Selecting a LED Fixture - By Steven Pro

[PrincessNatkins]

I would really appreciate your help! I just got the JBJ replacement hood for my 28gal nano cube. It has a 3-color LED canopy that I can program different lights to turn on throughout the day. It did not come with instructions. I got it all turned on and installed but, Im not sure what lights i should have come on in what % at the different times of day. I have WHite, red and blue lights i can turn from 0-100%. Is there a basic lighting profile I can use to program my tank and make adjustments as my tank grows and changes? Thank you!

 

[Evanbardiel]

Selecting a LED Fixture

In a previous blog entry, I showed some limited testing I performed on some LED fixtures and one metal halide fixture of the same approximate size and wattage. Having demonstrated that LED’s can produce good intensity lighting, I now want to give a few tips on selecting a quality LED fixture.

My first piece of advice is, buy a brand that you have seen in operation in person. Reading about them online and seeing pictures and video clips is ok, but nothing beats seeing something work right in front of your eyes. Don’t be surprised if they don’t appear very bright, though. Many LED fixtures don’t look very bright, particularly in comparison to a MH, but your eyes lie to you. The same thing happened to me when I compared the LED’s to that MH in my last blog. To my eyes, the MH looked much brighter than either LED, but numbers don’t lie. The human eye is just not a good judge of brightness. I don’t know if that has something to do with the fact that most LED’s are blue heavy in color or some other factor. That is why having and checking the performance with a PAR meter would be a good idea.

The next factor, and one of the biggest in evaluating an LED fixture is heat management. Does the unit in question have a large heat sink? The heat sink is one of the easiest ways to check if a LED fixture is a good one. It is generally easy to locate and compare in size to other brands. It is also the fist thing an inexpensive brand is going to cutback on. If the heat sink is small or nonexistent, I would walk away and look at another option.

Is it relying on passive cooling or does it also incorporate fans? All things equal, I would like to see fans on a LED fixture I would buy. There are some that can manage heat solely through large heat sinks, but I feel more comfortable with fans aiding. Also, are those fans placed in such a way that they are easy to service? In my experience, dirt, dust, and in some cases salt spray will build up on and near fans used around aquarium. This requires regular maintenance. In general, if something cannot easily be serviced, it usually gets skipped. Making sure the fans are operating and free from obstruction is critically important in any light fixture, but even more so with LED.

The last bit of information to gather prior to buying is to examine the warranty policy. How long does it last? What does it cover? And worst case scenario if something happens, where does the service occur, whose responsibility is it to get the unit to the service center, and what is the typical turnaround time for repairs? I have heard of some brands requiring the broken units be sent back to China at the cost of the purchaser. I would avoid those brands if I were you.

I hope I have given you some useful pointers in evaluating a LED prior to purchase. LED seems to be clearly heading as the future lighting of our hobby, but there is a wide range in quality of the units I have seen so far. Early adopters to new technology take the greatest risk and must be extra careful in their acquisitions if they don’t wish to have to repurchase something later.

im trying to figure out what led lights to get for my 20 gall long, and what size. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[nano reef]

Selecting a LED Fixture

In a previous blog entry, I showed some limited testing I performed on some LED fixtures and one metal halide fixture of the same approximate size and wattage. Having demonstrated that LED’s can produce good intensity lighting, I now want to give a few tips on selecting a quality LED fixture.

My first piece of advice is, buy a brand that you have seen in operation in person. Reading about them online and seeing pictures and video clips is ok, but nothing beats seeing something work right in front of your eyes. Don’t be surprised if they don’t appear very bright, though. Many LED fixtures don’t look very bright, particularly in comparison to a MH, but your eyes lie to you. The same thing happened to me when I compared the LED’s to that MH in my last blog. To my eyes, the MH looked much brighter than either LED, but numbers don’t lie. The human eye is just not a good judge of brightness. I don’t know if that has something to do with the fact that most LED’s are blue heavy in color or some other factor. That is why having and checking the performance with a PAR meter would be a good idea.

The next factor, and one of the biggest in evaluating an LED fixture is heat management. Does the unit in question have a large heat sink? The heat sink is one of the easiest ways to check if a LED fixture is a good one. It is generally easy to locate and compare in size to other brands. It is also the fist thing an inexpensive brand is going to cutback on. If the heat sink is small or nonexistent, I would walk away and look at another option.

Is it relying on passive cooling or does it also incorporate fans? All things equal, I would like to see fans on a LED fixture I would buy. There are some that can manage heat solely through large heat sinks, but I feel more comfortable with fans aiding. Also, are those fans placed in such a way that they are easy to service? In my experience, dirt, dust, and in some cases salt spray will build up on and near fans used around aquarium. This requires regular maintenance. In general, if something cannot easily be serviced, it usually gets skipped. Making sure the fans are operating and free from obstruction is critically important in any light fixture, but even more so with LED.

The last bit of information to gather prior to buying is to examine the warranty policy. How long does it last? What does it cover? And worst case scenario if something happens, where does the service occur, whose responsibility is it to get the unit to the service center, and what is the typical turnaround time for repairs? I have heard of some brands requiring the broken units be sent back to China at the cost of the purchaser. I would avoid those brands if I were you.

I hope I have given you some useful pointers in evaluating a LED prior to purchase. LED seems to be clearly heading as the future lighting of our hobby, but there is a wide range in quality of the units I have seen so far. Early adopters to new technology take the greatest risk and must be extra careful in their acquisitions if they don’t wish to have to repurchase something later.

Hi I am looking into some lights for a 36 gallon bowfront and cant seem to decide. I was going for the new radions then my tank crashed so that kind of changes things, all though still considetring them since I am having a hard time. I am looking into used gen 4's and I actuall won a set on ebay(havnt paid yet) loltotal price for 15 gen 4 is 435.00. Good price but he has had them since 2016, and I see rust on the screws. He ofcorse says they have been in storage for 3 years. I do know he is clearing out all his gear so not like he is upgrading which was my first thought. He looks to be standing in fron tt of a storage unit. He told me he would get by the storage and take some pics of the rail he has. If I am going to pay befor his trip so he may be telling the truth and there is no way to know. All the others I like seem to come from China. Brand s like pop bloom or d sunny (love the colors of the leds on white light) actually they do send them from sc on ebay so maybe america based as well. jebao or something like that(famous for the wavemakers) lomine or lomina Look like kessil 360" I love how they light up th e tank on white and blue. I have watched many youtubes of all these lights. they all use cree lenses or bridgelux, osram too which is important. reef breeders photon. I like they are based in america and have a 2 year warranty. Most expensive at 399.00 and least wattage. Cree and oslam leds, Also like the coverage but It is on legs so I dont like the cheap look of that. ocean revive, slightly used for 80 bucks! Thats is probably what I would do but she wont get back with me. Its also not programmable it has 4 channels I think but cant ramp up and down. Is it important for corals to have a sunrise and sunset? All these other are programmable with at least 4 channels. Noopsyche. Chinese brand but I think they have supplier here in america. They seem to be popular on this site. JBJ has one on clearance for 200.00 with legs but dosnt have red and green channel! Just blu, white and violet. Its a sl something. Nice looking and sleek for that type. Also a used maxspect razor. Used geizeman aurora as well. Which is a very expensive and has t5 and led, but only one 50 watt led in center. Its more for a cube and since I have a bowfront that is only 10 inches wide at the ends from front to back but 15 inchs front to back in middle. I hear t5 hybrids give really great coverage and growth and was thinking of making a dyi with that but the odd side might have some bleed of the t5 light. If not that would defiently be what I would do! There are some youtubes of the geizeman that look amazing with coral plus bulbs and leds set to blue! Lots of color pop on whiter light! Love that for a day look then bluer look at night.

I am sorry to go on but I guess its hard to decide with so many named. I worry about based in China ones but I love the kessil look alikes! WOW. The colors it puts out is amazing but xtra 125.00 for wifi. Are any of these lights familiar to you! I am get tind so frustrated I am about to get the radions. My hubby has even given me the go ahead but my god 100.00 just for a mount and I am fixing to be replacing a tom of coral I lost. Can you possibly give me some pointers or advice! I have narrowed it to these not just on price but the youtubes and the colors. Like I hat the looks of dsunny but they have more color pop on whiter light than any light I have ever seen! My hubby might build a mount to hide part of the light. It has this huge fan sticking up. ANyway thanks for any advice. I am simply going mad! I am also worried about any of these lights not having the right spectrum as well so I am pretty close to just blowing it out and getting the radions. I know that maxspect has the most insane spectrum I have seen. They cover all colors to like 3 different blues and cyan and i think rvrn yellow. If It was 2 lights that were on a mount I would get that. I prefer that look versus the kind that is on legs and goes across the tank.

 

[nano reef]

consider reefbreeders photon 24, here is mine over my 40b. this is with 90* optics, and it lights the entire tank very well (see below for a better pic of coverage). I've gotten great color and growth from it IMO.

Untitled by GHill762, on Flickr

Untitled by GHill762, on Flickr

this last photo (a terrrible photo) is to show coverage and that it's not dim around the edges like the above photos suggest, that is just from the way my phone takes photos, it's adjusting to the brightest part of the tank..

Untitled by GHill762, on Flickr

I am having a really hard time deciding and 4000 is my budget as well. This is one I have on my list. I like its based in america and has a 2 year warranty. Have you ever had problems with this light? Do you still have it?

 

[nano reef]

@dacianb Not sure how to quote you. I am looking into leds for my 36 gallon. I was looking at cheaper brands like reefbreeders, pop bloom, Jeabo,lomine, noopsyhce, well lots of other names all at 400 or below and either using cree or osram Bridgelux was one. Is bridgelux a good led? so your are saying that osram lasts longer than cree? Which has better color and of any of these brands or any other which would you recomend. Some of the used ones are radion gen 4, and maxpect razor, geizeman aurora which is a t5 led. I dont know if I woul d be better off getting used high quality or cheaper new ones. Any advice? I am racking my brain! lol

 

[nano reef]

You can try to learn more this luminaire

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/noopsyche-k7-pro-ii-95w.506365/

I would like to buy two of these? Do you give reef2reef member a discount? If I had a problem is it repaired in usa or need to go to china? I looked at some chinese lights and cant even call them because there number starts with a plus symbol and has to many numbers!

 

[nano reef]

@scardall what leds do you use? What are the best?

 

[noopsyche]

I would like to buy two of these? Do you give reef2reef member a discount? If I had a problem is it repaired in usa or need to go to china? I looked at some chinese lights and cant even call them because there number starts with a plus symbol and has to many numbers!

If you want to buy pls pm us

 

[nano reef]

I thought at least one person would answer! Nanoreef is full of know it all and if you ask a question you get pounced and if you dont do it their way they get made and start putting meme on any further questions! Hateful group of know it alls! Where would I ask a question about lightening or put a wanted to buy add? Still cant figure out a lot of things on this site! Thanks

 

[bmbrad]

Excellent write up! Definitely some good pointers in what to look for when considering LED lighting!

 

[Ctam61381]

Hi all....I have an elos 120xl and recently upgraded to the hybrid fixture. So it's 4 kessils with 4 ho t5s with two strips of reef brites. I feel like this is the best of all world's. T5s for proper spectrum and growth, kessils for disco effect on the reef, reef brites true actinic for that absolute best pop for corals. I have seen a very noticeable difference in growth in all my corals, not so much with sps. I bought the kessils used for under 200 and so the entire fixture was pretty affordable. 275 for the fixture, 125 for the bulbs, and 350 for the reefbrites.

 

[heidisdad2]

Good advice



Great advice. I ended up with 2 kessils for 72 gallon bow front. Contrary to what I thought, 2 was enough for lps and sps coral. I also have 2 rbta that are loving them. Have seen amazing growth from all. Got them about 4 inches off the water. I do have sps up top like all tanks. Lps on bottom.

Hey Jep.

what caught my eye about your post was the 4 inches off the water. I have a canopy and am inexperienced. When i had the canopy designed the guy built it at 7 inches, i didnt really think about specifying the space i would need.

so i have a small space to work with, are those kessils a good option for being 4 inches off the ground or do you think there is a better option out there?

any help would be appreciated. Also how about the heat i also overlooked the venting, will install some but looking for something that manages heat well also.

 

[Marine Reefer]

I'm looking to replace/upgrade my light in the near future and was looking for suggestions. Currently I have a Reef Breeder photon 60W (V1 3CH) over the currently. My tank is a 110g 48"x24"x24". Unfortunately, it is rimmed but in a negative way IMO, both sides, the front and half of the back have a 3' wide strip of glass that surrounds the tank. This design makes most all mounting systems unusable. I do plan on building a custom canopy at some point. Which would solve the problem because I could just incorporate it into the canopy. I'm really looking for suggestions on size. Do I go for a full 48" light, or two, or even three smaller ones. I figure the tank depth being 24" would require something a bit on the stronger side (wattage). I'm not particular to LED persay, have considered switching to a hybrid T5/LED. As mentioned before, more so just looking for the proper size light. The Reef Breeder I currently use is lager than the tank by about 3" on each side (it came with the tank when I bought it). pictures to follow. I appreciate any guidance.

 

[Marine Reefer]

I'm looking to replace/upgrade my light in the near future and was looking for suggestions. Currently I have a Reef Breeder photon 60W (V1 3CH) over the currently. My tank is a 110g 48"x24"x24". Unfortunately, it is rimmed but in a negative way IMO, both sides, the front and half of the back have a 3' wide strip of glass that surrounds the tank. This design makes most all mounting systems unusable. I do plan on building a custom canopy at some point. Which would solve the problem because I could just incorporate it into the canopy. I'm really looking for suggestions on size. Do I go for a full 48" light, or two, or even three smaller ones. I figure the tank depth being 24" would require something a bit on the stronger side (wattage). I'm not particular to LED persay, have considered switching to a hybrid T5/LED. As mentioned before, more so just looking for the proper size light. The Reef Breeder I currently use is lager than the tank by about 3" on each side (it came with the tank when I bought it). pictures to follow. I appreciate any guidance.

 

[Raheel-82]

Hi,

My tank dimensions L28, W18, H34 in inches. It’s a longish aquarium. My question is that I have 2 hydra 32 with me. I need advice wether one would be enough or I need to install both of them for sps corals etc.

Regards.

 

[Oldreefer44]

I'm looking to replace/upgrade my light in the near future and was looking for suggestions. Currently I have a Reef Breeder photon 60W (V1 3CH) over the currently. My tank is a 110g 48"x24"x24". Unfortunately, it is rimmed but in a negative way IMO, both sides, the front and half of the back have a 3' wide strip of glass that surrounds the tank. This design makes most all mounting systems unusable. I do plan on building a custom canopy at some point. Which would solve the problem because I could just incorporate it into the canopy. I'm really looking for suggestions on size. Do I go for a full 48" light, or two, or even three smaller ones. I figure the tank depth being 24" would require something a bit on the stronger side (wattage). I'm not particular to LED persay, have considered switching to a hybrid T5/LED. As mentioned before, more so just looking for the proper size light. The Reef Breeder I currently use is lager than the tank by about 3" on each side (it came with the tank when I bought it). pictures to follow. I appreciate any guidance.

IMO, If you eventually plan on a canopy, it is better to go with 2 fixtures. One large fixture makes it harder to reach all areas of the tank. Some of the newer lights (Straton, Phillips Coral Care) can be mounted very close to the water line, therefore are hidden by the canopy, yet still give full coverage. I have Stratons 7 inches above the water line yet they cover the full 24 inches with ease.

 

[Marine Reefer]

IMO, If you eventually plan on a canopy, it is better to go with 2 fixtures. One large fixture makes it harder to reach all areas of the tank. Some of the newer lights (Straton, Phillips Coral Care) can be mounted very close to the water line, therefore are hidden by the canopy, yet still give full coverage. I have Stratons 7 inches above the water line yet they cover the full 24 inches with ease.

I’ll look into your suggestions. Thanks for the info!!!

 

[bkennedy239]

Selecting a LED Fixture

In a previous blog entry, I showed some limited testing I performed on some LED fixtures and one metal halide fixture of the same approximate size and wattage. Having demonstrated that LED’s can produce good intensity lighting, I now want to give a few tips on selecting a quality LED fixture.

My first piece of advice is, buy a brand that you have seen in operation in person. Reading about them online and seeing pictures and video clips is ok, but nothing beats seeing something work right in front of your eyes. Don’t be surprised if they don’t appear very bright, though. Many LED fixtures don’t look very bright, particularly in comparison to a MH, but your eyes lie to you. The same thing happened to me when I compared the LED’s to that MH in my last blog. To my eyes, the MH looked much brighter than either LED, but numbers don’t lie. The human eye is just not a good judge of brightness. I don’t know if that has something to do with the fact that most LED’s are blue heavy in color or some other factor. That is why having and checking the performance with a PAR meter would be a good idea.

The next factor, and one of the biggest in evaluating an LED fixture is heat management. Does the unit in question have a large heat sink? The heat sink is one of the easiest ways to check if a LED fixture is a good one. It is generally easy to locate and compare in size to other brands. It is also the fist thing an inexpensive brand is going to cutback on. If the heat sink is small or nonexistent, I would walk away and look at another option.

Is it relying on passive cooling or does it also incorporate fans? All things equal, I would like to see fans on a LED fixture I would buy. There are some that can manage heat solely through large heat sinks, but I feel more comfortable with fans aiding. Also, are those fans placed in such a way that they are easy to service? In my experience, dirt, dust, and in some cases salt spray will build up on and near fans used around aquarium. This requires regular maintenance. In general, if something cannot easily be serviced, it usually gets skipped. Making sure the fans are operating and free from obstruction is critically important in any light fixture, but even more so with LED.

The last bit of information to gather prior to buying is to examine the warranty policy. How long does it last? What does it cover? And worst case scenario if something happens, where does the service occur, whose responsibility is it to get the unit to the service center, and what is the typical turnaround time for repairs? I have heard of some brands requiring the broken units be sent back to China at the cost of the purchaser. I would avoid those brands if I were you.

I hope I have given you some useful pointers in evaluating a LED prior to purchase. LED seems to be clearly heading as the future lighting of our hobby, but there is a wide range in quality of the units I have seen so far. Early adopters to new technology take the greatest risk and must be extra careful in their acquisitions if they don’t wish to have to repurchase something later.

I have a coral live LED that has all types of colors with timers and various light modes my curls seem to be thriving with it but it doesn’t seem to have heat sinks and it is a CoreLife LED Seascape do I need to get something different or is this acceptable for a 75 gallon