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Can't decide between these three LED's.

One fish

By One fish,
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One fish Tang

One fish

Any opinions/help would be greatly appreciated. I have been on the fence for about 4 weeks now. If you had a budget of $700 dollars, while still trying to save money... What LED would you buy?

 

Looking to upgrade my LED's and have been looking at either the...

 

XR15 Gen 3's (on sale at BRS, I will save about $160 dollars. Both come out to $640.)

 

XR15 Gen 4's ($800, a bit over my budget not including the hanging kit)

 

Kessil ap700 (my buddy has a used one and is selling it for $700 dollars and I love the kessil shimmer but am worried about the poor reviews. I haven't owned a light other than kessil.)

 

If you had to choose between one of the three, what would you get? Thanks a lot.  :wig:

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Joshifer Grandmaster Reefer

Joshifer

(edited)

Tank is about 42 gallons, 30 long by 18x18.

 

I'm thinking maybe mixed with some easy to keep SPS.

Well. If you don't wanna break your bank. The spread on AI primes are 24x24. $200 each. Add 2. Or a hydra 26 or 52. Should cost you 300-500. You'll have money to spare for brackets.

 

I'm currently using an AI prime my tanks 25inch wide and I have light spilling over into my carpet. You might even get away with just one. And the 8 inch goose neck. And they connect to your cellphone. I love AI LEDs. Also getting insane growth. Full spectrum lighting.

Edited by Joshifer
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Mattb1612 Tang

Mattb1612

I love my xr15 I have two of them over my 65 gallon. I also have a reef link which allows me to easily play with them. That is also the downside cause you will be messing around a lot with it lol. And the nice thing is if you upgrade you just add another light to your reef link and you bam schedule sinks. Couple members are selling some nice xr30 check them out

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madweazl Uber Reefer

madweazl

I dont think you can go wrong with either (and the Hyrda 52 for that matter). I think poor reviews come from people who screw around with the spectrum too much without any real research into what has been working. There are too many successful tank with all three of these lights to deny their capabilities.

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Joshifer Grandmaster Reefer

Joshifer

(edited)

I still say hydra. I was in love with mine. But I traded it for a tank upgrade which was needed and couldn't afford lol.

 

You'll have $200 left over if your budgets $700 their really strong. And the app/computer program is very good. Timers cycles auto acclamations. Weather. Clouds. Moonlight. Does your dishes. Spays your cat.

 

Johnny has some at blue ribbon koi he'll probably give you a great deal on them cus he's a good guy like that.

Edited by Joshifer
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epleeds Neptune Reefer

epleeds

I have ocean revive T247's over two of my service tanks. They are $200/each. And do great. I just can't see spending $600-$800 for each light.

 

You could use two over your tank and grow anything under the sun.

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mr11 Starfish

mr11

I have ocean revive T247's over two of my service tanks. They are $200/each. And do great. I just can't see spending $600-$800 for each light.

 

You could use two over your tank and grow anything under the sun.

 

 

I'd be tempted to go for https://sbreeflights.com/sbox-reef-lights/1-sbox-basic.html

 

Seems like a single one in the center would be fine and you could do SPS for $130.  Put the rest of your $700 into livestock. 8)

 

 

I agree with this route. Also the new reefbreeder V2 series is super nice, one light will cover the whole tank, 2 year warranty, 6 channels, and inexpensive as far as LEDs go. 

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madweazl Uber Reefer

madweazl

I'd be tempted to go for https://sbreeflights.com/sbox-reef-lights/1-sbox-basic.html

 

Seems like a single one in the center would be fine and you could do SPS for $130.  Put the rest of your $700 into livestock. 8)

I'm currently running the SBReef basic boxes but I dont have any long term experience with them over coral to say they're good or bad. What I can say is the fit and finish of the boxes is poor. The fans are supposed to be better than the [even more] generic black boxes but they're still the noisiest items on my setup. Modifying them to be controlled off the Reef Angel was quite easy and didnt require any modifications to the unit so that was a big plus.

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pizzaguy Oracle Reefer

pizzaguy

I have ocean revive t247's over my 200 and ive owned alot of the leds on the market. I also have radion pros on another tank and ime my ocean revives have been hard to beat. But its not just lights

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davidm Master Reefer

davidm

how long do LEDs last for effective light/PAR? The reason I'm asking is I was part of one of the original WAMAS LED group buys DIY projects, and my SPS are not doing that well.  We purchased these LEDs back in April 2011.

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AlanM Oracle Reefer

AlanM

how long do LEDs last for effective light/PAR? The reason I'm asking is I was part of one of the original WAMAS LED group buys DIY projects, and my SPS are not doing that well.  We purchased these LEDs back in April 2011.

The emitters seem to last nearly forever but the integrated lenses or snap on lenses and power supplies do not. You might turn them off and look at the lenses with them off. If they look kind of brown instead of yellow then you might need replacement bulbs or lenses or both.

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dpassar12 Master Reefer

dpassar12

I have 1 Maxspect Razor, 4 EcoTech Radion 2s,  9 black boxes and 4 ocean revive t247's Hands down best light for the money is T247... everything I have grows like crazy under them esp SPS of every type.. 4 over an 8 foot tank.  T247s have a single cord, 2 channels, internal timers to control both channels adjustable intensity  relatively cheap compared to the 3 you listed.  It might be worth it to by these first... If you hate them I will by them from u

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madweazl Uber Reefer

madweazl

I have 1 Maxspect Razor, 4 EcoTech Radion 2s,  9 black boxes and 4 ocean revive t247's Hands down best light for the money is T247... everything I have grows like crazy under them esp SPS of every type.. 4 over an 8 foot tank.  T247s have a single cord, 2 channels, internal timers to control both channels adjustable intensity  relatively cheap compared to the 3 you listed.  It might be worth it to by these first... If you hate them I will by them from u

Other than the timers, what is different between the T247s and black boxes? The T247s look to have the same layout as just about every other black box out there (2 red, 2 green, plenty of blue and daylight).

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dpassar12 Master Reefer

dpassar12

The lights are spread out more then a black box.. they cover a wider area a bit more evenly IMO.. setting the  intensity by programming instead of turning a knob is more accurate. especially since the knobs are usually above someone's head..   The single cord vs 2 on black boxes is a big one for me, I have a lot of lights and managing the cords is a pain. All of the bells a whistles on Radions are fun for the first few days but I rarely even go into the programming anymore. Don't get me wrong they all grow coral fine it just seams in my setup any SPS that i put in the tank with the T247's grows very good..  I have 32 feet of coverage so $ are important as well. If I only had a display tank I would not care as much.. In the end I think water quality matters much more than lights.  

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madweazl Uber Reefer

madweazl

As long as the surface water is moving you will have shimmer, not really the lights.,

T5s have almost no shimmer, it has everything to do with the origin of the lighting. LEDs and MHs create shimmer because of this.

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