The real Black Box light study

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

I got to test mine tonight finally and at my max period during the day blues are 75 and whites are 50. My par numbers with lights 8in from surface are great I had a hard time finding a spot under 200 par at the bottom of my tank (22inches). I have two fixtures over a 40gal breeder.

The instrument I used is old and I am told has issue with heavy blue but I just wanted a good ballpark of what par was in what area so I could move some corals around. I used an apogee QMSW-SS.

My opinion @Manose the measurements taken at per channel shows if a light can provided what we need. I personally don’t feel other measurements at different %’s are needed for what I feel is trying to be accomplished with this awesome study!

Hi which light is it you tested? Is it the viparspectra ? If so do you know what par just the blues on their own put out and then just whites as currently I'm running mine 8" above the water at 50% blue 18% white as I'm slowly raising it to aim for 75/25. I was wandering what just the blues were running at as you're at 75% blue. Thanks.

 

[Manose]

Thank you for posting the Seneye charts. This really impressive as well as the PAR charts you made. I really can't get over how well this light does. I figure, even if it only lasts 2 years, I'm still money ahead versus a big name unit.

I think this light is pretty boss but the Viparspectra or Noopsyche K7 would be ones to look at also.

 

[cvrle1]

I've been watching this thread. Y'all are so biased toward cheap Chinese lights. You're overlooking many things. Par is not the most important thing. There is spectral quality, the amount of channels available. Type of LEDs used, etc, etc. Then there's the amount of r&d the big boys do to make the lights correct. R&d cost money. The Chinese aren't doing that. R&d is what your paying for. I know what par my lights put out and it's way better than what ever I've seen here. And I know I'm going to get flamed here. It's my opinion. That's all. That's why I'm going to leave this thread. Test your chinese lights against the "big" boys. Kessils a360we is no longer the big boys.

Amount of channels does squat all. You can have 2 or 6, wont make a difference at all when it comes to how corals grow. LEDs used, a lot of these use same CREE LEDs that big boys do. R&D? Please, what kind of innovation did big boys come up with in last 5 years? Sure, if you said this 10+ years ago i would agree with you, as LED lights came long ways. But in last 5 or so years, there is nothing really new that hasnt been seen already. Today you are not paying for R&D, you are paying for the sticker on that light. Please share PAR of your lights with all the info posted here, as well as info on what they are. You forget that most of the test done so far are for single pendant type of light, and not full on fixture like AI 52 for example. You cant compare AI 52 fixture with what was tested so far due to sheer difference in size, LED count and so on. Once bigger LED boxes are tested then we'll see how they stack up against bigger fixtures.

 

[Jonathan Troutt]

I've been watching this thread. Y'all are so biased toward cheap Chinese lights. You're overlooking many things. Par is not the most important thing. There is spectral quality, the amount of channels available. Type of LEDs used, etc, etc. Then there's the amount of r&d the big boys do to make the lights correct. R&d cost money. The Chinese aren't doing that. R&d is what your paying for. I know what par my lights put out and it's way better than what ever I've seen here. And I know I'm going to get flamed here. It's my opinion. That's all. That's why I'm going to leave this thread. Test your chinese lights against the "big" boys. Kessils a360we is no longer the big boys.

See someone getting all triggered

I've been watching this thread. Y'all are so biased toward cheap Chinese lights. You're overlooking many things. Par is not the most important thing. There is spectral quality, the amount of channels available. Type of LEDs used, etc, etc. Then there's the amount of r&d the big boys do to make the lights correct. R&d cost money. The Chinese aren't doing that. R&d is what your paying for. I know what par my lights put out and it's way better than what ever I've seen here. And I know I'm going to get flamed here. It's my opinion. That's all. That's why I'm going to leave this thread. Test your chinese lights against the "big" boys. Kessils a360we is no longer the big boys.

lol. Says it’s not all about PAR and then makes a PAR comparison..... muhahahaha


But aside from that I think it’s obvious it’s not all about par. Part of the reason the seneye charts are being given not too difficult to see that at least in my opinion.

 

[Manose]

Just ordered another light to test:

LED Layout.
Schematic Diagram of Rack Mounting:

Channel A : Cree White 5pcs

Channel B : Cree Royal blue 5pcs

Channel C : Cree Blue 5pcs

Channel D : Epileds Violet 3pcs

Channel E : Cree Red 1pcs

Channel F : Cree Green 1pcs

Now I am tapped so I'll be selling the tested lights that I paid for on the marketplace soon

 

[Saveafish]

Just ordered another light to test:

LED Layout.
Schematic Diagram of Rack Mounting:

Channel A : Cree White 5pcs

Channel B : Cree Royal blue 5pcs

Channel C : Cree Blue 5pcs

Channel D : Epileds Violet 3pcs

Channel E : Cree Red 1pcs

Channel F : Cree Green 1pcs

Now I am tapped so I'll be selling the tested lights that I paid for on the marketplace soon

Interesting.

 

[Manose]

Interesting.

Yes I am curious how this does with Cree led's and it's form-factor. Especially @150$ shipped from China.
https://www.alibaba.com/product-det...rise-Sunset-Saltwater-lumini_60824515844.html

 

[dz6t]

Amount of channels does squat all. You can have 2 or 6, wont make a difference at all when it comes to how corals grow. LEDs used, a lot of these use same CREE LEDs that big boys do. R&D? Please, what kind of innovation did big boys come up with in last 5 years? Sure, if you said this 10+ years ago i would agree with you, as LED lights came long ways. But in last 5 or so years, there is nothing really new that hasnt been seen already. Today you are not paying for R&D, you are paying for the sticker on that light. Please share PAR of your lights with all the info posted here, as well as info on what they are. You forget that most of the test done so far are for single pendant type of light, and not full on fixture like AI 52 for example. You cant compare AI 52 fixture with what was tested so far due to sheer difference in size, LED count and so on. Once bigger LED boxes are tested then we'll see how they stack up against bigger fixtures.

Most led manufacturers use off the shelf led chips.

 

[dz6t]

I've been watching this thread. Y'all are so biased toward cheap Chinese lights. You're overlooking many things. Par is not the most important thing. There is spectral quality, the amount of channels available. Type of LEDs used, etc, etc. Then there's the amount of r&d the big boys do to make the lights correct. R&d cost money. The Chinese aren't doing that. R&d is what your paying for. I know what par my lights put out and it's way better than what ever I've seen here. And I know I'm going to get flamed here. It's my opinion. That's all. That's why I'm going to leave this thread. Test your chinese lights against the "big" boys. Kessils a360we is no longer the big boys.

Who are the big boys in your opinion?

 

[Jonathan Troutt]

Who are the big boys in your opinion?

I doubt the person will respond but if I had to speculate I would say Kessil, Ecotech, Ai, Geissemann, Maxspect

Fixtures such as the ap700, xr30, hydra 52, Vervve, Razor/Recurve respectable. I could be wrong but that’s my thoughts. Those are the big bois to me.

 

[MSB123]

Who are the big boys in your opinion?

Kessil, echotech, AI

 

[Wildblue4]

Following. Thanks. I’m running the SBReef LEDs and have been satisfied for a year.

 

[Matthew Frost]

@Manose

Is there a way you can post a link to or create a "results section". I think what you're doing here is awesome and I can tell you that I appreciate the effort. Tests like this are objective and have real repeatable results. As this thread grows (and it will) it's going to get more and more difficult to find the results and compare them.

 

[Jonathan Troutt]

@Manose

Is there a way you can post a link to or create a "results section". I think what you're doing here is awesome and I can tell you that I appreciate the effort. Tests like this are objective and have real repeatable results. As this thread grows (and it will) it's going to get more and more difficult to find the results and compare them.

Maybe someone could be so kind to create something like an xml that can be uploaded to google driver and shared to anyone

 

[Manose]

@Manose

Is there a way you can post a link to or create a "results section". I think what you're doing here is awesome and I can tell you that I appreciate the effort. Tests like this are objective and have real repeatable results. As this thread grows (and it will) it's going to get more and more difficult to find the results and compare them.

I have put all results on the front page so we can keep up.

 

[ReefWithCare]

Vipar is literally taking this

 

[mshonk]

I've been watching this thread. Y'all are so biased toward cheap Chinese lights. You're overlooking many things. Par is not the most important thing. There is spectral quality, the amount of channels available. Type of LEDs used, etc, etc. Then there's the amount of r&d the big boys do to make the lights correct. R&d cost money. The Chinese aren't doing that. R&d is what your paying for. I know what par my lights put out and it's way better than what ever I've seen here. And I know I'm going to get flamed here. It's my opinion. That's all. That's why I'm going to leave this thread. Test your chinese lights against the "big" boys. Kessils a360we is no longer the big boys.

I do beleive this thread is about black box or less expensive light studies. I have a cheap black box. With good params and husbandry it is coloring up loads of browned out sps. I can only adjust two channels and it has a timer. I personally don't need anything else in a light. I feel as though the extra trimmings are nice they are just fluff. Perhaps I am old school and used to run metal halides. Try adjusting those lights.

 

[ph123uk]

Going to use reef-pi to give me ramping on my "Ultra Viparspectra HD" fitting - best of all worlds

 

[ReefWithCare]

I do beleive this thread is about black box or less expensive light studies. [emoji4] I have a cheap black box. With good params and husbandry it is coloring up loads of browned out sps. I can only adjust two channels and it has a timer. I personally don't need anything else in a light. I feel as though the extra trimmings are nice they are just fluff. Perhaps I am old school and used to run metal halides. Try adjusting those lights.

Chinese steal the R&D and reverse engineer [emoji28] or the high end brand outsources production and 2 yrs later out pops up Chinese copies ‍

 

[mshonk]

Chinese steal the R&D and reverse engineer [emoji28] or the high end brand outsources production and 2 yrs later out pops up Chinese copies ‍

I built a black box so to speak when LED s first came on to the scene. It was a on a piece of 10" channel aluminium that was 44" long. I had 48 3w bridgelux LED s. 24 10k white and 24 460nm blue. It had pots on it to adjust intensity and I had a reefkeeper to turn the seperate channels on and off. But i suppose that is any industry. some manufacturers only focus on making a less expensive version of industry leaders product.