Which blue bar for pop

Willragan · Sep 3, 2018

Hey guys looking for opinions. Going to order 2 reef bars to give blue led pop to an ati 8 bulb. Just sold my reefbrites and dont think I will be investing in those this time. Top choices are SB reef lighting sbars and orphek OR bars. Sbars are dimmable and proven performers. OR bars are not dimmable but cheaper and from a good company but not as proven. I can add a sunsetter to control the OR bars and still be cheaper by a good margin than the sbars. Thoughts? I have used reefbrite and 21led reefbar pros before and both were fine but reefbrite definitely overpriced imo and 21led dont come with brackets so have to be rigged to attach so thinking those are both out. Considered current usa truelumen but other current usa lights I've seen were quite dim and not too keen on cheap Ebay generics just not sure they are totally safe and dont want any fire hazards. So please tell me your experience with sbars or OR bars and please suggest any others u like that I didnt mention. Thanks so much!!!

Reefcowboy · Sep 3, 2018

I have the OR 48” sky blue bar.

Nice choice for the price, adds pop and is natural looking without making the tank too purple.

The Reefbrite is definitely overpriced, but the XHO units pop more colors than the OR, maybe the leds are more of a royal blue color. The OR is a mix of blues with cyan to keep temp at 450nm.

Heres a pic of my tank with blues only on. I have two bars and really like the product

PerplexyHexy · Sep 3, 2018

Willragan said:
Hey guys looking for opinions. Going to order 2 reef bars to give blue led pop to an ati 8 bulb. Just sold my reefbrites and dont think I will be investing in those this time. Top choices are SB reef lighting sbars and orphek OR bars. Sbars are dimmable and proven performers. OR bars are not dimmable but cheaper and from a good company but not as proven. I can add a sunsetter to control the OR bars and still be cheaper by a good margin than the sbars. Thoughts? I have used reefbrite and 21led reefbar pros before and both were fine but reefbrite definitely overpriced imo and 21led dont come with brackets so have to be rigged to attach so thinking those are both out. Considered current usa truelumen but other current usa lights I've seen were quite dim and not too keen on cheap Ebay generics just not sure they are totally safe and dont want any fire hazards. So please tell me your experience with sbars or OR bars and please suggest any others u like that I didnt mention. Thanks so much!!!

Love my sbar actinics... very rugged and well built... having the option to dimm is cool too, but I havent had the need to use that option yet along with the dimmable option on the ati fixture as well... hahahaha!

Willragan · Sep 3, 2018

Awesome thx so much I'm thinking sbars. Not too purple? Usually do straight blue but I kinda like the idea of the UV doing corals some good too besides just pop.

Willragan · Sep 3, 2018

Or's look nice too tho

PerplexyHexy · Sep 4, 2018

Willragan said:
Awesome thx so much I'm thinking sbars. Not too purple? Usually do straight blue but I kinda like the idea of the UV doing corals some good too besides just pop.

Its pretty blue... you can see the blue on the wall... not much purple

Willragan · Sep 4, 2018

Sweet I ordered 2 48" sbars

P-Dub · Sep 15, 2018

Willragan said:
Sweet I ordered 2 48" sbars

PLEASE give us some initial impressions once received and installed AND some updates down the line, say at month one, two, and three.

Dana Riddle · Sep 16, 2018

Biomedical researchers routinely splice fluorescent proteins into living tissues and have found that 470nm light is the universal lighting source. In addition, this light (if used as the only blue light) will halt the green to red transition of proteins found in Clade D (Montastrea, Trachyphyllia, Echinophyllia, etc.)

PerplexyHexy · Sep 16, 2018

Dana Riddle said:
Biomedical researchers routinely splice fluorescent proteins into living tissues and have found that 470nm light is the universal lighting source. In addition, this light (if used as the only blue light) will halt the green to red transition of proteins found in Clade D (Montastrea, Trachyphyllia, Echinophyllia, etc.)

Thats if he is using it as the only blue light... like you said