Light upgrade from blackbox

[OrthoVet05]

Hey guys I am looking for the best lighting upgrade for my 57 DT, 36x18x19 in footprint. I want to grow SPS and have a mixed reef. Currently have a 165 w black box that I want upgraded. I am open for anything. Thanks!

 

[dantimdad]

Why change your light?

The light you have can be plenty if implemented properly and you water quality is good.

Just trying to clarify the situation.

 

[dantimdad]

Or just add a second if you feel you have dark areas.

 

[Stickboy15]

Went from black box to radion and corals never looked better they colored up and grew much faster afterwards

 

[firefishalumacraft]

Went for the same BB to Radions. My SPS colored up and got better growth. You might find you might need two Radions for that size tank if going SPS dominate. You might be okay with two XR15 but if the budget allows two XR30's would be my choice. Always used Gen 3 Pros FS.

 

[OrthoVet05]

I guess I just need to grab a PAR meter and really see how well the BB is doing. Issue is that I got just 1 galaxyhydro and it looks like they have become dissolved on Amazon and are now owned by Roledero? I guess it doesn't really matter as most of the BB are made the same. I am just a purist when it comes to consistency which is ironic using the BB haha!

Looks like the biggest thing I need to do is grab another and that should be sufficient. Was having very awful STN and bleaching from some SPS starting and ppl suggested checking the PAR values for current light.


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077JP7M5D/ref=twister_B07M8JQJ95?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Stickboy15]

I guess I just need to grab a PAR meter and really see how well the BB is doing. Issue is that I got just 1 galaxyhydro and it looks like they have become dissolved on Amazon and are now owned by Roledero? I guess it doesn't really matter as most of the BB are made the same. I am just a purist when it comes to consistency which is ironic using the BB haha!

Looks like the biggest thing I need to do is grab another and that should be sufficient. Was having very awful STN and bleaching from some SPS starting and ppl suggested checking the PAR values for current light.


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077JP7M5D/ref=twister_B07M8JQJ95?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Thats the one I had!

 

[DSC reef]

@OrthoVet05 while there is no denying radions are good you dont need to upgrade the lights as that's a small part of a whole when it comes to a reef aquarium. Plenty of cheaper options out there like reef breeders, etc. I've seen many tanks with all different types of lighting and the ones with black boxes were stunning as well. It's very easy for someone to say that I switched from this light to that light and magic happened but in reality it's just piece of the equation. I would add another value fixture to help with your coverage personally.

 

[Manose]

We have been running tests on the new Noopsyche K7 lights with really good results and he sells them here on Reef2Reef. I would not consider these to be black box lights tho they are considerably cheaper thanAI 26,Kessil 360, and lights of those calibers.
There are many lights that would work for your tank so you can afford to be picky. I would look at as many options as I could to determine what you really want.
Here is the link for the Noopsyche lights and many reviews are starting to happen:
https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/noopsyche.1066/
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/noopsyche-k7-pro-ii-95w.522073/

Lets be clear that I am in no way affiliated with Noopsyche as I just kind of fell in love with the light after doing some testing.

 

[Ron Reefman]

I'm 100% with DSC Reef on this one. Just about any 3w (driven at 2.2 watts in reality) BB fixture with a mix of colors can grow healthy, colorful coral as well as the $750 fixtures do. IMHO the buyers of the expensive fixtures see what they want to see, not the reality.

I've been using leds exclusively for 7 or 8 years now and I've had everything from very basic $100 BB fixtures with blue & white leds with dimmers to $750 Radions and several in between over 4 different tanks. The difference in coral health, growth and color is negligible. There is some ability with a 6 channel led to color the light just a bit better than a 2 channel fixture which might make coral look a tiny bit more colorful. But it's more about the light than the coral.

Save your money unless you want more led channels or sunrise/sunset control. And that's all about your desires and has next to nothing to do with the corals! Even then the Reef Breeders Photon V2 is as good or better than the more expensive brands at about half the cost.