDDHA]

Please I need your guys' opinion.
I am looking to get Led lights with controller and I got this offer from Alibaba in China.. I Have 135 gl. Reef aquarium with mix corals. My aquarium is Tenecor Vista Corner Acrylic aquarium. They are offering me 2 light fixtures with one microcontroller tht simulating sunlight. Each light fixture has 40X3W leds. Price for thise fixtures with shipping $753.00. Please, Ii need advice.

That is weird . I got a buddy who went o Alibaba and got 3 of the same units .At least they look like the same . Remote looks like a mini walkie talkie with just numbers on it . 123 etc .
It is using 20 cree white and 20 cree blue . XP series . He paid 702 to the door . He is putting them on a 220 gallon tank . The 3 fans are silent and it has a good heatsink in it .
The lights keep the same settings when they shut off . 2 plugs one for the white and one for the blues .
His only concern is proly having to use 2 fiji puple or purple plus to balance out the spectrum .He already emailed for support questions and they replied within a few hours .
Repair is supposed to be in the US .

HTH

He is retro fitting them in his hood as I post this . He just sent this to me about 15 minutes ago .

 

[Asonitez]

with the sheer number of RETAILERS and MANUFACTURERS trying to DOWNPLAY the Chinese fixtures its a wonder those that take the risk don't become e-tailers and stick their companies stickers on the item them self.

At this very moment i can for 78 dollars match a AI sol PAR for PAR spread for SPREAD and build quality to build quality using bridgelux leds. For 150 I can use the EXACT SAME CREES inside the AISOL fixture. and it would be dimmable (manually) Repair would be right here in the usa and in most cases if the problem is so dire a brand new unit would be sent out. If I only belived LEDS were the best for SPS i would have done it to my main tank already. Alas I love my Lumenarc III's and radium 20K's

 

[Larsen]

Reefkoi !!!

 

[cdness]

I need to bump up the ReefKoi Evolution lights as well. When it comes to LED they are extremely nice and great customer service.

I have heard horror stories from people buying cheap imported lights and other equipment. It isn't worth the risk.

 

[bjcooper]

Yep I second and third the Reefkoi. Even though my tank is struggling (no fault of the lights, just the operator), the EVOs are perfect.

 

[xcorallusx]

do reefkoi lights come with a stogie?

 

[Laborator]

Here's my 150 watts dimmable , turned way down.

 

[Laborator]

Oops from reefkoi EVO led

 

[nixer]

do reefkoi lights come with a stogie?

lol mine didnt, but with that avatar they should :

 

[reeferdale]

that is really not a great deal for that price unless you know someone else who has used them. As many others have stated, you can buy name brand proven fixtures for the same or less. Even if they look the same, I would be willing to bet that inside they are not the same as a top of the line fixture. With that said, these components are really only made by a handful of manufacturers and if you know what brand of LEDs are in the fixture you can make a more informed decision. The drivers would be the other nice feature since they have already designed the layout. cost to run is an unknown also, a bridgelux and a cree are vastly different in the output vs. the imput. My biggest concern would be what do you do if you have a problem with them? Replacement/repair is pretty critical unless you keep a spare lighting rig around.

If I could get these for half the price and I was not running a high PAR tank, they might be worth the chance, but that is the key word, chance. Personally, I have learned from experience that in the end, you tend to lose overall by trying to buy knock offs. Once in a while you make out, but most of the time it is not enough to make the risk worth it. If you buy them and they turn out to be good quality and reliable, post you results so others can use it to make decisions. We all enjoy a good deal!