Lighting watts per gallon

[Reyphox]

Originally Posted by cvrle1

When it comes to LEDs. majority of them will grow coral just the same, as long as they are 3W LEDs. That is the most important part of LED fixtures. There are some fixtures out there, like Current USA Orbit that use only 0.5W LEDs, which are only good for fish only tanks, or really, really, really low light needing corals and shallow tanks.

In terms of 3W LED fixtures, there are many options out there, at many different prices. As mentioned, they will all grow corals just the same, different cost comes with all the extra features that you want your unit to have. Units like Mars Aqua and Viparspectra, which are quite popular are Chinese Black Boxes. They are very basic, as they only have 2 channel control and Viparspectra has a timer. That is it, no other features. Then you have units like Ocean Revive T247 which are nicer looking, and have mounting brackets (still only 2 channels) Then you go to something like Reefbreaders V2+, which are even nicer looking and have a lot more features. 6 channels, sunrise/sunset, WiFi control and so on. And finally you have top of the line Radions, AI, Kessil and so on, which have all the bells and whistles you can think of.

In the end it really comes down to what features are a must have for you. I decided that I dont need 6 channels, WiFi and all the extra gadgets, so I went with 2 Bloomspect 165W fixtures. They are almost identical to Viparspectra I mentioned above, but have 2 UV LEDs as well. I will use 2 of these over my 120G 4x2x2. That should give me more than enough light to keep whatever I decide to. The way I saw it is: 2 Bloomspect units cost <$200, 3 Radions or AI would be over $1K. Pretty easy decision for me.

There are also hybrid units with T5s as mentioned by Frogger, however I didnt want to deal with T5's as they need to be replaced 12-18 months.

Just because I hate misinformation, I have to chime in. Most Chinese LED box's use a lower quality LEDs that where binned low grade because they didn't meet a standard during QC and are sold for cheap. You can buy these LEDs yourself on ebay, have a search. And yes there is a difference. You will find posts in many forums where people replace the LEDs after 2 years of use because the color spectrum shifts or because the LEDs start burning out prematurely. I also found the color spectrum produced in general to be rather poor compared to the higher end brands I have used. Colors just don't pop the same. In 2 channel Chinese boxes the white channel is overpowered. I run my whites literally at %1 because my coral cringe at anything more. Would have been nice if the second channel was blue with some white. That said, nothing wrong with using Chinese LEDs. I have 2 Viparspectras. They work, grow coral and have way more power then I need. They are cheap too. Even replacing the entire unit after a couple years is still cheaper then buying high end. But in now way are the LEDs the same. You get better LEDs with better brands. Even if the Chinese LEDs say Cree. They are low grade Cree.

[blacknife]

I run a SPS mixed reef.

I was running 2 x250w mh on the same sized tank. I wanted more shimmer. I got an sbreeflights actinc bar and was very happy with it. when it came time to ditch the mh I went with their ULTRA light, its basicaly a CBB full spectrum razor, I went with this choice as like t5 i wanted the lights all the way across the tank.

they have the default optics on them <80 or 90 degrees im not sure> i run the 2 units side by side@19" above the water line. i run them side by side to widen the sweet spot a little, but i can grow sps from the edge of the tank where my frag rack isl at 2/3 up the tank down to bottom of the tank. lower light sps and corals cook at that height.

it is wi fi controlable, the old interface is not as intuitive as say radions interface but it works, and they have a newer easier to use one shipping on the new units.

No mater what you get if you can get a par meter to match your existing lighting do it, if not take it slow.