Help me choose best lighting for xxl750

[Umair]

Dear Reefers,

I plan to have a SPS dominant tank and would really appreciate everyone response to help me decide best lighting for my tank.

 

[60CubeReefer]

Lots of good options. Radion Gen 5, Radion Gen 4, Philips Coral Care, etc. Personally, I have 4x Radion G4 Pros over my 750xxl. If I had it to do over, might be leaning toward the Phillips units as they don't have any fans (and more importantly, fan noise).

 

[Montiman]

I have 3 Kessils and 2 400 watt halides no reason to go LED only unless you want to.

If by best you mean most likely to lead to a successful healthy SPS dominate aquarium you are probably looking at some halides and t5s. If by best you mean coolest looking , with the sexiest app, and great blue pop then maybe you will go all LED.

The hybrid solution is a great option if you value what both technologies have to offer. You might also find it to be one of the cheaper options. It gets very hard for me to justify using an all LED solution like BRS did on their 750XXL when a hybrid solution would be substantially cheaper and perform as well or better.

 

[Umair]

I have 3 Kessils and 2 400 watt halides no reason to go LED only unless you want to.

If by best you mean most likely to lead to a successful healthy SPS dominate aquarium you are probably looking at some halides and t5s. If by best you mean coolest looking , with the sexiest app, and great blue pop then maybe you will go all LED.

The hybrid solution is a great option if you value what both technologies have to offer. You might also find it to be one of the cheaper options. It gets very hard for me to justify using an all LED solution like BRS did on their 750XXL when a hybrid solution would be substantially cheaper and perform as well or better.

should have mentioned looking into led fixtures only at this moment however after doing some searches here and there understand hybrid is really the longterm solution for growing proper sps colonies.

 

[AJsReef]

I have 3x XR30 Gen 4 pros w/ diffusers and they should be good for everything but very large SPS colonies at which point I could see supplementing with an extra light or T5s. Have the Gen 5s coming in to compare Here are par results at 15” and 24” from 8” mounting height. Peak values are 6”.

 

[Montiman]

should have mentioned looking into led fixtures only at this moment however after doing some searches here and there understand hybrid is really the longterm solution for growing proper sps colonies.

In this case I am a kessil fan boy. 3 A360Xs will be a great staring point. If you add a hybrid later you should be golden. Everyone will have their favorite but I will give you my reasons for liking kessil.

1. Kessil is the only manufacture in the market to make their own LEDS. Their manufacturing process phosphor covers almost all of the LEDs in a randomized fashion to create a broader spectrum than other lights. Kessil also uses blue based white LEDs rather than green based. All of this makes me believe Kessil produces a better spectrum for our application than the competition.

2. Kessils work. I switched to Kessil when working at an LFS and selling Radion and AI lights. The lights worked but at least half of my customers came back after having issues. Bleached the corals, caused an algae bloom, WiFi wasn't working. As soon as I switched to kessil I never had any of these complaints ever again. Kessils just work and they are about as idiot proof as you can get.

3. Aesthetics. I really like the Kessil shimmer. I prefer the look over any other LED I have seen. I don't like the t5 look by itself and the Disco ball drives me crazy.

 

[Bpb]

Algae blooms aren’t caused by branding of fixture. The customer is absolutely not right in this instance. Algae blooms are caused by inadequate herbivores. Not the ecotech or AI badge on the fixture.

 

[Montiman]

Algae blooms aren’t caused by branding of fixture. The customer is absolutely not right in this instance. Algae blooms are caused by inadequate herbivores. Not the ecotech or AI badge on the fixture.

Algae can be caused by miss using a fixture. such as too much red or too much par. Some fixtures are just much easier to miss use than others. I am not saying other brands don't work, only that it is much harder to messup with Kessils from my own experience.

I attribute this to the Kessil logic automatically balancing the color and the 90W size that isn't so bright it can easily bleach everything. Most people simply need to put the light on their tank, pick the color they like, and run it at 100%. This can not be said for many other brands. In fact if you followed this procedure with most brands you would wind up with problems, one of which is excessive algae.

 

[Bpb]

Algae can be caused by miss using a fixture. such as too much red or too much par. Some fixtures are just much easier to miss use than others. I am not saying other brands don't work, only that it is much harder to messup with Kessils from my own experience.

I attribute this to the Kessil logic automatically balancing the color and the 90W size that isn't so bright it can easily bleach everything. Most people simply need to put the light on their tank, pick the color they like, and run it at 100%. This can not be said for many other brands. In fact if you followed this procedure with most brands you would wind up with problems, one of which is excessive algae.

I see your point, in that kessils are allegedly easier to set.

 

[crusso1993]

Personally, I favor MH + T5. However, if you want to stay with LED lights, I highly recommend you look at ReeFi lights by @danlu_gt . There are quite a number of members here that swapped their Radions out for ReeFis, love them and haven't looked back. Anothet endorsement, of sorts, is that Dana Riddle uses them.

 

[Bpb]

Personally, I favor MH + T5. However, if you want to stay with LED lights, I highly recommend you look at ReeFi lights by @danlu_gt . There are quite a number of members here that swapped their Radions out for ReeFis, love them and haven't looked back. Anothet endorsement, of sorts, is that Dana Riddle uses them.

Want to copy this post and repost it for myself. The reef fi boasts a superior diode layout in my opinion. I don’t love pucks as much (never did, not just following the gen5 bandwagon) but the color and attention to build details (on paper for me, don’t own them) look to be as good as it gets.

At the end of the day. Mh/t5ho combo is reef comfort food. I’ll never say something else is “better”. It’s just all that is right about reef illumination

 

[RCS82]

When you mention SPS dominant I will lean toward metal halides, but I also love T5s and LEDs. I'm glad BRS did their 750XXL tank with 10 XR15s. I feel this shows a little more truth to what the coverage is regarding these small puck units.