lighting for my 150 gallon

[Alexander lys]

so as the title suggests, im upgrading my 29 biocube to a 48"x24"x30" 150 gallon tank. and im not sure what lighting to go with. i have mostly an LPS tank with a purple stylophora and a ORA birdsnest being my only SPS. any good LED light recommendations that wont break the bank (I.E 900 or less)? my goals for the tank are to stay LPS dominant while keeping the two SPS i have happy and growing.

i was looking at the Maxspect Razor X R5 200W fixture and was curious what your guys' thoughts are on it. seems like a good fixture and should be able to cover my tank with minimal shadowing.

i have a kessil on my biocube now and really love that lighting system but the research ive done shows that id need two AP700's to be effective on a tank my size.

 

[jda]

Look at some of the better Chinese stuff... ReefBreeders or SB. Most of the diodes are the same, so you will pay for features and channels - this is very important to some, but not so important to others. If you don't need many features, then a trio of Galaxy or Mars might be just fine. If you want a lot of features, then ReefBreeders Photon is a good place to start.

 

[dwest]

so as the title suggests, im upgrading my 29 biocube to a 48"x24"x30" 150 gallon tank. and im not sure what lighting to go with. i have mostly an LPS tank with a purple stylophora and a ORA birdsnest being my only SPS. any good LED light recommendations that wont break the bank (I.E 900 or less)? my goals for the tank are to stay LPS dominant while keeping the two SPS i have happy and growing.

i was looking at the Maxspect Razor X R5 200W fixture and was curious what your guys' thoughts are on it. seems like a good fixture and should be able to cover my tank with minimal shadowing.

i have a kessil on my biocube now and really love that lighting system but the research ive done shows that id need two AP700's to be effective on a tank my size.

I agree with the Chinese advice. Another possibility is to get a t5/ combo. You may be able to retro some of your existing lights to it.

 

[Sarah24!]

Hello,

The options above are pretty good, but better bang for dollar since you said staying with lps, try or look at the current ic loop lights. They are 120 degree lens and strong enough for lps all day long and has a lot more features. They will also support the ora birdsnest, but with that said it should be mid tank or higher. They will support some sps but placing of them is critical and depends on which sps.’they probably won’t handle clams or super high demand lights. Two of them would be about the same cost as your others and you won’t have any shadow effect, and lots more features if that’s something your looking for. The warranty on them is ten times better than the others as well as supporting help which is a great thing.

 

[Alexander lys]

I appreciate the replies guys! Super helpful. I looked at the reefbreeders photon v2 and like what I see but didn’t see a recommended coverage area. Does anyone have any experience with them and if they will cover the 48”x24” footprint?

 

[Oldreefer44]

Had Maxspect but got rid of them because had to keep replacing diodes. An Orphek v4 would cover everything and work well if you ever wanted to go to more demanding sps.

 

[jda]

Photon is available in 48 inch versions. I do not use one, but I would think that they can easily grow LPS and some easier SPS in a 48x24 footprint at 30" of depth.

 

[Reef Breeders]

I appreciate the replies guys! Super helpful. I looked at the reefbreeders photon v2 and like what I see but didn’t see a recommended coverage area. Does anyone have any experience with them and if they will cover the 48”x24” footprint?

Quite a few of our customers run our Photon 48-V2+ on their 4'x2' 120 gallon and 150 gallon tanks. Our lights are some of the widest in the industry in terms of front to back coverage, and they handle a 24" spread very well.

If you have any other questions feel free to ask us!

 

[Reef Breeders]

Look at some of the better Chinese stuff... ReefBreeders or SB. Most of the diodes are the same, so you will pay for features and channels - this is very important to some, but not so important to others. If you don't need many features, then a trio of Galaxy or Mars might be just fine. If you want a lot of features, then ReefBreeders Photon is a good place to start.

Actually- not so! The SB lights use all off-brand LEDs in the basics and only a handful of Crees in the Ultras.

Our Photon V2+ uses Cree XT-E 5watt LEDs for the Royal Blues and Nuetral whites, and 3watt Cree XP-Es for the cool blues and Greens. Semi LEDs (SMT LEDs with the same solder footprint as the Crees) are use for the 420nm violets, and Osram 660nm Deep reds are used for the red channel.

Cree is a massive multinational that sets the standard for semi-conductor manufacturing, and as such they have some of the most advanced manufacturing facilities in the industry. On top of that, every LED and component is precision-soldered by machine in a static free clean room which makes a big difference in the lifespan of the diodes.

 

[sp1187]

I have a 150 Tall also.
I'm using two AquaBeam 2000: 30 Watt Reef White NP (Nature Prefect) Ultima & two AquaBeam 600 Ultima: 12 watt Reef Blue.

http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/AquaRayLEDLighting.html#2000

Long Tentacle Plate, Blasto colony and Wall Hammer at the bottom of the tank are all rockin'.

 

[Sarah24!]

Hello,

Lol @Reef Breeders like the honesty it’s not often seen. I don’t use your lights but have seen good things and I know the local aquarium here has a few tanks with them. It seems to me (opinion only) that led lights (the diodes only not the fixture are really all probably the same). Speaking with other People as well, it’s kinda like car parts (which I know nothing about) but you have a part made by the dealership like oh say Jeep (can’t think of anything else and I drive one) but for example I have had to have things fixed on it, and I can pay for example (the water pump I think it’s called). Anyway the dealership part was almost 200, but a generic part is maybe 90. I went with the 90, one, has a lifetime warranty so if it breaks oh well. The other one has a 1 year and is 200. But the point being is most leds themselves (if not all) are the same thing. Yes wattage makes a difference because it’s the power but how they are made and or more than likely bought. I’m not sure if reef breeders buys their leds and makes their own fixtures or if they make the leds also. I haven’t heard of any companies as of yet that manufacture their own leds. Which brings me to that all the leds are pretty much the same quality (just the diodes is what I am speaking about).