I know I need an LED light, but there's way too many choices...

[Ben Seaver]

I have a newly set up 120 gal saltwater tank. I am looking to buy an LED light. I plan on having coral as well as fish. The tank is 72" long by 24" high. I want to purchase a light that will keep the coral thriving. I am of course looking to do this as least expensive as possible. Any suggestions are definitely welcome. my biggest concerns are light penetrating to the bottom of the tank as well as light spectrum, other than that I am a novice but have been reading a ton.

 

[redfishbluefish]

I really like THIS light....and I've linked a 3 light deal from eBay....the Mars Aqua. Three of these over a six foot tank would work fine. (I personally pulled the lens off mine....I have these in a canopy about 12 inches above the waterline.)

 

[zoomonster]

Well that's a tough cookie to crack and it really comes down to money for quality IMO and its either spend it now or spend it later. At the risk of offending some people (none intended) I'm going to split it up like this and I'm not going to include hybrids with T5. Other than this you just need to research and decide what works best for you and of course how much money you want to spend. Personally if I was in the market for LED right now I would be looking at a hybrid unit with LED and T5. IMO that's the future and current best solution (other than MH/T5). Also a significant issue to be thought about is mounting. Either hanging or a variety of on tank options. Different lights have different options and some have little to none. Not as much an issue if your going to mount them in a canopy.

Ecotech Radion, Kessil, AI Hydra, Giesemann, ATI are generally all top tier you can't go wrong with and most all are controllable via controllers like Apex and have good mounting options aside from being good lights with good support.

Pacific Sun has both LED and Hybrid and seem to have some good options now. Just have not formed an opinion yet but don't think they are controllable and from what I know support is lacking with one person is USA that does everything.
Maxspect not controllable via controller and generally not impressed but it basically falls mid tier. The on tank mounts are terrible and sag. In all fairness not a fan of much of anything marketed by Coralvue other than maybe reef octopus.

Most everything else falls into the category of Chinese box lights and a lot of support, control and quality issues with some. There's some perfectly good ones people will swear by. If you want to go that route do your research. Many of these are just boxes and other than maybe a hanging kit not much in the way of mounting options.

There's some others I probably missed but that gives you a general idea to start looking.

 

[Bumgrundle]

Well that's a tough cookie to crack and it really comes down to money for quality IMO and its either spend it now or spend it later. At the risk of offending some people (none intended) I'm going to split it up like this and I'm not going to include hybrids with T5. Other than this you just need to research and decide what works best for you and of course how much money you want to spend. Personally if I was in the market for LED right now I would be looking at a hybrid unit with LED and T5. IMO that's the future and current best solution (other than MH/T5). Also a significant issue to be thought about is mounting. Either hanging or a variety of on tank options. Different lights have different options and some have little to none. Not as much an issue if your going to mount them in a canopy.

Ecotech Radion, Kessil, AI Hydra, Giesemann, ATI are generally all top tier you can't go wrong with and most all are controllable via controllers like Apex and have good mounting options aside from being good lights with good support.

Pacific Sun has both LED and Hybrid and seem to have some good options now. Just have not formed an opinion yet but don't think they are controllable and from what I know support is lacking with one person is USA that does everything.
Maxspect not controllable via controller and generally not impressed but it basically falls mid tier. The on tank mounts are terrible and sag. In all fairness not a fan of much of anything marketed by Coralvue other than maybe reef octopus.

Most everything else falls into the category of Chinese box lights and a lot of support, control and quality issues with some. There's some perfectly good ones people will swear by. If you want to go that route do your research. Many of these are just boxes and other than maybe a hanging kit not much in the way of mounting options.

There's some others I probably missed but that gives you a general idea to start looking.

Kessil! I really dig mine. The one thing that stood out to me, and i'm a rookie, was the most natural shimmer of any lights I was considering. All other higher end lights, this is just my opinion, had a discernible break between the colors. by that i mean they all had more of a "disco ball" look and feel to them. With the Kessils, the shimmer doesn't seem to have that breakout of individual colors, hence, it's a more natural melding of the colors.
I also purchased the Spectral controller, it's just awesome!
IMO, spare no expense in lighting, going cheap would be like runnin' a top of the line alienware box with a CRT...know what I mean?
Happy Reefing

 

[Anthony kolodziej]

I looked for 3 years at all the led brands and in the end I chose the hydra 52 , heres why . 1st the diodes are from a quality brand . 2nd active and passive cooling 3rd the lenses on these disperse the light very well and blend the colors tremendously 4th the spectrum is right 5th I have seen them grow corals without issue and no disco ball and I have seen these lights grow corals all kinds of corals . my .02 cents

 

[zoomonster]

Yeah didn't mention I run 5 Kessil A360WE's on a 72x24x27 200g tank. That should be 3 based on ratings but I wanted more light and with the amount of flow I have the shimmer was almost enough to cause vertigo. The extra two lights toned that shimmer down to more like MH like and also cut the shadowing way down from what it was. Great lights.

 

[Cory]

If you want a dusk to dawn effect and are going for kessil, realize that it turns off at 10%, wich is pretty bright still. I have kessil and was dissapointed in this one feature. Otherwise its a great light.

 

[Greenstreet.1]

I'm an Ai reefer with that said if you are worried about price try reef radiance they have a special on Starfire LEDs for 149$ I may get one for my 20g

 

[Desmond]

As stated above there are many different types of lighting to choose from.
What you need to think about is do you want a light you can control for example from you tab or phone.
Do you want a simple light that does sunrise to sunset. Exactly what type of cprals are you planning.
Some units can be very expensive this is true but as mentioned above you are not only paying for the light but the customer service you recieve after the purchase. Personally for me i went for the Radion gen 3 as i looked at it this way if i went for this i would not be tempted to upgrade in the future. i have also seen some great sucess with the evergrow brands of lighting.
I dont think you will have a huge problem with penatration with led as they are very powerful and most people dont even run then on 100% .
i run mine on 65% and it is more than enough.