Reviews of SB Reef Lights

Devi

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I have the JBJ 45 Rimless and I just purchased the 16" WIFI version. I have for the past 4 years been using the Kessil. I am completely unhappy with the Kessil. The only thing I liked was the natural look of the tank under it and the clean look of the mounting and light. I am going to re-purpose the mount for the SB. I never had any luck with colors, everything turned to poop brown under these lights. I called Kessil and asked for advice, gave them specs, and no one had the same answer and none of their answers worked. It would seem not even Kessil knows anything about the dang times and schedules of these lights. It wasn't until I borrowed a friends black box LED that I saw magic. Montis got color back, growth, blues came back. So I tried one last time with Kessil for advice, this time through Facebook, got told to email again. Got no response, so I bought the SB reef light.

I emailed SB Reef before I bought the light for advice on which one to get, but this thread answered the question. Now I just need to know how high the light should be and what the white and blue channels should be on. I'm sure I'll sort it out. Their website was very difficult to check out on. I ran into that same issue as the others. It kept knocking me out. Finally got it sorted after fiddling with it for a bit.
 

happyhourhero

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I have the JBJ 45 Rimless and I just purchased the 16" WIFI version. I have for the past 4 years been using the Kessil. I am completely unhappy with the Kessil. The only thing I liked was the natural look of the tank under it and the clean look of the mounting and light. I am going to re-purpose the mount for the SB. I never had any luck with colors, everything turned to poop brown under these lights. I called Kessil and asked for advice, gave them specs, and no one had the same answer and none of their answers worked. It would seem not even Kessil knows anything about the dang times and schedules of these lights. It wasn't until I borrowed a friends black box LED that I saw magic. Montis got color back, growth, blues came back. So I tried one last time with Kessil for advice, this time through Facebook, got told to email again. Got no response, so I bought the SB reef light.

I emailed SB Reef before I bought the light for advice on which one to get, but this thread answered the question. Now I just need to know how high the light should be and what the white and blue channels should be on. I'm sure I'll sort it out. Their website was very difficult to check out on. I ran into that same issue as the others. It kept knocking me out. Finally got it sorted after fiddling with it for a bit.
I would start them off real low. Like 50blues and 25whites and go up 5% a week until your corals tell you to stop. They are strong lights for sure. How high is up to you. Mine are around 9" but some people keep them much higher. Mike (the owner) has his at least a foot off the top of his 560g.
 

Devisissy

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The Kessil was nine inches off the water surface. I think I'm going to go with 12 inches with the SB. 15% whites and 30% blues I was thinking. Better safe than sorry right?

Here is my only compliant. I work in a business where we ship and receive, A LOT. On their (SB Reef) website they give EXACT numbers on when the light will finish processing, and when it will be shipped. We never do that because there is too many variables. Weather, accidents, production errors, and so on. Based on this I thought, dang these folks have their crap on lock. So I gave back the black box I borrowed back so my buddies 55 is not without it's left light, and sold the Kessil to pay off the amount of this light on my credit card. I figured I'll be without a light for a day going off their websites numbers giving them a few extra even. Nope. It's been 7 days and I just got a shipping notice, tracking number has it on the slow boat from China. I get LOTS of crap from China. It will be another week and a half I suppose. So I borrowed my buddies black box again so my reef won't be without a light.

My suggestion to this very new company. DONT GIVE NUMBERS. Of course, let people know it's going to be a while. Leave it at that. Or if you HAVE to throw out numbers say hey, a month or more. That way you don't lose right off. I know nitpicking but it's just friendly advice. I am very excited to get my light and know it will be wonderful!
 

seaplane

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Just one thing I need to know before dropping some coin on a SB, Are the fans noisy?
 

saltyfilmfolks

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Thanks, can they be easily replaced ?
Yes, they are a standard size and its easy to open the case. there's several you tube vids on it as well as some from SBreeflights.
 

seaplane

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Thanks Salty, going to order the 16" Elite Ramping if that's a good choice for a BC29??
 

saltyfilmfolks

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Thanks Salty, going to order the 16" Elite Ramping if that's a good choice for a BC29??
yup. I have a 16in over my 20x20x18 cube @12in. ITS VERY POWERFULLLLL. Look into a Par or lux meter to set it.
I pulled the lenses to get better spread. works great. I still have plenty of power and intensity.
Fwiw I have 40,000(approx 660 par) lux at the top of the tank at 80% power. With all the lenses in at 12 in I got above 100,000+ lux.(1600+ par approx) thats why youll hear a lot of folks frying coral on A black box.
 

happyhourhero

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Here is my only compliant. I work in a business where we ship and receive, A LOT. On their (SB Reef) website they give EXACT numbers on when the light will finish processing, and when it will be shipped. We never do that because there is too many variables. Weather, accidents, production errors, and so on. Based on this I thought, dang these folks have their crap on lock. So I gave back the black box I borrowed back so my buddies 55 is not without it's left light, and sold the Kessil to pay off the amount of this light on my credit card. I figured I'll be without a light for a day going off their websites numbers giving them a few extra even. Nope. It's been 7 days and I just got a shipping notice, tracking number has it on the slow boat from China. I get LOTS of crap from China. It will be another week and a half I suppose. So I borrowed my buddies black box again so my reef won't be without a light.

My suggestion to this very new company. DONT GIVE NUMBERS. Of course, let people know it's going to be a while. Leave it at that. Or if you HAVE to throw out numbers say hey, a month or more. That way you don't lose right off. I know nitpicking but it's just friendly advice. I am very excited to get my light and know it will be wonderful!

Not bad advice. He started off and those numbers were solid > company blew up > factory got back ordered > things got delayed. Now he has a store and warehouse based in Florida and things are calming down enough that things should start to smooth out a bit. I do not think they were prepared for how quickly they took off.

Just one thing I need to know before dropping some coin on a SB, Are the fans noisy?
Mine are not noisy at all.
 

jeffp1

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Anybody have the 32" extreme wifi? I'm looking at it for my 90 gallon.
I have had the 32" extreme on a 85 gallon rimless tank about 5 weeks. Have used Reef Radiance in the past and this light blows them away. I have mine mounted 14 inches above the tank. My corals are really starting to color up real well.
 

His & Hers. 240 Reef

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Anybody have the 32" extreme wifi? I'm looking at it for my 90 gallon.

I have 2, over a 240 gallon 8' tank. 15" above the water. I just started running them a couple months ago but my growth rates seem pretty amazing so far.
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[emoji1369]this is 21 days of growth
 

seaplane

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Just now received mine, 16" Elite Ramping, ordered on Jan 13. My first impression was lousy cheap packaging. There were only foam pads on the 2 ends and a thin layer covering the glass . The box had a tear right in the center of the side were the glass was, but no obvious damage to the light. The hanging wires seem very flimsy for the weight of the fixture, and the leg mounts are bulky, ugly, and I have no idea how to correctly assemble them, since no instructions were included. They won't fit on the tank with the screen cover on anyhow, so no problem.
I've only turned them on briefly to be sure they work, and all I can say is they are Bright!!!
 
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sowellj

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I was tying to buy an sbar actinic through amazon (some gift card money there). Emailed them and they said they would put some up on amazon, though at a slightly higher price due to amazon fees, which is perfectly understandable. This was over a month ago. Multiple emails/pm ... no response. I understand this is a one man shop, but if I have to work this hard to spend my money, it makes me wonder what kind of support I would receive on a warranty issue.
 

Mixing lighting technologies: Do you use multiple types of lighting for your reef?

  • I currently use multiple types of lighting for my reef.

    Votes: 11 52.4%
  • I have used multiple types of lighting for my reef in the past.

    Votes: 2 9.5%
  • I haven’t used multiple types of lighting for my reef, but I plan to in the future.

    Votes: 4 19.0%
  • I have no plans to use multiple types of lighting for my reef.

    Votes: 4 19.0%
  • Other.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
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