Cheap LED for Beginner Soft Coral in 40B

[EricR]

@MaxTremors -- 2 of those Aqua Knight v2 look like they'd be ideal for my goals. I'm not finding them for sale many places (and not on Amazon). Any suggested source for these?

 

[MaxTremors]

@MaxTremors -- 2 of those Aqua Knight v2 look like they'd be ideal for my goals. I'm not finding them for sale many places (and not on Amazon). Any suggested source for these?

Let me see what I can find.

 

[MaxTremors]

@MaxTremors -- 2 of those Aqua Knight v2 look like they'd be ideal for my goals. I'm not finding them for sale many places (and not on Amazon). Any suggested source for these?

So from what I gather, these weren’t distributed too widely in the US, but here is a company out of California that has them in stock

Aqua Knight V2 Nano Reef LED Light - ALA

35W White Blue Royal Blue Purple 3 Channel (Manual) Timer Function Features: LEDs: 9 x 3watt (3 @ 10,000K, 4 @ 455nm, 1 purple 430nm 1 Cree Blue 465nm) 4 Different type of the LED chips 90 degree secondary optical lens Three-channel control (Touch Screen) Full Spectrum Impressive 1850 Lumen...

aqualabaquaria.com

and then I know that Fragbox has them, they are in Canada, I know they won’t ship corals to the US, but I think I recall in one of their videos that they will ship dry goods to the US, I would email them and ask (I’ve never done business with either of these companies but I know Fragbox has a good reputation).

Aqua Knight V2 - Frag Box Corals

LEDs: 9 x 3watt (3 @ 10,000K, 4 @ 455nm, 1 purple 430nm 1 Cree Blue 465nm) 90 degree secondary optical lens Three-channel control (Touch Screen) Full Spectrum Impressive 1850 Lumen light output Colour Temp.: 18,000K - Blue / 10000K - White 2 cooling fans Sleek Design Secure bracket for glass up...

fragbox.ca

 

[Gtinnel]

Let me see what I can find.

I'm not sure if these lights are the same but the Hipargero lights on amazon look identical

 

[MaxTremors]

@MaxTremors -- 2 of those Aqua Knight v2 look like they'd be ideal for my goals. I'm not finding them for sale many places (and not on Amazon). Any suggested source for these?

Looking on Amazon, I found this light which looks pretty decent. The specs are pretty good and it has good reviews. Slightly above your budget (would be around $250 for two).

 

[EricR]

Thanks, didn't see that Aqua Lab Aquaria (ALA) site for the Aqua Night V2 at $99.99
Never heard of ALA but the site looks pretty legit.

SMATFARM at $120 on Amazon was suggested earlier so is already on my short list but I don't think I'd buy two at that price, at least not at first.

The Hipargero ones on Amazon (that I've seen) look like the older version of the Aqua Night and I like the V2 design better, although the Hipargero are cheaper.

Will probably watch classifieds for another couple of weeks to see if anything pops up and, if not, will either go with 2x Aqua Night V2 or cheap out and buy 2x 30W Nicrew that are running in the $50-$60 range on Amazon. (Depends on how adventurous I feel at that point, I guess)

 

[MaxTremors]

Thanks, didn't see that Aqua Lab Aquaria (ALA) site for the Aqua Night V2 at $99.99
Never heard of ALA but the site looks pretty legit.

SMATFARM at $120 on Amazon was suggested earlier so is already on my short list but I don't think I'd buy two at that price, at least not at first.

The Hipargero ones on Amazon (that I've seen) look like the older version of the Aqua Night and I like the V2 design better, although the Hipargero are cheaper.

Will probably watch classifieds for another couple of weeks to see if anything pops up and, if not, will either go with 2x Aqua Night V2 or cheap out and buy 2x 30W Nicrew that are running in the $50-$60 range on Amazon. (Depends on how adventurous I feel at that point, I guess)

I just saw that BRS has the Reef Breeders branded Aquaknight V2, it’s the exact same light, just branded as ‘Reef Breeders’.

 

[jphilip813]

Looking to buy a cheap LED that would be good enough for a beginner soft coral (probably GSP, Xenia, or Kenya Tree) in a 40 gallon breeder.


Guidelines:
-- Budget = about $100. (Something completely awesome at $200 could sway me but not beyond that)
-- LED only, no T5 or hybrid
-- No plans to go beyond just maybe a couple of easy/beginner soft corals. (Just not committed enough right now)
-- Will keep the beginner "weed" corals on one side of the tank so could focus light on one side of the tank and maybe do cheapie white light LED on the other side, to start, if that even makes any sense.

*If answer is, "not worth it, save up $xxx or don't bother", that's fair. (I won't be offended)


Reasoning:
-- About to tank transfer from a 5 month old 37 gallon TALL tank (FOWLR + inverts)
-- Current is just white light LED bars mounted inside a cheapie plastic lid so I'll need to get a new light anyway (as well as figure out how I want to make a new lid, probably clear mesh)
-- Still have to deal with flow (but I'll worry about that after transfer)
-- My tastes lean towards the Kessil 160/360 design in concept but not willing to spend anywhere near that much right now (and would probably want 2 so twice as far out)


After lots of reading I'm overloaded so just looking for targeted opinions based on what I said above.


This is the one I'm currently leaning towards:

*worried about the possible disco ball effect but willing to try and live with whatever happens for awhile -- my tastes lean more toward shimmer from single light emission point but haven't seen anything in my price range that seems useable

WILLS 165W Full Spectrum LED


...and if I thought two of these would be WAY better for twice the price, I'm thinking of this:

NICREW 30W Full Spectrum LED

HI I know you said under $100, but I actually switched from an AI 16 Nano to these lights from Amazon, in September they cost me $119, so essentially $20 more, but they are in the same category as the AI HD 32s...very strong and individually control LEDs...

Works great for me so far...Set it and forget it...similar to the more expensive lights that I currently own (Reef 90s and AI 26's and AI 16 nano)....

 

[EricR]

Just to finish this off, I ended up with the following:
-- 1x Nicrew HyperReef 50W (new, open box, missing some screws for $75)
-- 1x Kessil A80 Tuna Blue (used, locally on OfferUp for $70)
-- Went with a cheapie $13 TV wall mount from Amazon and some aluminum angle I had in the garage for mounting

Haven't tried any coral yet since I just did a tank transfer 10 days ago and everything is clean so going to wait a bit, plus still need to deal with flow next.

Here's the lights and mounting:

 

[BroccoliFarmer]

With the Noopsyche stacking coupon, you can get a 140w for like 150. Outside of the controller, I am digging on these lights

 

[Roachant]

Help! I can’t decide on whether to get a Nicrew 150w for my 40b or two aqua knight v2 lights.

 

[EricR]

Help! I can’t decide on whether to get a Nicrew 150w for my 40b or two aqua knight v2 lights.

Good question. Not enough experience to give you a good answer but just some thoughts based on playing with location of my Nicrew 50W + Kessil A80 on my 40B:

I feel like you could probably get just enough side-to-side coverage with the single Nicrew 150W (since it's basically like 3 of the 50W stuck together, left-to-right, in the same housing).

Aqua Knight v2 are 36W each so you'd have more wattage with the Nicrew (assuming you trust specs on both).

Nicrew controls on the housing don't give you much gradual control over each channel (blue/white) but you could always hook up to any controller, like the Kessil Spectral X, if you wanted to.

*can't comment on the Noopsyche 140W coverage so hopefully someone else will

 

[Roachant]

Good question. Not enough experience to give you a good answer but just some thoughts based on playing with location of my Nicrew 50W + Kessil A80 on my 40B:

I feel like you could probably get just enough side-to-side coverage with the single Nicrew 150W (since it's basically like 3 of the 50W stuck together, left-to-right, in the same housing).

Aqua Knight v2 are 36W each so you'd have more wattage with the Nicrew (assuming you trust specs on both).

Nicrew controls on the housing don't give you much gradual control over each channel (blue/white) but you could always hook up to any controller, like the Kessil Spectral X, if you wanted to.

*can't comment on the Noopsyche 140W coverage so hopefully someone else will

I’m leaning more toward the Nicrew because on my freshwater aquariums my lights are nicrew and they work very well. I even have a 4 year old nicrew light that still runs perfectly.

 

[MaxTremors]

Good question. Not enough experience to give you a good answer but just some thoughts based on playing with location of my Nicrew 50W + Kessil A80 on my 40B:

I feel like you could probably get just enough side-to-side coverage with the single Nicrew 150W (since it's basically like 3 of the 50W stuck together, left-to-right, in the same housing).

Aqua Knight v2 are 36W each so you'd have more wattage with the Nicrew (assuming you trust specs on both).

Nicrew controls on the housing don't give you much gradual control over each channel (blue/white) but you could always hook up to any controller, like the Kessil Spectral X, if you wanted to.

*can't comment on the Noopsyche 140W coverage so hopefully someone else will

I just received a Noopsyche V3 in the mail today and setup it up on a 28g jbj Nanocube (roughly 18” square), and it’s wall to wall coverage, way better than the single pick AI Prime I was running previously. I would imagine you’d be able to light a 30” square pretty sufficiently, and a 24” square perfectly with it. I really like the spectrum of the Noopsyche, on the LPS preset the spectrum is just about perfect for my taste, I hate to say it because I really like the AI Prime, but already I think my corals look better under the Noopsyche. We’ll see how it holds up over time and if my corals’ colors change (they changed a lot, in a good way, going from stock Nanocube lighting to the prime).

 

[Rick's Reviews]

Looking to buy a cheap LED that would be good enough for a beginner soft coral (probably GSP, Xenia, or Kenya Tree) in a 40 gallon breeder.


Guidelines:
-- Budget = about $100. (Something completely awesome at $200 could sway me but not beyond that)
-- LED only, no T5 or hybrid
-- No plans to go beyond just maybe a couple of easy/beginner soft corals. (Just not committed enough right now)
-- Will keep the beginner "weed" corals on one side of the tank so could focus light on one side of the tank and maybe do cheapie white light LED on the other side, to start, if that even makes any sense.

*If answer is, "not worth it, save up $xxx or don't bother", that's fair. (I won't be offended)


Reasoning:
-- About to tank transfer from a 5 month old 37 gallon TALL tank (FOWLR + inverts)
-- Current is just white light LED bars mounted inside a cheapie plastic lid so I'll need to get a new light anyway (as well as figure out how I want to make a new lid, probably clear mesh)
-- Still have to deal with flow (but I'll worry about that after transfer)
-- My tastes lean towards the Kessil 160/360 design in concept but not willing to spend anywhere near that much right now (and would probably want 2 so twice as far out)


After lots of reading I'm overloaded so just looking for targeted opinions based on what I said above.


This is the one I'm currently leaning towards:

*worried about the possible disco ball effect but willing to try and live with whatever happens for awhile -- my tastes lean more toward shimmer from single light emission point but haven't seen anything in my price range that seems useable

WILLS 165W Full Spectrum LED


...and if I thought two of these would be WAY better for twice the price, I'm thinking of this:

NICREW 30W Full Spectrum LED

I have a viparspectra 165w for my 45g 200 litres aquarium, it was around £110 with delivery, it has 2 main lights.
Channel 1 is blue light and percentage of power 0-100%
Channel 2 is white light 0-100%
Both of these can be set via time individually.
Its a very powerful light in my experience that can burn corals and cause algae blooms if not set correctly.

Currently set for
1hr white daily 1%
6hrs blue 5%

 

[NanoReef_lover143]

I, too, am very new to the nano reefing and I got this light -

So far, it got really good reviews in amazon and so I said I would try it.

 

[Rmckoy]

I, too, am very new to the nano reefing and I got this light -

So far, it got really good reviews in amazon and so I said I would try it.

Have you measured the par with this light ?

 

[NanoReef_lover143]

Have you measured the par with this light ?

I'm afraid I don't have a way to check it. ;Nailbiting

 

[Rmckoy]

I'm afraid I don't have a way to check it. ;Nailbiting

No point being afraid.
until you transition to stocking strictly sps .
but on the other hand .
they could provide more than enough light .

there was a post awhile ago stating the amount of light that the older Chinese black boxes produced was too much .

I can’t honestly remember exactly what the issue was .
I have 3 of those old fixtures but have never used them.
min afraid to venture away from t5’s where I know I have enough light to grow anything possible .

 

[Rmckoy]

I'm afraid I don't have a way to check it. ;Nailbiting

Some reefing clubs or even lfs rent them .
They always have a fairly large cash deposit requirement. my closest lfs is $500 deposit