what led or t5 should I go with?

[Eeels]

I have a 29-gallon bow front tank

It's 18" deep and 24" long in the back.

I want to grow a lot of SPS with a zoa garden on the sand bed.


What LED should I chose to provide adequate par in the middle and high parts of the tank without being too expensive?

I've seen the black boxes but they just don't provide natural-looking light (wayyyy too blue heavy) and I don't think they are providing what they claim to provide.

 

[Nanojoe]

Id highly recommend T5s if you are going the SPS route.
If you want the best of both worlds you could go with the aquaticlife hybrid. From there just pick an LED that will suite your desires. Wether it be ramping or just coral pop.

Black boxes can grow corals and its been proven. Long term i think they are a bad idea. They tend to crap out and with cheap LED diodes / lens... are you really getting solid coverage and blend that the corals need? Laser beams IMO.

Amazon carries a brand of T5 fixture called "Agrobrite" i had one 24" and did a great job. The reflectors were of good value and even Tidal Gardens used them in their greenhouse. $100

Hope this helps.

 

[Eeels]

Id highly recommend T5s if you are going the SPS route.
If you want the best of both worlds you could go with the aquaticlife hybrid. From there just pick an LED that will suite your desires. Wether it be ramping or just coral pop.

Black boxes can grow corals and its been proven. Long term i think they are a bad idea. They tend to crap out and with cheap LED diodes / lens... are you really getting solid coverage and blend that the corals need? Laser beams IMO.

Amazon carries a brand of T5 fixture called "Agrobrite" i had one 24" and did a great job. The reflectors were of good value and even Tidal Gardens used them in their greenhouse. $100

Hope this helps.

what par could I expect out of the 4 bulb fixture?

also it seems to have some bad reviews with ballasts burning out?

 

[Nanojoe]

what par could I expect out of the 4 bulb fixture?

also it seems to have some bad reviews with ballasts burning out?

It depends on the mounting height and bulb configuration.
I never heard of them having bad ballasts. Not saying that it’s untrue.
ballasts are pretty easy to replace nonetheless.

you could also go the ATI fixture route and mount a reefbrite easily to it. I currently have an ATI 6 36” fixture on my tank and I love it. It would take a lot for me to go back to an all LED tank.

 

[PatW]

LEDs work well and there are a number of different companies. I have Aquaillumination lights which are good lights and grow SPS and Acropora perfectly well. The Ecotech lights seem to be top of the line. LED lights tend to have problems with spread and eveness. The AI lights do OK if high enough above the water. Ecotech has much better spread and eveness. Bulk Reef Supply sells a pot load of the name brand LED lights and you can go to their information to get an idea of the cost and number of manufacturers. A nice point of LED lights is you can program the spectrum and the ramp time pretty easily.

 

[stovenut]

Get a Viparspectra 165. It's the best chinese black box light. It has great PAR, much better spectrum than other black boxes. And you can easily replace the 90 degree lenses with 120 degree lenses for better spread. It's inexpensive and no need to ever replace bulbs.