Lights!?

[cvrle1]

What if I added T5s? Would that help with PAR?

It's hard to find pricing on these, but if price for 4117 model is what I am seeing it at, even more reason not to buy it. I am seeing prices north of $1K (I hope that is not the case, and I just suck at finding more normal price for these units)

Thing with T5s is that you add them to LEDs as supplemental lights to cut down on hot spots, even out colors and add a bit more PAR. If you start with LED fixture that has low output, then T5s wont do as much in PAR department. Also keep in mind that T5 bulbs need to be replaced every 12-18 months.

You are basing your info off 1 model when there are technically 4. Albeit at 34 inches still wouldn't be 100, that I agree on, I also think they understate their Par values across the board since i have a goniopora growing on the bottom for a year or so, now the size of a soft ball.(was my first coral lol) If I was getting anywhere around 40 or less(I have the older discontinued pros) it would be dead. While like I stated its nothing like a 14k-20k light, its great as an all around system for LPS and softies.

I was just going with link that was posted above. I did look at 4117 and it looks to be similar story, but maybe a bit higher PAR (couldnt find their readings). Truth be told I dont think I ever saw a manufacturer understate their PAR values before. If anything they will make them higher than they are. Also like I sad above if price that I found for 4117 is true, I have no idea how these guys are still in business, as that is highway robbery.

 

[Fishurama]

I was just going with link that was posted above. I did look at 4117 and it looks to be similar story, but maybe a bit higher PAR (couldnt find their readings). Truth be told I dont think I ever saw a manufacturer understate their PAR values before. If anything they will make them higher than they are. Also like I sad above if price that I found for 4117 is true, I have no idea how these guys are still in business, as that is highway robbery.

I guess we just have a difference of opinion, i think its a great price for beginners to intermediate reefers(or even advanced) just into LPS and softies without breaking the bank. Since when you look at other systems like Neptune who will sell you monitoring for 2-5x the price and that without lights(yes it's better monitoring) neptune apex price link
Like I said above this is a good system for someone on a budget/not trying to break the bank. Will you have a good a spectrum as a 14k/20k light? No. Will it reach as deep? No. Are colors generally better on a 14k/20k light yes(some LPS do better in low light, hence why i say generally) But for a few hundred bucks to be able to adjust ramp time, pumps, monitoring, etc its a great deal, but by no means the best light/system.

 

[Sarah24!]

Forget all those toys when they use 0.25W LEDs. Yes 0.25W. Even their own PAR readings leave a lot to be desired. 5-20 PAR at 24 inch depth, forget that. No offense to @Sarah24! , but these cannot be compared to even Viparspectra units, let alone stay with Radions or Kessils. I cannot believe that you get anywhere close to 100 PAR at the bottom of your tank at 34". Even their own numbers dont support that at all.

Hello,

I really debated in responding but lol oh well, I’m sure it’s no worse than me saying sorry but we need to add another iv since we have ran out of veins.

This topic is always so heated and debated and who is right who is wrong etc. I’m to the point of who cares! If my lights suck sooo bad (then you don’t have to use them ever). But lol aquariums don’t use radions or hydras or Kessills! They use current usa, black boxes and anything donated to them and most of their displays are amazing. It takes more than just a fancy light to make a reef grow.

The difference is I have no problem growing hard sps, light demanding corals, I have kept (up until I moved), a maximus clam 24 inches down, for almost 2 years. They are light monsters (but my lights are not strong enough, I guess my tank does good based on hopes and wishes).

What most fail to realize is that corals get use to the light and adapt because they are actually animals and capable of adapting. So if like my tank they started with this light, they will adapt and actually grow with it.

In terms of par, yes these lights are under rated, and (if you actually read my thread you would see that my lights are a beta light!!!!!!!!!!! It means they were literally given to me to test. Before full release and being sold. I can assure a ly-cor 1500 par meter is laboratory accurate and is steps above the apogee. (Once again, that was the benefit of being a research student at the time). I have compared these to other lights in the exact same setting side by side, and yes indeed these lights will out perform radions and hydras. If you don’t believe (I don’t mind, but it’s super fun to see someone spend all their money on radions etc and laugh at me when I use current usa). Then when we compare tanks at 6 months 12 months 18 months and well I have not hit 24 yet lol (and kinda back to 60 days after moving sorta), I have always out paced and grown them.

Now have people been successful with these yes, are they a decent light (well not for the price), but if you want bells and whistles okay sure. But I don’t care if my light will brew my coffee in the morning or sing to me when I wake up. I just want the bloody things to grow my coral and well they do just that. Plus I’m kinda clumsey and at least when I drop my light 34 inches down to the bottom of my tank, it still works. Good luck with a radions lol, heck drop of sweat drops into them and out it goes. That was money well spent, let’s pay 900 for a light that sits above salt water forever, and not make it water proof. Great engineering lol but it will brew your coffee in the morning for ya, till the internet crashes and you can’t get them to work.

Yeah my lights suck but pretty proud to own them and no need to switch they are now almost five years old and still working. Not to mention the one I did drop in the water (well 2) 1 still works fine, the other not sure but I was out of warranty and current replaced it for free. That’s another thing, they as a company are the nicest people, caring and actually have tons of respect for their customers. Let’s look up the reviews for Ecotech and hydra and see how many rave about theirs.

Oh and lol here is my tank with my crappy lights, and what’s the best part is my tank doesn’t have to impress anyone but me. Most of these were at the 12 month mark and up to sept 19 of this year which is when I moved and even know that my scape is different and I lost some corals and a fish to the move it’s has come back good (finally), oh and with the same crappy lights still.

edit oh and to be correct since one is replaced I could say that’s not a beta. But I have not noticed any difference between them. Yes these lights were about 800 when they came out. I can’t say I was fond of the price but I didn’t pay for them either so I can’t complain. But if you looked up the model on the link 4117 (which is what my light is), but when the link was posted that was clearance price for two lights 72 inches long. With our clearance price it would have been close to 1600, still expensive yes. But they work really good and they stay working.

 

[cvrle1]

You are preaching to the choir here when it comes to expensive lights. I never said you or anyone else needs Radions, AI or Ecotech lights. Hell I have Viparspectra and Noopsyche lights, a far cry from the big 3. And just like you, I dont need my lights to make me coffee, which i dont drink. They need to grow corals. What I was saying however is that there is a big difference between 0.5W LED fixture and 3W LED fixture. I find it interesting that you would get such high PAR when even manufacturers states lower PAR in their graphs. No idea why that is, but maybe they should have used your lights for measuring PAR cause it would give them better numbers than what they got haha. Another thing I was saying is that if model 4117 that you said you have really does cost $1K (price I found from several sellers) in my mind that is overpriced. For that amount of $ you could get top of the line lights that will grow any coral you can imagine, at pretty much any depth, which as you said these ones cannot do.

 

[Jamo7]

I’ll offer this. I didn’t read 97 percent of the responses (I think I read 2) Recently friends and fellow reefers have suggested viparspectra. Not the bells and whistles but works and won’t cost you your first born. And if it does I’ll sacrifice my first born, and you can tell me how cool you’re light is.

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

I'm a +1 on the viparspectra.

 

[cvrle1]

Viparspectra is a great light for sure. It will grow anything you want, and it is dirt cheap. Sure, it doesnt have all the bells and whistles, but i personally dont need them anyways.

 

[lordraptor1]

old post but still relevant i think, especially considering how certain manufacturers are bending people over dry with glass shards in terms of their prices.

i am currently running an popbloom turing 30 led fixture. i only have one hard coral currently which is a single head of candy cane placed middle of tank and it appears to be happy as can be, now as far as softies on the other hand i have a toadstool, a xenia, and a gsp gsp and toadstool have doubled in size in 2 months ( probably would be bigger but im having some parameter conditions at the moment) and my xenia i got as a single head which is now 5 or 6 heads.

the popbloom/dsuny turing 30 lights will definatley get the job done and i have no doubt that once i get my tank parameters in check all the coral in my tank will take off. i must also state that i went overboard and got the 3x fixture lights instead of the 2x fixture for my 48" tank because at the time the price difference was negligable in that i paid $344 when the 2x fixture was $300.

my OPINION, is this, save the cash and take the plunge. interestly enough replacement leds are cheap, and these can be modded with different leds with basic soldering knowledge and you wont feel bad about tearing one of the low cost fixtures apart either.

now with that said i dont use apex or any of those fancy gadgets simply because whats left over from my VA disability after bills doesnt allow for it if i could afford it sure i would buy it but not because the higher price items are better IMHO, but bragging rights seem to be all the rage with reefers today. furthermore, i use JEBAO SLW-30 wave pumps 4 of them, and a jebao DCP 10000 return pump. only "name brand" kit i have is a reef octopus regal 200-int that i picked up used for $75, a trigger sapphire 34 sump that i saved 2 months for, and a turbo aquatics L2 rev 4 algae scrubber i picked up second hand for $25+ shipping.