Lighting for 40gal Breeder

[Chrysus]

As title says, looking for suggestions on lighting for a 40 gal (36 x 18 x 16h) mixed reef. I've been going back and forth on this a ton, so I figured that I may as well put this forum to use and get some opinions. I'm only really interested in LED. The tank is going to be an LPS focused mixed reef, with potential for some SPS. (mainly interested in birdsnest)

My current plan is 3x Kessil a160we. Any reasons I should or shouldn't go this route? Par data is very hard to find, will these provide enough power?

Other option with Kessils is 2x a360we (or possibly the a360X, depending on cost), but I feel I will have two much shadowing with only two... I believe all Radion's are out of my price range once the mounts have been considered.

Are there other viable options around this price range? I've been looking at the amazon LED's, but fear I will never be satisfied with the output. I hate seeing split colors on the sand. My absolute max budget is $1100 CAD if I can get them from work, or $850 otherwise.

 

[Crabs McJones]

Two kessil A360we from personal experience you will love them either that or a single AP700. I've had both
Didnt have any shadowing issues

 

[Chrysus]

Two kessil A360we from personal experience you will love them either that or a single AP700. I've had both
Didnt have any shadowing issues

I do have the 360we on my 25 gal lagoon, and am certainly a big Kessil fan. Hmmm....

 

[T-5unsystem]

Are you looking for LED or T5 or not sure?

 

[Chrysus]

Are you looking for LED or T5 or not sure?

I’d like LED. I like the look of T5 but don’t think I want to have to pay for bulbs every year time.

I stumbled across the Maxspect RSX 200, and was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on it? It is very hard to find info on, but is substantially cheaper than the Kessils.

 

[bluedrac]

I have Reefbreeders V2 over my 40Breeder. They work great.

 

[Chrysus]

I have Reefbreeders V2 over my 40Breeder. They work great.

Is yours 230w? I can’t get the ReefBreeders in Canada, but can get the EverGrow, which appears to be the same light. Do you get much colour separation?

 

[Ruben's Reef]

!!! Welcome to R2R !!! I have the 300W Viparspectra that is working just fine on my 40g breeder. Don't know if you can this light over there. I got it from Amazon for $219.00

 

[Chrysus]

I’m starting to think I shouldn’t have posted, too many good options to consider!

I can get the Viparspectra, it is one of the Amazon lights I had been considering. It runs for $285-300 here, which is obviously still I great deal. How long have you been running yours? Is the colour/spectrum adjustable, or is it just intensity?

 

[Ruben's Reef]

I’m starting to think I shouldn’t have posted, too many good options to consider!

I can get the Viparspectra, it is one of the Amazon lights I had been considering. It runs for $285-300 here, which is obviously still I great deal. How long have you been running yours? Is the colour/spectrum adjustable, or is it just intensity?

I have mine for about 4 month. You can adjust the intensity but not the colors individually. You can control the percentage to get where you see that the corals feel good, opening and growing. You have two channels, one blue one white. You can set the channels form 0-100% individually. Example, I have mine at 25% whites and 90% blue wish is working great on mine at 12" over the water. Also you can set the timer for each channel to turn on and off. I have mine blue turn on at 12:00 and closed at 11pm and white channel on at 1:00pm turn off at 09:00pm

 

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

aquatic life t5 hybrid with two kessil a360we...

 

[40B Knasty]

I am a big fan of the T5s. Plug and play. BRSTV did a video about changing bulbs out every 15months. Cost wise in the long run. It is actually cheaper to replace bulbs. Yes LEDs will last longer, but when they are gone you need to replace the whole thing. When does a LED fixture start to go down hill.. Think it is 3 years?? So that's only 2 sets of 4 bulbs, but you get to replace them again and your lights is literally back up to PAR. no pun intended
These are really cheap and I had them on my 40B(hence the name 40B Knasty), but the tank cracked. This JBJ fixture is now on my 65g. It is the same foot print as a 40B, just taller. I will warn you if you choose to put an ATI Actinic in the 4th slot. You will get a purple line across the top of your live rock. With a 65g, because it is higher up. The light is more dispersed and you will not get that line.
65g
40B

 

[Chrysus]

Thanks for the replies! I’ll keep looking into it. I think I do want to stick with LED just out of personal preference. I’m quite interested in the Maxspect line as I can probably get a really good deal on the Razor at work, or a fairly good deal on the RSX. If anyone has any thoughts on these I’d appreciate it!

 

[Devaji]

I am running a Build my LED on my 40br they stop making them to focus on grow lights to bad they are great little units. try to find one used.
or try a 2 AI primes on a LPS focused reef they do great from that I head best part in there app and tons of programs.
check there FB page lots of eye candy there.

 

[Jeff Willetts]

In my opinion if your looking to save some cash I would personally run a MarsAqua 300 over a 40 Breeder (have done it many times and have 0 regrets!) but if budget wasn’t a issue I would consider a Kessil AP700.

 

[AdamNC]

Thanks for the replies! I’ll keep looking into it. I think I do want to stick with LED just out of personal preference. I’m quite interested in the Maxspect line as I can probably get a really good deal on the Razor at work, or a fairly good deal on the RSX. If anyone has any thoughts on these I’d appreciate it!

Here’s my impression of the RSX

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/maxspect-rsx-first-impression.345264/

And here is the RS-150 over my 40br.

And here’s a side by side of the RS-150 and the R420r 16k.

 

[Retro Reefer]

Coral box makes a nice WiFi led for a great price.. I have a t5 hybrid with one of them installed on my 40b, great t5/led system for well under $500 complete with bulbs!

 

[User1]

If saving cash is important you might want to consider building your own if you have some basic electrical skills or are at least comfortable working with it. I had a pair of multi channel LED's over my 40 breeder which allowed me to grow pretty much anything I wanted. You can run multi channel, singles of white, royal blue, etc - just up to you and your preference based on how the tank is going to be set up short and long term.

If you are considering upgrading down the road to a larger tank then I would consider the possibility of buying a larger off the shelf product today so you can carry it forward later. No need buying something twice, right?

 

[dantimdad]

We have a brand new product that would be similar to this, extruded aluminum housing and active fan cooled with 95% reflective German aluminum reflectors!

LINK HERE

For just a little more than the price of two of those, you can get a hybrid 4x T5 that will mount leds with it and look very nice.

If your fixture was a bit less expensive, it would be a viable option, but, not when you can get an integrated fixture for just a bit more.

Not downing your product, just giving an end user view to pricing and being able to compete. I hope you don't take offense.

 

[Chrysus]

Thanks for all the additions.
Having looked at T5/LED combos I think I would still like to stick with LED.

I can get the R420r’s at cost, but unfortunately we only have the 20.5” ones so I’d have to go with two and would have overhang. Might be okay if I do ever upgrade, but I probably won’t be within the next couple of years. I’ll see how the cost of them compares to what price I can get on the RSX.

I think there are plenty of options within that $850 cap and I have zero electrical skills, so I’ll keep looking into the off the shelf options.