Which light?

[Deshawn00]

Hello everyone! I am trying to get a new light for my 20 gallon innovative marine tank. The one I have now doesn’t do justice for my corals. I’m not trying to spend a huge amount of money on just a light for a tank I’m probably gonna keep for a long time. Amazon has a light that looks very reasonable and has the same power as the hyper reef. Any advice would help.

 

[BigDangler]

i have a 140w smartfarm over my 92gallon corner and it works fantastic.. def go with either or.. no experience with the nicrew family tho.. sure they're both about the same..

 

[Deshawn00]

i have a 140w smartfarm over my 92gallon corner and it works fantastic.. def go with either or.. no experience with the nicrew family tho.. sure they're both about the same..

Wow that’s good to know! I’m still new to the hobby so I was being told by my lfs to get the hyper reef for points and value but that’s $200 for a light that doesn’t come with a controller like the smart farm.

 

[BigDangler]

i have a 140w smartfarm over my 92gallon corner and it works fantastic.. def go with either or.. no experience with the nicrew family tho.. sure they're both about the same..

Wow that’s good to know! I’m still new to the hobby so I was being told by my lfs to get the hyper reef for points and value but that’s $200 for a light that doesn’t come with a controller like the smart farm.

Ya for the price they are definitely worth it.. Can't justify myself buying a light for close to $800 when these are fine.. But no app connection which is fine.. Doesn't bother me at all

 

[Deshawn00]

i have a 140w smartfarm over my 92gallon corner and it works fantastic.. def go with either or.. no experience with the nicrew family tho.. sure they're both about the same..

Wow that’s good to know! I’m still new to the hobby so I was being told by my lfs to get the hyper reef for points and value but that’s $200 for a light that doesn’t come with a controller like the smart farm.

Ya for the price they are definitely worth it.. Can't justify myself buying a light for close to $800 when these are fine.. But no app connection which is fine.. Doesn't bother me at all

Yeah as long as there’s a controller I don’t really care. Thanks for the feedback. Nice to know that brand is trustworthy and good

 

[BigDangler]

i have a 140w smartfarm over my 92gallon corner and it works fantastic.. def go with either or.. no experience with the nicrew family tho.. sure they're both about the same..

Wow that’s good to know! I’m still new to the hobby so I was being told by my lfs to get the hyper reef for points and value but that’s $200 for a light that doesn’t come with a controller like the smart farm.

Ya for the price they are definitely worth it.. Can't justify myself buying a light for close to $800 when these are fine.. But no app connection which is fine.. Doesn't bother me at all

Yeah as long as there’s a controller I don’t really care. Thanks for the feedback. Nice to know that brand is trustworthy and good

Ya I mean price wise.. If I had one last 5 years vs an 800$ one last 10 years.. I'd rather just spend the 190$ like my light was in 5 years again.. But it does have a physical controller or you can use your fingers on the light to adjust it.. I suggest starting it on mixed reef for beginning.. Or you can adjust all the different spectrums yourself.. Whites where ya want.. Blues where ya want.. I'll tell ya this though.. The moon light even at 1% is pretty bright lol which I don't mind.. Can see more when I'm snooping around the tank later at night

 

[PPBlimpy]

Look into a REEFB led from Amazon $119

Par reading on my buddies IM 25 lagoon.

Really liking the light

 

[mfinn]

I just picked up a Nicrew NavaReef 65 for a 10 gallon temp frag tank.
Seems to be a decent light so far. I did have to spend extra for the remote controller.

 

[Deshawn00]

I just picked up a Nicrew NavaReef 65 for a 10 gallon temp frag tank.
Seems to be a decent light so far. I did have to spend extra for the remote controller.

That’s the one thing I don’t think about. Having to pay $50 just for a controller is crazy where as the one on Amazon has the same power and a controller.

 

[13rodo]

I've been pretty happy with Nicrew. I also use a 65W over my little holding tank. Kind of a guessing game with the Amazon stuff though

 

[mfinn]

That’s the one thing I don’t think about. Having to pay $50 just for a controller is crazy where as the one on Amazon has the same power and a controller.

I really wasn't planning on picking up the controller. It was more of a after thought.
I really didn't think it was that crazy. It didn't hurt my wallet.
I just needed a light to use over a temp tank with about $1200 worth of corals in it.

 

[rtodd76]

I think you could go with either the smart farm or Nicrew but it is kind of nice that the smart farm has a controller

 

[DIYreefer]

So honestly, I probably have more experience with nicrew’s reef lights than most people. I have over 20 of them that are in use currently and that number will be closer to 30 soon. I’m running gen 1 hyper reefs in the 50w and 100w version, gen 2 hyper reefs n the 100w and 200w version, and the nava reefs in the 135w version. I’m using controllers on all of them.

The gen 1s have been in use for nearly 5 years without issue aside from one power supply going bad. That sort of reliability is tough to beat. The gen 2s are more refined and I do like them better than the first generation lights because I can customize the spectrum more, but my favorite by far are the nava reef 135s. That is an EXCELLENT light, regardless of price, IMO. Nicrew nailed the LED array on the nava reefs. I love the spectrum of the preprogrammed AB+ or whatever it’s called. As my humble little coral farm expands the nava reef will be my go to choice for lighting.

FWIW, I also have radions (gen 5) running as well. So I have experience with higher end/more expensive lighting to compare them to. Radions are fine, but I honestly like the simplicity of the nicrews better, and they will all grow corals just the same.