We finally tested the Black Box LED... Compare notes? | BRStv Investigates

[rushbattle]

Does anyone have any idea if pulling the lenses on a SB or other BB will broaden the laser beam spread?

 

[Crabs McJones]

I think it just needs to be more clear that not all black boxes are created equal.

I agree

 

[lrowland]

Thank you for this review - it was very informative and contained very good factual data to consider. I am working on a new nano tank and was considering the BB lights. I had not really considered the UL issue until I saw your review but now I agree it is probably the single greatest reason to skip these lights. Personally I would rather be concerned with keeping the tank healthy and growing versus always being concerned about the greater possibility of a fire while I am not at home!

Please, keep up the great work you are doing - there are countless reefers out there that gain value from your posts!

 

[Crabs McJones]

Does anyone have any idea if pulling the lenses on a SB or other BB will broaden the laser beam spread?

From what I understand (and I may be wrong) the lenses are 60 degree, and alot of people pull the lenses off to get either a 90 or a 120 degree out of them.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Does anyone have any idea if pulling the lenses on a SB or other BB will broaden the laser beam spread?

Without question....it's what I did with mine.

 

[Cherub]

great video! I seen a couple of threads this week asking about black box light and I'm sure this will help them.

 

[blazedmasta]

Nah, reefbreeders photon v2. Fixes all the problems mentioned in the video.

Yeah I have the photon V2 and the only complaint would be the controller but still works for the application with no problem. Corals looks fine and does have high controllability compared to other so-called black boxes. I really wanted to see a review on these lights since they are of better quality.

 

[Jrodinnola]

The video should note that not all BB's are the same. However, safety issues with equipment are not acceptable- thank you for pointing that out... I have a client that uses them and I will check into the safety listing asap. Anyway, here's some pics of one of my clients that uses two BB's:

 

[rushbattle]

From what I understand (and I may be wrong) the lenses are 60 degree, and alot of people pull the lenses off to get either a 90 or a 120 degree out of them.

Aha, I thought I remembered him mentioning the lenses he uses, here is a quote from the link below: "You can remove optics to get a little more spread however that will reduce the intensity by about 20%. If you decide to try removing optics, you should only need to remove the clear 90 degree optics, the 120 degree optics should already be helping."

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/sb-reef-lights.226319/page-13

In light of this, I think I'll pull the 90 degree lenses now. Make sense to everyone else?

 

[spiraling]

I don't think they're including the ReefBreeders or SB Reef lights in this video, Ryan does say that he cannot name the name but were all pretty sure its the Mars Aqua. As soon as they took apart the one in the video it looked exactly like what the inside of my Mars Aqua 300 looked like. ReefBreeders and SB Reef Lights while they look like black boxes, I would not personally consider them black boxes, they are definitely alot better and higher quality.

I agree you can get higher quality withing the BB subset, but for a higher cost.
I can't find anywhere if Reefbreeder lights are UL listed. I would love for Ryan and @randyBRS to review a "mid grade name brand" light like a reefbreeders or SB since they seem to be the most popular. Something for $200 - $300 with the same coverage as the radions, UL listed (or not!), somewhat controllable. I think that might be a sweet spot for many reefers.

 

[Mike N]

Is anyone able to ID the black box they were testing?

 

[rushbattle]

Is anyone able to ID the black box they were testing?

It appears to be a mars aqua.

 

[Crabs McJones]

Is anyone able to ID the black box they were testing?

I think its assumed to be a Mars Aqua

 

[Mike N]

It appears to be a mars aqua.

I think its assumed to be a Mars Aqua

Thank you.

 

[Martin Olcott]

I have been running the 300 watt marsaqua bb for 7 months on my 40 breeder mixed reef and have been happy with them but I bought them knowing they werent as good as radions but I will agree with everything he said about build quality they are cheaply made but haven't had any problems yet

 

[Tariq]

If you go through the sps forums, you will notice people with high-end lights struggling with growth and colors while others with Chinese black box have
spectacular looking tanks (just look at the pics in this thread).
Quality lighting certainly plays a significant role but won't do much if water quality is inadequate for coral growth.
Flow and nutrient control (some phosphates and nitrates) are far important, in my opinion.

 

[ludnix]

Not using UL listed components says enough for me. If your light starts a house fire; say goodbye to any hopes of insurance claims.

 

[Vincet81]

I ran black box over my tank and this video pretty much sums it all up. They grow coral great and I had no issues. I upgraded to the hydra fiftytwo hd and I will never go back to any type of black box. I have a buddy with the sb reef lights and they don't even come close to visual appeal. I buy coral from him and even the coral I buy under the sbreef colors up even more with better growth under the hydras. The black box is a great bang for the buck but if you think they can compare to radions kessil or AI IMHO is false.

 

[David Prescott]

I have been using mine since July 2015 and have so far not had any issues. I do not believe that they all use the same spectrum or the same heat sinks or drivers. There seems to be 3 groups of black box quality out there with the ones you reviewed in the bottom tier.
I started out with a middle tier box and got good growth and then switched the light board out to what I believe to be a top tier spectrum. the difference was immediate to both my eyes and my corals response. I ultimately purchased 2 more of the top tier lights and run 2 of the 16" over my 65 gallon.

Here is my tank before I had to break it up to move. 100% grown from frags and by black box only.

I am amazed and frustrated to see results like this. I bought my first black boxes off Amazon about 3 months ago and my corals have done poorly. I have tried raising, lowering, turning up, down etc but only a few corals respond while the others do not. My RBTAs actually start ejecting zooxanthellae and run away if I turn them up very high(over 20%), if I leave them on low they stretch way out like they can't get enough light but their tentacles stay short and blunted . Must not have done enough homework before jumping into a black box or maybe led in general. I would put the brand name on here but I'm new and not sure what the rules are, seems like most are being kind of cryptic about what brands they are posting about.

I appreciate BRS putting this together even if it does re ignite an ongoing argument, good job as always guys. I'm sure some good information from both sides will shake out which will ultimately make the hobby better.

 

[Velcro]

Yeah I have the photon V2 and the only complaint would be the controller but still works for the application with no problem. Corals looks fine and does have high controllability compared to other so-called black boxes. I really wanted to see a review on these lights since they are of better quality.

Honestly, and I'm not saying this is why they didn't, but if people saw how good these photon v2s are compared to radions for a fraction of the price they would lose sales. I totally get it.