Light Recommendation...

Rsandry · Jun 30, 2015

Hi all,

Just bought a new system (Red Sea Reefer series - 350) and I was looking for recommendations on lighting. I want to go with LED's and I'm looking at the Kessils and the Radions... any advice???

Thx

Mandrew · Jun 30, 2015

I seen kessils on a few tanks at a lfs and they looked amazing. I've not used either personally but I've seen em both in action. Radions are really neat but $$$$

hybridazn · Jul 1, 2015

If you have the funds go with the radions, you wont regret it.

mcarroll · Jul 1, 2015

Considering that one can build a super-easy DIY LED for such a tank for around $150 that will make corals HAPPY, I'm ceaselessly amazed how often super-high-end lights get recommended. I guess SOMEONE is still gettin paid in this economy! [emoji38]

FWIW, both of those lights are really better suited to cube-like fat tanks. You'll need more units (even more $$$) to make them work well on a longer tank.

If you're not gonna build your own, Current USA's Orbit and Orbit PRO or Maxspect's razor come to mind as lights designed for longer (rectangular) tanks. Good at least for a comparison. [emoji106]

kevinsmixed90 · Jul 1, 2015

yes, the orbit pro is just under 500.00 at 48-60", and you would need at least three radions at around 700.00 each plus a reeflink controller at 100.00 (not mandatory) soo.... haven't seen the Maxspect's razor in action but something to think about anyway. good luck and congrats on the new tank!

Saltwaterwill · Jul 1, 2015

The kessils are giving me some growth and good color so far it's been about 2 months

Marc.The.Shark · Jul 1, 2015

Yeah, if you DIY, check out the NanoBox V3 arrays. Best color spectrum out there. Or you could prob get away with 2 of his Duo's to cover the entire tank.

Mandrew · Jul 1, 2015

I bought some 165w Chinese LEDs on eBay and they're built well and put off good color from what I've seen. I've yet to put them on a live tank but I'm setting up a tank now and plan to use them. I think I paid $190 for two fixtures and they cover 24"x24" well. The pic is them hanging above the 40g breeder I'm setting up.

ImageUploadedByREEF2REEF1435752188.560990.jpg

hart24601 · Jul 1, 2015

At 4' long you would do great with a reefbreeder photon 48. LEDs covering almost the entire surface length for nice even coverage and not much shading. At $500 for a nice spectrum, controller, and biggest benefit IMO is the leds over the tank. Build my LED are nice for coverage but are $$$. I have been happy with AI hydra 26 for my tank, but you need a lot of units to mitigate shading.

mcarroll · Jul 1, 2015

Good illustration - enough light for a 120 but jammed over a 40 gallon 36x18" tank.

Thankfully it's a bargain in cost, but (like Radions and other similar fixtures) it's not a great fit since about half or more of light will completely miss the tank, just lighting up the room.

It may be no big deal but you spent twice as much on cheap Chinese lights as you should have needed to just because of this design. A waste.

The reason is that the fixture's shape and lenses both are "incorrect" for this tank. A single fixture like the others mentioned earlier would light the tank from edge to edge and spill very little or no light outside the tank.

Lowering the lights by 50% to about 6-8" off the water will help reduce spilled light, but the light-spread in the tank will be somewhat reduced and without a lux meter (or similar) you're guessing at the correct brightness to set. Bleaching your coral is a risk when you don't know.

Mandrew · Jul 1, 2015

I had bought the LEDs for a 90g I was building and had a canopy and everything built then it all sat in a closet for over a year. I sold the 90g and got out of the hobby. I just decided to start rebuilding. I had the lights already so I plan to use them.

mcarroll · Jul 2, 2015

All good - just making an example of you! ;-) and $190 is beans...you could run them at 25% and still be ahead on the investment.

Imagine using those lights over a 125 (6ft) and trying not to spill. (Also imagine those fixtures cost >$300 each, as many do.) You'd need 3-4 lights built like yours...even though it's a shallow tank and ONE or TWO fixtures would actually have enough power IF the spread were designed for the tank.

OTOH, if you've got a fat/cube-shaped tank, the opposite should be true - the spread on these lights could be just right, making them a more efficient design choice.

Mandrew · Jul 2, 2015

They looked good over my old 60g tank when I tried em out. That was a 4ft tank. I think they would have worked well for the 90g but definitely overkill for the 40g but they make corals look great too!

jasonandsarah · Jul 6, 2015

I have had both A360we's and Gen 3 pro's and would choose the Radions any day of the week! I'm growing acro's on the sand bed with 2 Radions over a 4' 75g tank.
I also had reef breeder/Chinese leds and wasn't ever 100% happy with them although I'd pick those over kessils but that's just me.

FlyinBryan · Jul 6, 2015

Ive seen many posts regarding people having tried to build their own and then switching to the high stuff.

If you like building soddering or tinking around with stuff go for the build. I like the plug and play easy stuff and willing to spend the $$$ to avoid building a disaster! Lol

Im loving the new radions xr15 and so are my corals!!

mcarroll · Jul 6, 2015

@FlyinBryan I don't solder, but I do DIY.

Also, I would repeat that however neat the feature-set is the "high stuff" is a poor fit for most tanks out there. (See earlier comments.)

Last, my corals can't tell tell the difference between the light coming from my "high stuff" fixture and the GU10 fixture I built without soldering.

Someone else mentioned growing Acro's on the sand bed - this has nothing to do with brand this has to do with the light being strong enough which is easy to accomplish with any light as long as you have a light meter.

Having a ($10) light meter keeps you from guessing at your system's light levels. Once you stop guessing how much light you are putting into your tank, having "enough light" loses all its mystery - you measure, you adjust lux to "full daylight" (between 20,000 and 80,000). That's it! [emoji106][emoji6]

Rsandry · Jul 9, 2015

Just want to say thanks to everyone for their input!!!
I am not much of a DYI'er, especially with electric or electronics so I think it will be plug & Play for me. I have a brand new Razor R420R I never opened (purchased for a 2nd smaller tank that did not happen- at least not yet ).

I will post some build pics when I can, and ask more advice I'm sure..
Thx again!