SPS lighting on a budget

[Rick Gaas]

I’ve been through halides (mogul base and double ended) loved them you can’t beat the shimmer effect or even replicate it with any other type of light source except the sun itself...Lol Especially the mogul base Radiums. Ran a couple Radions and loved the versatility. But hands down for me are T-5’s. Just love the different spectrums you can play with and the pastel colors you get from your corals. I’m running an 8 bulb ATI fixture with LED (blue) supplementation. Blue plus, blue plus ,6500k ,blue plus,Giesemann tropic, 6500k, blue plus, blue plus.

You have a pic of the tank? One with all 8 bulbs on, and another with 4 bulbs on? Will be relamping my 8 bulb ati Powermodule soon and thinking about what bulbs to go with.

 

[volcano1]

 

[billrob71]

Hello
Not sure what size tank you have
I built my fixture for my tank 300 gallon double deep 3 foot front to back.
Ive had every type of lighting you can think up and since they have stop making VHO and I was using those I had to decide on a new supplement

I was using a six foot metal halide fixture 3 250 watt HQI bulbs it has 4 five foot T5’s but wasn’t enough for the tank was running 4 six foot UVL VHO’s and the tank looked great with 3 Phoenix bulbs but the power draw was about 15 amp draw with all the lights running. I purchased 3 150 watt led flood lights , took them apart and added 2 more 50 watt LEDs to each fixture so each one is 250 watts of leds in each. The new lights draw 7.5 amps when everything is on. The floods cost $40 each additional ballasts were $4.50 and the 2 other LEDs range from $8- $10 ea
The lights consist of a center cold white , 2 outer 450 nm blue , and 2 30,000k . Each light has 3 channels they are not dimmable but come on at different times so the corals and fish are not blasted at one time , there all controlled by my apex . I did purchase 4 five foot e pop led tubes for supplement and the tank looks great and is lit up real bright compared to the MH
I have not taken a par reading yet but I have several SPS under them and with in a couple weeks they have growth.

 

[Frey]

I have used all 3 types over time. I switched to kessil about 7 years ago from t5 and i couldnt get my sps to grow so switched to Ai hydra 52hd's on the 180 about 4-5 years ago i believe. Couldn't be happier with the growth. The photo below has 2 hydra 52s and one artic 247 on the left that i just bought to send my hydra in for repair after all these years. (The artic is going over a frag tank when i get my light back) All of my corals except the brain were purchased as frags over the last two years and i actually had to remove a colony that was taking up over 1/3 of my tank. Just dropped it off for some store credit at a local fish store. Completely filled 2 five gallon salt buckets. Don't mind the hair algae and things in front. I work out of town a lot so my tank doesn't always get the attention it deserves and when i am here i try to go all out.

 

[Frey]

This is another tank with radion gen3 with diffusers. Growing sps and everything else just fine as well. I forgot to mention above since this is a thread about doing sps affordable that i have not seen an issue with the artic at all and its been on for a week now. If you don't mind not having all of the ramping and other effects of the higher end more pricey lighting fixtures i would give them a try for the price. If you already have t5 lighting to supplement even better but i am running led only and am fine with it.

 

[Lousybreed]

I would go T-5 over led. I think some people hit it on the head. Guaranteed results, replace the bulbs once a year, and have great growth rates. I am firmly in the non-LED only camp. On my tanks I use LED’s for accent lighting only. And for this role they are amazing.

 

[Lousybreed]

I would go T-5 over led. I think some people hit it on the head. Guaranteed results, replace the bulbs once a year, and have great growth rates. I am firmly in the non-LED only camp. On my tanks I use LED’s for accent lighting only. And for this role they are amazing.

I say T-5 because you asked for the best budget lighting. People that are recommending a $850 led light might have missed the budget part of this threat. Get a sun blaze 4 bulb T-5 fixture and bulbs for like $150 and keep your acros on the top parts of your rocks and the montis on the lower parts. If you can find a 6 bulb fixture go with that.

 

[Dana Riddle]

The debate about 'best light' is as old as the modern reefing hobby. Fluorescent and metal halide lamps can get the job done. So can LEDs. But your question was 'SPS lighting on a budget.' IMHO, LEDs would be the way to go. Some of the black boxes are inexpensive and can provide enough light plus many have programmable spectrum and photoperiod. I can't tell you how many times I've had long discussions on this subject. Nor how many times I've received a reply along the lines of 'I got the lamp(s) you recommended but the wife doesn't like it because it makes the carpet look purple.' So, the adjustable spectrum is important.
I skimmed through the comments here, and none of the advice you've gotten will lead you wrong. Personally, I prefer LEDs.

 

[Lousybreed]

The debate about 'best light' is as old as the modern reefing hobby. Fluorescent and metal halide lamps can get the job done. So can LEDs. But your question was 'SPS lighting on a budget.' IMHO, LEDs would be the way to go. Some of the black boxes are inexpensive and can provide enough light plus many have programmable spectrum and photoperiod. I can't tell you how many times I've had long discussions on this subject. Nor how many times I've received a reply along the lines of 'I got the lamp(s) you recommended but the wife doesn't like it because it makes the carpet look purple.' So, the adjustable spectrum is important.
I skimmed through the comments here, and none of the advice you've gotten will lead you wrong. Personally, I prefer LEDs.

Thinking more about my response and contrasting to Dana’s I believe he is right. A black box where you can adjust the white and blue channel will give you the cheapest results and it doesn’t have enough adjustability to get you I trouble. Just remember to keep them higher off the water to allow for better spectrum blending!!!

 

[b4tn]

SPS Lighting on a budget is a tough one because you are going to have lots of pros and cons. You absolutely can grow SPS with Chinese black box. I ran Ocean Revive lights for 4 years and everything I put under them grew just fine. For under $200 you can get Ocean Revive, Viparspectra, SBreef, MarsAqua, etc. They are all variations of Chinese black boxes some better than others but all are LED lights that will grow SPS on a budget. Running my OR lights for years I struggled with getting my corals to color up and pop like I would see at the LFS and in pictures. I tried running different nutrient levels and feeding different foods and never got the pop I was looking for it did not dawn on me that maybe it was my lighting that was lacking something. I did some research and found that the black boxes are missing some of spectrum and adjustability needed for color. I did not end up going this route but BRS sells a 2 bulb T5 retrofit kit and I saw a lot of people getting very good results getting shimmer, color,and growth mixing a blackbox with T5's. You have to build a hood but a Viparspectra blackbox and two T5's still be under $300 and get you a solid light. In the end I figured I am in the hobby for the long haul so I was going to invest in some proven lighting. I planned on going with Radions but ended up with reefi duo's. Not the budget route but could not be happier with the results. Its still to early to track growth but coloration is amazing my corals display colors I did not know they had.

 

[pjb9166]

Back in the day I've used MH "1995". Then to T5 HO's. Honestly on our new set-up a standard 90 gal we have been using Viparspectra 300. For less than $250.00 you simply can't go wrong. There is nothing you can't grow very well and with beautiful color. We have been running this fixture for about a year and a half with absolutely no issues. Fixture comes with a one year warrantee. If you have any issues there is domestic customer support here in the US out of Oregon. You simply can't go wrong.

 

[Afterburner]

I have a 300w Mars Aqua (Chinese black box). Maybe lousybreed can give me some advice on how high off the water for optimal spectral blending. I am relatively new to the hobby, but a buddy has great results with SPS in his tank so I bought the same inexpensive light on Amazon (cheaper on EBay, but I wanted it overnight). You can adjust white and blue separately and on different plugs so I connected them to WiFi outlets and only run the white a few hours a day. Be cafeful with the white intensity since it faded some corals and gave me an algae issue when I ramped it way too high. So far I am happy since it focuses the light in a band down the center of my corner 90gal, and I have another smaller light that does all the bells and whistles ( ramp up. Moon lighting, thunderstorms, etc). SPS seem to like this set up so far...., but what do I know

 

[Colinpologordon]

If the money wasn’t an option between the hydras and viper, what would you go with?

Hydra all day long ... i have them and now after a 18 months i'm adding a t5 hybrid system (GHL )

 

[Shooter6]

Ledzeal.com with chris' layout, rapidled.com corona, or the jeabo al-150 which if you search around the web you can find for about 300.00 its a similar design to radions.

 

[AndCoy]

I think the Red Sea 50 might be a better option for you, I would get two of them and a hanging pendant for under 600. If you were still on the fence about T-5, Maybe look at the aquatic life hybrid. You can get different end plates and make it 18” wide. Then add a single LED for a bump in par and shimmer etc.

 

[Lousybreed]

I have a 300w Mars Aqua (Chinese black box). Maybe lousybreed can give me some advice on how high off the water for optimal spectral blending. I am relatively new to the hobby, but a buddy has great results with SPS in his tank so I bought the same inexpensive light on Amazon (cheaper on EBay, but I wanted it overnight). You can adjust white and blue separately and on different plugs so I connected them to WiFi outlets and only run the white a few hours a day. Be cafeful with the white intensity since it faded some corals and gave me an algae issue when I ramped it way too high. So far I am happy since it focuses the light in a band down the center of my corner 90gal, and I have another smaller light that does all the bells and whistles ( ramp up. Moon lighting, thunderstorms, etc). SPS seem to like this set up so far...., but what do I know

I would go 18” if you can! 12” at least.

 

[SaltFishTV]

I’m using a $70 T5 HO grow light that’s 24” 8 bulb. Cheap unit but effective. Found it on amazon and comes with 6500k bulbs, but probably won’t use them or maybe one. I’m using blue +, coral +, and a super actinic

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Back in the day I've used MH "1995". Then to T5 HO's. Honestly on our new set-up a standard 90 gal we have been using Viparspectra 300. For less than $250.00 you simply can't go wrong. There is nothing you can't grow very well and with beautiful color. We have been running this fixture for about a year and a half with absolutely no issues. Fixture comes with a one year warrantee. If you have any issues there is domestic customer support here in the US out of Oregon. You simply can't go wrong.

Looking good!

 

[Nooooooooob1]

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.

Yeah I have two black boxes and have had okay success with SPS. They've grown, but not an insane amount. I'm at the point where I'm about to stick a couple sunblaster fixtures on either side of my black boxes in hopes that it will add some firepower for the sps to let them really take off.

 

[Silent]

Best looking reef tank I have ever seen (color of coral wise) was a 40 breeder with a 6 bulb T-5. Pictures of it were absolutely gorgeous. No blue pic looks but the coral looked like they were under actinic.