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

[dz6t]

Gorilla Crabs and mantis shrimps are the least concern about bad hitchhikers in those air rocks. Various types of Flatworm, sea spiders are more troublesome. Everyone dip incoming corals, are you going to dip the air rocks?

 

[Wankell]

After reading his awesome research I can't help but want one LOL

@Ryanbrs I enjoyed the video, I think it's very important in this day and age to point out the negatives in everything, rather than sugar coat things and only focus on the positives, regardless of how many feelings you may hurt in the process. I have owned a BB light and while it did get the job done like you pointed out, it's far from a quality product and it is definitely NOT worth comparing to all the lights on the market. You keep doing you, you can't please everyone, and it's just another source of information for people to use on their own, again like you said in the video...

 

[enveetie]

Also BRS makes no money on these videos and the testing they do, in fact it costs them money. I think Ryan at one point said that the video they made costed about 5 grand to produce.

you have to be kidding to think these videos don't bring them revenue. maybe not directly, not counting youtube monetization, but you better believe these videos build strong brand identity and awareness that translates to sizable increased sales. i'm willing to say their youtube channel is one of the most important marketing aspect of their business.

 

[Crabs McJones]

you have to be kidding to think these videos don't bring them revenue. maybe not directly, not counting youtube monetization, but you better believe these videos build strong brand identity and awareness that translates to sizable increased sales. i'm willing to say their youtube channel is one of the most important marketing aspect of their business.

|maybe not directly
what I was referring to...bit salty are we?
I understand that the videos are a marketing move, however, when it costs 5 grand to make and produce the video, and then afterwords give away the equipment you used in the video for free, they can't directly make them money.

 

[Jennie]

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.

Here she is now. Been growing since March and is getting there.

I personally see no reason to be on a quest to find alternative lights and am happy to have found lighting that is affordable and what I believe to be effective. The lights are also covered by a 2 year USA warranty so if I ever have any issues (which are not unheard of) I am confident I will be able to easily repair or replace.

Thank you for taking the time to do your review of black boxes! You guys really do great work for the hobby.

Just curious, I have two black boxes hung 19” from the surface of the water. My tank is 18” deep (frag). Any suggestions on what the blue and white settings should be at? Thanks

 

[Vleis]

Awe,

Is "black box" referring to all CHINA made led lights with a black shell or is this a specific brand.

Sry for the dumb Q

 

[happyhourhero]

Just curious, I have two black boxes hung 19” from the surface of the water. My tank is 18” deep (frag). Any suggestions on what the blue and white settings should be at? Thanks

I would run 50 blues and 30ish whites and see what that does. Go up 5% or so every week and stop when you see your corals paling.

 

[Jennie]

I would run 50 blues and 30ish whites and see what that does. Go up 5% or so every week and stop when you see your corals paling.

Thanks, I will try that

 

[Jennie]

I would run 50 blues and 30ish whites and see what that does. Go up 5% or so every week and stop when you see your corals paling.

Right now I have whites at 1%

 

[triscene83]

I have upgrade my 3 Mars Aquas as picture shows. I still feel that white channel is too white for my eyes if more than 30%.
Would you change maybe 3 x12000k for Royal Blues? Or 3500k?

Do you have some tool on which i could see how my spectrum slope looks like?

 

[oreo54]

I have upgrade my 3 Mars Aquas as picture shows. I still feel that white channel is too white for my eyes if more than 30%.
Would you change maybe 3 x12000k for Royal Blues? Or 3500k?

Do you have some tool on which i could see how my spectrum slope looks like?

http://spectra.1023world.net/

Fun to play with..............
you will generally need to make assumptions like adding royal blue to a high K white to get one to register like 12000K
9 "cool white" plus 1 "royal blue' give you a 12000K white
5 "cool white" plus 1 rb is 23000K..

Of course you need to adjust the power accordingly..23000K "emulation" is 6W so equiv to 2 diodes..

 

[Legit Reviewer]

Led for reef hobby market is very tiny when compare to horticulture market.
Let's look at the best review i came across on the plant growing side of business:
http://nichebeasts.com/led-grow-lights/
You can see Black Box type of led are what people choose. With the mass amount of led sold, we really don't see fire hazard or UL listing are a concern.

 

[Tigweldpro]

BRS is spending money reviewing useless Philips coral care leds and they don't want to do more black box videos..... where did you get more views @Ryanbrs ?
Test more black boxes roars the crowd!

 

[Bronx19]

The Chines boxes in the Mars Aqua form are all the same.

 

[Tigweldpro]

The Chines boxes in the Mars Aqua form are all the same.

Galaxyhydro has different leds and 120 degree lenses..... SB totally different again. Mars is bottom of the barrel, probably it was picked for testing.

 

[Bronx19]

There was a thread around here recently where someone was asking why their alternate brand BB had GH printed on the back. Evergrow, Lighttunnel and Mars Aqua are all clones, right down to the internals.

 

[Tigweldpro]

There was a thread around here recently where someone was asking why their alternate brand BB had GH printed on the back. Evergrow, Lighttunnel and Mars Aqua are all clones, right down to the internals.

Well from videos ive seen they all look quite different. Maybe there needs to be a new thread to compare all these brands a bit more in detail...

 

[Jl330]

This video has me questioning my mars bbs. I bought them when I was new to the hobby (I still am) and they seem to be doing well. Haven't had any heat issues I'm aware of.

I'll upgrade if I have issues, but I didn't want to drop big cash before I knew if I wanted to continue with this hobby.

 

[Tigweldpro]

This video has me questioning my mars bbs. I bought them when I was new to the hobby (I still am) and they seem to be doing well. Haven't had any heat issues I'm aware of.

I'll upgrade if I have issues, but I didn't want to drop big cash before I knew if I wanted to continue with this hobby.

Same here, if there was no lights in the $100 range I don't think I would even have a reef tank. This is what company's are missing. getting people into reefing is half the battle, once your hooked more expensive hardware is just a given.

 

[Jl330]

Same here, if there was no lights in the $100 range I don't think I would even have a reef tank. This is what company's are missing. getting people into reefing is half the battle, once your hooked more expensive hardware is just a given.

I would definitely still be fowlr if I didn't have these but instead I have a great start to a reef tank that can be upgraded over time.

I wish I was the guy that could drop 10 grand upfront for a nice setup but I have too many expensive hobbies and too many other commitments for that.