Lighting your reef... Best bang for your buck.

[Psychocircus91]

one more question. When running these on a seperate timer, is there anyway to have the main lights go off, and the blues stay on for a moonlight effect?

 

[daney90]

It's really up to the buyer what he/she prefers. For those who thinks that radion or ai sol are the best even though its a little pricey then go for it and for those who think they prefer taotronics because theyre affordable and they can grow soft, Lps, sps corals no problem then hve it.

 

[Gregcoyote]

Just use two timers. Or buy a controller at some point.

 

[daney90]

one more question. When running these on a seperate timer, is there anyway to have the main lights go off, and the blues stay on for a moonlight effect?

Yes. The fixture has a separate switch for both the whites and blues so set your timer when you want to have the whites and blues on/off.

 

[danbstrong]

Yes. The fixture has a separate switch for both the whites and blues so set your timer when you want to have the whites and blues on/off.

Id personally rate the chinese leds between t5s and halides the higher end leds rating above halides goes in this order t5s , chinese leds, halides , brandname leds as an sps only keeper the chinese fixtures do not help sps retain color color is much brighter with a quality fixture lights are definately you get what you pay for ive done side by side text with a chipster acro same water dif light one under chinese one under radion after 2 months the chipster under chinese was a kinda brownish green with slight purple tips under radion the excact same coral off excact same colony was a bright green throughout with blue tips and the blue was 1/2" down the coral whereas chinese fixture purple tips were just only on the very tip

 

[danbstrong]

Id personally rate the chinese leds between t5s and halides the higher end leds rating above halides goes in this order t5s , chinese leds, halides , brandname leds as an sps only keeper the chinese fixtures do not help sps retain color color is much brighter with a quality fixture lights are definately you get what you pay for ive done side by side text with a chipster acro same water dif light one under chinese one under radion after 2 months the chipster under chinese was a kinda brownish green with slight purple tips under radion the excact same coral off excact same colony was a bright green throughout with blue tips and the blue was 1/2" down the coral whereas chinese fixture purple tips were just only on the very tip

Side by side test* not text lol

 

[danbstrong]

Side by side test* not text lol

For lps chinese fixtures will be fine not for sps you will get growth from chinese fixtures but youll never get as good a color

 

[danbstrong]

For lps chinese fixtures will be fine not for sps you will get growth from chinese fixtures but youll never get as good a color

Sorry i made mistake the leds i used are cree i apologize the chinese is bridgelux but i think the drivers are whats important

 

[Gregcoyote]

I have spectacular color on all my SPS corals. Not sure what your test showed, would love to see pictures of the test setup and results. I have seen claims like this but have never seen a problem with corals going brown in my system. Quite the opposite, I see very good growth and color. The coral colors can be enhanced with the addition of some red and cyan LEDs, something I do when building my own fixtures, but for basic growth the Chinese panels work fine.

What I see with high priced fixtures is useless lighting effects that just scare fish.

 

[Psychocircus91]

I have spectacular color on all my SPS corals. Not sure what your test showed, would love to see pictures of the test setup and results. I have seen claims like this but have never seen a problem with corals going brown in my system. Quite the opposite, I see very good growth and color. The coral colors can be enhanced with the addition of some red and cyan LEDs, something I do when building my own fixtures, but for basic growth the Chinese panels work fine.

What I see with high priced fixtures is useless lighting effects that just scare fish.

So would you recommend the reef breeders version with the greens and reds? It's only 30 bucks more.

 

[Gregcoyote]

Never used them so no opinion.

 

[danbstrong]

I have spectacular color on all my SPS corals. Not sure what your test showed, would love to see pictures of the test setup and results. I have seen claims like this but have never seen a problem with corals going brown in my system. Quite the opposite, I see very good growth and color. The coral colors can be enhanced with the addition of some red and cyan LEDs, something I do when building my own fixtures, but for basic growth the Chinese panels work fine.

What I see with high priced fixtures is useless lighting effects that just scare fish.

Ya youll get growth as ive mentioned but have you done an acuall side by side test? The color was waaaaaaay brighter with the crees not just a lil bit the acro under the bridgelux looked good and healthy just not as bright the bridgelux retained color this test was done a month ago so i got rid of the chinese fixtures didn take pictures as this experiment was done for me in order to decide if the crees were better and worth more money and imo absolutely and im not saying they turned brown under the bridgelux the color was just not as good im just going off my own personal experience most who talk the chinese fixtures up have never had the pleasure of running a more quality fixture

 

[danbstrong]

Never used them so no opinion.

And it wasnt the color being enhanced
the pigment within the corals tissue got brighter again this is just my opinion

 

[danbstrong]

And it wasnt the color being enhanced
the pigment within the corals tissue got brighter again this is just my opinion

Heres a pic of the acro that was tested this is under cree notice the purple tips the purple is going down the branch 1/4-1/2" under the bridgelux only the very tip stayed purple and the green wasnt nearly as bright as this under the cree i dont think youd notice the difference until you placed them side by side if you looked one then the other youd think they look similar you place side by side youd definately notice i wish i would have documented it

 

[Gregcoyote]

These are subjective tests that don't take into account anything but the color the coral reflects back. I am after growth and health, not a black light poster. I have used and sold the expensive fixtures. Crees are nice LEDs and I use them in the fixtures I build. But for someone on a budget, spending twice as much or more is a big deal. Add some warm colored stunner strips and you can balance the lights to whatever you like. PAR is PAR.

 

[danbstrong]

These are subjective tests that don't take into account anything but the color the coral reflects back. I am after growth and health, not a black light poster. I have used and sold the expensive fixtures. Crees are nice LEDs and I use them in the fixtures I build. But for someone on a budget, spending twice as much or more is a big deal. Add some warm colored stunner strips and you can balance the lights to whatever you like. PAR is PAR.

Ya indeed color is what im after the brighter the color the better a coral looks i think color is what most reefkeepers are after which is why everyone uses actinics that last pic dont have any actinic light on it and looks phenominal i dont think a coral should need stunner strips to look good i dont care if a coral grows 6' a year if the color isnt top notch but to each their own if your happy with em thats good you saved some money but for me they just didnt hold up next to a quality led i also think the drivers in the chinese fixtures arent as good i used meanwel driver for the crees so im simply stating my opinion the chinese fixtures are ok the crees with a good driver is better this is my opinion based solely on my experience others may have different experience some chinese fixtures may be better than others i really dont know but the crees with meanwel drivers were noticably better than bridgelux in my side by side experiment i thouht this thread was about lighting opinions this is mine

 

[LaWoWee]

When you are looking into the chinese type 120 watt LED panels there are ones with different bulbs. Some have 112 1-watt bulbs and others have 56 3-watt bulbs. I own 4 panels. 2 have the 1 watt bulbs. I dont have a par meter to test the difference but they could be the same output since they all pull the same wattage. I just bought a 90 gal thats 24" tall so i bought 2 panels with the 56x3w bulbs just to for the assurance that i can have sufficient lighting at all depths. Maybe the guys with the PAR meters can shed some light on that. There are so many out there now, not just taotronics. I bought mine used only a couple of months for $100/ea. I have 1 112x1w panel on a 36" 40gal breeder and have had good growth on SPS and LPS from end to end.

 

[danbstrong]

When you are looking into the chinese type 120 watt LED panels there are ones with different bulbs. Some have 112 1-watt bulbs and others have 56 3-watt bulbs. I own 4 panels. 2 have the 1 watt bulbs. I dont have a par meter to test the difference but they could be the same output since they all pull the same wattage. I just bought a 90 gal thats 24" tall so i bought 2 panels with the 56x3w bulbs just to for the assurance that i can have sufficient lighting at all depths. Maybe the guys with the PAR meters can shed some light on that. There are so many out there now, not just taotronics. I bought mine used only a couple of months for $100/ea. I have 1 112x1w panel on a 36" 40gal breeder and have had good growth on SPS and LPS from end to end.

Sorry ive never used a par meter but it would seem to me that the 3w would have a higher par than 1w

 

[Animal-Chin]

Mine should be here in a couple of weeks. I have 2sps in my tank under t5's that are actually doing "ok". I'll review and chronical when I get set up. I'm in Canada so delivery should be a bit slower but I should have them in a few weeks...

 

[Gregcoyote]

I've been testing with a PAR meter for a few years now. I am an engineer by trade, so I tend to be kind of careful with measurements. Lenses on the LEDs mean a lot depending on your tank depth and the surface area covered. It can double the PAR in a deep tank.

The two fixtures rated at 120 watts measure the same PAR regardless of LED number in my measurements. The longevity of the emitter is controlled by the wattage it is driven at and the parts operating temperature. Drivers need to do just one thing..provide smooth DC power. They cannot effect the color temperature of the emitter.

I am aiming to grow corals and as a diver I don't like the fluorescent gaudy colors some artificial lighting causes. The reef doesn't look like this even under photo flash. Everyone to their own though.