In your opinion the best LED Lighting for reef.

[gcarroll]

Originally Posted by rishma

Got it. I too am seriously considering one.

Although the GHL not being Mac compatible is an issue for me. I just don't like that.

[rishma]

Originally Posted by gcarroll

Although the GHL not being Mac compatible is an issue for me. I just don't like that.

my same hesitation.

[ProteusReef]

Bought the Zeus 150 (36 inch)

Price is-
Unit:$159
Wifi controller: $65
Shipping: $60

[d0ughb0y]

I see radions at lfs and like how it looks and how it lights up the tank. I don't own one.
I almost went with kessil, but for the amount of money they charge for it, it cannot even be dimmed to 1%. It is not a technology or technical issue, but a lack of engineering skill issue. so that is out.
I went with ai hydra hd. its really a personal choice, so you cannot let someone else decide this for you.

[Sthomasson72]

Radions

[Silvansaria]

So - I'm in the same boat as the original poster. I'm currently running 2 x T5 fixtures over my 88 gallon reef tank. While I'm fine with that and my corals grow awesome - the electric bill is killing me...

I pay something like $200 every month in electric.
Recently someone told me about the Finnex Marine 24/7 LED lights and said that would be fine for my tank. But I see no one really mentioned them here though. I only have soft corals (I don't like hard corals). I have a lot of Frogspawn, Octo, Hammers, a giant leather (bigger than a standard size Frisbee), sponges, mushrooms with a few fish.

I have heard that for soft corals you don't need high end LED lighting but a mid-range would be fine. is this really true or should I go with something more expensive? I've read most of the posts here and it seems there are a lot of different opinions on what it the "best" and such (which I know is subjective).

I'm just looking for some good LED lighting for soft corals.

[dz6t]

I will say stick to your t5. LED will not save you much money in terms of electricity usage. That has been debunked over and over again.



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[ComforablyNumb]

Originally Posted by dz6t

I will say stick to your t5. LED will not save you much money in terms of electricity usage. That has been debunked over and over again.

How so? Going from a fixture that uses twice the electricity (8 bulb x 54w) to say 2 kessils at 90w each, will save half of electrical costs...no?

Also..8 bulbs a year replacement adds up to $200 every year. Over 5 yrs, thats a approx $1000 more than LEDS would cost. Combine that with the electricity savings, I would think there is quite a savings going LED.

[ComforablyNumb]

Sorry...double posted while RC server was down.

[gprdypoo04]

This is just my 2 cents.[/QUOTE]



Thank goodness for that!

[dz6t]

Two 90w kessil have a lot less light than 8 bulb 54w t5.
One kessil 90w is about the same actual light out put of 120w t5


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[dz6t]

To get the same coverage of your 8 bulb t5, you need at least 4 kessil 360we


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[dz6t]

Even with 4 kessil, the 8 bulb t5 will still grow coral better.
By the way, assuming your electricity rate is average, you save $3.50 per month by switching to kessil


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[Xandernfs]

I agree that lighting does play a factor when it comes to coral growth but I think that people put a lot, possibly too much, emphasis on lighting. I think that most LED/high end LED lights will get the job done.

I think that water quality has a larger factor when it comes to coral growth. I've been following a guy on youtube (Nathan Willard) and his reefer250 and his tank looked amazing with TONS of growth of the months (total of 24 I think) that he posted. All he was using was 2 Kessil a160s and was growing SPS very well.

[ComforablyNumb]

Originally Posted by dz6t

To get the same coverage of your 8 bulb t5, you need at least 4 kessil 360we

Meh... I have 2 on a 4' tank, can grow basically anything I want. I have several sps and they are healthy and growing.

Digitata when I first got it:


Digitata later on:


One of 3 sps frags I got:


Same frags later:


Orange sps when I first got it (sorry for poor pic, all I have)


After a few months:


Stylo frags:


Same frags later:


Granted, most are in the upper half of my tank, but I use the bottom half for lps mostly.
2 a360's only, no supplemental lighting. I have a 3rd kessil, but keep it as a spare as I dont need it for my corals. I never run them above 85%.
Replace those 2 kessils with t5, would cost me several hundreds more over 5 years in bulb replacement costs alone.

As the poster above said...you can grow almost all corals easily with high end LED..even low cost LED like the Chinese black boxes. T5 is wonderful as well, but I dislike the flat look of t5. Personal preference. Very little heat output by the kessils as well. Shadowing has not been a prob for me as you can see.

I've used them all in 3 decades of reefing...t5, mH, mH with t5 and led. I'll never go back unless there is some kind of breakthru in t5, but I see most future advancements coming from LEDs. Full programmability is another advantage, intensity of each lamp and color of each lamp controlled separately by a single kessil controller ..I can even simulate the sun moving across the sky if I wish. (I dont)

Also with single point lighting, you can shade your back and side walls for much less cleaning and more dramatic look. See the pics above...note the pure black background versus anything you'll see with t5. Again, personal preference.



Alot comes down to personal preference and cost. I'm happy with how my corals grow and really like the kessil shimmer. And I certainly do not miss the heat and bulb replacement costs with mH and t5.
Even if I only save $4/mth on electricity (I'm sure its more than that once you figure the lower AC costs from using led over the hotter sources).. thats close to a couple hundred saved over 5 yrs, plus the thousand or so I would save from t5 bulb replacements over the same period.

T5's work well, LEDS work well, mH and hybrid combo's work well. As I said, it comes down to personal appearance of your tank and what you prefer.

[dz6t]

The coral you listed are all mid to low light SPS. I have them all.



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[bif24701]

Kessil AP700


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[JaySchulz]

The best? How about Lani LED or Lupy LED. Absolutely ridiculously expensive though.

[ComforablyNumb]

Originally Posted by dz6t

The coral you listed are all mid to low light SPS. I have them all.

Didn't know there were that many "low light sps".

I don't think many of mine would grow very well under low light...do you have growth pics of yours?

[dz6t]

Lol, you have much to learn


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[ComforablyNumb]

Originally Posted by dz6t

Lol, you have much to learn

lol, such as...?

[ComforablyNumb]

Originally Posted by dz6t

$30 million? Where did you see that?


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Its on their website:

"...dense matrix platform that carries 21 LED chips in a circle smaller than a dime! This patented design is the result of over 30 million dollars in investments and five years of diligent research by DiCon. Its team of Ph.D's found a way to fundamentally resolve the thermal issue and invented a metal carrier that dissipates heat away from the core quickly."

http://kessil.com/about/dense_matrix_led.php

[soonerfan12]

anyone have any experience with these?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N42RQ5N...et_detail_page

[Ron Reefman]

Originally Posted by soonerfan12

anyone have any experience with these?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N42RQ5N...et_detail_page

Fairly typical led with a few pluses and minuses.

For what is mostly the features of a standard, manual black box led fixture, this one looks 100% better. But that comes at the cost of not having any fans. But it does look good.

They use Cree and OSRAM rather than Bridgelux leds. Two years ago that would have been a big deal. But I think even Cree and OSRAM are making leds cheaper and the difference between them and Bridgelux is less than it was a few years ago. Reff Breeders also use Cree and OSRAM in the Photon V2 and I see no real difference from my 6 year old EverGrow fixture with Bridgelux leds. It's just not a big deal IMHO. But that is just my opinion, many others might disagree.

3 channel dimming is also a nice advance. But I'd MUCH rather have the 400nm violets (or is it a 420nm violet... their Amazon ad quotes both)on the blue channel than on with the reds and greens which you really don't need. I'd be turning the red and green led channel down very low or even off and there goes your violet spectrum...

They push their 3w leds at 3 watts, most others only drive them at 2.2 watts. So you will get more light. However, that will produce more heat and they don't use any fans??? It may be perfectly OK, but I would want to know the temperature of the top of the fixture after an hour at 100% power. My guess is that it gets beyond warm! I have 21leduse led strips without fans that are only 2.2 watts and they almost get too hot to handle at 100% power. That's why I have so much concern about this fixture.

Also they quote a 30,000 hour life. Again, tough to disprove, but manufacturers driving them at 2.2 watts don't even claim that kind of long life. Again, I have serious doubts.

If you are looking for a very basic (manual) led fixture that looks good, and should produce a good amount of intense light, I think this one has potential. But heat and led life at 3 full watts without fans would be questions I'd like to know more about.

If you buy it, let us know about the heat issue. You might even convience me to try one just for fun.

[soonerfan12]

Originally Posted by Ron Reefman

Fairly typical led with a few pluses and minuses.

For what is mostly the features of a standard, manual black box led fixture, this one looks 100% better. But that comes at the cost of not having any fans. But it does look good.

They use Cree and OSRAM rather than Bridgelux leds. Two years ago that would have been a big deal. But I think even Cree and OSRAM are making leds cheaper and the difference between them and Bridgelux is less than it was a few years ago. Reff Breeders also use Cree and OSRAM in the Photon V2 and I see no real difference from my 6 year old EverGrow fixture with Bridgelux leds. It's just not a big deal IMHO. But that is just my opinion, many others might disagree.

3 channel dimming is also a nice advance. But I'd MUCH rather have the 400nm violets (or is it a 420nm violet... their Amazon ad quotes both)on the blue channel than on with the reds and greens which you really don't need. I'd be turning the red and green led channel down very low or even off and there goes your violet spectrum...

They push their 3w leds at 3 watts, most others only drive them at 2.2 watts. So you will get more light. However, that will produce more heat and they don't use any fans??? It may be perfectly OK, but I would want to know the temperature of the top of the fixture after an hour at 100% power. My guess is that it gets beyond warm! I have 21leduse led strips without fans that are only 2.2 watts and they almost get too hot to handle at 100% power. That's why I have so much concern about this fixture.

Also they quote a 30,000 hour life. Again, tough to disprove, but manufacturers driving them at 2.2 watts don't even claim that kind of long life. Again, I have serious doubts.

If you are looking for a very basic (manual) led fixture that looks good, and should produce a good amount of intense light, I think this one has potential. But heat and led life at 3 full watts without fans would be questions I'd like to know more about.

If you buy it, let us know about the heat issue. You might even convience me to try one just for fun.

Hmm yeah all your points seem pretty spot on with what I was concerned about as well. I didn't realize the gap between Cree and bridgelux had closed so much. I like the thin slick design and thought the Cree led's would maybe make it worth the gamble but even if that were the case I would be opening it up and changing all the green/red led's to us and 460 blue. Also if after taking it apart I discover there's no way to individually control the three dimmers with an Alc and reefkeeper it would go on the forum for sale anyway. My wallet says try it and save $150 bucks but my gut says get the 24" v2 photon already!! I keep trying to find cheaper ways to do it but it's either ugly square boxes or huge maybe's with no guarantee.