Who is running a BB LED

[DesertReefT4r]

If you are using a BB LED like the Mars or similar to light your sps reef please share your tank and experience with tthem.

 

[BoomCorals]

They performed the worst of any LED I used when it came to sps.

 

[tdileo]

I used a GalaxyHydro on my old tank, SBReefLight on my current. Never had any problems with either. I get good growth and color from all my corals, but I’m sure they would do better under Radions. However at the low price point I think they are worth it if you just aren’t ready to spend thousands on lighting.

 

[BoomCorals]

You can get the best lighting of all for way less than thousands. Halide.

 

[happyhourhero]

I use SB Reef lights.

 

[EW_Fish]

I use SB Reef lights.

Its funny how people can knock these cheap lights but honestly I have seen AMAZING sps tanks running these lights... I run these also and never had problems coloring acros

 

[Mattrg02]

The leds are pretty much the same, it’s the rest of the package that I care about.

I started off with a diy build using 3w cree leds, white and RB. Those things grew everything. I’d have acros just rtn and recover like it ain’t a thing.

Control sucked and the thing looked butt ugly. Big aluminum heat sink with leds glued to the bottom. Wires everywhere and just sitting on top of the tank.

Fast forward a few years. I graduated college, got a good job, spent 10 times as much on a hydra led, and nothing grows. Go figure.

 

[BoomCorals]

Its funny how people can knock these cheap lights but honestly I have seen AMAZING sps tanks running these lights... I run these also and never had problems coloring acros

No one says you can’t be successful with LED. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t something better.

 

[EW_Fish]

No one says you can’t be successful with LED. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t something better.

I think when it comes to lighting its just preference they all have their pros and cons and all seem to grow sps well

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Thanks to everyone so far, keep it coming. Im old school MH guy but thinking about a move to LED. No way Im spending even 1/4 what a XR-30 would cost, love the new Gen4 though and the Pro model is a PAR beast but I cant spend $1600+ on lights though.

 

[Chad3407]

I recently got a orphek 4’ strip to add to my 6 bulb t5. After running it I’ve about convinced myself to get 2 more and replace my t5s all together. And you can’t beat the price.

 

[Flippers4pups]

I run three modded Mars aqua units over my 125. I modded them to mimic the SB reeflights layout.

Nothing but excellent growth and color on my corals. At under $300 for all three shipped, can go wrong.

 

[Tft12]

I’ve also been wanting to hear experiences with bb leds.

Do people get disco ball effect occurring?

When bb owners say growth and color have been good, can you please mention what lighting you’re comparing to?

Looks like @BoomCorals says they perform worse than other leds and worse than MH.

I use a large Vipar Spectra grow light on my fuge and it’s been great for growing chaeto (better than my Kessil grow light), and I’m happy with the build quality but I don’t have any experience with their reef light. I’m considering buying them though.

 

[Tft12]

I use SB Reef lights.

These pictures look excellent.

Are you supplementing your bb leds with any other lighting?

How long have you been running these bb leds?

Did you switch over from a different lighting source? If yes, how do the bb leds compare?

Thanks a lot for sharing the photos.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Obviously there are haters out there. I think they are mad that they spent way too much money on their fancy named high priced lights, so they have this need to bash the BB's. I've been running BB's for about eight years. When they first came out, the quality wasn't the best...I think $300 per fixture that had aluminum foil thin cooling with only blue and white LED's. But today, you can't beat the quality....finned thick aluminum cooling portions and a nice combo of spectra with a choice of controlling options. My corals grow so fast, I'm throwing them out because I can't find folks to take them. (They claim they're coming to get them and never show). I've just switched to SB's, and expecting no issues.

 

[happyhourhero]

These pictures look excellent.

Are you supplanting your bb leds with any other lighting?

How long have you been running these bb leds?

Did you switch over from a different lighting source? If yes, how do the bb leds compare?

Thanks a lot for sharing the photos.

Thank you!

I do have a single t5 along the back of my tank because I built my canopy wrong and left the back part of my tank shaded.

I started with galaxyhydro B.B. in 2015 when I came back into the hobby after a 10 year break. Later in 2015 I swapped out the board to a SB Reef Light board > upgraded to a 65 gallon > got another SB Reef Light > December 2017 I upgraded to 100 gal current tank and added another SB Reef Light. I have had the t5 for about 2 months.

Here is what my 65 looked like with just 2 SB Reef lights.

 

[BoomCorals]

I’ve also been wanting to hear experiences with bb leds.

Do people get disco ball effect occurring?

When bb owners say growth and color have been good, can you please mention what lighting you’re comparing to?

Looks like @BoomCorals says they perform worse than other leds and worse than MH.

I use a large Vipar Spectra grow light on my fuge and it’s been great for growing chaeto (better than my Kessil grow light), and I’m happy with the build quality but I don’t have any experience with their reef light. I’m considering buying them though.

I don’t consider SB reef a B.B. SB reef are better than your mars aqua or whatever B.B. I was a huge proponent of LED for years. I hadn’t used halide or T5 in over 10 years. I tested LEDs for color and growth, everything from radion, B.B., SBreef, kessil, AI, orphek, etc. All of them perform about the same for sps color and growth except the B.B. They were noticeably slower and not as good at color on some acros.

Then I decided to test a halide and T5. My belief was that they would be marginally better but not by much, compared to led, as that is what I believed. Boy was I wrong. My T5 halide tank crushed my LED tanks in growth and color. I had no name acros that had been brown and boring for months that suddenly got color and growth. (And then, when put back into LED tanks they went back to brown and boring). So I ran all T5 for a while and finally was able to go back to all halide, which is what I run now.

That doesn’t mean you can’t be successful with LED. But you don’t know what you’re missing until you try.

Edit: I even had SIX xr30 g4 pro over a 6 foot tank. And coral grew great and looked nice. But not as good as the halide T5 do.

 

[madweazl]

While I believe whole-heartedly that MH/T5 is the holy grail of lighting to this day, I don't believe for a second that LED cant be extremely effective. There are far too many tanks with outstanding results to say otherwise and most of the nay-sayers have little to no experience with them. Some of the most vocal that did try, didn't spend enough time with them to figure out what would work and expected what they believed would suffice to be the solution.

 

[redfishbluefish]

I don’t consider SB reef a B.B........

SB is no different than any other BB, except they have US presence and exceptional customer service...an extremely big plus. If you wish to go BB, this is one good reason to consider SB. No complaints here.

My recent order was shipped directly from China....doesn't that make them BB's?

 

[BoomCorals]

SB is no different than any other BB, except they have US presence and exceptional customer service...an extremely big plus. If you wish to go BB, this is one good reason to consider SB. No complaints here.

My recent order was shipped directly from China....doesn't that make them BB's?

SB uses different LED color than your standard B.B. different optics etc.