Which LED light should I go with?

[silva218]

I am currently upgrading my 29 cube to a 75 gallon. I am looking for a light that will cover 4 feet of a sps dominant mixed reef. After researching for the last couple of weeks and taking a look at various local tanks, I believe I have narrowed my search down to a few lights. Here are the choices:

Reef Breeders 48" V2
3 Radion XR15 Pro's
2 Hydra 52 HD's
2 or 3 Sbreef 16" ramping

As I understand it (not very well) all of these lights can put out the same spectrum of light. Except the Reef Breeders does not have the UV. Is there any research that shows UV benefiting coral?? Anyways, I do not need lightning storms or crazy features that some of these lights can do. I just need a light that will grow corals and is pleasing to the eye. So in reality I believe the real choice is between the SBreef and the ReefBreeders unless someone can give me a good reason to go with the radions or hydra52's?

 

[domination2580]

Sbreef my friend!

 

[silva218]

Sbreef my friend!

Everyone seems to love them on this forum... Could you give me any reasons to choose them over the Reef Breeders? I can get the RB locally for much cheaper than the SB. However, I am willing to spend more for reasonable benefits. Thanks

 

[domination2580]

 

[domination2580]

I started my tank 4 months ago and started with 4 rastas...

 

[domination2580]

Now i have 10+

 

[domination2580]

I have everything in my tank...doughnut coral, zoas, polys, acros, tenius, deep sea acros, anemones, lobo, hammers, frogspawns, leptos, echinatas, favias, chalices, nothing i cant grow with them and they have a 2 year warranty.

 

[silva218]

I have everything in my tank...doughnut coral, zoas, polys, acros, tenius, deep sea acros, anemones, lobo, hammers, frogspawns, leptos, echinatas, favias, chalices, nothing i cant grow with them and they have a 2 year warranty.

Thank you for sharing. Your tank is looking great!

Both the reef breeders and the SB's have a 2 year warranty.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

i have the sb's too. I really really like it. But if you have the cash, go radion. they actually seem to be worth the money.
https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/dr-joshi’s-500-gallon-sps-dominated-mixed-reef.2/

 

[domination2580]

Did not know that about reef breeders. Mike is really cool from sb he takes care of his customers. And you can hook them to a controller

 

[DLHDesign]

3 Radion XR15 Pro's

This is what I have over my RedSea 525XL - which is a 103gal tank that measures ~5ft x 2ft x 18" deep. They are mounted 8" over the surface; Running at 30% intensity (100% on all colors). I get a PAR of around 350 6" below the surface, 200 PAR mid-tank, and 120 PAR on the sand.

About all I can provide is those numbers - sorry. The tank has only been up ~80 days at this point. What coral I do have seems happy enough, for whatever that's worth.

 

[silva218]

This is what I have over my RedSea 525XL - which is a 103gal tank that measures ~5ft x 2ft x 18" deep. They are mounted 8" over the surface; Running at 30% intensity (100% on all colors). I get a PAR of around 350 6" below the surface, 200 PAR mid-tank, and 120 PAR on the sand.

About all I can provide is those numbers - sorry. The tank has only been up ~80 days at this point. What coral I do have seems happy enough, for whatever that's worth.

Thanks for your input. I visited a local reefer who runs all channels on 100%! His par readings must be thru the roof

 

[DLHDesign]

I visited a local reefer who runs all channels on 100%! His par readings must be thru the roof

One of these days, I may ramp them up and test them at that level, just to see what I could get, if I ever wanted to.

BTW - the reason I shared is to be sure you didn't over-buy on lights. You may be able to get by with just 2 XR15's, depending upon how intense your aquascaping is.

 

[silva218]

Anyone have experience with all these brands?

 

[dragon99]

Here's an article discussing UV leds:
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/201...;utm_medium=slider&utm_campaign=clickthru

The AI's or Radion's are going to have a better user experience for scheduling/color/etc, but honestly once your lights are programmed you probably shouldn't play with them on a daily basis anyway.

 

[silva218]

Here's an article discussing UV leds:
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/201...;utm_medium=slider&utm_campaign=clickthru

The AI's or Radion's are going to have a better user experience for scheduling/color/etc, but honestly once your lights are programmed you probably shouldn't play with them on a daily basis anyway.

Exactly what I was thinking. I have always set my lights and forgot all about them. Is the usability really the only difference between the AI/Radion and the SBreef/Reef Breeders?

Thanks for the link. I'll take a look now

 

[Staggs]

To add to the confusiong check out rapidled's new light Corona that they recently released: http://www.rapidled.com/corona-by-rapid-led/ Also nanobox has some lights that would work good as well that have built in controllers.

Ecotech is suppose to be releasing their G4 version of the Radions at Macna per a leaked flyer.....Let us know which ones you decide to go with!

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Exactly what I was thinking. I have always set my lights and forgot all about them. Is the usability really the only difference between the AI/Radion and the SBreef/Reef Breeders?

Thanks for the link. I'll take a look now

IMO its the same as the difference in halide bulbs or t5. Each has slightly different spectrum purely based on the manufacturers materials, specs and research and personal opinions.

My approach is to use everything the light has. Besides ramp up time and ramp down royal blue coolness before bed, Just decide the basic white blue setting (Kelvin 10k-20k) based on livestock and personal preference, then set the intensity with a meter(lux). Because I bet even though you may get the same or similar par from lamp to lamp, you may still get different results from the corals.

FWIW I have by happenstance changed lights 4 times this year on one of my tanks. Led+ 20k MH, then Led+ 14k MH, then Maxsspect Razor, then SB led. All with the same Intensity. Each has had only some effect on only some corals. The frogspawn hated 14k the montis loved it. The nem and the clam didnt seem to care.
Its hard to say weather the radion Price will provide the expected performance. Every Light I used, I liked. I changed them to see what it would do really, Except the Max, that was just the wrong light for a cube and I had shading in spots. I still liked it.
So really. Its all about the budget and the Look of the light on the tank.

 

[domination2580]

The sb reef lights can be controlled with a controller

 

[jhj159]

If it was up to me I'd go reefbreeders v2. I'm currently running AI Hydra 26 HD and I absolutely love them they're phenomenal lights.