What is the CHEAPEST led light for a 20 long?

[Dj City]

Just like the title says...

What is the cheapest, least expensive, no frills led light I can get for a 20 gallon long?

Im going to use this tank as a frag / coral holding tank.

Thanks!

 

[Dj City]

Bump

 

[oreo54]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/360W-LED-A...h=item3f8d7bbae2:g:WUkAAOSwYwJaG5JQ:rk:6:pf:0

Just stumbled upon it..no familiarity with it.
Cheap enough..
funny..

Notice:

Indoor use only, not intended for outdoor use.
Do not drop the light into water

Tank is shallow enough to use smaller emitter lights but usually would need 2 to get decent PAR at that level (around 200)
Like 2 of these..
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Beamswork-...-48-72-/112119111142?var=&hash=item5fcaa4ec03
FW equiv. for "PAR" estimate..

There are cheap t5 fixures in 30" BUT run 24" bulbs..

 

[jda]

You near a big city with a Craigs list? Used will be the cheapest.

 

[Sod Buster]

2 noopsyche k7 pro 2 today. The guys in spectrum/par knowledge have them dialed in for success. I've got a pair.

 

[Dj City]

2 noopsyche k7 pro 2 today. The guys in spectrum/par knowledge have them dialed in for success. I've got a pair.

Ar you a retailer?

Those lights are NOT cheap and waaaaay too much for a 20 long.

 

[Sod Buster]

I'm also messing around with a coral box moon led plus that I like. The coral box is app controlled. Logan at reefbreeders talked me into trying it. It is lit on a 17.5" cube and looks promising. When I get the par meter, I'll put in the led thread that just got started. The CB is on sps setting & shimmers ok. Not a disco on the sand, but not kessil. I like it.

 

[Sod Buster]

Just a fan of the lights. Fine for a 18" square. Fine for a frag tank.

 

[Jonreefer]

id say the 165w viparspectra light. $120 just turn it down and you are good to go
I run 2 of the Noopsyche and yes they are a very inexpensive light for what you are getting comparing to them to the rip off overpriced crap from Ecotech and the other companies. I personally am glad to be rid of my radion

 

[Jonreefer]

delete

 

[Dj City]

I found a Galaxy Hydro 165w for $50.
That should do the job right?

 

[golfer88]

Stick away from the hydro galaxys, cheapest will not be the way to do this you need good lights especially on a frag tank. Used but quality lights is the way to go like a used kessil.

 

[jda]

I would use a Mars, Galaxy and any other black box before I would use a Kessil. You have to know what you are getting into, which is a cheaply made Chinese light that might not last, but the power and light are not even comparable. You can do as well with a black box as you can with another panel, it just might not last as long and as long as you consider then disposable pieces of equipment, you will not likely be disappointed.

 

[Dj City]

Im not expecting miracles from this light but for $50....
I think it should work.
It's going to be about 8 or 9 inches off the surface of the water and the frag rack will be about 3.5 inches off the bottom of the tank.
It's going to be about 18 inches from the light to the corals with the light having to penetrate about 7.5 inches to reach the corals.

Is the Galaxy Hydro such a bad light that it can't do this?

 

[MaiReef]

It certainly can, but will not reach the full length

 

[jda]

Ideally, you want your frag tank to match your display, but in a non-ideal world, the Galaxy is as good as anything, IMO.

 

[Dj City]

I have a 110 gallon display that is being upgraded to a 180.
Build thread
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-nervous-build-from-110-to-sca-180-pnp-wow.553785/
110 has 3 x OceanRevive T-247's with great coverage.
My display will have the 3 OceanRevives plus 2 x Viparspectras to provide blanket coverage in the display.

Im hoping the Galaxy hydro is not too far off what the display has being their all led lights.

The frag tank is 29 inches long X 12 inches wide. and the Galaxy Hydro is 15 inches long X 8 inches wide with (I think) 120 degree lenses.

Most corals will be towards the center of the tank.
Im thinking this should work.
I will check with my par meter when the light arrives.

 

[Dj City]

This is the frag tank with a Viparspectra sitting on top of the 40 breeder qt tank above it.

This is my 1st frag tank.
Anyone see any radion for this not to work?

 

[Dj City]

Any REASON for this not to work?
Not Radion.... Don't know how I typed ration instead of reason.

 

[Porpoise Hork]

I have had a pair of these over my 20g nano for nearly 7 months now and they are fantastic little lights for under $65 per light.

https://www.amazon.com/HIPARGERO-LED-Aquarium-Light-Saltwater/dp/B0727V8C5Q/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2KPB6DCHG78GG&keywords=hipargero&qid=1551284871&s=gateway&sprefix=hipar,aps,173&sr=8-1

Strong enough to support soft, LPS, as well as SPS and various types of anemones. The only issue I had with them was that the mounting bracket is not designed for a rimed tank, so I had to use plastic water bottle caps as spacers for them so the lights would mount correctly. I have them mounted at max height of 5" above the waterline, and spaced 4.5" apart from each other. They produce an amazing amount of Par at 120 on the sand bed directly under the lights, and falling to 60 in the corners. They are touch controlled with one button adjusting the white channel, the other the blues. Currently I have them with the blues on 8 from off and whites are 5 from off with a max of 10 steps from off to full power. They also do keep their settings when connected to a timer, but do not have any ramp up/down or moon lighting options. Bottom line for a cheap nano tank light that looks really nice is reliable and inexpensive, these are worth looking at.

Another couple of options are the Lominie LED Asta 20 ($52) or Pixie 30 ($79) lights.

They are styled similar to Kessil but at a fraction of the cost. I had the Asta 20 marine over a 5gal nano and with the 90 degree lens, it was impressive. While only producing 90 par under the light, it was reliable while I had the tank up for 4 months. These lights use a IR remote to adjust the 4 channels power settings. It takes a little bit of time to get the hang of the remote settings, but once you set it it will remember that and auto power on to those settings when used with a timer.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07F5B5GRB/ref=twister_B07M9YP55S?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

The Pixie 30 is a much higher powered version and a pair of them should do nicely over a 20g as well. I have been on the fence with changing the Hipargero lights for a pair of the Pixie 30's.