Looking for recommendation on LED lights for SPS

[thinkfuture]

I'm looking to get back in & clean up my tank. I'm looking to get new LED lights for a 180G SPS tank that can be controlled through Apex. I see a lot of fixtures for sale on Ebay, can you direct me to the right direction for the best bang for buck. This would be a temporary setup & I'm not looking to spend too much either.

 

[maidia]

Metal Halide, T5, Radion or Hydra that all I can recommend now. No more junk Led for SPS.

 

[Spartanman22]

If you want something controllable, I.E. sunrise/sunset, lunar cycles, storms, etc., you'll need to look at the Radions, Hydras, or Kessils for full LED setups. However all those features come with a hefty price tag. There's also ATI's t5/led hybrid that's quite nice. I've only had personal experience with Kessils. They're great little lights, but I would never use them on a larger tank due to their point source nature. It would take a lot of them to get good solid coverage.

In my opinion, the best led light I've used is the OR-T247. They're affordable, the LEDs are spread out instead of the popular puck style in many of the high end units, they run cool to the touch, dead silent, and flat out grow SPS. If you want to see an example of ORs on someone's setup go checkout Sawdonkey's tank thread. The only downside to the OR's is that they are just on or off with the apex. You can adjust the intensity through the lights remote, but can't do any sunrise and sunset.


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[Paulip]

Just to add to [MENTION=2223]Spartanman22[/MENTION] , that on/off times are for two channels.

While you don't have sunrise and sunset, you can have a two-step ramp up/down by setting the 2 channels to ramp up/down at different times.

I only recently got one for myself. 3-4 years after introduction and prices have gone up and not come down. A testament to it's value. But, this also has me concerned that a budget fixture with 5W cree leds is just around the corner. ( My unqualified prediction.) Note that the Hydra sports superior third party optics.

At the scale of your application (4-5 units?), you could really end up with buyers remorse after a few months unless you consider it a disposable purchase. Tough decision. Easier to justify over spending for our pets.

Check out the thread on the Sirius XTC. I would consider these "boutique" lights.

 

[troublemaker]

This is just my opinion, but I have Radion XR30 Pros that are coming off the tank today. I have seen little growth in the 9 months I have had them. The colors are unparalleled, but the growth is also almost non existent. I am not going to blame this completely on the lights until I test the MH/T5 lights on it. I do want to figure out how to add LEDs to the blank panel in the middle, but it's only for a ramp up in the morning and moonlights at night.

 

[Paulip]

This is just my opinion, but I have Radion XR30 Pros that are coming off the tank today. I have seen little growth in the 9 months I have had them. The colors are unparalleled, but the growth is also almost non existent. I am not going to blame this completely on the lights until I test the MH/T5 lights on it. I do want to figure out how to add LEDs to the blank panel in the middle, but it's only for a ramp up in the morning and moonlights at night.

Sorry to hear about your disappointment. I hope you have ruled out the possibility of a stray voltage.

After all the web surfing, I do realize that a lot of these articles written by famous names are mostly marketing "white papers". I do like T5s for the noticeable light diffusion. Thanks for sharing.