Want Opinions -- RapidLED vs XHO vs Other for blue LED strip

[Rakie]

Want Opinions -- RapidLED vs XHO vs Other for blue LED strip
Tank: 24x24x18 Cube, SPS, 6x24 T5

So here's the obvious stuff
- XHO has double the LED's per foot
- XHO is know to fry corals without the dimmer
- XHO (with dimmer) is 3x the cost of the RapidLED

Here's what I'm not sure about..
- Is the RapidLED fixture enough to bring that pop to the tank by itself?
- Is there another alternative you would suggest? (21ledUSA, sBar)
- Should I just get a pair of AI Prime HD when they pop up used?

There's a lot of cool options out there. Enough to where I couldn't begin to know where to start. The problem is I don't want to grab something and be disappointed..

I checked out someone's tank recently who had a Reef Brite Tech strip. He regretted it, and showed me that you couldn't even tell when it was on or off with an 8x36 T5 Fixture. So It's either XHO, RapidLED, or something like an AI Prime HD.

I just want blue pop. If I got an AI Prime I'm sure I'd use more than just that blue channel, but I mostly want to get that missing pop and add a LITTLE shimmer to my T5 setup.

 

[Reefing Madness]

 

[GoVols]

@saltyfilmfolks

 

[nc208082]

I'd go with reefbrite I use the xho and it gives great pop. The rapid led is a diy option and IMO that never turns out to look as good as a factory made unit so I would pay extra for the cleanliness.

BTW my tank is 36x18x18 and I don't use a dimmer. Never fried anything. I don't think you'll need a dimmer.

 

[GoVols]

I'd go with reefbrite I use the xho and it gives great pop. The rapid led is a diy option and IMO that never turns out to look as good as a factory made unit so I would pay extra for the cleanliness.

BTW my tank is 36x18x18 and I don't use a dimmer. Never fried anything. I don't think you'll need a dimmer.

What xho colors are you running and how's your growth been with them?

 

[nc208082]

Just blue. It doesn't do much for growth as my t5s do.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Reefbrite.
http://www.reefbrite.com/products/

A friend of mine has them. VERY powerful.

Curious how your going to get any of those to fit though.

 

[GoVols]

Reefbrite.
http://www.reefbrite.com/products/

A friend of mine has them. VERY powerful.

Curious how your going to get any of those to fit though.

Can the Reefbrite xho's do a reef all by there self with their different color strips or are they better suited to match up with another light source?

 

[D maul]

Reefbrites are great to supplement the Main light source.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Can the Reefbrite xho's do a reef all by there self with their different color strips or are they better suited to match up with another light source?

Yea they probably could. SHould any way, its light. But No Idea how well. They're meant to augment a powerful light like a MH. S its a super maco stunner strip.

 

[GoVols]

@D maul
@saltyfilmfolks

Thank You!

 

[Rakie]

I'd go with reefbrite I use the xho and it gives great pop. The rapid led is a diy option and IMO that never turns out to look as good as a factory made unit so I would pay extra for the cleanliness.

BTW my tank is 36x18x18 and I don't use a dimmer. Never fried anything. I don't think you'll need a dimmer.

Cool! I've heard a lot of horror stories of XHO's frying corals, but that may have been from people pushing the lights as far as their reef can handle.

Curious how your going to get any of those to fit though.

Not sure what ya mean? They come in a ton of sizes, right now on my 24x24x18 i've got a 6x24 -- Plenty of room to spare. If I had an 8x24 there'd still be room.

 

[Rakie]

Bit the bullet, got an XHO. It should be here in a few days.

 

[GoVols]

Bit the bullet, got an XHO. It should be here in a few days.

 

[OnPointCorals]

HI GoVols, would you like to post a followup to this thread. Would like to know how a couple month in are going. I am making a decision and would like to know what you think of you RB xho strip. I got an ATI 6 bulb and want to add 1 or 2 xho strips.

Let us know

 

[GoVols]

HI GoVols, would you like to post a followup to this thread. Would like to know how a couple month in are going. I am making a decision and would like to know what you think of you RB xho strip. I got an ATI 6 bulb and want to add 1 or 2 xho strips.

Let us know

I'm sorry... I don't run them. If you look at my signature, it has my lighting in it.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
@Rakie
Can you help out @addictreef with your incite and advise after buying them and running them with your T5's?

Thanks, Freddie

 

[OnPointCorals]

Bit the bullet, got an XHO. It should be here in a few days.

Sorry my previous post meant to be at the OP. Check in if you can Rakie.

 

[cjd]

SB Reef lights has a actinic strip that looks promising . They are using the Cree XPE 450nm royal blue. If your corals don't "pop" under them ....they're probably dead!
I am curious too about the color blue that the XHO produce , I bought one of their moonlights and put it back in the box because it wasn't that deep royal blue that I was looking for. I don't know if someone knows what type of leds they use.

 

[GoVols]

Sorry my previous post meant to be at the OP. Check in if you can Rakie.

Yes, I've talked to Rakie and he can give you the +'s and -s's... before anyone pulls the trigger.

 

[Rakie]

Sorry my previous post meant to be at the OP. Check in if you can Rakie.

I've copied my original assessment down below, but before that I'm going to give my POV on the myth of POP from blue LED only -- It will cut deeply against the grain.

SB Reef lights has a actinic strip that looks promising . They are using the Cree XPE 450nm royal blue. If your corals don't "pop" under them ....they're probably dead!
I am curious too about the color blue that the XHO produce , I bought one of their moonlights and put it back in the box because it wasn't that deep royal blue that I was looking for. I don't know if someone knows what type of leds they use.

Their moonlight is supposed to look like "moonlight", not royal blue/deep sea blue. Moonlight is rather pale white, not royal blue. For our eyes, the closest representation would be a "cool white" and an underpowered Blue (not royal blue)

Royal blue from the RB is a standard 450nm royal blue. Unless specified otherwise -- 450 is almost always what royal blue will always be.

Yes, I've talked to Rakie and he can give you the +'s and -s's... before anyone pulls the trigger.

I've added some anecdotal bro-science to my assessment of these lights. I'll try and post a few pictures to illustrate my point that full spectrum LED is the way to get pop, Royal Blue by itself is meh.

______________________________________________________________

The blue pop myth

So I have this thought... Back in ancient times, when I used a Radion everything would fluoresce in my tank -- which is understandable. You look at the tank during it's ramp up and down blue light, and you think 'man, this blue light makes everything look like magic!'

But it doesn't.

You set your Radion or AI Hydra to a standard 20k and all the colors in the tank shine. Yet, if you change that setting to royal blue only, you may or may not notice that some of your corals fail to fluoresce. But why? It looks the same right? It's almost impossible to see the difference between 20k and Royal Blue -- Unless you look at the corals.

Under "Royal Blue" only lighting, almost all blue and purple corals disappear. Some reds also disappear depending on which type of red they are -- I noticed this when my fancy smancy ReefBrite failed to do 1/2 of what I expected, and only later realized why.

Here are two pictures of my frag rack, they are taking literally within minutes of one another. In one picture I'm utilizing T5's, in the other, I'm using ONLY a reef brite XHO Actinic bar. Tell me what you see -- Or don't see.

What did you notice? What stands out to you?

Here's what stands out to me --

All the blues and purples disappear.

So going back to setting your Radion or AI Hydra to a standard 20k setting. What does it have that makes it pop that the RB / Actinic bars DON'T have? White, Yellow, Green, Red, UV, Blue, -- All of these colors are necessary to make all coral colors pop.

______________________________________________________________

Thanks, Freddie
Yes they showed up and I mounted them. I had to actually drill my Powermodule (non LED powermodule) to make them fit.

I would say for what they do, I think they're overpriced. Additionally, mine came with a dent so I ended up with the scratch & dent special price for it, which was nice. Overall? Not worth it.

- Shimmer? Not worth it for a blue XHO, shimmer is a 1 or 2/10, you can barely notice when it's on even by itself due to lack of optics on LED's

- Spread? Pretty good. Almost 2x3' from a 24" bar. The wide body, reflectors and LED's without optics give you a super wide light (which is why there is no shimmer from them)

- PAR/PUR? REALLY Strong. I run a 6x24 ATI fixture. The XHO puts out 60w of 450nm blue LED's, which is roughly 40% the PAR/PUR of my 6x24. So within a day the XHO was burning my SPS. So I'm having it on in the AM for about an hour, and the PM for about 4 hours and adding in 30 min to AM & PM times each week.

- POP? Meh. Can't see the pop with 6 bulbs on. Can't really see the pop with 4 bulbs on. Barely see the pop with 2 bulbs on. As far as POP, it's not even a 10th of what I was told to expect. Whatever pop it delivers gets washed out by the T5's

- What would I have liked? Probably the addition of 2 SemiLED UV chips. Pure blue XHO actinic pop is nice, but I think it would have given much more 'overall pop' from a balanced 20k strip. Dollars to donuts, when I ran radions I got more "pop" from a 20k spectrum setting that just having the Royal Blues on. LED's in general make colors pop, but I'm convinced there's a little more to it than just the 450nm blue spectrum after owning the 'king of POP' led strip and being let down.

OR, I'm specifically color blind to the fluorescence of 450nm coral pop.