Reef Lights For 40B Aquarium

[nerdymunky]

With the recent $1/gal sale Petco had on their aquariums, I decided to build a 40Breeder tank. I am trying to find reef lights that are going to give me the most bang for, preferably, under $150. I found the Current USA Orbit Marine Aquarium LED Light (36 to 48-Inch model) on Amazon that fits this bill. I found some forum comments about these not being enough light, though no LFS has them on a display tank. I am thinking these would do great on a 40B given the depth of water will be about 14 inches (assuming a 2-inch sand bed).

Anyone have experience on these light's capabilities and limitations? Specs on the manufacturer's website say this one has total wattage of 36 Watts with 72 Dual Daylight/72 Dual Actinic LEDs.

 

[wildcrazyjoker81]

This is all dependent on what you plan to keep for livestock/coral. SPS? LPS? ZOAS? etc. I personally would go with an evergrow/reefbreeders fixture as they are pretty cheap and are dimmable. They are the best bang for your buck lighting fixture out there. Exotic Reef Creations (ERC) is a vendor on here and is who I got mine from. He even provides an extra warranty in case anything happens to the light. Shoot him a PM.
Value LED Fixtures

 

[NanaReefer]

http://reefradiance.com also a sponsor here with a bigger selection, great prices and wonderful customer service.
I'm running the LumenTek Pro 180 on my 40B

 

[nerdymunky]

Reef Radiance - Home also a sponsor here with a bigger selection, great prices and wonderful customer service.
I'm running the LumenTek Pro 180 on my 40B

Going to the company website, I do not see any LumenTek, but a Google search shows the site page to be password protected. I'm assuming these were replaced with a newer model\name?

 

[mainereefer]

just make sure the light is long enough for a 36" tank most of the inexpensive led are 16" so your tank will be shades on the ends... good place for nps corals but if you want to light the whole tank you are going to need more than a value led

I use inexpensive led from 2 company's and they both work great! but not on a 36" tank. (btw ebay has them for $89 shipped...)

 

[Opus]

Going to the company website, I do not see any LumenTek, but a Google search shows the site page to be password protected. I'm assuming these were replaced with a newer model\name?

The factory raised the price on the units so he dropped the line because he felt the value was no longer there. Nothing replaced it in a single fixture setup, he now suggests 2 of the 165 models.

 

[nerdymunky]

This is all dependent on what you plan to keep for livestock/coral. SPS? LPS? ZOAS? etc.

Good point. Right now, I am looking at Coral Trees, Xenia, Frogspawn\Toadstool, zoas, and\or mushrooms.

just make sure the light is long enough for a 36" tank most of the inexpensive led are 16" so your tank will be shades on the ends

The one I referenced is 34.8": Orbit Marine LED Aquarium Light, Saltwater LED | Current-USA

 

[mainereefer]

I think you would need 2 of them to cover the 18" width.... and for the price you could get 2 of the inexpensive lights... would cover the tank and then some

 

[nerdymunky]

I think you would need 2 of them to cover the 18" width.... and for the price you could get 2 of the inexpensive lights... would cover the tank and then some

Do you have a link to these lights that I can look at?

 

[mainereefer]

US Stock Full Spectrum 165W LED Aquarium Light Dimmable for SPS LPS Coral Reef | eBay

 

[NanaReefer]

Going to the company website, I do not see any LumenTek, but a Google search shows the site page to be password protected. I'm assuming these were replaced with a newer model\name?

I'm sorry they are no longer selling the Lumentek Series. However they have replaced them with something even better (just my luck lol) Check out the DM-165p+ Talk about control!! Wow! The price is also amazing...Rick went crazy with this light!
http://reefradiance.com/dm-165p1.html

 

[hart24601]

I run 2 reefbreeders value over my 65, same footprint as a 40B just taller. I have been very happy with them and that, or similar lights, are what I would go with.

 

[swk]

I would go reefbreeders over the reef radiance models. I believe the led layouts are better with reef breeders personally. I had the lumentek and a few corals did ok under it but sps did not do well for me until I switched lights.

Are you set on leds? You could find a nice t5 fixture for less money most likely

 

[nerdymunky]

I would go reefbreeders over the reef radiance models. I believe the led layouts are better with reef breeders personally. I had the lumentek and a few corals did ok under it but sps did not do well for me until I switched lights.

Are you set on leds? You could find a nice t5 fixture for less money most likely

I am not hard set on LEDs. Heat, power consumption, and long-term cost is what led me to look at LED over T5 fixtures. I'd be happy to look at them again. Unfortunately, the LFS I go to all run LED lights on their display tanks. Any recommendations on T5 to compare?

 

[Damon]

I actually just picked up my 2nd orbit. I have a 50 long, and I ran photons(2 of them) on my last tank. I actually ordered the orbits for a few reasons. First because my tank depth is only 18", then, because of their low profile "and" because I didn't want to deal with the hanging of lights again.

Don't get me wrong, I strongly thought about 2 photons again, or, a photon 48. But then it occurred to me that I only ran my two channels at 75 blue and 55 white with very good results(clams and stones) on a 26" deep tank. Though, the breeders had 90 degree optics (which is a massive difference in the light actually going into the tank) and that factors into it heavily. So I ended up seeing the light in person and on a lot of YouTube videos and I liked how it looked. I just thought to myself that it needs to be a little brighter for what I want to grow. I pretty much figured two fixtures and between 400 and 600 for whatever I ended with.

But the thing is, after putting the first on, I liked the color and intensity. My tank is newly set up (going on 4 weeks), so I didn't want to throw much light on it yet. Now after adding the second, I'm glad I went the way I did(with the orbit). I am running both of the units on 40% white and 100% blue and it's actually pretty darn bright! And this is to my eye(the led thing where it may look dimmer, but it's still throwing light hard)! So I know they are throwing some radiation. Add to that, I'm only on 40% white.. I have plenty of room to go up in brightness.. But, I don't think I'll have any problems, simply because the tank is shallow. If it would have been deeper, then no, I probably would have gone with breeders.

But im satisfied completely with these fixtures..

 

[swk]

I am not hard set on LEDs. Heat, power consumption, and long-term cost is what led me to look at LED over T5 fixtures. I'd be happy to look at them again. Unfortunately, the LFS I go to all run LED lights on their display tanks. Any recommendations on T5 to compare?

Absolutely. With quality fixtures you can get an easy 10-12 months out of your bulbs.

I would look at ati fixtures as a top choice with tek lighting as a backup.

I'm using a 6 bulb ATI and my temp doesn't rise more than 1 degree above my thermostat.

Top of the line t5s will cost way less than top of the line leds. Power consumption is a bit more, but not by a huge amount. T5s are much more plug and play than leds.

I started reefing with budget leds and regret that decision. Changing my initial lights was the best move I've made in my reefing career

 

[Rob&Gab]

Absolutely. With quality fixtures you can get an easy 10-12 months out of your bulbs.

I would look at ati fixtures as a top choice with tek lighting as a backup.

I'm using a 6 bulb ATI and my temp doesn't rise more than 1 degree above my thermostat.

Top of the line t5s will cost way less than top of the line leds. Power consumption is a bit more, but not by a huge amount. T5s are much more plug and play than leds.

I started reefing with budget leds and regret that decision. Changing my initial lights was the best move I've made in my reefing career

I completely disagree . T5's top of the line ATI sunpower fixtures. Are more then the LED FIXTURES. Top of the line LEDS a are around 500-875$ per unit. That covers. 24*24 or even a 30*30 area.

In a T5 fixture you need to spend according to your tank size and width and length . So if you need a 48" ati t5 fixture and your tank is 30" width you need either a 8bulb or 10bulb to cover all point of our tank and depending on what type of coral like sps you need good lighting so a 8bulb would be good but a 8bulb sunpower ati fixture non dimmable is around 700$ + the cost of bulbs depending on your LFS bulbs priced between 17-30$ per bulb. Online 17-24$. For the price of bulbs alone are anywhere from 165$-225$ just for the bulbs. Making your fixture now priced at 865$-925$ depending on the price of bulbs. Also take I to play that every 8-9months you change your bulb 165$-225$ comes out of pocket . Just saying .


Now take that ati t5 fixtures are well worth it and we have a 8bulb 24" and a 48" fixture both 8 bulbs . Great color and growth out of them. Depending on bulb combo that is.


Also 10-12months is not good if you want to keep your PAR SPECS UP THERE. Best is to change bulbs not all at once but within the 8month mark . Once that 8 month mark hits start doing 2-3bulbs out a time within the month. To acclimate the par values back Into play.

To me 9 month is the max to keep the bulbs in.

It can also cause cyno for haveing old bulbs in for a long period of time as I was reading up on a while back .


Anyways. Lowbudget fixtures are good too . Might not get the full par out of them , but they work pretty good. There are good cheep led fixtures out that that do justice . We have the IT2040 led fixtures by ocean revive 2 of them in a 65g 36x18x25H. We have some shocking color and growth from them .

But that takes I to effect of our lighting time and the percentages or the ramp up ramp down. As well water quility is key in this hobby. You can have the best lights and a crappy tank.


Sorry for saying everything in this quote!

 

[Rob&Gab]

Also I would not go with the orbit fixture. Good for growing zoas . Not sps .

If you want a cheep fixture and nothing more till you are able to afford a good fixture spend a. Extra 100$ get a ocean revive it2040.

Or even get there led that they made it's on there site all there LEDs are good and tons of people have them .

Oceanrevivellc.com a guy stand and a girl jelly are on here on the site as workers for the company under ocean revive . Look them up in the search bar the company name.

 

[swk]

I completely disagree . T5's top of the line ATI sunpower fixtures. Are more then the LED FIXTURES. Top of the line LEDS a are around 500-875$ per unit. That covers. 24*24 or even a 30*30 area.

In a T5 fixture you need to spend according to your tank size and width and length . So if you need a 48" ati t5 fixture and your tank is 30" width you need either a 8bulb or 10bulb to cover all point of our tank and depending on what type of coral like sps you need good lighting so a 8bulb would be good but a 8bulb sunpower ati fixture non dimmable is around 700$ + the cost of bulbs depending on your LFS bulbs priced between 17-30$ per bulb. Online 17-24$. For the price of bulbs alone are anywhere from 165$-225$ just for the bulbs. Making your fixture now priced at 865$-925$ depending on the price of bulbs.


Now take that ati t5 fixtures are well worth it and we have a 8bulb 24" and a 48" fixture both 8 bulbs . Great color and growth out of them. Depending on bulb combo that is.


Also 10-12months is not good if you want to keep your PAR SPECS UP THERE. Best is to change bulbs not all at once but within the 8month mark . Once that 8 month mark hits start doing 2-3bulbs out a time within the month. To acclimate the par values back Into play.

To me 9 month is the max to keep the bulbs in.
!

Unmm.....a 48" 8 bulb sunpower for 700 on a 4 ft tank is still around half the price of putting 2 radions and still quite a bit cheaper than 2 hydra 52s. Am I not correct there?

Btw - I got my 48" 6 bulb fixture on sale, brand new for around 450 and change.

And you say that you completely disagree, yet you say 9 months, I say 10.....hmmmm

 

[Rob&Gab]

In a way yes you are correct but there are other things that take Into play with electricity every month and bulb cost .

I do understand that the LEDs are cheaper but think of 3 years with th cost of bulbs you already "bought another radion" just speaking


Did my mean to come off snotty cause I wasn't just felt like I needed to say that sorry.

Both fixtures are great and would love to get some raid ions one of these days as well.