need your opinion

[machome79]

I need to hear others opinions on replacing my reef lighting. I currently have 4 bulb t5 fixture over my mixed reef. 135 gallon 6 foot tank. I have researched alot of lights and I am undecided on leds.
I considered AI hydras but its not feasable at this time to drop 2k on lights.
options I am looking at...
viparspectra leds ( 3 of them )
nicrew hyper reef ( 3 of them)
noopshyche k7 III
I would like to make the change due to more spread and reduce heat, power etc.
I want to make the change without killing any of my coral.
please let me know your suggestions , attached is pic of my tank

 

[Digimes]

My personal opinion is the AI Grow but like you, cost is a major factor for me. I have never heard of the Vipar... but have researched both of the others and they seem descent. I was out for several years and came back to LED. I have learned that moving them closer to the surface can be a bad thing unlike T5 and Compact Floresencts. So I have mounted them higher and increased power output a little to make up the difference and not "burn" the top corals. Still only using 25% the wattage of the old type lights. For tanks under 50g, I am a big fan of the Reef Breeder's small lights, but they too get expensive.

 

[bobnicaragua]

You already have better spread with T5. Heat and power difference would be minimal. If you like the LED look and controllability, that’s something different.

You could add some LED bars for morning and evening blues and run the T5 for your daylight peak.

 

[Joel Kingsland]

I need to hear others opinions on replacing my reef lighting. I currently have 4 bulb t5 fixture over my mixed reef. 135 gallon 6 foot tank. I have researched alot of lights and I am undecided on leds.
I considered AI hydras but its not feasable at this time to drop 2k on lights.
options I am looking at...
viparspectra leds ( 3 of them )
nicrew hyper reef ( 3 of them)
noopshyche k7 III
I would like to make the change due to more spread and reduce heat, power etc.
I want to make the change without killing any of my coral.
please let me know your suggestions , attached is pic of my tank

I just got the Smatfarm G5 lights. I absolutely love them. They don't have all the toys/app as the more expensive lights, but they do have the function of having one light as the master and the others as slaves. This allows you to adjust one light and the others will automatically adjust to the same settings. The also have sunrise and sunset, as well as moonlight modes. Far more adjustable than the Viparspectras. They have 6 channels for adjusting the light spectrum. Great shimmer as well.

 

[MIke Wood]

i went with nicrew and im not disappointed- puts out a ton of par, solid build quality. only problem with nicrew is youll have to buy a seperate controller and at that you can only adjust the intensity of the white and blue channel. k7 and smartfarms will give you more control over individual channels. the k7 V3 has very good spread but youll still need at least 3. smartfarms look similar to the k7 and you can get them through amazon and return if you dont like them.

 

[Joel Kingsland]

I forgot to mention, in my previous post, that I have 3 smatfarm G5s over my 6ft 125 gal tank

 

[Dburr1014]

I forgot to mention, in my previous post, that I have 3 smatfarm G5s over my 6ft 125 gal tank

I think you should post a pic of the tank with the lights on it.

My LED light is 8 years old next month. I'm adding 4 T5 but also been doing lots of research between cost and par and how many lights needed.
I think I narrowed it down to noopsyche.
I'm very hesitant on Amazon lights. To be frank, none have the options and program ability that my Reefbreeders do. I've been spoiled and the new lights from Reefbreeders price went way up.

I would like you to sell the smatfarm light. Why would you buy it again?

I'm not hyjacking the thread OP.
This will probably help you to.