Does anyone actually make decent lights?

[cedwards04]

The reef breeders i have seen in person do not do a great job at blending colors unless they are mounted really high above the tank.

Watching video reviews on the reefi's and several people have said they do not blend the colors as well as radions. I thought my radions did a terrible job of blending color, so that's out.

Obviously something like lighting is subjective, but thus far I still have yet to find any modern lighting solution that checks all the boxes. For what these lights cost, it shouldn't be this difficult.

I think my best option is going to be kessil and some sort of light bar for fill in. Im also considering doing 2 rows of kessil lights instead of just 1 row and strip lights.

 

[moosevandyke]

Straton. Best lights can crank em and for some reason lps love them in my sps dominate tank.

I run radon's g6 on my other two tanks and will be switching asap.

 

[1ocean]

I curently have 4 radions xr30's and 3 kessil A 360 and I am thinking of replacing the radions with ATI X and keep the kessils also on the new tank...

 

[grayson-15]

Im in the research phase for my next build and struggling bad with lighting.

It seems like there just aren't any decent options out there. Everything i look at i find a legitimate reason that I don't want to buy them.

I've had cheap black boxes, t5's, ai primes, ai hydras, radion g4's, radion g5's, led/t5 hybrid. I just cannot seem to find what I am looking for.

Tank will be a 6ft mixed reef but heavy on the sps. T5's give my wife headaches, so they are out. I dont want to deal with the difficulty of getting metal halides, or the heat, so they are out. I didnt like the look of my tank under radions, nor did I like the mobius app and its unreliability. I liked my hydras ok, but then there is lense burn and some disco affect that I don't like. Black boxes never gave me the coral color I was after.

I want leds that blend color very well, which has me leaning towards kessil, but I know I will need a bunch of them, or some strip lighting, which isn't ideal either. Considering how much money lights cost, there really should be better options.

Ive looking into dalua x4's, but they are really pricey and it seems customer service is lacking.

Ive looking into reefi, but a lot of people say they give off a pinkish spectrum and I absolutely do not want that.

The Stratton x looks somewhat promising but people say the app is difficult and ati doesnt have a great record of customer service in the USA.

What am I missing?

Have you looked at orphek they are amazing lights and the best in my opinion but they come with the price tag too

 

[carol3]

Love my Stratons, beautiful lights and even have a little shimmer, great spread and par and amazingly they don't shine in your eyes no matter where you're
sitting in the room. I have the flex and they are hanging from the ceiling, totally silent, no fans and you don't need any supplemental lights, I think other light companies need to step up their game.

 

[FishTruck]

+1 reefi.

 

[Hooz]

If you like the metal halide look, check out the Quanta Atlas.

Honestly, though, for an SPS tank and a T5-ish look without the T5 hassles, I'd look at a combination of Quanta Helix bars. You can mix and match the bars to get as blue or as white of a look as you like, all while getting a great spectrum for your coral.

 

[badIuck]

Straton or if you like more full spectrum light, coralcare gen2 are super underrated imo

 

[cdbean]

I just hung my Straton X yesterday. I love that I don’t get glare and it’s silent. I haven’t done much with the spectrum but I’m running mixed and it looks good to me but I’m not big on the strong blue look. Some people have complained about the app but I was up and running in a few seconds and it’s been fine so far.

 

[HELLCO]

Check out the Orphek OR4 bars, they average $200-300 each depending on which ones you get. You could mix and match them on their mounting arms and control the individual bars for the look and par you want.
I'm running two Radion G6 Pros and like them a lot, I'll be adding the OR4 Blue+ bars for supplemental lighting in some shaded areas and more pop in my tank.

 

[tjdj0214]

I have installed Growrium GC0190005. It is 4' long on a 4' tank. Brackets can accommodate a 6' tank. I think they have smaller ones too. Only about 150. Has red, cyan, blue, white, violet & UVA. They can be individually adjusted and has a customizable time schedule. I only have fish & inverts now, but planning on corals. I do not have a PAR meter so I cannot vouch for the light at the bottom of the tank. I run the blue at about 80%, white is only on during viewing hours. I am happy with it so far. 95W.

 

[mjk42]

I am using reefi x2 on 4ft tank and they are great. Can adjust spectrum extensively which is good and bad if you are new to the hobby like me but they have overall easy to use with pre made setting options as well.

 

[Geek16432]

I use a pair of kessil a9x on a 72×24 and love them

 

[extra large lobos]

Im in the research phase for my next build and struggling bad with lighting.

It seems like there just aren't any decent options out there. Everything i look at i find a legitimate reason that I don't want to buy them.

I've had cheap black boxes, t5's, ai primes, ai hydras, radion g4's, radion g5's, led/t5 hybrid. I just cannot seem to find what I am looking for.

Tank will be a 6ft mixed reef but heavy on the sps. T5's give my wife headaches, so they are out. I dont want to deal with the difficulty of getting metal halides, or the heat, so they are out. I didnt like the look of my tank under radions, nor did I like the mobius app and its unreliability. I liked my hydras ok, but then there is lense burn and some disco affect that I don't like. Black boxes never gave me the coral color I was after.

I want leds that blend color very well, which has me leaning towards kessil, but I know I will need a bunch of them, or some strip lighting, which isn't ideal either. Considering how much money lights cost, there really should be better options.

Ive looking into dalua x4's, but they are really pricey and it seems customer service is lacking.

Ive looking into reefi, but a lot of people say they give off a pinkish spectrum and I absolutely do not want that.

The Stratton x looks somewhat promising but people say the app is difficult and ati doesnt have a great record of customer service in the USA.

What am I missing?

You shout try the led versions of the metal halide, then mix in a couple cheap adjustable kessils for any deep blued. The led/halides are 6000 k and you can get them on the bluer side. That's my next build. There's just nothing better than the sun's full spectrum.

 

[Glass2Reef]

Im in the research phase for my next build and struggling bad with lighting.

It seems like there just aren't any decent options out there. Everything i look at i find a legitimate reason that I don't want to buy them.

I've had cheap black boxes, t5's, ai primes, ai hydras, radion g4's, radion g5's, led/t5 hybrid. I just cannot seem to find what I am looking for.

Tank will be a 6ft mixed reef but heavy on the sps. T5's give my wife headaches, so they are out. I dont want to deal with the difficulty of getting metal halides, or the heat, so they are out. I didnt like the look of my tank under radions, nor did I like the mobius app and its unreliability. I liked my hydras ok, but then there is lense burn and some disco affect that I don't like. Black boxes never gave me the coral color I was after.

I want leds that blend color very well, which has me leaning towards kessil, but I know I will need a bunch of them, or some strip lighting, which isn't ideal either. Considering how much money lights cost, there really should be better options.

Ive looking into dalua x4's, but they are really pricey and it seems customer service is lacking.

Ive looking into reefi, but a lot of people say they give off a pinkish spectrum and I absolutely do not want that.

The Stratton x looks somewhat promising but people say the app is difficult and ati doesnt have a great record of customer service in the USA.

What am I missing?

You shout try the led versions of the metal halide, then mix in a couple cheap adjustable kessils for any deep blued. The led/halides are 6000 k and you can get them on the bluer side. That's my next build. There's just nothing better than the sun's full spectrum.

Which LEDs are you referring to?

 

[cedwards04]

Hands down. Reefbreeders Meridian 63
If your going sps you eventually will need bars for shadowing from colonies. The matching bars have articulating mounts that attach right to the light

You can spend less money upfront and get just the light for now and add bars later

Or you can get a combo on their site with the bars and save a few hundred bucks

Here is the meridian 63 over a friends tank

I think this photo is an excellent example of what I don't want. You can plainly see the individual led colors reflecting off the sand bed. This is the same thing i notice on every tank i see in person using reefbreeders, or lights that are similar. This is what has me leaning so hard towards kessil despite the fact that they are more expensive and seem to have a shorter lifespan than many other options out there.

 

[VintageReefer]

I think this photo is an excellent example of what I don't want. You can plainly see the individual led colors reflecting off the sand bed. This is the same thing i notice on every tank i see in person using reefbreeders, or lights that are similar. This is what has me leaning so hard towards kessil despite the fact that they are more expensive and seem to have a shorter lifespan than many other options out there.

That is a camera “artifact” for lack of better word. Cameras are more sensitive/receptive to certain spectrums with leds and we use filters to tone them down and neutralize the things they are oversensitive to. Primarily orange filters to reduce falsely excessive blues. This then can make other channels appear more dominant. In person, the blending is excellent and there is no disco ball effect

Ignore the surface reflection and look at the corals and the tank bottom. It is an even wash in all directions.

This is a single meridian 11 (rated for up to 24x24) over a tank that is 30x24

 

[X-37B]

Interesting observation. I run 2 edge bars to compliment my 400 watt halide and dont see this.
This is my 35g nem system running a ReefBreeder photon 24. No distinction of different colors as it blends well.

Halide with edge.

 

[Quantum.Reef]

I’m thinking about switching back to the old-school metal halide + T5 setup. It just seems like corals respond better to that combo. I’ve been running Radion G5/G6 and Orphek, but I’m curious to go back and compare results

 

[cedwards04]

That is a camera “artifact” for lack of better word. Cameras are more sensitive/receptive to certain spectrums with leds and we use filters to tone them down and neutralize the things they are oversensitive to. Primarily orange filters to reduce falsely excessive blues. This then can make other channels appear more dominant. In person, the blending is excellent and there is no disco ball effect

Ignore the surface reflection and look at the corals and the tank bottom. It is an even wash in all directions.

This is a single meridian 11 (rated for up to 24x24) over a tank that is 30x24

As I've already stated, I've seen them in person and noticed the same thing. My lfs uses reef breeders over all of his tanks. 2 of my local friends have reef breeders over their tanks. They grow coral, but I don't like how the tank looks under them.