Cheap lights suited for SPS?

[dansyr]

$100 will be hard but doable (depending on the area you're lighting). You definitely can DIY for SPS, if you want, but it's all about are you doing cheap/barebones DIY or because customizable, or what. For example, I hate noise and I like white-heavy/daylight that is rare in commercial so I build mine (fanless, aesthetic blend, and powerful enough that my baby maxima clam has been showing good growth)

Things you'd need to think about - do you care about running effiency vs up front cost? Like, OK with ~100 lumen/watt vs 180 lumen/watt?

Because here's a rough mental math budget I'm thinking:

Heat sink(s) - 25-50 US$ (if you buy $25 wimpy heat sinks you'll need ~$15 fans, or buy beefier heat sinks etc)
meanwell lrs ~75w or 100w ps - ~15
3 10-packs of cheap 3w LEDs - 18 (this is for colors)
add a couple "nice" LEDs for PAR power - 15

and you're basically at $100 right there (plus wire, solder, wire nuts, etc). That'll get you pretty bright lights, but requires "janky" wiring (led strings straight to the LRS, not off of actual drivers, no dimming, etc)

you could also go with driver-on-board options like this: that i've heard of people using, seems less electrically efficient to my sophomoric brain but very cheap and can get a lot of no-frills light cheap

Edit: so forgot to say - reason for this budgeting out is that you can DIY cheaper than buying, but it's not THAT much cheaper than black-box options unless you're consciously making decisions to go really no-frills

 

[exnisstech]

Don’t know if the fiasco is noo-psyche commenting on the other brand.

Maybe fiasco wasn't the correction word. Most of the concern I think is they are now shipping 126 watt power supplies with a light that outputs 140 watts. Then they go on to say it's a 140 watt supply labeled wrong and maybe even hinted they modified it internally. They probably should have just said hey we're sorry we'll be happy to send you a power supply rated at a 140watts rather than making excuses and then talking bad about the competition. Just left a sour taste even tho I still love mine.

 

[Reef By Steele]

Maybe fiasco wasn't the correction word. Most of the concern I think is they are now shipping 126 watt power supplies with a light that outputs 140 watts. Then they go on to say it's a 140 watt supply labeled wrong and maybe even hinted they modified it internally. They probably should have just said hey we're sorry we'll be happy to send you a power supply rated at a 140watts rather than making excuses and then talking bad about the competition. Just left a sour taste even tho I still love mine.

I didn’t catch that part. I was trying to find somewhere that it burned a house down or something.

 

[PotatoPig]

NOOPSYCHE K7 V3 aquarium led saltwater coral light for USA

Better spectrum out / Excellent Growth / Feed Almost all the of the SPS/LPS coral in one reef tank isn't a dream especially red coral Perfect mixing and Shimmer / Superior Color Mixing / The best mixing spectrum technology / Affordable price LED reef lighting/ about 1.4watt per dollar

noopsychereeflight.com

sheesh, that's still pretty dang expensive. I was more looking for a way to make my own, not sure why no one has done it yet but I'd guess just pick out diodes of the colour I want?

They're $180 with a bracket, $160 without, for a 140W setup, and come with all the work done for a controller. That’s $1.28/watt ready to go out the box.

I’d be very surprised if you could source comparable quantities of LEDs, heat sink, fan, case, power supply and so on for anything meaningfully less than that. Hell, just the LEDs will run you approx $1/watt off Aliexpress. And then you’ve got to put a fair amount of effort into assembly and programming the thing.

Compared to these and similar budget LED systems the reason to do DIY is either for your own enjoyment and/or you have a highly custom setup.

 

[theatrus]

They're $180 with a bracket, $160 without, for a 140W setup, and come with all the work done for a controller. That’s $1.28/watt ready to go out the box.

I’d be very surprised if you could source comparable quantities of LEDs, heat sink, fan, case, power supply and so on for anything meaningfully less than that. Hell, just the LEDs will run you approx $1/watt off Aliexpress. And then you’ve got to put a fair amount of effort into assembly and programming the thing.

Compared to these and similar budget LED systems the reason to do DIY is either for your own enjoyment and/or you have a highly custom setup.

The reality is the import fixtures are better and cheaper. Yes, they will cut corners (power supplies for any of these are generally very dodgy) but it’s going to look a lot better. Doing it DIY for cost isn’t netting much, especially if you make a mistake and need to rebuy something.

I’m all for making a better cheaper product. Even saying why your fixture is better. But the reality is nearly every fixture fits into a few buckets and “better” doesn’t actually mean anything if it’s required to work at all.

 

[Idech]

There are no results for that search.

 

[FrugalReefer]

Nicrew Hyperreef

 

[Idech]

They're $180 with a bracket, $160 without, for a 140W setup, and come with all the work done for a controller. That’s $1.28/watt ready to go out the box.

I’d be very surprised if you could source comparable quantities of LEDs, heat sink, fan, case, power supply and so on for anything meaningfully less than that. Hell, just the LEDs will run you approx $1/watt off Aliexpress. And then you’ve got to put a fair amount of effort into assembly and programming the thing.

Compared to these and similar budget LED systems the reason to do DIY is either for your own enjoyment and/or you have a highly custom setup.

As far as I know, Noo-Psyche products aren’t available in Canada.

And if they were, you bet they’d be a lot more expensive than in USA, even when taking the exchange rate into account.

 

[Troylee]

Lots of people diy leds, t5’s but in the end it’s the same price as buying a light.. it’s not cheap and that’s that.. if you wanna go cheap find something used on the dry goods for sale here or your local face book market place. But! You gotta make sure it’s for reef lighting not just any led combo or t5 works..

 

[Alpha_and_Gec]

Guess I'll pick up the cheap light from facebook... it looks nicer than the t5 fluorescents anyways.

 

[Reef By Steele]

Maybe fiasco wasn't the correction word. Most of the concern I think is they are now shipping 126 watt power supplies with a light that outputs 140 watts. Then they go on to say it's a 140 watt supply labeled wrong and maybe even hinted they modified it internally. They probably should have just said hey we're sorry we'll be happy to send you a power supply rated at a 140watts rather than making excuses and then talking bad about the competition. Just left a sour taste even tho I still love mine.

You laughed at my burned down house, but when I started back into the hobby my LFS sold me finnex titanium heaters. I have 6 full tanks, Frag system, 75, 2-40, 4-20 6-10 gallon QT’s. So somewhere around 25 heaters. Just last there I think 6 month warranty I had one go bad. They basically said tick up a rope. Then I had one that the solder where it connects power cord to the element came loose, I picked it up and the end fell off, and finally we were leaving for the weekend and I had our egress window open to get fresher air in the basement where most of this is, and smelled something funny. Looked and looked and finally found that the controller I. The stand was actively melting. House would have burned down before we got home, and yes it was connected to a HFCI outlet but somehow was hot enough to melt the plastic without shorting the circuit.

So yes that was my first thought.

 

[Troylee]

Guess I'll pick up the cheap light from facebook... it looks nicer than the t5 fluorescents anyways.

Make sure it’s reef lighting or you’ll just grow algae lol.. spectrum is huge in leds.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Ai Hydra 26 OR 32
Noopsyche K7 Pro
Vivarspectra

 

[Alpha_and_Gec]

Make sure it’s reef lighting or you’ll just grow algae lol.. spectrum is huge in leds.

Currently looking at these two, both are unbranded so I'm not sure what they'll do.

 

[Reef By Steele]

The best advice I have for any reefer who asks is buy the best equipment you can afford. If your budget is super tight it might be wise to run a fish only tank as you save up for proper lighting. Even with the top of the line equipment you will surely lose some corals. With the wrong lighting you will lose significantly more.

I bought a Fluval nano light for a 10 gallon that I QT new drags in to inspect for pests and diseases after wiping out my reef with some cheap drags from an auction. That light which isn’t probably enough for the 10 but keeps them ok for a couple weeks before I add them and acclimate them to higher lighting, cost me $110 for a 20 watt programmable light.

 

[Alpha_and_Gec]

HOLY **** NEVERMIND I GOT MY OLD NICREW HYPERREEF 100 WORKING
LET'S GOOOOO

 

[Alpha_and_Gec]

Hell yeah