Lighting advise - affordable and no app

[Ashibashi]

Hey guys, brand new to the aquarium hobby and trying to put together a wishlist for my build. I am stuck on lighting and hope you all have some suggestions.

I very much would prefer the realistic shimmer effect that, as far as I can tell, only comes from metal halide lights. Is that true? Can I get that from something more energy efficient?

Also, I actually strongly do not want an app or any internet involvement. Imo that always just ends up becoming a hassle and the same thing could be achieved with just a set of buttons or a remote or something.

Lastly, I need it to be sensibly priced. I've seen brs pushing these LED panels that use apps and so on for like 800 dollars. Idk if its just me but that seems like a scam, the whole appeal of LEDs is that they're super cheap. I built a houseplant grow shelf and all my plants are growing gangbusters under some 6500K dinky shop lights I got on Amazon for like $12 for a pack of 3. Surely photosynthesis is basically the same everywhere you look, right? Chlorophyll is chlorophyll. In my naiive newbie brain it seems like the only additional obstacle is getting enough photons to make it through ~2 feet of water. Surely that's not a technologically demanding thing in 2021? Am I being dense lol? Please educate me!

Thank you. So far I'm having a lot of fun planning this thing!

 

[Jekyl]

The lighting used for plants is different than coral. Different ends of the spectrum are needed. Kessil provide the best shimmer effect of any LED however you have to pay for it. What size tank? Budget? Do you intend on keeping SPS? Lighting is the most expensive part of a reef tank. Keep in mind that you will have a lot invested in coral. In the end far more than lighting in most cases.

 

[HeyJay]

For shimmer, halides are king. But they aren't so cheap when you consider bulb replacements every 6-12 months.

Reef breeders makes sensibly priced led fixtures that are remote controlled. Although new ones might use an app, not sure.

 

[CanuckReefer]

Several LED's can produce some shimmer effect. Have a look at the Orphek LED light bars... affordable, no control ability as is what you want, and seem to get good reviews on the whole.

 

[HB AL]

From the preferences you mentioned Kessils would be perfect, energy efficient leds, great shimmer, easy manual control. You didn't mention what to you is "sensibly priced" as that is different for everyone. Also how long the tank is and what corals you plan on keeping would determine which ones and or how many you would need. For what your looking for I don't think there's any "cheap" leds that will fill all your needs.

 

[Ashibashi]

From the preferences you mentioned Kessils would be perfect, energy efficient leds, great shimmer, easy manual control. You didn't mention what to you is "sensibly priced" as that is different for everyone. Also how long the tank is and what corals you plan on keeping would determine which ones and or how many you would need. For what your looking for I don't think there's any "cheap" leds that will fill all your needs.

I would say below 200 would be sensibly priced. I would like to leave my options open for as much variety as possible down the line, as now I dont know much about whats possible. I know I want an anemone though, do they care about light? Also I forgot to mention earlier, I would like something thats good both for daytime and for the fluorescent blue spectrum at night.

 

[Ashibashi]

The lighting used for plants is different than coral. Different ends of the spectrum are needed. Kessil provide the best shimmer effect of any LED however you have to pay for it. What size tank? Budget? Do you intend on keeping SPS? Lighting is the most expensive part of a reef tank. Keep in mind that you will have a lot invested in coral. In the end far more than lighting in most cases.

I've got my eye on a fiji cube 81 gallon. As of right now my main interest is corals, as many and as much variety as possible. My budget is flexible, but I would prefer to keep the lighting budget near 200 if possible, with some wiggle room up if I find something that's dead on perfect and it happens to cost more.

Thank you guys for your help so far!

 

[Jekyl]

I would say below 200 would be sensibly priced. I would like to leave my options open for as much variety as possible down the line, as now I dont know much about whats possible. I know I want an anemone though, do they care about light? Also I forgot to mention earlier, I would like something thats good both for daytime and for the fluorescent blue spectrum at night.

What size tank? I keep my nems in the mid 200par range.

 

[Ashibashi]

What size tank? I keep my nems in the mid 200par range.

No bigger than 81 gallon

 

[Jekyl]

I've got my eye on a fiji cube 81 gallon. As of right now my main interest is corals, as many and as much variety as possible. My budget is flexible, but I would prefer to keep the lighting budget near 200 if possible, with some wiggle room up if I find something that's dead on perfect and it happens to cost more.

Thank you guys for your help so far!

That will be a relatively deeper tank. Anemone also need a mature tank. That gives you about 6 months after cycle to save up for better lighting. Don't go cheap on lights. You have months to save and get something good. Even after cycle you should wait a month or 2 before getting any coral at all. On top of that a few coral will cost more than the light they're depending on.

 

[CanuckReefer]

I would say below 200 would be sensibly priced. I would like to leave my options open for as much variety as possible down the line, as now I dont know much about whats possible. I know I want an anemone though, do they care about light? Also I forgot to mention earlier, I would like something thats good both for daytime and for the fluorescent blue spectrum at night.

That is Orphek , look them up, or don't....
https://orphek.com/or2-150-120-90-60-reef-led-lighting/
And BTW you want NOTHING at night, a 2 or 3% blue moonlight spectrum at most, but then at that point you are getting into programmable, which you say is not an option for you.

 

[CanuckReefer]

That will be a relatively deeper tank. Anemone also need a mature tank. That gives you about 6 months after cycle to save up for better lighting. Don't go cheap on lights. You have months to save and get something good. Even after cycle you should wait a month or 2 before getting any coral at all. On top of that a few coral will cost more than the light they're depending on.

Agree here.... it took me years to properly house Nems.

 

[Jekyl]

With a 36" long tank any puck lights will require 2 of them. Cheapest option that will grow anything would be a black box 300w like marsaqua, viparspectra or philzon. They are extremely powerful. I started with some of these. Lots of people love them, however I would never recommend. They don't look good in my opinion. It was like looking at my tank with fogged glasses. Lights aren't even needed until you actually introduce coral. If you haven't purchased a tank yet then you have months to save for good lighting.

 

[Ashibashi]

With a 36" long tank any puck lights will require 2 of them. Cheapest option that will grow anything would be a black box 300w like marsaqua, viparspectra or philzon. They are extremely powerful. I started with some of these. Lots of people love them, however I would never recommend. They don't look good in my opinion. It was like looking at my tank with fogged glasses. Lights aren't even needed until you actually introduce coral. If you haven't purchased a tank yet then you have months to save for good lighting.

Very true. Im getting ahead of myself it seems. If you could have anything and money were no object, what would you get?

Also, to be clear I do intend to have it be controllable/programmable, but I don't need that to be an integrated feature of the light. Im hoping to take care of that with a raspberry pi

 

[Jekyl]

Very true. Im getting ahead of myself it seems. If you could have anything and money were no object, what would you get?

Also, to be clear I do intend to have it be controllable/programmable, but I don't need that to be an integrated feature of the light. Im hoping to take care of that with a raspberry pi

For lighting? I would just add T5 to my current kessils. Even in future tanks I doubt i would stray from kessil.

 

[HB AL]

I would say below 200 would be sensibly priced. I would like to leave my options open for as much variety as possible down the line, as now I dont know much about whats possible. I know I want an anemone though, do they care about light? Also I forgot to mention earlier, I would like something thats good both for daytime and for the fluorescent blue spectrum at night.

Your needs aren't gonna be met with a light that costs under $200. I would save your money and wait until you can afford some quality lights as you said corals are most important and you will want to go with overkill on your lights because that's one thing you don't want to skimp on if you're plan is to keep corals, and you want to buy the right lights with enough power or your gonna find out the hard way that now you need new or more lights to supply the corals and it will cost you even more in the long run. I have Kessil 360x's and 360we's on my tank and more than enough that on my new 180g that's taking the place of my current 90G I won't need to buy new lights.

 

[Ashibashi]

Your needs aren't gonna be met with a light that costs under $200. I would save your money and wait until you can afford some quality lights as you said corals are most important and you will want to go with overkill on your lights because that's one thing you don't want to skimp on if you're plan is to keep corals, and you want to buy the right lights with enough power or your gonna find out the hard way that now you need new or more lights to supply the corals and it will cost you even more in the long run. I have Kessil 360x's and 360we's on my tank and more than enough that on my new 180g that's taking the place of my current 90G I won't need to buy new lights.

That tank is absolutely insane. Super jealous

 

[oreo54]

I've got my eye on a fiji cube 81 gallon. As of right now my main interest is corals, as many and as much variety as possible. My budget is flexible, but I would prefer to keep the lighting budget near 200 if possible, with some wiggle room up if I find something that's dead on perfect and it happens to cost more.

Thank you guys for your help so far!

Funny.. Fiji cubes aren't really cubed..
You realize you may spend $900 on basically a glass box yet want to keep the "engine" of your desires under $201?

Photon 32-V2 Pro - ReefBreeders.com

The Photon 32-V2 Pro is a perfect light for your 3 foot coral reef tank. It easily handles SPS corals and you can even use 2 for your 6 foot tank!

reefbreeders.com

Probably an easy starting point from which direction you can go in..
I know ..automated.. but hey that's what LEDs were born for sort of.

36" SunPower High Output T5 Light Fixture

Just 2.1" thick, 36" ATI SunPower High Output T5 fixture provides optimal performance in a slim, contemporary design. Parabolic Miro-Silver reflectors made from silver-coated 98% reflective aluminum for each bulb Active cooling system 2 Power cords - one controls 2 bulbs and the other controls...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

LED's were never really pushed as cheap but were pushed as efficient.

Now minor sarcasm aside..

LED's are cheap with some work
$35 for 23 real watts..so they say BUT need to get fixtures and design hanging and you'd probably need
at least 6 $210
There are dozens of "like" units out there.

54W LED Reef Aquarium Lighting E27 PAR38 LED Full Spectrum Coral Plant Grow Light Fish Tank Aquarium Lamp for SPS LPS Soft Coral|lamp for|led full spectrumfull spectrum - AliExpress

Cheap Lightings, Buy Quality Home & Garden Directly from China Suppliers:54W LED Reef Aquarium Lighting E27 PAR38 LED Full Spectrum Coral Plant Grow Light Fish Tank Aquarium Lamp for SPS LPS Soft Coral Enjoy ✓Free Shipping Worldwide! ✓Limited Time Sale ✓Easy Return.

www.aliexpress.com

And 2 "black boxes" are cheap. Note they are about 110 real watts each..
This "300W" unit is close to your price point
Realistically about 200W which should be sufficient IF you don't dim a bunch..

There is no law that you need to run the "white" channel at 20% or less.
more to do w/ personal visual appeal.

 

[PeterZammetti]

Hey guys, brand new to the aquarium hobby and trying to put together a wishlist for my build. I am stuck on lighting and hope you all have some suggestions.

I very much would prefer the realistic shimmer effect that, as far as I can tell, only comes from metal halide lights. Is that true? Can I get that from something more energy efficient?

Also, I actually strongly do not want an app or any internet involvement. Imo that always just ends up becoming a hassle and the same thing could be achieved with just a set of buttons or a remote or something.

Lastly, I need it to be sensibly priced. I've seen brs pushing these LED panels that use apps and so on for like 800 dollars. Idk if its just me but that seems like a scam, the whole appeal of LEDs is that they're super cheap. I built a houseplant grow shelf and all my plants are growing gangbusters under some 6500K dinky shop lights I got on Amazon for like $12 for a pack of 3. Surely photosynthesis is basically the same everywhere you look, right? Chlorophyll is chlorophyll. In my naiive newbie brain it seems like the only additional obstacle is getting enough photons to make it through ~2 feet of water. Surely that's not a technologically demanding thing in 2021? Am I being dense lol? Please educate me!

Thank you. So far I'm having a lot of fun planning this thing!

Finnex Marine 24/7 Reef strip with remote no app. Will hold you over until you want a mixed reef. You can hold any softy coral you want with them. Remember you have the option when setting up light of 1 to 10 clicks of intensity for each color. Use 10 for blue 2 for green 2 for red 3 for white. Under 150.00. Your next upgrade later may be a hydra 32/64 I believe the 32's are 350 now but I was stuck getting the 64 because I needed more spread with less than 2" above waterline.

 

[Ashibashi]

Funny.. Fiji cubes aren't really cubed..
You realize you may spend $900 on basically a glass box yet want to keep the "engine" of your desires under $201?

Photon 32-V2 Pro - ReefBreeders.com

The Photon 32-V2 Pro is a perfect light for your 3 foot coral reef tank. It easily handles SPS corals and you can even use 2 for your 6 foot tank!

reefbreeders.com

Probably an easy starting point from which direction you can go in..
I know ..automated.. but hey that's what LEDs were born for sort of.

36" SunPower High Output T5 Light Fixture

Just 2.1" thick, 36" ATI SunPower High Output T5 fixture provides optimal performance in a slim, contemporary design. Parabolic Miro-Silver reflectors made from silver-coated 98% reflective aluminum for each bulb Active cooling system 2 Power cords - one controls 2 bulbs and the other controls...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

LED's were never really pushed as cheap but were pushed as efficient.

Now minor sarcasm aside..

LED's are cheap with some work
$35 for 23 real watts..so they say BUT need to get fixtures and design hanging and you'd probably need
at least 6 $210
There are dozens of "like" units out there.

54W LED Reef Aquarium Lighting E27 PAR38 LED Full Spectrum Coral Plant Grow Light Fish Tank Aquarium Lamp for SPS LPS Soft Coral|lamp for|led full spectrumfull spectrum - AliExpress

Cheap Lightings, Buy Quality Home & Garden Directly from China Suppliers:54W LED Reef Aquarium Lighting E27 PAR38 LED Full Spectrum Coral Plant Grow Light Fish Tank Aquarium Lamp for SPS LPS Soft Coral Enjoy ✓Free Shipping Worldwide! ✓Limited Time Sale ✓Easy Return.

www.aliexpress.com

And 2 "black boxes" are cheap. Note they are about 110 real watts each..
This "300W" unit is close to your price point
Realistically about 200W which should be sufficient IF you don't dim a bunch..

There is no law that you need to run the "white" channel at 20% or less.
more to do w/ personal visual appeal.

Oof. Point made, I have been thoroughly schooled haha

In hindsight I'll admit that I made this post while actively mad about the sticker shock from many of the better lights out there. I didn't conceive of it as the 'engine of the tank' but that's totally what it is. Thank you for helping me check myself before I wrecked myself lol!

Also you guys have made me realize that lights are far from among the very first pieces of equipment I need to get started from scratch. Im going to be cycling the rock etc for a couple of months before I even think about getting lights going - and will have plenty of time to save and hem and haw over what I actually want.

At this point, having read these replies and marathonning a bunch of reef tank youtube videos last night, I'm mainly still confused about one thing - I keep reading that MH lights are really the best thing for corals in reef tanks, period - the corals grow 2x as fast and are more colorful and healthy. People were saying that they switched from MH to LEDs and saw decreased color, decreased growth, decreased awesomeness generally. However, every youtube video i see of ridiculous, beautiful dream tanks full of diverse corals are using LED kessils on their own. No MH in sight.

Am I missing something? Is it just that LEDs are adequate to keep corals happy but they're just not the most turbo possible option? Or is it more a question of what the corals are acclimated to - I could see how switching over from one light to another after the corals had adapted to the first would cause some temporary negative effects. Maybe corals that have been grown under LEDs their whole lives do just as well as ones grown under MH their whole lives, as long as that's what they continue to get?