Best Chinese leds for 90gal tank

[sacalaitman]

I have to stay on a tight budget with my lighting on my 90 gallon new reef. I used t5s on my smaller tanks a few years ago and then went to led. Tank is 48 inches long and approximately 24 inches deep. What is the Best Buy for the Chinese leds? I've been out about 4 years so forgive my ignorance. The tank will be mostly softies with some lps and very few lps. I just want to know which one has good PAR values and good spectrum. I have read through a lot of the forums on this but I haven't made up my mind as to which one fits my needs. Any insight on this would be very helpful.


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[lpsouth1978]

I am currently using a Mars Aqua 165w over my 40b. I like it except for the spectrum. It uses only one blue spectrum. I have looked at a lot of different Chinese LED's and the Viparspectra seem to have a pretty good spectrum mix. I am planning on getting the 300w Viparspectra for my tank to give more even coverage. I would think that 2 x 165W units would work over a 90 though 3 would be even better.

 

[mcgyvr]

All the 165W/300W "Chinese Black Box" LED fixtures are all basically VERY similar..
Just slightly different features... In general all will basically work about the same as far as growing corals is concerned and one doesn't stand out as "best" over any other one..

 

[sneeyatch]

I used 2 165 watt black boxes over my old 90 - got them from Reef Radiance.

The only real reason I went with them is great customer service - actually talked to the guy before buying them - and I liked their color / layout. Their fixtures incorporated greens, oranges, reds and of course blues, violets and UV way back in like 2013...

Prices are all pretty much the same, just depends on what you want.

 

[aleok]

This one look pretty good if you don't want the rectangular boxy look.

https://www.amazon.com/AquaticHI-Sp...F8&qid=1531337025&sr=1-25&keywords=reef+light

 

[sacalaitman]

Thanks guys. This is exactly what I wanted to hear. I didn't know if one stood out from all the others


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[scooter31707]

I'm using Mars Aqua right now and they are doing the job. Growing LPS and Montis at the moment. Haven't tried Acros yet.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

SB Reef gets a ton of good reviews and many have great results. From what I understand SB is a BB but they have their own LED layout with a much better spectrum than other BB led lighting. They also have a USA warranty and CS. SB Reef is and is not a BB, IMO its the best quality BB you can get. Reef Breeders Photon V2 and the updated V2+ from my research and shopping for low cost leds is the best bang for your buck and is very good quality. The Photon is not a BB led.

 

[fishbox]

SB Reef gets a ton of good reviews and many have great results. From what I understand SB is a BB but they have their own LED layout with a much better spectrum than other BB led lighting. They also have a USA warranty and CS. SB Reef is and is not a BB, IMO its the best quality BB you can get. Reef Breeders Photon V2 and the updated V2+ from my research and shopping for low cost leds is the best bang for your buck and is very good quality. The Photon is not a BB led.

SB Reef also just came out with a new pendant style or Kessil style LED light that I'm very interested in for my new build.

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[Daddyrawg]

I used 2 165 watt black boxes over my old 90 - got them from Reef Radiance.

The only real reason I went with them is great customer service - actually talked to the guy before buying them - and I liked their color / layout. Their fixtures incorporated greens, oranges, reds and of course blues, violets and UV way back in like 2013...

Prices are all pretty much the same, just depends on what you want.

I also have a 90 and going to go with CBB's soon... are you happy going with 2 165's or do you think you shoulda went 1 300w?

 

[sneeyatch]

I also have a 90 and going to go with CBB's soon... are you happy going with 2 165's or do you think you shoulda went 1 300w?

Yeah - the lights worked very well - to the point I couldn't keep low light corals at all unless I had the power adjusted almost all the way down.

My only real complaint isn't about the lights - it was the center brace from the 90 - it did cause a slight shadow. I arranged my aquascaping so that there was a "trench" in the middle so the shadow accentuated the trench and made it nicer to look at.

 

[Daddyrawg]

Yeah - the lights worked very well - to the point I couldn't keep low light corals at all unless I had the power adjusted almost all the way down.

My only real complaint isn't about the lights - it was the center brace from the 90 - it did cause a slight shadow. I arranged my aquascaping so that there was a "trench" in the middle so the shadow accentuated the trench and made it nicer to look at.

How far from the sides of the tank did you place the lights?

 

[RudyinFL]

I have had the dsuny less on my tank for several years and not to bad. I have saved up and getting read to get the radion's. Here is the link https://www.ebay.com/itm/2PCS-DSunY...375461?hash=item4d644eeb65:g:iEsAAOSwLZBbo1uy

Hope the link works. I have the 4 panels over my 120. 4x2x2.

 

[homer1475]

Before I went back to T5's I had 2 300W BB panels over my 90 cube. I could grow anything on the sandbed, but low light corals suffered.



They were my first BB's and when I was having issues with my corals, I switched to T5's just to rule out lighting as a possible cause for my coral decline. Of course it wasn't, but thats for a different thread.