best led light for the money

[RareEarthCorals]

Please before you buy these Chinese Made LED boxes do a Google search on them. The majority come from a handful of companies rebranding it fifty ways and use poor smart phone apps, have zero support, and good luck after six months. I have seen price differences as much as double for the same box with a different name. They meet a need but as you may have heard before you get what you pay for.

 

[Stephanie11]

I run black boxes. I've been in the process of switching to led t5 combo.

If I were you I'd keep your t5 and modify. You could run 2-4 bulbs and change out the others to reef brights or led strips. Tons of options. I've been looking for used fixtures to do this to.

 

[Landshark928]

I agree Google and get as much information on black boxes as you can before you pull the trigger. However also know that most of the poor reviews online or from people that do not own black boxes. I've heard they will grow algae, brown out your corals, and even set your house on fire. Lol. The support you get after buying one depends on the vendor. For example the group buy vendor on Facebook provides a solid 1-year warranty no questions asked.

One of the main issues with these lights is that they are a entry level inexpensive light. That means most people who buy them are inexperienced reefers. They often fail because they are inexperienced reefers not because of the light yet we all know who gets blamed, that's right the lights. I have been running mine for 16 months, tweaking the diode layout and gotten to the point where I have better growth than I did with metal halide/t5.

And as far as what support is actually needed, the lights are completely modular. Every piece inside have quick clips and it's easy and cheap to replace buy any. If you can get a new driver for under 20 bucks shipped and swap it out yourself in 5 minutes, again what support is really needed?

They are extremely easy to modify if you want to tinker and change spectrum, or even modify for 0-10v analog control through a Reef keeper or apex controller.

Although it's true you get what you pay for, often you pay for more than what you get. For example the group by has sold over 1300 lights, and only had 6 failures. All 6 were easily fixed with a replacement driver or control board, something the end-user was able to do in minutes. Even Ecotec doesn't have that good of a record.

 

[tautog83]

call the number and get ..." hi this is peggy"..lol I agree most of the time you wont need to call for a warranty or anything like that , and most of the time its "user error" related as why corals don't grow under them.

 

[steelheader.262]

Ha ha ha, Peggy.

 

[Hawain_Rob]

I just bought a Chinese black box from ebay...the aqua mars and I think they're pretty good. My corals colors are a lot beeter than they where with my kessill a150. If the ligt takes a dump 6 months from meow I'm only out $78.

 

[vedros74]

Been running mine for 18 months now with not a single issue and outstanding coral growth and colors

 

[philfree]

For me, maxspect razors. Growing nems and sps.

 

[Wbrian]

I love my Ocean Revive Arctic T247! I have two over my 65. My growth is crazy good!

 

[morairtym]

I'm going to add in my 2 cents. I have 3 tanks a 24x24 frag tank, a IM Fusion 20 office nano, and a 24x72 main display and Each is lit by kessil A360we's. I have 5 of them all together. I recently had a power surge fry every single device hooked up to my home network and my apex took out my kessil lights with it.

I gave kessil's a call and they are shipping me out 3 lights to replace the ones that got damaged, and giving me a new 2 year warranty on each of the new lights.

I will always buy and recommend kessil lights for these reason; true uv, light penetration, cost, shimmer, dense matrix led, coral growth, and above all else customer service. Several things that not all led companys can or will offer.

 

[PDR]

I have been doing a lot of research on lighting lately and I will be going with a Nanobox on my next tank.

 

[RareEarthCorals]

Looking at lights is more than just bang for buck. What are you trying to grow? What are the true dimensions of your tank including height, width, and most important depth. Some lights cant even hit full spectrum deeper than 18x18x12". What is important to you? Set it and forget it, Smartphone integration, ease of set up? Cooling, wattage, power consumption? What are your future plans and how will this light play a role?

The most important question to ask:

Do I need one at this very moment to support what I have and will acquire in the next six months?

If you can take than time and turn it into that extra $200-300, imagine, you could hit all of your wants and needs then some.

 

[sawdonkey]

I agree Google and get as much information on black boxes as you can before you pull the trigger. However also know that most of the poor reviews online or from people that do not own black boxes. I've heard they will grow algae, brown out your corals, and even set your house on fire. Lol. The support you get after buying one depends on the vendor. For example the group buy vendor on Facebook provides a solid 1-year warranty no questions asked.

One of the main issues with these lights is that they are a entry level inexpensive light. That means most people who buy them are inexperienced reefers. They often fail because they are inexperienced reefers not because of the light yet we all know who gets blamed, that's right the lights. I have been running mine for 16 months, tweaking the diode layout and gotten to the point where I have better growth than I did with metal halide/t5.

And as far as what support is actually needed, the lights are completely modular. Every piece inside have quick clips and it's easy and cheap to replace buy any. If you can get a new driver for under 20 bucks shipped and swap it out yourself in 5 minutes, again what support is really needed?

They are extremely easy to modify if you want to tinker and change spectrum, or even modify for 0-10v analog control through a Reef keeper or apex controller.

Although it's true you get what you pay for, often you pay for more than what you get. For example the group by has sold over 1300 lights, and only had 6 failures. All 6 were easily fixed with a replacement driver or control board, something the end-user was able to do in minutes. Even Ecotec doesn't have that good of a record.

I agree with all of this. I've had Evergrow and Ocean Revive. I've had parts go bad, but it pretty easy to figure out what it is and the parts are cheap. I've also tweaked my layout a whole bunch. I have really good coverage over my 220 an it cost me $600 for four units. I'm happy with the results. I had the Evergrows for about 1.5 years and I've had my ocean Revives for 10 months. I only sol the evergrows because I wanted better coverage than the 8 inch wide fixture could offer. Now I run four T247s sideways and I'm bright from front to back.

 

[Reefing Madness]

Nothing wrong with the Mars Leds or the Chinese no names, they are the same light and use the same LEDs as the Reef Radiance unit does, they just don't have the brand name on them. Its the same unit! Same PAR, same Optics, same everything. So if you can say that Reef Radiance is a good unit to use, then the Chinese and Mars units that run the BridgeLux LEDs in them, are also just as good to use.
I run them, and have nothing bad to say about them, then again I can solder in new LEDs also, so I don't need support to help when one of mine goes out.

 

[MasterBlaster66T]

Does anyone know where the aqua illumination lights are from? They are great with customer service, replace anything no ?s asked, and grow anything.

 

[Wh00pS32]

Does anyone know where the aqua illumination lights are from? They are great with customer service, replace anything no ?s asked, and grow anything.

They are a US based company, jointly owned with EcoTech Marine.

 

[MasterBlaster66T]

Thanks, I believe they are from ohio. I was wondering where the leds they use are made and/or what brand they are like Cree I guess?

 

[Wh00pS32]

My Ai Prime has led's from Cree, Osram & SemiLED, i don't know what they use in other models though.

 

[edosan]

Does anyone know where the aqua illumination lights are from? They are great with customer service, replace anything no ?s asked, and grow anything.

US Iowa, check the video

 

[tonyftlaud]

The Mars Aqua 165 watt are excellent lights and will grow anything. At $78 delivered you cant beat them.
As Rare Earth Corals stated ,its all about depth. If you have a deeper tank IMO there is no light fixture that compares with the Kessil's . The A360N will grow corals as deep as 5 ft and will grow sps at 30 inches. One word of caution with the Kessils, they are powerful! Don't think you have to ramp them up very high because you will fry everything. Whats best for one reefer may not be whats best for you. Gecide what you intend to house in your tank and then decide.