LED Light for Soft Corals

Brian G. · Feb 26, 2019

I have a new 120 gallon that is almost done cycling and plan on adding fish this weekend. I currently have everything but lights on the tank and will eventually want to add soft corals to the tank. The dimensions are 48x24x24 and I was looking at the Current Orbit, AI Prime HD or Kessil 160. It would be two of each regardless of which route I go.

Kessil is towards the bottom of my list only because they are the highest in price and the controller add an extra $100, but they are well regarded and produce beautiful light so I am considering them. AI Primes seem like a good choice and easy to setup over wifi. Current Orbit might be too weak, hoping with they would be fine. That said, the dual pro with Loop is now just $350 on Amazon so Current seems to offer the best bang for the buck.

Any feedback or guidance you can provide would be appreciated.

jda · Feb 26, 2019

Are you ok with the look of a Black Box? If so, get a pair of those and save some money and have more power. Prime or 160 Kessil are very weak for a 2x2x2 foot area and while they might do OK for softies, you are already at the ceiling. Both the Prime and 160 are really just nano lights, IMO.

Brian G. · Feb 26, 2019

I have looked at the black box lights. They seem to lack a ramp up timer and need to be programmed separately. I would need to look again but I believe some also had two power cords per light as well so it would be more cables to try and hide. If this is still the case I would lean more toward the Current Pro if the other two would be insufficient. Not sure how user friendly Loop is, but it appears they now offer a Wifi version as well.

Porpoise Hork · Feb 27, 2019

Lighting for your reef tank will be the single highest $/item purchase you will make. I have spent far too much with various brands, trying to get the right one that was within my budget. Sadly as a result I spent far more than I should have. When choosing a light system you want to make sure it will not only provide ample light for what you are starting with, but will be adequate down the road if you start getting it to more demanding corals. You also want one that has all the features you want/need. So do the research and don't settle on something that will get you by for now.

To get adequate PAR numbers even for softies, you would need at least six to eight Prime HD's. It would be cheaper to go with a Reef Breeder's Photon V2+instead as it will be more than powerful enough to provide lighting for soft, lps, and sps if you decide to venture into the latter types.

I have the 48" over my 75 and it's a phenomenal light. USes the same LED's as the AI's do and offers full customization over your lighting schedule. Mine supports a full mixed reef with soft, lps, and sps corals. The only down side is getting the intensity/channel color dialed in can take time. But once you get it dialed in, you can expect form intense coloration, and impressive growth provided the water parameters are stable.