Best LED for this much money??

[rope33]

wanting everybody's input on what's the best LED lighting I can buy for $375 for my reef tank. Was thinking about two 165w Chinese black boxes. Pro/cons. What r y'all's thoughts? Ready GO!

 

[Steve Atkins]

It would probably help it you mentioned what size the tank was and what you intended to keep in it.

 

[PeterHall]

I have had two taotronics boxes for 2 years. I like them. They grow pretty much everything. I did add 2 T5s which I feel helped with color a bit.

 

[shellsea]

check rout eefbreeders. go to their forum in sponsor section. Awesome customer service if needed. Great advise. great product. I am very happy.

 

[Wazzel]

I think the reef breeders photon units are probably the best bang for the buck.

 

[BM3]

reef breeders photon!

 

[shellsea]

That's what I was trying to spell. Lol. Reef breeders

 

[Bent]

Reef breeders.

 

[rope33]

Oops it's a 75 gal

 

[mcgyvr]

I like OceanRevive
http://oceanrevivellc.com/
Very similar to Reefbreeders..

 

[boxfishpooalot]

Kessil LED. The shimmer looks more natural than any other led ive seen. Plus theve got a ton of research and nearly 30 million invested in developing this technology. Plus it works with an apex/reefkeeper to simulate dawn/dusk. I had one and will be getting another. I had a chinese fixture and dont use it anymore. Plus selling it is a pain, and i lost money. Then they said simulates dawn/dusk and it does not. They are not quality lights, but meant to satisfy a group of people who like leds but dont want to pay more. They might grow coral but look very unnatural to me.

 

[karimwassef]

DIY. I can get about 800W for ~$400.

 

[colorful1180]

Chinese black boxes

Great spectrum,Very similar to Reefbreeders,OceanRevive,Reefradiance,

 

[DavidinGA]

Two eBay boxes should only cost you about $150-160 shipped. Definitely what I would buy and what I run (I have three AquaStar boxes).

 

[sixpackgarage]

I paid about that for one of my Kessil A360WE, but then again, I bought a lot of stuff from my LFS, so he gave me a break on them. I don't think you can beat the bang for the buck for that price point.

 

[joesfiddy]

Kessil

 

[TangingOut]

His budget is $375 to light a 75gal. Assuming it's 48x18x20, I think Kessil will be out of his price range as 2 will be needed.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Stretch the budget to $450 and get an OR-IT2081 or a Photon32. But if that's a big issue, and/or you don't care about sunrise/sunset (it's certainly not necessary) then look at any fixture sold by somebody you can contact. Like somebody who has a sponsor forum here on RC. Or at the very least has their own website. Buying an unknown brand from Ebay or Amazon that doesn't have a website with customer feedback in a forum, is a real crap shoot. How good are the fans (noisy), the heatsink (does it even have one), the case material (steel... rust issues vs aluminum) and case finish (paint vs powder coating).

 

[karimwassef]

I built a 6" x 96" 400W fixture for $200.
You can make a 24 x 48" 800W for $400.

 

[rope33]

I built a 6" x 96" 400W fixture for $200.
You can make a 24 x 48" 800W for $400.

do you have a build thread for this?