SPS lighting on a budget

[NanoDJS]

once you see that shimmer ....... fughedaboutit I took down 2 4 bulb 22" fixtures hanging over my 24x24x16 frag tank and use 1 redsea 90 and have it down at like 50 blue and 25 white 20k 60w and it makes the coverage i got from the 200w of lighting look silly thats why i have those t5 hoods , they are good I even put fulham workhorse 5 ballasts on em . but the 90 is some next level ish .

 

[biecacka]

My led board is dated 1/5/18 and it is getting a total of 9 leds replaced between the two boards.....so not even 2 years old. Maybe that is rare, I don’t know as I am new to leds. But I wouldn’t buy them counting on getting 5 years. Maybe you will, maybe you won’t. It’s hard to say. I just know, that I have the halides back up and I miss the look! But I know leds will grow coral. It is just a matter of patience.

corey

 

[Currierfarms14]

once you see that shimmer ....... fughedaboutit

once you see that shimmer ....... fughedaboutit I took down 2 4 bulb 22" fixtures hanging over my 24x24x16 frag tank and use 1 redsea 90 and have it down at like 50 blue and 25 white 20k 60w and it makes the coverage i got from the 200w of lighting look silly thats why i have those t5 hoods , they are good I even put fulham workhorse 5 ballasts on em . but the 90 is some next level ish .

 

[NanoDJS]

My led board is dated 1/5/18 and it is getting a total of 9 leds replaced between the two boards.....so not even 2 years old. Maybe that is rare, I don’t know as I am new to leds. But I wouldn’t buy them counting on getting 5 years. Maybe you will, maybe you won’t. It’s hard to say. I just know, that I have the halides back up and I miss the look! But I know leds will grow coral. It is just a matter of patience.

corey

what do you have radions ?

 

[biecacka]

Orpheks.

but I will say I bought them used and upgraded already. I will also say that their customer service is simply amazing. they have been so responsive and helpful to me. Considering i bought them used and out of warranty, it could have went either way. Based on this alone I dont regret the decision to buy the brand. I know they work, just foots get them up and dialed in.

corey

 

[NanoDJS]

no offense to orpheks but its the same tech as any black box from china ,the price is insane and they fail just as frequently or alot more going by the posts here than cheapo black boxes, case in point my znet 4 24" 4 puck china LEDs still run 4 yrs into it , I would have recommended them to the OP but they are hard to find and you def dont want them in a room people inhabit lol ( spill for days ) but they GROW coral like MAD were 200 bucks and destroy any par /coverage of any light 24" I used 2 inline on my DT for 3 years , and my coral loved it my eyes hate me for it . I built alot of LED hoods also back when you couldnt imagine such a thing , sourcing cree's and special osrams , bottom line is 1 lens cluster source is the wave of the future and it looks like your on the reef diving ,to me Im all about that shimmer , plus they have moonlight with accurate phasing , ramp up down whatever you want and cloud cover , which is good for acclimation Ive found , all from your phone no hassle , if you set the photoperiod to long or not optimal for coral they tell you , they went outa the park to make happy coral and reefkeepers , the fish love em too, my melanarus has never stayed up so late !!!

 

[jda]

Nobody can really help you decide what will be the best for you, except for you.

The main thing that I will offer is to take advice for each type from people who still use that type. Mostly, the downsides are offered as non-objective strawmen to justify some reason that they use what they use that do not pertain at all to the real world with the other products - you do not have to change T5 bulbs every six months (unless you overdrive them), MH do not produce heat that is unbearable and difficult to manage, etc. ...and don't buy into the "I have used every kind" or "I had to stop this or that because of this or that" posts... just listen to the current users in today's reefing climate and market. Too often the "past use" was when the hobbyist was just not as good as they are now and the current love coincided with their ability to just generally reef better. There can be some help with people who truly are great at their craft comparing different light types, but these rarely post since they get sick of arguing with the noobies and experts whose tanks are not even wet yet (I have locals tell me that their light grows and colors as good as possible, but then they come to my house and see what color and fast really is - they are not liars or anything, just no real basis for comparison). Do not pay attention to vendors, either - they have different goals than a hobbyist and often do things when people are not in the store that nobody knows about.

Listen to the T5 users who tell you that they change them yearly, or less often. Listen to the MH people who say that a simple fan will take care of nearly all heat issues and even save you some coin on running high wattage heaters. Listen to the LED users tell you about this or that which is important to you.

Lastly, about money... to light the tank with the same coverage and output, there is no energy savings. You can save money by making choices to run less wattage, but that is choice savings, not tech being more efficient. I am with the people who have seen that it takes 2.5 Radions to ACTUALLY replace my 250w Halides running at 320w and with the Radions at 100-120w apiece, this is a push, plus the heaters have to run more.

Beyond, lastly... consider that LEDs do not last forever and need replaced. I would factor in about 5 years on each unit. Some use them longer than this, but they are truly in the minority. For me, I use 5x 250w Halides over my reef and the phoenix 14k bulbs are about $50 each, so 250 per year, or 1250 for 5 years for bulb replacements. I would need about 12-13 Radions (say 12.5) to replace them, or about $1875 a year for 5 years. The electrical costs are a push. Each situation is different, but do not buy into the rhetoric or hype and get down the real-deal and you will make a decision that works for you.

 

[biecacka]

no offense to orpheks but its the same tech as any black box from china ,the price is insane and they fail just as frequently or alot more going by the posts here than cheapo black boxes, case in point my znet 4 24" 4 puck china LEDs still run 4 yrs into it , I would have recommended them to the OP but they are hard to find and you def dont want them in a room people inhabit lol ( spill for days ) but they GROW coral like MAD were 200 bucks and destroy any par /coverage of any light 24" I used 2 inline on my DT for 3 years , and my coral loved it my eyes hate me for it . I built alot of LED hoods also back when you couldnt imagine such a thing , sourcing cree's and special osrams , bottom line is 1 lens cluster source is the wave of the future and it looks like your on the reef diving ,to me Im all about that shimmer , plus they have moonlight with accurate phasing , ramp up down whatever you want and cloud cover , which is good for acclimation Ive found , all from your phone no hassle , if you set the photoperiod to long or not optimal for coral they tell you , they went outa the park to make happy coral and reefkeepers , the fish love em too, my melanarus has never stayed up so late !!!

none taken. I dont work there. As I stated i bought mine used for a total of a few hundred dollars from a guy who was in a pinch and needed to sell them. I can sell one for more than I paid for them both.....that was my thinking. I honestly don’t know why I took the halides down to try them Other than pure curiosity. When they come back I will make the decision then. But 2 orpheks for the price of a black box or so is a no brainer .......or at least to me. Maybe not to you or others...


corey

 

[sawdonkey]

Ocean revive t247 led sometime eBay have it for 155$

this!

 

[Currierfarms14]

Nobody can really help you decide what will be the best for you, except for you.

The main thing that I will offer is to take advice for each type from people who still use that type. Mostly, the downsides are offered as non-objective strawmen to justify some reason that they use what they use that do not pertain at all to the real world with the other products - you do not have to change T5 bulbs every six months (unless you overdrive them), MH do not produce heat that is unbearable and difficult to manage, etc. ...and don't buy into the "I have used every kind" or "I had to stop this or that because of this or that" posts... just listen to the current users in today's reefing climate and market. Too often the "past use" was when the hobbyist was just not as good as they are now and the current love coincided with their ability to just generally reef better. There can be some help with people who truly are great at their craft comparing different light types, but these rarely post since they get sick of arguing with the noobies and experts whose tanks are not even wet yet (I have locals tell me that their light grows and colors as good as possible, but then they come to my house and see what color and fast really is - they are not liars or anything, just no real basis for comparison). Do not pay attention to vendors, either - they have different goals than a hobbyist and often do things when people are not in the store that nobody knows about.

Listen to the T5 users who tell you that they change them yearly, or less often. Listen to the MH people who say that a simple fan will take care of nearly all heat issues and even save you some coin on running high wattage heaters. Listen to the LED users tell you about this or that which is important to you.

Lastly, about money... to light the tank with the same coverage and output, there is no energy savings. You can save money by making choices to run less wattage, but that is choice savings, not tech being more efficient. I am with the people who have seen that it takes 2.5 Radions to ACTUALLY replace my 250w Halides running at 320w and with the Radions at 100-120w apiece, this is a push, plus the heaters have to run more.

Beyond, lastly... consider that LEDs do not last forever and need replaced. I would factor in about 5 years on each unit. Some use them longer than this, but they are truly in the minority. For me, I use 5x 250w Halides over my reef and the phoenix 14k bulbs are about $50 each, so 250 per year, or 1250 for 5 years for bulb replacements. I would need about 12-13 Radions (say 12.5) to replace them, or about $1875 a year for 5 years. The electrical costs are a push. Each situation is different, but do not buy into the rhetoric or hype and get down the real-deal and you will make a decision that works for you.

Agreed! I was more looking for some advice from people who have had experience with these lights and found success. Youre absolutely correct as far as each one can accomplish what I need, just what one makes the most sense this go around. I’m sure I’ll end up using all three models as time goes on .

I am not very informed on the radions. I’m assuming this is the energy output from LED lights? How do you figure the conversion?

 

[jda]

I will unequivocally say that not all of the lights do the same thing, but any can work for a lot of people... and some hobbyist absolutely require something that one has that another does not like absolute performance, coverage and/or the ability to change spectrum on the fly. There is not one type that does all of this in one unit which is were you get some that go all-in an live with any shortcomings (if any for them), or they use more than one in a hybrid approach. For me, pure performance is all that I am after and I do not care AT ALL about changing spectrums, but many others are different.

Radion is a popular, high end/price LED unit. The ones that I was referring to in my post are the xr30 model which is about $750-799, or so, and run around 180-185 watts at full tilt, but most people do not use them that high and are more around 125 watts, or so.

 

[csb123]

I ran ati bulbs t5’s on my first reef tank (90 gallon) . They were great but after doing some math on electrical costs and Bulb replacement costs Every 6 months to be pretty expensive so I bought 2 165 watt viper spectras led black boxes and had great results with mixed tank with many sps.
Then bought al hydra 26’s for my second tank I set up . I like the hydras a lot but for the money you can’t beat viper spectras.

BRS did a study on T5 output over time, and it showed you don’t need to replace T5 bulbs until over a year. This would significantly reduce costs in your calculation. For a new reefer, I would highly recommend T5’s. With metal halides, heat is a significant challenge. Small cluster LEDs have shadowing issues and they are very expensive. As a budget LED option, black boxes have a proven track record. The problem with LEDs is, although to diodes are advertised with crazy long lifetimes, the electronics in them don’t have that reliability.

 

[jda]

Here is one of my corals where you can see the tips are whiter and lighter because the zoox follow along a bit later. Do the white tips look like this?

 

[Currierfarms14]

I’m going to be honest, I feel like I’m still stuck on this decision. The t-5 sounds great, but the ballast, fixture and bulbs sound like they will run me over 550 to start with. The Red Sea 90 has my attention but it doesn’t sound like they are very proven at this point. Does anyone have progression evidence on their SPS on those LED. I could always go safe with the hydras as well as they have been proven up to this point. The only other issue with T-5 is where to put them on my tank as it has unique dimensions... hmm

 

[jda]

Nearly everybody who has SPS colonies has added T5s to their point-source LEDs (hydra is one of these) as they have grown. You see some folks without T5 when they have frags and teen-moms, but I am talking about full-blown colonies.

If you get Hydras, plan on some T5s down the road.

 

[SeaDweller]

Here is one of my corals where you can see the tips are whiter and lighter because the zoox follow along a bit later. Do the white tips look like this?

Wrong discussion

 

[RJ F.]

FWIW I use the 300w viparspectra. Hands down cant be beat for the money. Has a built in timer and 2 channel control. It is powerful enough to bleach sps so you have to be careful. On your size tank I would get the 165w and call it a day

 

[Currierfarms14]

FWIW I use the 300w viparspectra. Hands down cant be beat for the money. Has a built in timer and 2 channel control. It is powerful enough to bleach sps so you have to be careful. On your size tank I would get the 165w and call it a day

Do you grow sps? Any photos? Gettin good growth?

 

[RJ F.]

Tank is less than a year old. All corals started from frags. I would consider good growth. Alot of the frags are 6 months old or less. Digitata seems to take off. Birdsnest and and purple stylo too. I have a Walt Disney and solar flare but they are less than a month old.

 

[volcano1]

I would have to concur on the metal halides for sps. I run 4 lumenarc large reflectors , with radium bulbs. This is one a 96 x 36 x 28 “ tank. I experimented with trying to replace the MH. I needed 3 kessil 360 we to replace on MH reflector. So energy will be a wash. The MH may throw more heat , good in the winter, bad in summer. I manage heat with a fan blowing across the lights and water and some exhaust fans. The exhaust help some with humidity too. No chiller. I simply like the look of MH over leds. T-5 would be my second choice. If you need multiple lighting scheme and colors, MH, wouldn’t work. If you love blue light, MH won’t work well. If you do go MH, the reflector is half the story. A good quality one pays big dividends. Each tank ands it’s look is somewhat personal, and you make prefer one over the other. I’d look at as many tanks in person as I could to see what you think each has to offer. I think you’ll be surprised in the color differences between each.