Whats your favorite LED fixture and Review?

tinman

Well-known member
RapidLED Dimmable Solderless Kits:

Final thoughts: Once you add in the extra cost of a controller, they are not that much cheaper then AI Sols/Vegas, but you get a controller (which I can't imagine having a tank without). I just included Warm White and Neutral White to my new LEDs over my frag tank (in addition to Royal Blue, Blue, Cool White, Green, Red) and they look great and don't make the tank look too warm. I would do it all over again, it was fun learning to put together LED lights and they work great. Remind me to update with par values Monday night after Chris comes over.

View attachment 14060
When you added lens ... do you see that fringe affect ? (like circles on the sand bed) ?
 

jm23

Active member
No fringe / spotlight / banding effect at all. I did leave the lenses off the red and green for that very reason. I have 60 degree optics on my DT (30 inches tall) and 80 degree optics on my frag tank (14 inches tall). If you see my signature you will see how wide a circle the LEDs will cast their light at different heights and with different optics. Though banding on the sandbed is probably not as big a concern as banding higher up on the rocks were the radius is smaller.

All that to say is the 60 degree optics work just fine with no banding at all.
 

Knuckles

New member
to add onto Brett's

36" Gamma
Pro:
- everything Brett said
Con:
- the power cords aren't as long as I want it to be...


24" Marineland Reef Capable LED
Pros:
- low profile
- light weight
- separate timer for blue & whites
Cons:
- expensive
- cant do a variety of corals
- cant hang from fixture, only mount on tank rim
- cant dim
- no color variations (just blue and white)

Led nano fixture from DX.com
Pro:
- cheap
Con:
- doesnt even grow chaeto
I had this light and had nothing but problems. Two t5's stopped working and waited a few weeks for them to be fixed. When they were fixed there was a problem with some LEDs not working. When the owner of prestige at the time tried to fix it he shorted out the whole light. I was lucky to get my money back since the business has been sold. I would not recommend this light as it was the worst light I have ever owned
 

Aquaman

New member
i know it had been reviewed too but i want to add my 2 cents..on the cc120

con... the blue isint dark shade blue like a royal blue .....its a lighter blue color... i wish jimmy had added some royal blues in the mix

pro... jimmy is awesome to deal with
 

ghostman

New member
Pacific Sun Hyperion R2

Pros: Full color spectrum from UV to red with great control
Real wireless control on a PC or Mac
Super quiet fans and quality construction
Great ramp up/ramp down effect
Preloaded Bali program simulates spectrum and intensity in Bali waters
Long fixtures available eliminating the need for lots of units
Superior customer service
Great operating software

Cons: wireless option operates off Bluetooth and is slower than WiFi
Not easily upgradable as there are no pucks
Seems expensive ( and is ) but 1 unit covers 48" so they take the place of multiple units
Power cords are bulky and a little short-extenders are available
Mac software is missing a few features at this time
Not popular so you might have to wait to buy one

Conclusion: the closest thing I've seen to a metal halide look over my tank. The color spectrum and intensity are great. Shimmer is nice with no disco effect. Acclimation program actually worked well at acclimating my corals. I didn't lose 1 coral as I did with radions. Customer service is superior and personal, even with the company based in Europe. Next to the GHL mitras, these are the best LEDs on the market IMO, but they are costly. I got them on their promotion sale, and feel they are well worth it.
 

Krazyandy

New member
Tao Tronics TT-AL09

Description: It it a black metal rectangle fixture wit the dimensions of 15.7" x 8.3" x 2.4". 28 Royal blue 450-470nm 3w leds and 27 White 12-14k 3w leds.
Pros: The fixture is very sturdy, comes with its own hanging kit, protective cover of the leds is very nice, the fixture has 3 small cooling fans that are very quiet, and the blues and the whites are both dimmable and have individual power cords
Cons: The light needs to be hung or it would be hard to mount in a canopy other than that there is nothing else I can complain about
Conclusion: You get to dim the light to the spectrum that fits you and the intensity of the light. Ive had the fixture for over a month an there has been no problems! (fingers crossed) and you cant beat the price of $175 bucks! It might now be as high tech and the next best and greatest thing out there but for being a led fixture it gets the job done without breaking the bank (especially keeping this tank in college).
View attachment 16430
 

Hawkey

New member
Hey tank, nowadays you use razor maxspects right, any info on those? My lighting options for my 20 are still open. Going to get reef radiance DM-132e's for my 55 gallon. Will probably get innovative marine skkye clamp on lights for my 3 gallon. Give this thread reviews on thise when i recieve them and have them running. Oh, and by the way, this is hossa81 from reef central, chose a different name for this forum, all your corals are doing great, already noticing growth in the acros. Their colors are starting to become more defined, especially in the tricolor.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

FLIP_clover 07

New member
I have some radions g2 on my 45 jbj and between that and my 40b that has some kessil360 i like the radions leds better.. Much easier to set up and i like that is all in one.. You just plug it to ur pc or labtop and set up ur settings.. The kessil are mich different that u have to buy a separate controller just to have a timer and set up ur settings on it..
 

RickyB

New member
Here is my review; I currently have 2 LEDZEAL S400 lights
http://www.ledzeal.com/p43.html


Pros
-3W LED and will grow SPS at the sand bed 30" under the water
-Auto dim can simulate sunup and sundown, basically, set it and forget it
-You can program to have a Storm Mode and others, which is a nice detail, but I only use it for "show" in occasions
-2 S400 fixtures will be enough for a 72"X36"X36" tank, my tank has a ~6" plenum. 3 units may be pure awesomeness.
-Each unit has 4 fans (S400 Model)
-Can be ordered with any degree optics
-LED channels can be customize to you, (based on LED's selection)
-4 Channels, each individually controlled
-Each channel can be dimmed to 1%
-Multiple units can be controlled by one control, each connected by a single wire
-Great customer service, even for a China vendor
-Nice look and feel, well made, controller is not on fixture (for those of us that keep them inside canopies)
-Power supplies are external
-Price
-Will grow SPS corals, a fact, not fiction


Cons
-Does not work with Apex, but I have it connected as a light on/off
-The Power supply fans stays on during the off light periods. Remedied by the above

Review:
This fixture has done the job as expected from MH. One of the modules went bad and the vendor quickly shipped a replacement without costing me a penny.
 
View attachment 13363

I'm enjoying my 3 AI Prime fixtures. I see no color separation as I did with earlier AI models and to be able to angle the mounts helps alleviate shadowing. All my sps have colored up beautifully. I.e red planet, miyagi tort, etc.
 

Mjl714

Well-known member
Maxspect R2R LED Lighting System, Model 120w-16000k

Installed on a 20 g standard aquarium, June 2014 (18 months ago)

Pros
Grows corals very well
Sleek look
Nice stand legs, place light in perfect position, no hanging required (came with hanging kit)
Easy simply programming, six time points, separate blue and white controls, adjustable in any increment from 0% through 100%
Built in fans, light never really gets hot, very well ventilated
Easy to remove for maintenance
Cords are long enough for remote placement

Cons
Fairly expensive
Some might want more timepoints, but I find six to plenty

Neutral
3rd party controllability, not sure, but I have Apex jr on this tank, and have not found any interest / desire in connecting R420R to Apex, due to the R420R's easy and thorough built in controller.
 
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Mjl714

Well-known member
I have some radions g2 on my 45 jbj and between that and my 40b that has some kessil360 i like the radions leds better.. Much easier to set up and i like that is all in one.. You just plug it to ur pc or labtop and set up ur settings.. The kessil are mich different that u have to buy a separate controller just to have a timer and set up ur settings on it..
I use Apex for Kessils.
 

AndyP27

Member
Anyone try one of the cheap LED fixtures like Currant, marineland or Aqueon? I have a mix of hard and soft corals in a 120 if that matters.
 

RJDENNIS

New member
5 Years of running 2 AI Vegas on my 75 g tank and after 3 very recent run-ability issues where they were sent back for servicing was told they no longer have parts for them and can no longer repair them. I was offered an upgrade to the new Hydra 26 HD's for $225 (new cost 350)
Not sure if I should go with this proposition or just jump on the Kessil A360 band wagon but not have the ability to ramp up and down like the VEGAS did.

Why does this have to be so damn confusing and expensive.
 

wld1783

New member
5 Years of running 2 AI Vegas on my 75 g tank and after 3 very recent run-ability issues where they were sent back for servicing was told they no longer have parts for them and can no longer repair them. I was offered an upgrade to the new Hydra 26 HD's for $225 (new cost 350)
Not sure if I should go with this proposition or just jump on the Kessil A360 band wagon but not have the ability to ramp up and down like the VEGAS did.

Why does this have to be so damn confusing and expensive.

Have you considered DIY if you are on a budget?

You can easily replace drivers and powersupplies...Even LEDs with two screws if you use solderless connectors.

We just offered the XTC DIY Kit which is about 3X as bright as the Hydra 26 and is fully controllable with a Storm Controller.

Its rather easy [video]https://youtu.be/M0iU1yhyMts[/video]

Bill
 

Spartanman22

Well-known member
1. Ocean Revive OR-T247

Pros:
  • Light weight
  • Intensity adjustable
  • Puts out good amount of light
  • Parts are easily replaceable (huge bonus!)
  • Parts are fairly cheap ($10 replacement drivers)
  • Fixtures stay cool to the touch (never had any fan issues, some people have noted fans failing)
  • Longevity - I have one fixture running strong after 4 years of use
  • Cheap - $200 new, can be found for $100-$150 used
  • LEDs are spread out across the unit allowing for good light spread and blending.
  • Has an internal timer and programming for each channel - doesn't require a spot on your controller


Cons:
  • In the few times I've had to disassemble I've found that the screw's holding the unit together are quite flimsy
  • Can't control these (can be controlled with a bluefish mini mod, but I couldn't get a bluefish mini to control more than 1 unit without glitches)
  • On a larger tank they don't look as good having multiple fixtures hung up (if you have a canopy this is a non-issue)
  • The clock on mine always gets off by a few minutes. Every month or two I have to adjust the clock by about 10 minutes back to the actual time is.

Review:

All-in-all I am a huge fan of the OR-T247's. They have proven capable of growing any type of coral I've tried: softies, LPS, SPS, clams, anemones. I have a blue gig at the bottom of my tank that does great and I don't turn the units up past 50% on either channel (usually 50% blue and 35% whites). These units have proven that they last pretty long. I've had one of them for nearly 4 years now, and the other two have been running for 1-2 years. I have never had any parts fail that weren't my own doing (tried to wire in a bluefish mini and inadvertently fried a driver). The company has great customer service, and they have a readily available supply of parts. I had the driver replaced under warranty and bought two spares since they were only $10 each. Plus the shipping was pretty quick. The units are great for people who like to tinker. The LED's are easily accessible and can be swapped out with ease. The layout of the LEDs allows for great spread and blending. The only place I ever notice disco ball effects are in little nooks/crannies inside caves were light bleeds through. Nowhere in the open is there any disco ball effect. The screws holding the units together are a little flimsy, but that could be alleviated with a trip to the hardware store. The only real killer is the lack of control-ability with these, but that's also what keeps the price down. It does however have an internal programming timer where you can adjust the on/off time of each channel (two channels) which is convenient in the sense that you don't need to waste an outlet on your Apex or ReefKeeper.
 
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