21ledusa.com Led Supplemental Lighting

[4Hummer]

Hello Reefers, Thought I should post a review on some AMAZING and CHEAP LED's

First a little Background, My tank was originally going to be a FOWLR tank only, With that in mind I bought a Cheap Odyssea 72" Quad T5HO Light fixture, with Timer and Moon Lights. I had read all the reviews on this light so I knew what I was getting into. (Plus I ordered spare parts for it) And me being me I intended to mod this fixture. I have already replaced the ballasts with much better ones, put ATI Bulbs into the fixture, and upgraded the cooling fans, Along with re-doing some wiring while I had the fixture apart. All in all it's not a terrible light. The single biggest disadvantage to it, is the Single reflector. But no Matter this is a FOWLR Tank,

Along comes a Reefer Friend, He needs to borrow the SID for my ReefKeeper, and in return (to my surprise) he gave me a small frag of GSP, and a mushroom frag.
Oh My! the colour, Oh My! the movement it adds to the tank, Oh My I WANTS MORE.

Move forward a couple weeks, and many hours spent researching Corals, Zoas, etc, and this GSP and Mushroom are really spreading nicely (GSP almost doubled in 2 weeks)

Off I go and buy some Zoa Frags . Now I'm hooked, because within 2 weeks the Zoa's are growing and spreading.

Next thing I find myself looking at is lighting, GASP!, Ouch, The Prices.... My current Bulb layout is 2 ATI Blue Plus bulbs, One ATI Coral Plus, and one ATI Blue Special, I have the moon light come on first for 30Min, than the 2 Blues 30min later, followed by the last two day time bulbs, End of day is reverse of this, Best I can do for sunrise sunset. And you know what, The PAR is pretty darn good, So What do I really need?

It's that POP you get with LEDs and M/H's, the Shimmer I'm missing, that Amazing
fluorescent Glow, And just a Touch more Blue would be nice, (The ATI Blue special is Really white)

So now I'm looking at DIY'ing some LED's, And Geez that is not cheap either.... ReefBrights? Over 1K for 2 72"...... (May was all buy whole new fixture) Ahhhh whats this I find www.21LEDUSA.com ???

Spent a couple days chatting with Billy at 21ledusa.com and shooting emails back and forth. This guy is SUPER helpful, at this point I'm convinced, I'll get the POP I want, fluorescent Glow like crazy, and the ability to ramp up and down the lights!

I order up Four 48" Reefbars in Actinic Blue, The Power Supply, extra Cables, and the SunSetter Controller (Guys this is EXACTLY the same controller as the Current USA Orbit Marine Ramp Timer Pro.... Only $100.00 Cheaper) With shipping I'm under $250.00 NOT BAD

and this is what was delivered to me: MINUS Two ReefBars, as I was building brackets for them in the garage:





The Controller Remote.





First Thing I noticed was the build quality. AMAZING. solid aluminum, LEDS are incased in some sort of silicone, Wire connectors screw together water tight. Heavy duty power supply. and packaged VERY well.

Oh and the SIZE...... They are TINY!!!! This is a Dime for reference

 

[4Hummer]

Next up was to build some sort of Bracket, I suppose I could have just stuck them on to the bottom of my fixture, But I wanted them sitting a little further out from the light, Plus be able to angle the ReefBars if need be:

This is what I came up with. (I used the existing channel in the Odyssea fixture for the Legs) and cut up some brackets out of Acrylic, (Need to flame polish the edges still)

 

[4Hummer]

So My Camera's really don't pick up the Colours well. But here goes


This is with JUST the ReefBars on:


This is JUST the Two ATI Blue + T5HO Bulbs on:


This is JUST Blue T5H0 and ReefBars, Camera doesn't really pick it up well. but the colour is much much deeper blue. Plus the Fluorescent Pop on the GSP and the Zoa's is Amazing.


Next Picture is all 4 T5HO lights on ONLY: 2 ATI Blue Plus, 1 ATI Coral Plus, 1 ATI Blue Special,


And finally, All T5HO and the ReefBars. Picture doesn't do this justice at all, But it much Bluer than before

 

[4Hummer]

As s a Final Note. I love the Ramp up and Down feature of the timer, and my fish seem to like this too,
Build quality is much more than I expected
Billy at 21LEDUSA.com is great to deal with
The Colour, brightness and most importantly the fluorescent Glow the ReefBars added have simply amazed me

So whether your just looking for a little extra PAR, or maybe just simple Moonlights, Or if your like me wanted supplemental lighting I HIGHLY recommend you Check Out the ReefBars at www.21ledusa.com

 

[padgett152]

I just bought 2 10" reefbars for my 14 gallon bio cube. Can't wait until get here. At 10", they are smaller than most retrofit kits. I'll be able to put them right where the current lights are, once removed.

 

[4Hummer]

I just bought 2 10" reefbars for my 14 gallon bio cube. Can't wait until get here. At 10", they are smaller than most retrofit kits. I'll be able to put them right where the current lights are, once removed.

Awesome. Make sure you post pics.

 

[GT3000XX]

I recently purchased 2 of the 36" 50/50 ReefBar Pros. Each strip has 36- 3 watt LED's.(108 watts per strip) Also purchased 2 of the Sunsetter controllers. The lights are awesome! And as mentioned Billy is very helpful.....

 

[Shaneph]

Hello I am thinking of ordering the 48 inch 50/50 reef bar pro as well has anyone used this long. Term that can comment on durability problems at all would be great?

 

[4Hummer]

Been over a year with my Reefbars. No issues what so ever.

 

[kromar]

How bright are the reef bars compared to the current orbit. I presently have a 48 current orbit over my 90 gallon but need more light. . I was leaning towards two reef bars. Not sure if I need the reef bar pro. Does any one know what watts of the LEDs on the reef bar are rated. The pros are 3 watts
Thanks