Ok, yardwork is over. Thank goodness.
Funny you bring up the growth question. I was just thinking of this myself. Below I'll give some examples. Please note, though I've had these lights about 4.5 years, I "rebooted" this tank starting around October 2018. Prior to that, it was a FOWLR + anemone-only.
These lights grow LPS and softies quite well IMO. I'm terrible at remembering to take progression pics, but I have a few I found.
So here's a mid-May 2020 (few days ago FTS). The chalice in the lower middle I picked up in April 2019 and it was about the size of a nickel. For scale, it's probably about this size of a drink coaster now. Surface-area wise, it's at least 10x bigger than when I bought it. That's 1000% growth in 13 months. The Hollywood Stunner next to it I got from WWC in December 2018 and it grows like crazy. I'm happy to let it go to war with the anemone. It keeps the nem off the glass. The anemone's (there are currently 3 (clones)), are each about the size of a mini basketball. They've split at least a dozen times since I've had the lights, and have funded a few of the other items in the tank.
Here is a blued-out shot of the peach ric I got in January 2019, and below is the "colony" that has now been established (see also FTS, left side). There has to be 12-15 of them (about 16 months):
Pardon the quality of the close-ups, these are just iPhone images.
Here's the alien-eye trumpet in October 2019. It's easily doubled as it sits now (see FTS), but that's not counting fragging it twice already... that's only about six months.
Also, it's worth mentioning that I run a pretty simple system, just a $100 canister and an HOB skimmer. I dose only ESV B-Ionic two-part, and when I feel like it or remember to do it, I'll feed reef chili mixed with Coral Amino to the LPS. I tried the Red Sea trace colors but I'm beginning to see browning (see back of tank), and so I'm discontinuing it. The trace elements in B-Ionic are likely enough for my tank.
I've never put a PAR meter to these, but I've never had any trouble with any particular type of coral, though I admit I don't have any species that are too difficult to care for. I keep nitrates at around 1, phosphate at .03-.06, alk around 7.5-8, Calcium 435-450, 1.026 salinity and temp around 79. It's worth noting that again, these lights have no moving parts, are passively cooled, and each tile only draws 30w... in other words, they don't add any heat to the tank.
I'm truly not trying to convince you, but I think you should consider them as an option. So many people run so many different lights, it's hard to say what's right for you and your budget. All I know is that I'm approaching 5 years with these guys and I'll continue to use them until they fail, which I see no signs of. The waterproof feature and no fan works great for me because the salt spray from my HOB skimmer would most definitely killed a light with a fan in the same amount of time. The warranty is nice too. If you're budget-conscious, you know you won't have to buy another light for at least 5 years. Again, something to consider. Hope this helps.
light is not as good as 30W of well directed light.
