Best Reef light Under $200

HudsonReefer2.0

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When I first started Reefing it was like 20 years ago in a 55. From experience that tank is too narrow front to back. If u can get a 75. Still has the length and height with more depth. The fish display and corals w lol appreciate it. Good luck. Oh. I like the AI Prime
 

jphilip813

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I am done with the EXPENSIVE BIG Brand Lights...sorry (NEPTUNE/AI/ECOTECH/REDSEA)...I have two of the one's I mentioned BUT I literally switched them out on my nano in August for a SMATFARM 5G...it cost $115 I think on Amazon...The thing is AWESOME...same as AI HD 32...with a set and forget it mindset...Excellent Growth, no complaints...


20211115_165425.jpg 20211130_111426.jpg
 

LeftyReefer

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Lots of people are recommending black boxes like Viparspectra., which is a good cheap choice. I recently replaced my Viparspectra's with Smat Farms LED's and they are a nice upgrade from the Viparspectra's. The Smat Farms light can go lower in whites and has a timer that ramps the light up and down, which most black boxes don't have.
The Smat Farm lights have 6 channels that can be adjusted (vs 2 for most black boxes) and are only $110 each. One light will cover about 24" x 24". multiple lights will sync wirelessly too.
 

jphilip813

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Lots of people are recommending black boxes like Viparspectra., which is a good cheap choice. I recently replaced my Viparspectra's with Smat Farms LED's and they are a nice upgrade from the Viparspectra's. The Smat Farms light can go lower in whites and has a timer that ramps the light up and down, which most black boxes don't have.
The Smat Farm lights have 6 channels that can be adjusted (vs 2 for most black boxes) and are only $110 each. One light will cover about 24" x 24". multiple lights will sync wirelessly too.
I am literally thinking of switchn my RedSea 90's for my 120reef when I set that back up again...I like these (SMATFARMS) so much...
 

speedfreek1210

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I have a 300w philzon black box on my 46g bow front. Too much white and the blues aren’t real great. Corals are doing ok under it. I emphasize OK. Zoa’s are doing good everything else (lps) is not growing like I think they should be. That being said, I have a 165w Viparspectra on my 28g. The blues are better and there are less white’s so the tank looks better. Corals are growing better I think, although this tank is only a couple month's old. The viparspectra’s controls are much better with the ability to program the timers for each channel independently.
if I were to use them again it would definitely be the viparspectra but I’m looking for a upgrade soon.
 

dhnguyen

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Go with the chinese black box LEDs. They're cheap and they work and there are so many options for those. You will need 2.

Viparspectra
Mars Aqua

Even these which have 3 channel wifi control

Though to be honest I kinda don't like the black box LED for their colouring,. Too much white and the blues and Violets aren't great as someone have already stated.

I actually prefer these better.

Smatfarm (hipargero)



No idea why the amazon links never show on here.



or these



I wouldn't do T5 due to the cost of bulb replacement which will need to be done at least every 6 months.

As far as the tank goes though IMO 55g is probably the worse for a reef. Way too narrow for decent aquascaping.
 
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MiniGbr

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I have a 44” by 24” tank, and 21” deep

I couldn’t justify the pricey lights (though I’m sure I’ll bite the bullet eventually…), but I use a vivaspectra 300w I got on sale during Amazon prime day for $199 that has crazy par and can be programmed for whites and blues to turn on and off at different times. It doesn’t ramp unfortunately, but for now, it works for my sps and other coral needs. I needed to dial mine back to 80% blue, and 20% white to get the mid depth on my tank to be around 350 par.

I do also have 2 used Orphek OR2 blue strips I got for $100 total, which I supplement as well, so my tank is way more blue than I may even like. But the corals seem to like it and looks pretty good. Probably overkill to be honest, but I had them, so I put them up.
 

dhnguyen

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My current lights I am using are Ocean Revive (discontinued), they're a step above the basic black box but not much.
I do like the spread of these OR lights and I'm getting really good growth on SPS and LPS and all and awesome colours (once I swapped the UV and deep blue LEDs so that UV can run on the blue channel at higher %). If you can find the Ocean Revive LEDs for a decent price (I picked up 4 used units for $75) they're great lights.

Here's a small vid of my holding tank running with 1 ocean revive. LED. When I finish setting up my 90g however it will probably be with the smatfarm or the popbloom rs90 that I'll go with.
 

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ParadiseReefMT

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You could also try the Noo-Psyche light. They have a 20% sale going right now... so should be around $185 - you would need two to cover the whole tank.
I run 2x Noops on my 90g (4ft long), and run them at about 65% and they grow corals very well. No issues and over a year running them.
 

vetteguy53081

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Vivarspectra is one of the best low budget high perfomance lights for coral growth and color
 

LeftyReefer

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Vivarspectra is one of the best low budget high perfomance lights for coral growth and color
Agree, my Viparspectra grew corals fine. I had the 300w unit and my main problem was that even at only 1% whites, it was just too white for my liking. I recently upgraded to Smat Farm lights. With 6 channels, you can tweak the look a bit better than the Viparspectras. They also ramp up and down, which the Viparspectras won't do. The Smat Farms will also run a moonlight setting too. The shimmer from them is better than the Viparspectra too. For only $110 each, they are definitely worth a look.

I'm actually running both lights right now. I have the Viparspectra running blues only and the Smat Farm lights running blues and whites and ramping up and down before/after the Viparspectra turns on/off. The Smat Farm light starts ramping up an hour before I have the Viparspectra programmed to turn on, and then when the viparspectra turns off, the Smat Farm light starts its ramp down for an hour then runs the moonlight setting overnight.
 

tbrown

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just started up my tank it is a 55gallon. I would like to turn into reef eventually. my old light fixture was an T8 but is no longer working looking for a new lighting maybe LED. What do you guys thing is a good lighting system for this budget ?. as far was type of coral I want to grow I am still on the fence for budget wise will say medium- low light. thank you for your input. just getting back into the hobby and it is a little over whelming with everything available.
Not sure if anyone said it yet, but @noopsyche lights are amazing. The 75watt V3 are about $160 plus shipping. The 140watt V3 are like $270 plus shipping. For the price, you really can't beat them. Ramp function built in plus great spectrum.
 

Hot2na

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I would go with t5 from Amazon
Get some nice ati bulbs and you can grow anything

VIVOSUN T5 Grow Lights 4 ft, T5 Light Fixture Bulbs, 6500K HO Fluorescent Tubes, High-Output T5 Bulbs for Indoor Plants, UL Listed, 4 Bulbs, 8 ft Power Cord, 2 Hanging Cables, On/Off Switch

you can add alot to that price for "reef" bulbs ...so I would NOT choose that option.
 

crazyclownlady

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As far as cheap chinese boxes go... its like these. Again, you need two but they $80 each.


i have a Phlizon LED grow light in my cannabis tent and its been running flawlessly for a year. The fans inside it are so loud though. I don’t know if the same fans are installed on their aquarium lights.
 

StewL6

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My .02 cents i have three Nicrew 30 watt lights on a 3ft tank two channels blue and white 15 minute ramp up and down i stagger my lights ramp up and down. Run white at 55% and blues at 88% in a mixed reef tank a year old, Growing birds nest, digies, porties, even a center of tank red planet acro coloring up and encrusing nicely. Lower i have candy cane garden, hammer garden and acans. The bigest thing i found with these lights was the spread. I had to scrap the goose necks that came with them. From 5 feet away i could see three distinct cones of lights in tank and i could not get an even spread. So i decided to hang them i was able to get even spreed (or so i think) at 8 inches above water level and tank looks much better and corals responded with really good color and growth. The nicrews were 58 bucks a piece and i bought the timer units for 17 bucks a piece so all for the price of one Hd prime. So it has worked fine and looking to get a par meter so i can investigate further. But i sure would like to put 2 Xr15 or Hd's over tank and i might some day. Spend the big bucks to squeeze that little extra out of tank and corals.
 

debken

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just started up my tank it is a 55gallon. I would like to turn into reef eventually. my old light fixture was an T8 but is no longer working looking for a new lighting maybe LED. What do you guys thing is a good lighting system for this budget ?. as far was type of coral I want to grow I am still on the fence for budget wise will say medium- low light. thank you for your input. just getting back into the hobby and it is a little over whelming with everything available.
You can totally do it without spending. NICREW LED are great go on Amazon. 69.00 for 30watt 99 for 50 watt. I started with 2 30w on my 55 2 years ago growing lps, sps and softies like crazy. No need to dump money into watts. They do have higher watts. I added a third one in the middle for extra coverage. One thing learned after 35 years of tank keeping don't worry about what others are doing. You can have amazing tank without sinking your wallet
 

debken

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My .02 cents i have three Nicrew 30 watt lights on a 3ft tank two channels blue and white 15 minute ramp up and down i stagger my lights ramp up and down. Run white at 55% and blues at 88% in a mixed reef tank a year old, Growing birds nest, digies, porties, even a center of tank red planet acro coloring up and encrusing nicely. Lower i have candy cane garden, hammer garden and acans. The bigest thing i found with these lights was the spread. I had to scrap the goose necks that came with them. From 5 feet away i could see three distinct cones of lights in tank and i could not get an even spread. So i decided to hang them i was able to get even spreed (or so i think) at 8 inches above water level and tank looks much better and corals responded with really good color and growth. The nicrews were 58 bucks a piece and i bought the timer units for 17 bucks a piece so all for the price of one Hd prime. So it has worked fine and looking to get a par meter so i can investigate further. But i sure would like to put 2 Xr15 or Hd's over tank and i might some day. Spend the big bucks to squeeze that little extra out of tank and corals.
Great lights been running them and mixed reef thriving. Haven't hung them have 3 30's on a 4 ft 55 gallon spread seems good.
 

Tamberav

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My .02 cents i have three Nicrew 30 watt lights on a 3ft tank two channels blue and white 15 minute ramp up and down i stagger my lights ramp up and down. Run white at 55% and blues at 88% in a mixed reef tank a year old, Growing birds nest, digies, porties, even a center of tank red planet acro coloring up and encrusing nicely. Lower i have candy cane garden, hammer garden and acans. The bigest thing i found with these lights was the spread. I had to scrap the goose necks that came with them. From 5 feet away i could see three distinct cones of lights in tank and i could not get an even spread. So i decided to hang them i was able to get even spreed (or so i think) at 8 inches above water level and tank looks much better and corals responded with really good color and growth. The nicrews were 58 bucks a piece and i bought the timer units for 17 bucks a piece so all for the price of one Hd prime. So it has worked fine and looking to get a par meter so i can investigate further. But i sure would like to put 2 Xr15 or Hd's over tank and i might some day. Spend the big bucks to squeeze that little extra out of tank and corals.

Good to know about the potential spot lighting. I am considering one of these for a pico but also don’t want to put it very high. Wonder if a diffuser would fix the problem.
 

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