Some things that I have learned in reef keeping is the expense involved. One of the most important and most expensive things we purchase is our lights, and having many options to consider from such brands as Kessil,Radion,AI,Geisman and a few others.
These are the big boys in the lighting business and they make a good quality product with the downside, "They can get pricey".
As prices increased many hobbyist went the diy route or buying used lights from other people, while fine and a good way to do things,we do have another choice, Chinese made lights that are way cheaper
than the big named brand lights and offer very competitive output and growth.
A bout a year ago a video was done that examined "A" Black box light that produced some underwhelming results. I feel like the results were not good because the light chosen was a bottom of the barrel light and not one of the many respectable Chinese lights out on the market.
Not ALL Black Box lights are created equal...
1. many lights are well wired
2. many use good quality heatsinks
3. many are not a tinderbox waiting to explode or catch your house on fire when you take the family
on a vacation
I have chosen to do a study on various black box lights with my own money and time to better help us decide on what are the good and the bad among these particular lights.
SPONSORS
We need to be grateful in that we have such an awesome place here at R2R to get such valuable information in one place, so please visit and support these sponsors willing to help us.
@noopsyche has a sub forum you can visit here https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/noopsyche.1066/
Please visit and show your love to Matt at The Coal Reef for supplying the space,tanks and systems we need to make this happen- https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/the-coral-reef.828/
I will be purchasing various lights from China or where ever I can get the best samples from.
The testing equipment will be a Seneye par meter and a 30-60 gallon cube tank.
(I would like to thank Sustainable Aquatics for letting me use the par meter)
There will be a variety of tests conducted by myself along with @Dr. Reef who has done some very informative work with his bacteria in a bottle studies. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/bacteria-in-a-bottle-myth-or-fact.403226/
This will be a long process just because of the amount of lights and money it takes to get them.
So please be patient on results and updates.
All lights will be sold after the study so as to recoup some of the money spent.
Please feel free to give some suggestions on what kinds of tests would be beneficial to this study.
****REMEMBER****
This is going to be a very polite discussion and testing thread so no bashing of any company please!
These are the big boys in the lighting business and they make a good quality product with the downside, "They can get pricey".
As prices increased many hobbyist went the diy route or buying used lights from other people, while fine and a good way to do things,we do have another choice, Chinese made lights that are way cheaper
than the big named brand lights and offer very competitive output and growth.
A bout a year ago a video was done that examined "A" Black box light that produced some underwhelming results. I feel like the results were not good because the light chosen was a bottom of the barrel light and not one of the many respectable Chinese lights out on the market.
Not ALL Black Box lights are created equal...
1. many lights are well wired
2. many use good quality heatsinks
3. many are not a tinderbox waiting to explode or catch your house on fire when you take the family
on a vacation
I have chosen to do a study on various black box lights with my own money and time to better help us decide on what are the good and the bad among these particular lights.
***Results So far***
Kessil 360x
Noopsyche K7 ProII
Hydra 26hd
Radion XR15w
Viparspectra
Mars Aqua 165w
Aquarium System Solutions ASML-02
Kessil 360x
Noopsyche K7 ProII
Hydra 26hd
Radion XR15w
Viparspectra
Mars Aqua 165w
Aquarium System Solutions ASML-02
SPONSORS
We need to be grateful in that we have such an awesome place here at R2R to get such valuable information in one place, so please visit and support these sponsors willing to help us.
@noopsyche has a sub forum you can visit here https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/noopsyche.1066/
Please visit and show your love to Matt at The Coal Reef for supplying the space,tanks and systems we need to make this happen- https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/the-coral-reef.828/
I will be purchasing various lights from China or where ever I can get the best samples from.
The testing equipment will be a Seneye par meter and a 30-60 gallon cube tank.
(I would like to thank Sustainable Aquatics for letting me use the par meter)
There will be a variety of tests conducted by myself along with @Dr. Reef who has done some very informative work with his bacteria in a bottle studies. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/bacteria-in-a-bottle-myth-or-fact.403226/
This will be a long process just because of the amount of lights and money it takes to get them.
So please be patient on results and updates.
All lights will be sold after the study so as to recoup some of the money spent.
Please feel free to give some suggestions on what kinds of tests would be beneficial to this study.
****REMEMBER****
This is going to be a very polite discussion and testing thread so no bashing of any company please!
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