Galaxyhydro? Marsaqua?

S

Smoothie King

New member
Two very cheap LED fixtures but that of course made me skeptical, Im looking to purchase LEDs for my lighting on a 100 gallon lps/softies coral tank and am wondering if anyone has experience with the brands above or cheap LED brands in general.
 
Taotronics I would suggest. ..or Ocean Revive would be ideal for those corals. They are cheap but reliable led lights.
 
I'm really happy with my marsaquas. They use the epistar led's and if I was gonna do it again I might look for more established ones like Cree or Bridgelux, do you know what the galaxy's use? I think that's the only major diff between these types of lights.

Sometimes the fans on mine are a little loud, and you can dim them but they aren't programmable to ramp up like a sunrise. I have mine on $6 light timers and it's working fine. I haven't hadto turn them up past about 50%. I have lps and softies too, nothing super needy. I'm glad I bought them.
 
I got the first one, and replaced some of the leds with 420nm and other colors. Then i put it on 2 $6 timers splitting the whites and blues. Works for me. :celeb1:
 
I second the Taotronics......good lights for the money. I ran them for over a year without any issues at all. My only complaint (at least my models) were that they were not programmable and only had blue/white leds.
 
thanks for the reply guys
Dont know what to do yet I do like the ocean revives though but the marsaqua are so much cheaper lol :hmm3:
 
My issue with the taotronics is the not full spectrum was a deal breaker for me. I forgot all the stuff I learned when I was shopping but the reds and violets especially seemed important? :)
What do you like better about the revives?
 
What exactly is the programmability on those t247's? Do they dim out, or just shut off?
It's hard to tell from the reviews and stuff, but it seems like all they do is turn on at a certain time. If so that's what pipster and I accomplished with a lamp timer from the hardware store for $6 so it hardly seems worth paying $200 for fewer bulbs than you get in a $80 eBay unit. Mine don't have a remote control though, so there's that
Idk, maybe the 48 bulbs it does have are better?
 
CStrickland said:
What exactly is the programmability on those t247's? Do they dim out, or just shut off?
It's hard to tell from the reviews and stuff, but it seems like all they do is turn on at a certain time. If so that's what pipster and I accomplished with a lamp timer from the hardware store for $6 so it hardly seems worth paying $200 for fewer bulbs than you get in a $80 eBay unit. Mine don't have a remote control though, so there's that
Idk, maybe the 48 bulbs it does have are better?
Click to expand...


There not 200...click on think that i posted.... yes they have a built in timer. you have to watch an arctic t247 vs Mars aqua video so you can see the difference by the quality. The Arctics leave a shimmer effect close to Kessil but not as intense. In my opinion the Arctic t247s are better for the type of lighting your looking for...if you like more of the yellowish and green hues then choose the Mars aqua. ..but a side by side video comparison will tell you the difference. But it's just up to what you want. If you want a reliable cheap unit go with Mars aqua. .they have great Par values...if you want a reliable decent unit with also great par values and different hues then go with arctic t247.
 
CStrickland said:
What exactly is the programmability on those t247's? Do they dim out, or just shut off?
It's hard to tell from the reviews and stuff, but it seems like all they do is turn on at a certain time. If so that's what pipster and I accomplished with a lamp timer from the hardware store for $6 so it hardly seems worth paying $200 for fewer bulbs than you get in a $80 eBay unit. Mine don't have a remote control though, so there's that
Idk, maybe the 48 bulbs it does have are better?
Click to expand...

But yes I will say for 80 dollars that's a steal lol I may get a unit myself for my 10 gallon nano. It's hard to pass up being only $80!
 
CStrickland said:
What exactly is the programmability on those t247's? Do they dim out, or just shut off?
It's hard to tell from the reviews and stuff, but it seems like all they do is turn on at a certain time. If so that's what pipster and I accomplished with a lamp timer from the hardware store for $6 so it hardly seems worth paying $200 for fewer bulbs than you get in a $80 eBay unit. Mine don't have a remote control though, so there's that
Idk, maybe the 48 bulbs it does have are better?
Click to expand...

And yes they do dim btw. The thing that's got me leaning more towards the Arctic t247s are the fact that Mars aqua has the 6 warm white 3500k which gives the yellowish hues when at full spectrum and that alone I don't care for and should have been replaced with the 6 ultraviolet 420nm which the Arctic t247s have instead of the 6 warm white 3500k. But other then that they both are great...like I said it come down to price and what your looking for. HTH and sorry if my posts sound rude..I'm not trying to rude or anything just giving the OP something to think about.
Thanks guys
 
That's good info, I couldn't tell from the site if they ramped up like a sunrise or just program to turn on at whatever dimness you last set it to. I dont think you're being rude at all, I'm just trying to understand why someone would pay twice as much for less lights. I think the spectrum is something that would really help to see it in a store side by side. I don't have any confidence in my phone screen to show the colors and shimmer like real life. Also, I learned that the visible light spectrum is diff for diff people, like some can see the really high or low parts I guess so it looks diff to them. Thought that was cool!
 
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