LED Lighting Recommendations

[Ren]

I am in the process of putting together a new setup. I will be running a 40gal breeder. Here's a link to the build thread, if interested.


I am torn on which direction to go for lighting. I have done some research, but I've been out of the hobby for a little bit and a lot has changed since I had my last tank. MH and T5's were the way to go and LED's were just starting to take off. I know that I do not want the cost of the MH when it comes to electrical consumption, let alone the cost of the bulbs to replace. The T5's are not that bad, but again - overtime the money does add up. As a result, I am looking at LEDs for my lighting.


I plan on having a mostly dominate SPS tank; however, I have to make sure I'm pleasing the wife and giving her some of what she wants too! As a result, I will have some LPS, zoa's and acans. I will later on once the tank is mature enough get a clam. I love them and they're pretty cool. So, I want to make sure that I have the lighting required to sustain everything that I am looking at and ensuring that I have enough for the clam to survive on!


Here are the list of lights that I am looking at getting and would really appreciate some good solid suggestions, feedback, and or comments from your experience with any of these.


Possible Options:


Reef Radiance: Thinking ultimately, I would need 2 of these.
DM-165P+ - $319
DM-165e - $179


Kessil: Thinking I would need 2?
Kessil A360N - $399


EcoTech: Would 1 suffice?
Radion XR30w Gen 3 - $649


I am unable to find what the foot prints are for the Kessil and the Radion. If anyone has them, could you please provide them to me!! I would greatly appreciate it.


Rick at Reef Radiance said that I may be able to get away with one fixture, but may need two. He mentioned buying one to see how things looked and then if needed then to buy a second one. I know for the Kessil's that I would probably need two of them to cover the entire footprint. I love the shimmer that the Kessils give. I've seen the Radions in use as well at a LFS.


I just want to make sure that I am getting excellent growth and the right lighting for all of the livestock and corals that I plan on housing to ensure that they are nice and fat, healthy, and growing well. I also want to make sure that I am getting something that is programmable, as I do eventually plan on getting an Apex. However, I also want to make sure I can program it and have it dimmable without the use of an added "wanted, but not required" addon.


Could you experienced folks help me out some pretty please?!?!


On a side note, I am also toying with the idea of getting the ATI 36" 6x39 Dimmable Sunpower fixture as well.

 

[mrcoffee2]

I suggest a hydra 26. I also think Kessil is a good choice. With the hydra you get a few different options that you would not normally get with other LEDs. No matter what one you go with I also suggest adding T5s for optimal growth. With the T5's you wouldnt need to add another LED.

 

[NanaReefer]

For the money & performance.....Reef Radiance without a doubt!! I run an RR unit and couldn't be happier. Just check out the reviews here on R2R

 

[Ren]

For the money & performance.....Reef Radiance without a doubt!! I run an RR unit and couldn't be happier. Just check out the reviews here on R2R

Trying to get ahold of them is like trying to pull a your finger out of an alligator's mouth. It's very difficult to say the least!

 

[NanaReefer]

Trying to get ahold of them is like trying to pull a your finger out of an alligator's mouth. It's very difficult to say the least!

Please pm me

 

[REEF RADIANCE]

Trying to get ahold of them is like trying to pull a your finger out of an alligator's mouth. It's very difficult to say the least!

Hi Ren,

Actually putting your finger in an alligators mouth is easy - getting it back is the hard part......

You quote me on your post - so clearly you reached and heard from me:

Rick at Reef Radiance said that I may be able to get away with one fixture, but may need two. He mentioned buying one to see how things looked and then if needed then to buy a second one. I know for the Kessil's that I would probably need two of them to cover the entire footprint. I love the shimmer that the Kessils give. I've seen the Radions in use as well at a LFS.

So your comment seems innacurate - at best.

Speaking of innacurate - your price for the DM-165p+ is $100 high.

Here is the link for that light on our site with all the particulars and accurate pricing: DM-165p+ - Reef Radiance

Of course I don't know who you are - but if you email me and let me know when you contacted us and did not hear from us - I would love to have that info.

Rick

 

[Ren]

Hi Ren,

Actually putting your finger in an alligators mouth is easy - getting it back is the hard part......

You quote me on your post - so clearly you reached and heard from me:

Rick at Reef Radiance said that I may be able to get away with one fixture, but may need two. He mentioned buying one to see how things looked and then if needed then to buy a second one. I know for the Kessil's that I would probably need two of them to cover the entire footprint. I love the shimmer that the Kessils give. I've seen the Radions in use as well at a LFS.

So your comment seems innacurate - at best.

Speaking of innacurate - your price for the DM-165p+ is $100 high.

Here is the link for that light on our site with all the particulars and accurate pricing: DM-165p+ - Reef Radiance

Of course I don't know who you are - but if you email me and let me know when you contacted us and did not hear from us - I would love to have that info.

Rick

Rick:

Yes, I finally got a response from you; however, that does not mean that I didn't attempted multiple times to reach out to you guys over a weeks time span. I don't have the date of the first time that I called; however, I did leave a voicemail asking for a call back. It was several days later that I had sent over the email inquiry. Now with his being said, the email inquiry was a little closer to Christmas (I believe, but I do not have the original date that it was sent over because your contact is does not send over a duplicate to ones email). I had heard great things about your company and the customer service, but it just seemed someone wasn't at the helm when it came to returning phone calls. Yes, you do in fact have a call from me. There were also times that I called and didn't leave the voicemail. I figured I should not have to leave 5 or 6 messages via voicemail to get a return back.

When it came to quoting that price, that was accurate until you updated to include the sale pricing to extend it out until the 4th of January;therefore,I didn't just go quoting it without checking the site first. That would be wrong of me to do.

I will look at my cell bill to see when I contacted and attempted to reach through. For the email you would have the date I ended up resorting to that.

 

[REEF RADIANCE]

Rick:

Yes, I finally got a response from you; however, that does not mean that I didn't attempted multiple times to reach out to you guys over a weeks time span. I don't have the date of the first time that I called; however, I did leave a voicemail asking for a call back. It was several days later that I had sent over the email inquiry. Now with his being said, the email inquiry was a little closer to Christmas (I believe, but I do not have the original date that it was sent over because your contact is does not send over a duplicate to ones email). I had heard great things about your company and the customer service, but it just seemed someone wasn't at the helm when it came to returning phone calls. Yes, you do in fact have a call from me. There were also times that I called and didn't leave the voicemail. I figured I should not have to leave 5 or 6 messages via voicemail to get a return back.

When it came to quoting that price, that was accurate until you updated to include the sale pricing to extend it out until the 4th of January;therefore,I didn't just go quoting it without checking the site first. That would be wrong of me to do.

I will look at my cell bill to see when I contacted and attempted to reach through. For the email you would have the date I ended up resorting to that.

Ren,

I still don't have your name to check into this.

Ren, frankly I cant make sense of this time line - all that comes through is you reached out and have no dates or times but we did contact you. if you call and don't leave a voice-mail - I am sorry that is not contact unless you communicate - that is what voice-mail is for.

If our crime is taking time over Christmas Holiday to reach you - which we did - then I agree things slow down at Christmas and it takes longer as people get time off and our business increases 5 fold.

The price you quoted was never used - it was MSRP - which we have never sold the light for - so you are giving the wrong numbers for people to use to compare.

Rick

 

[reeferdon]

Ren I have a 40 breeder and my plans for new lighting is 2x Kessil 160we and 2x T5's ATI blue+

 

[Ren]

Ren,

I still don't have your name to check into this.

Ren, frankly I cant make sense of this time line - all that comes through is you reached out and have no dates or times but we did contact you. if you call and don't leave a voice-mail - I am sorry that is not contact unless you communicate - that is what voice-mail is for.

If our crime is taking time over Christmas Holiday to reach you - which we did - then I agree things slow down at Christmas and it takes longer as people get time off and our business increases 5 fold.

The price you quoted was never used - it was MSRP - which we have never sold the light for - so you are giving the wrong numbers for people to use to compare.

Rick

I'm not here to get into a ******* match with you in my LED recommendation thread. It was an observation that I made and that is that. If you are that concerned with it - the I would recommend that you reach out to me via PM to rectify this or "look into it" as you say.

As for that price, your site plainly stated $319 for that particular unit and that there was $100 off until 28 December. You have sense then adjusted the pricing to reflect a new sale. Regardless at the end of the day - I never said anything ill towards you or your company other than my experience which is that it has been hard to get a hold of anyone there for some basic questions.

 

[Ren]

Ren I have a 40 breeder and my plans for new lighting is 2x Kessil 160we and 2x T5's ATI blue+

I have seen the Kessil A360 in action at a LFS and they looked nice. If you haven't seen them, I think you'll like them. They have a nice shimmer to them as well. I would say try the Kessil's out alone and then add the T5's if needed. However, you may find you may need the T5's.

 

[saltwaterpicaso]

I personaly would go with the radion pro. I have owned all the leds you have mentioned and the radion is by far the best light.. color wise growth wise and function.. and one will cover that tank with the new lense

 

[REEF RADIANCE]

I'm not here to get into a ******* match with you in my LED recommendation thread. It was an observation that I made and that is that. If you are that concerned with it - the I would recommend that you reach out to me via PM to rectify this or "look into it" as you say.

As for that price, your site plainly stated $319 for that particular unit and that there was $100 off until 28 December. You have sense then adjusted the pricing to reflect a new sale. Regardless at the end of the day - I never said anything ill towards you or your company other than my experience which is that it has been hard to get a hold of anyone there for some basic questions.

Ren,

We pride ourselves on excellent customer service and when someone publically states " Trying to get ahold of them is like trying to pull a your finger out of an alligator's mouth. It's very difficult to say the least! - we are obligated to address it - as any responsible company would.

I simply asked for simple information to clarify this statement and you did not provide it. That tells me all I need to know.

Rick

 

[DMan]

i'm using 2 a360w over a 24" high 90g and a 350n over a red sea max 130 (34 gal). the 360w over the 90 imo don't really cut it. they look great but somethings missing. everybody talks about the shimmer of the kessils. over my 90 i couldn't see what all the fuss was about. the shimmer looks like every other led, maybe a bit cleaner ( not so disco). but when i decided to take the canopy off the RSM and put a a350 i wasn't using i was blown away. i looks like rays of sunshine coming into the tank. and reminds me of when i went diving on a coral reef. i would definitely recommend the kessil (normal) over a shallow tank. all that being said i still find all the leds to have ( the only way i can describe it)a digital look to them. kinda like the difference between when CDs were first released and vinyl records were on the way out. took a while to get used to. id like to add some t5s but im really liking the heat reduction, and energy savings,, havent changed a bulb in over a year, the flexability and the cosmetic look of the leds. im not 100% sure but i do find the corals take a bit longer to adapt to the leds. Not really acclimate but actually start to grow. under the t5s the coral seemed to snap right back and start growing. my anemones are doing great as well as clams under the kessils. some corals are doing really well and some ive lost, possibly due to the shock factor.