LED Light Recommendation

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bolbag

Guest
Hi Everyone,

Can anyone recommend an inexpesive LED light sutible for corals, 72 gallon bow front.
Open to other types of lighting but find LED to be pretty inexpensive.

Thanks!
 
Some of the older Ai Hydras are great and pretty cheap. A couple of those would do pretty well over that tank. I have one with a wireless controller going up for sale soon. Let me know if you're interested.


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If you go for eBay blackbox led, you can light your tank for $200 or less for a pair of those.
If you go for AI, Radeon etc premium led, the cost adds up really fast.
Try to avoid those led sold primarily in fish store such as Petco, brands including Current, Fluval etc. Those are poorly designed and over priced.


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Thinking mostly soft corals initially, but not entirely sure given that I am a newb.
If you have any thoughts of keeping an sps reef in the future buy for that goal to avoid buying an entirely new lighting system in a few months or a year.

To save money consider buying used
 
Was thinking this "216W Dimmable LED Aquarium Light Fish Tank Reef Coral Full Spectrum Remote Lamp" found on Ebay. Can't post links to auction sites, correct?
 
find LED to be pretty inexpensive.
Thanks!
those led are junk it will be a wasted of money, . for that tank if you want the cheapest that works you need to get at least mars aqua or something on that range Chinese box led those can do trick like dong say .
they go from $80 to $165 each which you going to need two .
believe me we all been there thinking that its a wasted of money getting those more expensive led,t5, or metal halide . but believe me if you stay on the hobbie long enough you to will realize what we are saying here .
best recommendation
from cilyjr To save money consider buying used
from dong Try to avoid those led sold primarily in fish store such as Petco, brands including Current, Fluval etc. Those are poorly designed and over priced.

i wish i knew all this when i start it to buy stuff for my tank .
also you on the right place asking questions before you buy . so good luck on whatever you decide to buy .
 
+1 on the mars aqua or similar style led. I got used ones for nice and cheap and they are so much better than my fluval reef and sea. That light is about good for fish only even though they market it as reef and sea...

Good luck!


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I know who is the manufacture for SB Reeflight, I also got a pair to test them. No, they don't have a better spectrum.

HA! They don't have quiet fans either! I had to install some silent ones to keep my sanity.

There is a bit of a disco light effect. Not a deal breaker though.

Time will tell if my corals like them (it's only been a week).
 
I can't bring myself to agree with other posters on the Chinese black box LED's those are absolute garbage and can't believe it's a legitimate reccomendation. It's like them telling you to buy a current LED. Sure it's cheap but good luck even growing Xenia in a 72 bowfront. Personally I strongly suggest a t5 unit for uniform light coverage(picked a used one up for 40$ on the marketplace) then kessil LED for creating brighter zones. At the very least get an AI Prime those will blast and grow corals well for cheaper than other big name brands. Also maybe if it's your first reef a 72 bowfront might be a lot of investment to do it properly, is the system sumped? Also consider the customer service you will get from those no namer LED brands and they have little to no resale value
 
As long as you get the 3 watt bulbs the black boxes do their job. I am a teacher so I am in no way in any position to spend 200-400 dollars per light New when I can get two lights for 200. Honestly resale value should not be why you buy something. It angers me when people have a 4-5 year old LED and want 60-80% of the purchasing price. At that point the fixture is losing its light output and is worth 10% of the original price.


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At the beginning of LED for reef aquarium, manufactures claimed their products can last for 10 or more years.
But in reality, high power LED do not live up to that promise.
High power LED's output does drop rather quickly if they do not burnt out (it actually happens quite often) due to heat.
So the expensive $800 led light will become a brick in 3 to 4 years unless you replace the LED pads. Not matter how you look at it, LED is an expansive way to light up an aquarium.
Those Marsaqua cheap LED will last about 2 to 3 years but you do get what you paid for.
They use in house chips (BridgeLux just mean they licensed the technology of chip designed from BridgeLux, the actual led chips are not manufactures by bridgeLux) and quality various dramatically.
They don't have heatsink inside and that decrease the life of led chip and make them deteriorate faster.
 
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