LEDs... Decisions Decisions

[Bow]

Dib, if you are thinking reef radiance email them. Rick will help you out

 

[dib]

Ya I just saw the dm155e its a little bit longer. I just want to make sure I get what I need to penetrate light to the bottom. Thanks I think I will shoot them an email

 

[Ron Reefman]

I'm going to chime in here. Lots of great info, thanks.
About the lighting, I'm in kinda the same boat....hmmm what do I get? My tank has a 2bulb t5 fixture. Tank size: 56 column, 30wX24hX18 I've been checking out LEDs. Also just checked out reef radiance site. I think I found what I want. Their DM 132e good price.
My question now is, would one of these lights be enough for my size tank. The light fixture size is 13.78"x8.43" also would that make my light strong enough for SPS and LPS corals
Any other input would be appreciated.

The OceanRevive S026 will cover your 30" tank. It's well made and very inexpensive, especially in their group buy (going on now) I have 1 over my frag tank and 2 over my 55g grow out tank. And the blue to white ratio is better than the standard DM155e (which is too white in my opinion). Heck even the OceanRevive Arctic S026 is a bit too white in my opinion, but it's better.

https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/ocean-revive-led/135797-prices-so-low-we-cant-advertise-them.html

 

[Ron Reefman]

I know I brought up the d120s, but do yourself a favor and go look at a comparison between the Chinese LEDs and the Kessil. I just got educated on them this weekend and I'll be buying some kessils for my tank. Some of the Chinese LEDs are pretty decent, but get a good understanding of the difference between those and quality name brand before you buy. Just a suggestion.

I don't know much about Kessils, maybe you should start a thread and tell us what makes them so much better that they are worth the higher cost. I'd appreciate the info as I've been using Chinese leds for a year now.

 

[mainereefer]

The OP wants them to run off his Apex reef controller.
And I'll bet in the near future there will be economy priced, quality built fixtures that will run on a reef controller, they just aren't there yet.
That said, I love the control I get from my EverGrow OR-IT2080's. They've run 24/7 for a year and I see very little need to hook up to a reef controller. When I had MH and a chiller, sure. If the chiller crapped out, I want the reef controller to kill the MH before things start to overheat. But with leds? If mine there on a reef controller now, I wouldn't have toutched them in 12 months, just like I haven't needed to touch the built-in controllers.

look up thunder controller they are 24" with 80 led (not 16" with 55 led) and 3 channels fully controllable. plus you design the light pattern with any color led you want all for $200 shipped you can even get cree led for a little more $$

 

[dib]

The OceanRevive S026 will cover your 30" tank. It's well made and very inexpensive, especially in their group buy (going on now) I have 1 over my frag tank and 2 over my 55g grow out tank. And the blue to white ratio is better than the standard DM155e (which is too white in my opinion). Heck even the OceanRevive Arctic S026 is a bit too white in my opinion, but it's better.

https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/ocean-revive-led/135797-prices-so-low-we-cant-advertise-them.html

Looking for more info on this fixture, can't find any details about it. Not even ocean revive brand LEDs

 

[marinelife]

Onyx by Rapid LED - Rapid LED [h=2]Onyx by Rapid LED[/h]
Awesome LED light, my local shop uses them as well as several members of my local fish club.

 

[Braver69]

I went with Pacific Sun Hyperion S for my tank. It has all the features you want, but they are not cheap. I had Apollo Reef Leds on my tank. However you cant upgrade the Apollos (I asked) and after only 3 years I had one fixture fail on me, and I was rather undewhelemd by their service. The circuit board itself failed after a led went out, the copper trace failed. So I have went the cheaper route with what I thought was a good fixture, now I have 2 lights I now have to sell. The Apollo Reefs however did sustain my corals quite nicely tho. Whatever you get I highly recommend you get something you can upgrade, as you wont get much back out of a old out dated led fixture. Thats why I picked Pacific Sun, not cheap but at least I can upgrade it if I need to.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Radeons and dimmable seems the way to go these days.

 

[kabmab]

Has anyone ever checked out intellasun? I think thats how its spelled

 

[jbonez]

I have a few if the rapid led ONYX dimmable fixtures and love them.

 

[rjcranor]

I'm seriously considering the lumentec pro 240

 

[suvio blue]

check out Evo (Evolution) leds thru Reef Koi...i got the Evo200 TS about 8 months ago, really nice pc of equipment! dimmable, can be changed by increments of 1, remote control included

 

[Wedge]

I am just about finishing up my build on a 120G, and for my tank I opted to build LED fixture, personally, I felt like it was a bit of a waste of time, given the sales that have been going on with radion's etc. and Kessil lights. I like that I got to choose my own configuration, etc., but it was really a pain nonetheless (I am engineer so I went in thinking I gotta build everything). I did however buy a Kessil A360W, which I am using for my quarantine tanks for the time being. It doesn't really give you the best control over the spectrum (for visual purposes) and I am not even sure how well the APEX controls it as I don't have my APEX on the quarantine system (2 different locations), but I will say I am impressed with the build quality, and on my other tank compared to the AI Sol, which is no longer in the same league but was about $400 when I did buy it, I would take the Kessil over AI anyday. Just my 2 cents, I know it isn't much to go on.

 

[redtop03]

The vast options for LED lighting boggle the mind! Im looking for something that can support my (soon to be set up) 72G Bow (48Lx18Wx24H) mixed reef with just minimal tinkering with SPS.

1. First concern of course is being able to sustain life which im sure just about all can do.
2. Controlability. Looking for something that I can control the lighting schedule and control every channel to change the color spectrum and intensity with an Apex.
3. All around neat features that I can show off like cloud coverage, sunrise, sunset and thunderstorms.

so far I narrowed it down to

• Radions - Just because I would already have the Apex WXM to control it all but cant justify the price tag if there are others brands out there for way cheaper that can give me the same things.
• AI Hydra - WAY cheaper and gives me the same options Just have to get the VDM but can I control all the colors through the APEX?
• AI Vega - I dont understand why this one is more than the Hydra if its missing the Violet and UVs.
• Orphek PR72 - Looks nice but cant find info on it. Price, controlability or features.

Id like to know what everyone's opinion on these are and If there are others with these features let me know.

if you want an Apex controllable system, I'd highly recommend a quality DIY system like ReefLEDlights sells, you'll be hard pressed to find a better value in the brand named premade fixtures as with the DIY systems...and 2 of their P47s would be a kick butt system over your 72g tank

I'm a firm believer in Reef Radiance lights and their quality and am on the Reef Radiance team if you're not in a hurry, Rick is in the process of creating some Apex/Elite/Reef Angel controllable lights but as of right now, they are still a work in progress....

like a few have already stated, Rick has the Lumenteks that have the built in controller, he also carries the Evergrow IT2040 which has the built in controller, both are high quality Chinese lights

PLEASE DO NOT USE THUNDERSTORMS!!!

It seriously freaks out the fish

The AI is only 20 LEDs you might not get the PAR you want on the sandbed with two fixtures.

The Orphek PR72 Looks like a good value at $329 but without a good PAR measurement or the type of LEDs its hard to judge.

PM Sent

Bill

I've had fish freak out when the lights first come on, I could only imaging the panic from flashing lights...that's the only thing I liked better about my halides, they weren't instant on like my LEDs

I've known two people that have had expensive wrasses jump out during a storm. I've also seen one you tube of the storm were the poor clownfish is in a different part of the tank at every flash. The fish also dont have an iris I cant see how bright flashes would do them any good. There is a reason public aquariums don't allow flash photography.

I do like the idea of cloud movement. I use it on my personal tank.

Bill

the cloud movement would be less dramatic than the flashing would be from the lightening storm

 

[TheSaint216]

I just hooked up my single Vega yesterday. Not sure how functional the lightning storms are except my kid got a kick out of it. There seems to be alot of options to play around with on the lights but I really think having to have the controller to do anything is stupid. I love the colors this thing makes but I should be able to hook it up to a computer or do it on the actual fixture. Maybe its just me but I dont see why something cost's so much and isnt an all in one.

 

[redtop03]

I just hooked up my single Vega yesterday. Not sure how functional the lightning storms are except my kid got a kick out of it. There seems to be alot of options to play around with on the lights but I really think having to have the controller to do anything is stupid. I love the colors this thing makes but I should be able to hook it up to a computer or do it on the actual fixture. Maybe its just me but I dont see why something cost's so much and isnt an all in one.

having the wider range of control and the unlimited functionality of an Apex is more desireable to a lot of people, it's just something that's not as cost efficient to have in a built in controller....

not only does the Apex offer sunrise/sunset, with the right components, it can blend different colored LEDs and get the best possible look for the user, it also has the moon light in real time as opposed to just a night light after the normal lighting is off, and it has the ability to mimic lighting (as well as water movement and temperature conditions) of natural reefs in different parts of the world....

higher technology demands a higher price tag, it just the way it is, plus most of those Apex controllable lights use more costly components too, which makes the end product cost more

the controllable Chinese lights controllers have limited functionality and the components are less costly, therefore, the fixture are lower priced....

Rick was, if he hasn't already replaced it, looking at a more functional controller (for the Lumentek lights he sells) that includes the cloud coverage function as well as the sunrise/sunset/moon light feature

 

[ReefLEDLights]

When lighting your reef tank PAR matters

For Carpet Anemones and Clams on the sand bed I like at least 200 PAR

That said the AI Hydra is only 20 LEDs with some LEDs contributing little for growth.....

Choose Well

Bill

 

[pugbug99]

I have had Kessils on my 120 for three years and my corals are doing great. I have torches, hammers, frogspawn, mushrooms leathers montipora and a host of others on the bottom top and middle. all doing fine. you can get them through Bulk Supply for 224.00 I have the ocean blues rated for 15000 k

 

[darrendh]

I'm building a fish only tank and the footprint will be 130" (w) x 29" (d) x 29" (t). I like the idea of the chinese led's since they are decently priced but I can't figure out how many I'm going to have to put in and the spacing of them so I don't have dead spots. I'd rather not buy half a dozen of them and just play around until I figure it out...any advice on coverage?