What lighting do you use?

[Koh23]

2 popbloom rs 90 and one black box 165w....

Just to get better coverage, i find new, never used dirt cheap, so, why not....

 

[CayeCaulker]

My lighting is DIY metal halide and T5’s on my new setup. Will be a few months before they get turned on once it’s running.

I ordered a all-in-one hood and wasn’t impressed. It arrived damaged so I returned it.

much better reflectors in DIY solutions IMO. I ordered Hamilton pendants and sourced my own ballasts and bulbs.

 

[X-37B]

I said this above, but you probably didn’t see it, anyways, I was considering getting one of the OR3s but unfortunately the smallest size couldn’t fit in my hood. Off by about 2 inches unfortunately. They’re some amazing lights.

Yea, I saw it but was replying to how much you spent on your light systems.
Orphek suggests leaving 6" of tank on each side of the light.
So 36" bars on a 48" tank.
After putting 48's on my 48 I understand why, lol.

With that said tanks with closed hoods that are close to the waters surface are difficult to properly light, imo.

 

[Ocean’s Piece]

Yea, I saw it but was replying to how much you spent on your light systems.
Orphek suggests leaving 6" of tank on each side of the light.
So 36" bars on a 48" tank.
After putting 48's on my 48 I understand why, lol.

With that said tanks with closed hoods that are close to the waters surface are difficult to properly light, imo.

Well I’m glad I know that now. My whole room would be lit up lol. It would probably be very difficult to mount one of those in my hood, unsure about the thickness, but there’s only about 2 and a half inches of space between the hood and the water level.

 

[Forty-Two]

I first had a kessil a500x - which cost me a pretty penny at ~$1000 with the spectral controller, shipping and import taxes. The results were terrible.

I realized I needed to either add T5’s or OR3’s to even out the lighting and decided to scrap the kessils for that reason. I estimated it would cost me another $500-800 for the mounting brackets, lights, shipping, taxes etc - which is an outrageous price considering I still hated their wonky ‘spectral controller’ - which worked 30-40% of the time.

instead I switched to Orphek Atlantik Icon - and I’m much happier. The product is superior, my corals are growing and glowing and I love the app - it’s easy to use and didn’t require a separate over inflated purchase.
I’m happy enough that when the 230G finally gets here I plan to buy 3 more for that tank.

 

[Ocean’s Piece]

I first had a kessil a500x - which cost me a pretty penny at ~$1000 with the spectral controller, shipping and import taxes. The results were terrible.

I realized I needed to either add T5’s or OR3’s to even out the lighting and decided to scrap the kessils for that reason. I estimated it would cost me another $500-800 for the mounting brackets, lights, shipping, taxes etc - which is an outrageous price considering I still hated their wonky ‘spectral controller’ - which worked 30-40% of the time.

instead I switched to Orphek Atlantik Icon - and I’m much happier. The product is superior, my corals are growing and glowing and I love the app - it’s easy to use and didn’t require a separate over inflated purchase.
I’m happy enough that when the 230G finally gets here I plan to buy 3 more for that tank.

One reason I was deferred from the Kessils. You can have a cheap light, but you really can’t do anything with it unless you buy a $100 gimmick.

 

[Ocean’s Piece]

bump

 

[frizzayyyyreef]

I have 10ea Kessil 360 on my main tank and 1ea AI16hd on my rock nem . NPS tank

Same using the new kessil 360 these grow corals amazing compared to the older version

 

[Ocean’s Piece]

For those of you following along, here’s the new video. Go check it out!
Hi everyone! Do you use a fish acclimation box before you introduce new fish/inhabitants to your reef tank? Let me know why or why not. In my latest video, I show you how I introduce my new clownfish, cleaner shrimp, conch snail, and other snails to my tank. I use acclimation box now because it reduces the initial aggression of adding a new fish and it sets the pecking order before things could potentially get bad, like it did with some of my other fish.

A view on my video means a lot to me. One view shows me that one person gave me time to relax and enjoy my content and hard work. I would really appreciate if you simply viewed this video, but if you want to show your support even further, I’d appreciate if you liked, subscribed, and left a comment.

Check out the other videos on my channel:
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCEWCIj6yc7Goxg-ez80CbuA

Link to new discussion:

Do you use an acclimation box?

Hi everyone! Do you use a fish acclimation box before you introduce new fish/inhabitants to your reef tank? Let me know why or why not. In my latest video, I show you how I introduce my new clownfish, cleaner shrimp, conch snail, and other snails to my tank. I use acclimation box now because it...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Sdot]

Lighting for my 300 Gallon system. Goal is to be able to grow SPS anywhere in the tank (Mission accomplished). Tank is 6 foot long 2.5 foot wide and just over 2foot tall. Lights are 4 Orphek Icon Panels and for shimmer and spectral punch, 2 kessil A500X and 1 360X.

 

[Ocean’s Piece]

Lighting for my 300 Gallon system. Goal is to be able to grow SPS anywhere in the tank (Mission accomplished). Tank is 6 foot long 2.5 foot wide and just over 2foot tall. Lights are 4 Orphek Icon Panels and for shimmer and spectral punch, 2 kessil A500X and 1 360X.

Looking good. Hoping I can win one of those orphek lights in the giveaway

 

[Jubei2006]

Use 4xGHL mitras 7206 and 2x7204s over my 525 gallon. Also have a kessil 360x over my refugium area.

 

[TheDragonsReef]

You dont need expensive lights to grow coral or get nice colors, but when you see a cheap light vs high end next to each other you can see the difference. You really cant beat the colors that the top end lights can pull.

My frag tank has basic leds over it and every time i move coral from the display to the frag tank they look so different. I run ai hydras on both my display tanks and old ai sols for my frag tank. The sols only have have blue and white leds.

 

[alvssaxo]

I recently went through the dilemma of wanting to upgrade/modify my LEDs in my Biocube and keep the hood on. There are only a few alternatives, and they’re all expensive (most commonly Steve’s LEDs at a price of $400, which is not feasible or worth it for many reefers). I found a solution, 21LEDUSA.com ‘s ReefBars, at an amazing price of $50 after everything. These lights have made a drastic difference in color to my tank and achieve what I was looking for in new lights, more blue to tone down the whiteness of the Biocube lighting. I see way to many new Biocube reefers falling into the trap from Steve’s LED users to buy them, but there are frankly cheaper alternatives out there like these that provide the same results. I hope this video can help budget reefers like me have a stunning tank for cheap.
(Not saying Steve’s LED’s are terrible, they’re some great lights, just not for me).

What lighting do you use? There are thousands of different light brands out there and they’re all are unique. I have heard of some people running successful reef tanks with cheap, no name lighting and others that have run their tanks with some of the most expensive lighting options there are. They all seem to look different and unique. Share your pictures!

Like, Subscribe, and tell me you came from R2R! One view means a lot to me, because YouTube will help push my content out to other Reefers. I would appreciate if you, at minimum, gave me a view! Hoping to reach 100 subs by the end of the month! Here’s a link to my channel. Go subscribe!:

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCEWCIj6yc7Goxg-ez80CbuA/featured

I just got my 21ledusa light strips today and was curious what schedule you started with after install for corals to adjust to lighting and how you ramped them up as in an hour every week, etc. TIA

 

[Ocean’s Piece]

I just got my 21ledusa light strips today and was curious what schedule you started with after install for corals to adjust to lighting and how you ramped them up as in an hour every week, etc. TIA

I believe you’re the same person I talked to yesterday on YouTube about ramping up, but for schedule, I run the lights at the same time I run the Biocube lights, but they turn on 5 minutes after my Biocube lights turn on and 5 minutes before they turn off

 

[alvssaxo]

I believe you’re the same person I talked to yesterday on YouTube about ramping up, but for schedule, I run the lights at the same time I run the Biocube lights, but they turn on 5 minutes after my Biocube lights turn on and 5 minutes before they turn off

Yep, that’s me! I commented this before I found you on YouTube!

 

[ScionFRSguy]

I think the best combination is Radions as the main lights with Kessil as the supplement.