Nano tank Light Battle Royale - Does $$$ mean more growth?

[Soylent Wrasse]

Hey folks!

So I recently came into some nano tanks, and having a few of the lesser known LED lights, and a few of the more popular ones, now is the perfect time to try out some real world applications on one of the most popular nano's - the Fluval EVO 13.5. (And a few others!)

First and foremost, I am not a scientist, and do not pretend to be 100% accurate with what I'll be doing. What I can offer though is actual real world results, with similar tanks, and all using the same set up, save the lighting. Let's begin!

Fluval EVO 13.5 is available almost everywhere, and going through the nano reef builds, is one of the more if not most popular tanks. Even if you're not using one of these tanks, there should be some correlation between these tanks and yours.

Every EVO is set up the same way: Stock return pump, same heater (Aqueon 100W Preset Heater: Aqueon 100W Heater), same powerhead (YCTECH 6W Powerhead: YCTECH Powerhead) and same substrate (Carib Sea Crushed Coral: Carib Sea Crushed Coral). The lights are different, and I'll go over those under each tank. All links go to Amazon, where I purchased these from. I live in northern Minnesota, the nearest LFS is over two hours away, and in a different state. Amazon has been amazing for getting things I'd not be able to get otherwise.

And before we jump into the tanks, one last thing. These are not set up to be top of the line 500+ USD nanos. My goal is $250 or under (which I make on all but one) and without equipment you do not need. Sure having extra stuff might be nice, but now what we are worrying about today.

First tank up: Stock Fluval EVO
Build Thread: Evo 13.5 QT/Nano

I first set this up in January of this year (2021). Here's a shot of what she looked like then:

And one month (ish) later:

You can see obviously good growth (and some new corals too). While the tank is dirty, the little coral beauty who's in there loves picking at rocks. I also just added some more clean up crew (quarter sized tuxedo urchin) and a monster emerald crab, who loves to re-arrange everything nearly every night.

Livestock:
Coral Beauty - started the size of a quarter, doubled in size.
Hermits/snails - 15 total, mixed, nothing fancy
Tuxedo Urchin
Emerald Crab
Porcelain Crab - molted once

Corals:
Two Purple/Green Hammers
Two Gold Cristata
Three Watermelon Rainbow Anemones
Neon Green Toadstool Leather
Red/Green Trumpet Coral
Two Duncan frags (started as one head each, now multiple heads popping out)
Generic Tan/Yellow Toadstool Leather
Neon Green Sinularia (new, no results yet)
Tan/ Yellow finger leather
JF Fruity Pebbles Monti (new, no results yet) (more on this later)

So we know the stock light can grow the basics, lets see how it can handle a high light monti.

Next up: Fluval EVO with AI Prime (non-HD)
So this guy breaks the $250 limit obviously. I did get the tank for 100, and I did get a deal on the light (150 when it was new), so I'm about 350 into this tank with everything else.

Just set up two days ago (used the live sand I had and waiting for the crushed coral to come in to "re-plant" the substrate. Rock is a mix of live and dry base, so roughly a week and the tank should be ready for corals.
Speaking of corals, here's what will be going in here:
Jason Fox Fruity Pebbles Monti
Green / Purple Hammer
Yellow/Tan Leather

So one SPS, one LPS, one Softy
I'll add one or two fish in a week.

Why the Fruity Pebbles? The LFS (Thanks John from Midwest Aquarium Services in Fargo, ND!) took them in on trade. They weren't selling, so I got them for $10 each. That's why!
So how do I think this tank will do? With the AI Prime it can handle anything I toss in the tank. Not worried about lighting. What I am wondering about is if I'm getting better growth than the others for the price point. If we end up with similar growth, is spending 100-150$ more worth it?

Next up, EVO 13.5 with "Generic" 30W LED Fixture

So this tank just got set up this morning, and you can see the salt mixing now. The light is a 30W HIPARGERO with Cree LEDS - HIPARGERO 30W LED. Now I am cheating a little bit with this one, as I've had it over a 6G and it grew Acro's like mad. It's been sitting in the closet since 2018, so I figured I'd use it as a happy medium. It will be sitting over the lid of the stock EVO, with the LEDS over the open slot. Once the crushed coral comes in, I'll get some live rock from my 100 in there with some dry stuff, so should have the same week long cycle or so. (My 100G has been up since 2018 and I use that to start all the other tanks. I love never having to cycle!)

Now I did mention there were some others....

Again, hat tip to John @ Midwest Aquarium Services - John@Midwest. Since I live over two hours away, I make that trip about four times a year. He never disappoints, has AMAZING prices on coral and fish and equipment. Best LFS I've found, and that counts everything in the Twin Cities. So I went over there looking really just for some clean up crew and a fish or two and he had some nano tanks (four!) that were for sale. Long story short, I ended up with: New in the box Waterbox 10, used UN 45a, 18x18 rimless cube and a 6g glass nano with Fluval COB 9k light, for 200$. Had I waited and not bought the two fluvals two days before, I'd of ended up with a couple more. I can't stress this enough - best LFS hands down.

Last one for this round of testing : UNS 45A All in One

So this tank, even though its empty is quickly becoming a favorite. The dimensions are awesome, and 7 gallons seems to be the sweet spot for size. The light on there is new, and I've never used this brand before, but it is a PopBloom s16 Reef light - PopBloom s16 Light. I'm got this because A) I have a million nano's now and B) usually the cheap-o lights are either hit or miss. It is adjustable, has sunrise/sunset and you can change the color output. The downside is the instructions are terrible. I'm curious to see how this will grow coral.

Lastly - Light Duration

So everything is 30W or higher, save the stock Fluval light (18ish I think) so they should work better. To keep everything semi-similar, each tank has an eight hour light cycle. Full on for eight hours at the factory setting. I'll adjust acclimate corals as needed, so nothing gets toasty.

This thread will be updated weekly with each tank, and we'll all be able to see a snap shot of how things are growing. The plan is to run this "Battle Royale" for two months, starting March 1st. Results will be compared to the Stock EVO, as that is the control of the group. Each tank will be tested (Alk/Ca/Mg) once a week and dosed to keep things as close to 8/450/1300 as possible. Why these numbers? They are the easiest for me to maintain. Using Reef Crystals from Instant Ocean for every tank.

And finally, I'm sure there are countless "experts" who will tell me I'm wrong, I'm not doing it right, it won't work yadda, yadda, yadda. That's great, I'm happy for you. For the non-experts out there, hopefully this will provide some help on deciding on equipment without breaking the bank.

See you in a week!

 

[Saltyreef]

FWIW,
I used to grow amazing things in my biocube with the old Ai nano, 2 puck 6 led fixture. 3 colors. White blue and royal blue.
It lasted nearly 8 years for me and i got it used

I feel partially the led chip quality matters for longevity and it goes to show you dont need full spectrum lighting for corals to thrive.

Something like a generic full spectrum light will probably be equally as good as some of the higher end lights for a short period of time (minus specialty proprietary diffusion) until the cheaper chipsets start to die or the drivers wont fire anymore.

Currently i run aftermarket diffusers on old AI hydra 52 non HDs running off a director.
And no complaints from nearly 10 year old lights.

 

[TxReefer21]

Hey folks!

So I recently came into some nano tanks, and having a few of the lesser known LED lights, and a few of the more popular ones, now is the perfect time to try out some real world applications on one of the most popular nano's - the Fluval EVO 13.5. (And a few others!)

First and foremost, I am not a scientist, and do not pretend to be 100% accurate with what I'll be doing. What I can offer though is actual real world results, with similar tanks, and all using the same set up, save the lighting. Let's begin!

Fluval EVO 13.5 is available almost everywhere, and going through the nano reef builds, is one of the more if not most popular tanks. Even if you're not using one of these tanks, there should be some correlation between these tanks and yours.

Every EVO is set up the same way: Stock return pump, same heater (Aqueon 100W Preset Heater: Aqueon 100W Heater), same powerhead (YCTECH 6W Powerhead: YCTECH Powerhead) and same substrate (Carib Sea Crushed Coral: Carib Sea Crushed Coral). The lights are different, and I'll go over those under each tank. All links go to Amazon, where I purchased these from. I live in northern Minnesota, the nearest LFS is over two hours away, and in a different state. Amazon has been amazing for getting things I'd not be able to get otherwise.

And before we jump into the tanks, one last thing. These are not set up to be top of the line 500+ USD nanos. My goal is $250 or under (which I make on all but one) and without equipment you do not need. Sure having extra stuff might be nice, but now what we are worrying about today.

First tank up: Stock Fluval EVO
Build Thread: Evo 13.5 QT/Nano

I first set this up in January of this year (2021). Here's a shot of what she looked like then:

And one month (ish) later:

You can see obviously good growth (and some new corals too). While the tank is dirty, the little coral beauty who's in there loves picking at rocks. I also just added some more clean up crew (quarter sized tuxedo urchin) and a monster emerald crab, who loves to re-arrange everything nearly every night.

Livestock:
Coral Beauty - started the size of a quarter, doubled in size.
Hermits/snails - 15 total, mixed, nothing fancy
Tuxedo Urchin
Emerald Crab
Porcelain Crab - molted once

Corals:
Two Purple/Green Hammers
Two Gold Cristata
Three Watermelon Rainbow Anemones
Neon Green Toadstool Leather
Red/Green Trumpet Coral
Two Duncan frags (started as one head each, now multiple heads popping out)
Generic Tan/Yellow Toadstool Leather
Neon Green Sinularia (new, no results yet)
Tan/ Yellow finger leather
JF Fruity Pebbles Monti (new, no results yet) (more on this later)

So we know the stock light can grow the basics, lets see how it can handle a high light monti.

Next up: Fluval EVO with AI Prime (non-HD)
So this guy breaks the $250 limit obviously. I did get the tank for 100, and I did get a deal on the light (150 when it was new), so I'm about 350 into this tank with everything else.

Just set up two days ago (used the live sand I had and waiting for the crushed coral to come in to "re-plant" the substrate. Rock is a mix of live and dry base, so roughly a week and the tank should be ready for corals.
Speaking of corals, here's what will be going in here:
Jason Fox Fruity Pebbles Monti
Green / Purple Hammer
Yellow/Tan Leather

So one SPS, one LPS, one Softy
I'll add one or two fish in a week.

Why the Fruity Pebbles? The LFS (Thanks John from Midwest Aquarium Services in Fargo, ND!) took them in on trade. They weren't selling, so I got them for $10 each. That's why!
So how do I think this tank will do? With the AI Prime it can handle anything I toss in the tank. Not worried about lighting. What I am wondering about is if I'm getting better growth than the others for the price point. If we end up with similar growth, is spending 100-150$ more worth it?

Next up, EVO 13.5 with "Generic" 30W LED Fixture

So this tank just got set up this morning, and you can see the salt mixing now. The light is a 30W HIPARGERO with Cree LEDS - HIPARGERO 30W LED. Now I am cheating a little bit with this one, as I've had it over a 6G and it grew Acro's like mad. It's been sitting in the closet since 2018, so I figured I'd use it as a happy medium. It will be sitting over the lid of the stock EVO, with the LEDS over the open slot. Once the crushed coral comes in, I'll get some live rock from my 100 in there with some dry stuff, so should have the same week long cycle or so. (My 100G has been up since 2018 and I use that to start all the other tanks. I love never having to cycle!)

Now I did mention there were some others....

Again, hat tip to John @ Midwest Aquarium Services - John@Midwest. Since I live over two hours away, I make that trip about four times a year. He never disappoints, has AMAZING prices on coral and fish and equipment. Best LFS I've found, and that counts everything in the Twin Cities. So I went over there looking really just for some clean up crew and a fish or two and he had some nano tanks (four!) that were for sale. Long story short, I ended up with: New in the box Waterbox 10, used UN 45a, 18x18 rimless cube and a 6g glass nano with Fluval COB 9k light, for 200$. Had I waited and not bought the two fluvals two days before, I'd of ended up with a couple more. I can't stress this enough - best LFS hands down.

Last one for this round of testing : UNS 45A All in One

So this tank, even though its empty is quickly becoming a favorite. The dimensions are awesome, and 7 gallons seems to be the sweet spot for size. The light on there is new, and I've never used this brand before, but it is a PopBloom s16 Reef light - PopBloom s16 Light. I'm got this because A) I have a million nano's now and B) usually the cheap-o lights are either hit or miss. It is adjustable, has sunrise/sunset and you can change the color output. The downside is the instructions are terrible. I'm curious to see how this will grow coral.

Lastly - Light Duration

So everything is 30W or higher, save the stock Fluval light (18ish I think) so they should work better. To keep everything semi-similar, each tank has an eight hour light cycle. Full on for eight hours at the factory setting. I'll adjust acclimate corals as needed, so nothing gets toasty.

This thread will be updated weekly with each tank, and we'll all be able to see a snap shot of how things are growing. The plan is to run this "Battle Royale" for two months, starting March 1st. Results will be compared to the Stock EVO, as that is the control of the group. Each tank will be tested (Alk/Ca/Mg) once a week and dosed to keep things as close to 8/450/1300 as possible. Why these numbers? They are the easiest for me to maintain. Using Reef Crystals from Instant Ocean for every tank.

And finally, I'm sure there are countless "experts" who will tell me I'm wrong, I'm not doing it right, it won't work yadda, yadda, yadda. That's great, I'm happy for you. For the non-experts out there, hopefully this will provide some help on deciding on equipment without breaking the bank.

See you in a week!

I’ve had my evo 13.5 set up for about 5 months. And I’m running a 30watt led nicrew light and it does great with just blues and whites and the growth of the corals are tremendous

 

[Soylent Wrasse]

I’ve had my evo 13.5 set up for about 5 months. And I’m running a 30watt led nicrew light and it does great with just blues and whites and the growth of the corals are tremendous

I was on amazon grabbing stuff and there are a TON of new lights out there. I've seen that light, and it looks pretty nice. I've still got four more nano's to set up, so I'll be looking into those for sure.

 

[Soylent Wrasse]

FWIW,
I used to grow amazing things in my biocube with the old Ai nano, 2 puck 6 led fixture. 3 colors. White blue and royal blue.
It lasted nearly 8 years for me and i got it used

I feel partially the led chip quality matters for longevity and it goes to show you dont need full spectrum lighting for corals to thrive.

Something like a generic full spectrum light will probably be equally as good as some of the higher end lights for a short period of time (minus specialty proprietary diffusion) until the cheaper chipsets start to die or the drivers wont fire anymore.

Currently i run aftermarket diffusers on old AI hydra 52 non HDs running off a director.
And no complaints from nearly 10 year old lights.

I've always been shall we say hesitant about "upgrading" your LEDS every couple of years. Awesome to see your lights working for you! Once this first round of tests is done, I'll keep these lights on tanks for longer term, and see if they are lasting for a year or more. There was a really good paper done on some LEDS with nothing but blue and white lights for a year or more, and the coral was just fine compared to "full spectrum". I can't remember the paper, but I know it was brought up from a company in Europe who had a pretty good fixture of just white and blues. (The test wasn't done with their stuff, so wasn't a bias issue.

 

[Soylent Wrasse]

Got another nano set up today, and Amazon is dropping some things off tomorrow and Tuesday, so we should be able to get the ball rolling pretty well this week!

 

[Soylent Wrasse]

Got some corals in the AI Prime lit EVO 13.5 last night. I love being able to move live rock into a new tank and skip the cycle ( still waited a few days!)

Light is just ramping up. Test subjects are:
Rainbow Bubbletip Anemone
Duncan
Candy Cane
Green Headed hammer
Two leathers
JF Rainbow Monti on top right

A couple hermits and snails too.

The other test Fluval is up and running, and I'll be moving some stuff into there tomorrow, since it was set up a day later. Then the battle begins!

 

[Soylent Wrasse]

Added another LED to the Royale - the Nicrew 50W Hyperreef! It's over a Waterbox 10. Build thread is here: Waterbox 10 w/Nicrew 50 Watt

 

[Soylent Wrasse]

Here we go - the contenders are set up and rolling, lets see what we got!

Stock Fluval EVO 13.5 3/7/21

Undergone some changes in corals / landscape (Which will be redone to be as close to the other tanks this afternoon).
New stuff: Three flower anemones, two Bubbletips. Moved the monti to the AI Prime tank, but otherwise still the same stuff as the others: Leathers/LPS/Anemones. No SPS in this one, as I'd have to place it super close to the surface, skewing the results. It will grow birdsnest up high, but tends to brown them out.

AI Prime Fluval EVO:

Final resting location of corals/landscape for the month long test. Corals include: Leathers/SPS/LPS and a bubbletip.
Candy Cane on the bottom, along with a pink cabbage leather (hiding behind the green hammer in the middle). Duncans on the left bottom, SPS on the top right (Unknown Acro, JF Fruity Pebbles Monti, Jedi Mindtrick who will probably end up in the middle just above the candy cane. Already coloring up really nicely on the perch to the right.

Hipargo 30W LED Fluval 13.5:

Leathers, LPS, SPS. Duncans/Hammers/Cristata and a birdsnest. The birdsnest is supposed to be rainbow - we'll see if the light pulls colors out. I like whiter tanks, and hate the windex look. The adjustments on this light just dropped the whites down a little, so we'll see how it ends up.

Alrighty! These tanks are locked in for 30 days, we'll have weekly updates with growth/stuff that happens etc. I'll add some more snails/hermits if I need to.

These tanks are fed once a day with Reef Chili and golden pearls, just to provide some nutrients to the tanks. No fish will be added. The stock EVO 13.5 will keep the Coral Beauty, mostly as I really like that little fish!

Again, everything is using the same equipment save the lights.

I think there will be growth in all three tanks, and I'll test the big three once a week with the updates. Hoping the crushed coral will keep the alk a little more stable in these.

I did order magnets for all of these tanks (well four, as I have a Waterbox 10 I just set up) which should help with keeping the glass clean.

Lights are on for 9 hours per day. I'll post the AI Prime lighting schedule on the weekly update. No guesses on how things will turn out from me (you're free to in comments below! ) I think I'd really like to see the Nicrew Hyperreef 50 go head to head with the AI Prime - I've got a feeling that these lights might just crush for value at the price point they are at.

Cheers for a week!

 

[Soylent Wrasse]

Alrighties, lets take a look after the first week, shall we? No checks on the big 3, I'll do those tomorrow with the water changes (10% a week, so roughly 1.5g each). **I know it's 5 days, not 7 but my weekend is packed with stuff**

First up - EVO Stock.
She's gotten some new stuff added to her, and I'm in the middle of re-aquascaping it, so she's pretty phugly at the moment. Added a royal gramma and a Lancer dragonet. Lancer will be moved to the 100 in a week, I'm sure the pods will be destroyed soon enough as is.

As a reminder - A week ago:

And today 3/12/21

Not a bunch of huge changes, other than the fish and three flower anemones, and my slowly recovering goni frag in the middle. The green leather on the right is getting bigger, everything else about the same. Just moved some stuff around and everyone is unhappy.

Next, EVO Hipargo!
Before:

And today:

There is definite growth on nearly everything in this tank. I don't know how, I don't know why, but this little LED just makes stuff GROW. I mentioned before I had a 6g Acro tank with this light on, and they grew like weeds. Birdsnest is flufflier, leather is a little bigger, and the hammer is just loving life. The purple one is doing OK too - hermit knocked it over, but it seems happy so it's staying there. The cristata in the middle of the tank is doing well too. A couple small heads growing from the sides too. Duncan is popping heads also. Tank is doing really well.

Next up: EVO Prime
Before:

And today:

Nothing added, got some diatoms which turned to algae on the sand in a couple days. All the LPS are looking fuller and are out more. I had to move the purple finger, wasn't getting enough flow and it needed to shed. Both branching leathers on the top left are showing much more extension with polyps. Not as much growth, but the corals are looking nicer.

Almost forgot - coral just behind the green hammer is loving life in the lower flow area. That has grown quite a bit.

So what does five days tell us? Nothing really, other than everything is better than it was a week ago. Each tank is being fed my mix of coral foods every other day, and H20 changes for everyone tomorrow.

I'm anxious to see how these go for the next couple weeks. I've also got some more lights to test!
Thanks for reading, any questions just ask.

 

[Soylent Wrasse]

Cleaning glass today after some late h20 changes, updates later this afternoon. Some interesting developments for sure!

 

[Soylent Wrasse]

Okie doke, here we go on week two! (And a few days late, oops!)

So a funny thing happened - massive, massive algae bloom in the AI Prime EVO. I've added three urchins and 10 snails and hermits to fight the battle. I might need to add more. What is completely weird about this is this tank and the HIPARGERO were set up on the same day, same substrate, same rocks, same water, etc. You'll see the difference between the two in the pictures.

First thing first - Stock EVO:

Looks way different doesn't it? Cleaned the tank, added some fish (Royal Gramma and a lantern bass) to QT them, and pulled most of the coral over to my main frag tank (100ish gallons). I'll be adding more coral back into this tank in the next week, but I was really getting tired of the emerald crab knocking everything over every night. He's in the frag tank now too.

EVO PRIME:
Oof, I think this tank got hit with the ugly stick of algae. No idea why it decided to bloom into a waving green sea - it is the exact same set up as the tank below, just massive amounts of hair algae.

Coral is doing fine, the monti on the top right is really starting to grow/encrust. Like I mentioned above, added lots more urchins and snails & hermits to the tank to try and get this under control. Good growth all around. Leathers are shedding quite a bit, good extension, not a lot of growth from them.

EVO HIPARGERO:

Everything is growing and out and fluffy. LPS are doing really well, and other than some algae on the back wall, it isn't too bad. Moved one finger leather out when I fragged it in this video: Fragging Leather Corals . Birdsnest is slowly starting to color up in the tips, and great polyp extension as well. Other than some hermits knocking the LPS over, doing pretty well.

So TLDR: Everything seems to be growing, with maybe a touch better in the HIPARGERO tank (LPS in Particular). Dosed Aquaforest mg/Alk/Ca today after the h20 change, and other than the AIPrime tank being a little low on mag (1200) everything else is pretty much right in the middle of where I want it to be (ca 430-450, Alk 8-8.3 and mg 1200-1350).

I do have an order of clean up crew coming in tomorrow (assuming it is alive, thanks AGAIN UPS for the third time in a row delaying my shipment!). So we should get that algae under control.
Any questions please fire away!

 

[Soylent Wrasse]

Week three will be posted later today. Some pretty huge changes in some of the corals (one has FIVE new heads popping out!) Updates later today.

 

[Soylent Wrasse]

Way behind on updates, just about done with h20 changes, so update 4/5 for realsies!

 

[Soylent Wrasse]

Okie, after a week or so delay, some super coral warfare, here are the results of the now month long test.

Just a recap - Three EVO 13.5's, all with the same heaters, powerheads, substrate. Some ups and downs, some semi regular water changes later, here's what we have.

Stock:

Aside from algae, everything is growing really well (And the algae is too ) . You'll notice there are lots of LPS in here all of a sudden - more on that when we talk about the AI PRIME EVO.

So some really big take aways from the Stock EVO. The light is just fine on growing ANYTHING. SPS if it is up close to the top, Leathers / LPS / you name it, it will grow it. I've been really impressed on how the little 18W LEDs consistently grow everything I put in here.

Before the SPS Police chime in - yes, you can grow SPS in there (Birdsnests/Monti's) and even the odd acro or two. What I've seen is that while they will grow, you'll see a gradual browning out. Still lots of encrusting (Monti's) or growth (birdsnest) but they all start browning.

LPS/Softies - the stock light just flat out works. You might not like the colors (white or blue) but there are controllers out there that can change that for you. I like a whiter 10K look, and so the windex lovers will hate it, but the light works. I think this end up being a frag tank for LPS and leathers.

If you're on the fence about getting an EVO 13.5, it is probably one of, or even perhaps the best bang for the buck nano tanks out there.

EVO PRIME

Where's all the corals? They are in the Stock EVO. (Look up, they are right there!) So about four days ago I noticed the LPS and the rainbow bubble anemone looking really deflated. The SPS were fine, so through some trial and error, cabbage in the middle (which has grown close to three times the size in the month it has been in the tank) was having fun with chemical warfare, and since it was sitting close to the LPS on the bottom, they were affected the most.
So one water change and a big bag of carbon, the LPS picked up, but rather than keep running carbon, I just moved the LPS over.

The rainbow anemone split - so it was a good time to move them. It went back into the EVO Stock (where it was) and I moved the split over to the Waterbox 10.

Good news, the two small urchins I put in really went to work on the hair algae. There still is some in there of course, but it is being removed fast enough that I don't need to worry about it anymore.

So end results - The Prime is a great light. I actually fragged the Jedi Monti it was getting so big. The JF Fruity Pebbles is encrusting really well, but browning out a little. It's probably a couple inches too high up.

LPS / Leathers / Anemones (Bubble) all grew really well with the light. Coming in right around 60 Watts, the strongest light in the challenge should grow any and everything you put in there in this size of a tank. Looking at what you get for the cost, I'm not sure it's the best light for bang for your buck on a tank this size. Having a controller built in is great, and being able to adjust the light spectrum to whatever you want is a big perk as well. Spending 250 (light plus mounting kit) USD to do that, seems about $100 too much.

So if I was starting out, I'd skip the AI Prime, and get a Nicrew HyperReef 50W instead. It wasn't part of the challenge (I didn't get mine until I started), but this light is crushing SPS and LPS in my Waterbox 10. Amazing light. Less controllable than the AI, but a controller is on it's way. $100 for a 50W LED full spectrum light (with mounting kit no less).

It looks like I'm a bit down on the AI - I am and I'm not. It is a great light - tons of features, options and customization. There are just too many other lights out there now that are similar to it, at half the price. I'll most likely end up selling mine with the gooseneck and going back to the stock EVO. It has to be said there is something reassuring about knowing the light will grow whatever you put in there. It's still a really good light.

EVO HIPARGERO

So lets talk about growth! At 30 watts, this falls into the middle of the range of the three lights that were tested. I had this over a SPS nano tank before, it does one thing: grow the heck out of coral. Birdsnest, constant polyp extention and growth. Even started to color up purple/blue on the tips. The Duncan started as a single head - it now has SIX. Euphyllia all did really well under this light, really good extension, and started to see the formation of some new heads on every coral save the green hammer (it just doubled the head size). Leather corals all did really well - I actually took some out and fragged them.

This Hipargero 30w Reef Light, comes with a mounting arm and is really affordable at $66 USD. I would recommend this light for someone wanting to upgrade the stock EVO light. The best part - you can keep the lid, this sits right on top of it, and covers the entire tank with ease. Really helps with evaporation. You'd have to get a controller if you want dusk/dawn, as this light isn't as adjustable as some people might want. (Three white and three blue settings)

So this little guy just flat grows coral. Other than dealing with hermits and snails knocking corals over, this tank would be pretty much just like it was (minus the leather I took out to frag). If you need a little more oomph for your tank, I'd go with this guy.


Conclusions:

All three lights will grow coral - and grow them well! What works best for you, that's your call.

Breaking down the three lights:

Cost:
AI PRIME $$$$
HIPARGERO $$
EVO Stock - Free (comes with tank)

Adjustability - Best to worst:
AI PRIME
HIPARGERO
EVO Stock

SPS Growth - Best to worst:
AI PRIME (Because of the way you can tweak the settings to get colors to pop)
HIPARGERO
EVO Stock

LPS Growth - Best to worst:
HIPARGERO
AI PRIME
EVO STOCK

Leather / Softies - Best to worst:
They all will grow these corals, placement is key

So TLDR:
Stock EVO grows LPS / Softies really well, some SPS too.
HIPARGERO grows anything really well.
AI PRIME grows any and everything, costs four times as much as the next light.

So what should you use? Just ask yourself what do you want to grow.

Thanks for reading and following along - hope to do another test with some other lights in the future!