Still_human October 23, 2019 Share October 23, 2019 Someone recommended I go with a reefLED 50 to flat out replace my current LeD fixture, and they look beautiful, and won’t leave me with either too dim blue, or bright enough ugly yellow/white, and would of course eliminate the need for an additional bright actinic/violet strip(orphek or reefbrite). It’s just a 55gal, so 2 of them would give each one just a 24” wide, upto 21” deep area to Illuminate. This would be my 3rd, and ABSOLUTE last attempt at ever using LEDs again, so I’d want to be completely, totally, incredibly 100% sure that would give my tank the beautiful look I’ve been trying to find since halides and T5s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reef eScape October 23, 2019 Share October 23, 2019 I would say that if you are picky about what your light looks like the red sea lights only let you change the white and blue channels. These lights are also brand new, so keep in mind they may turn out great but if you want a sure thing these lights haven't been around as long. They are a dense chip array light similar to the Kessil LEDs. If you want more control there are the AI brand lights which are coming out with a new generation now, and the Radion lights that are both more controllable and have been around longer. Also some people have been going with T5/LED combination which may appeal to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Still_human October 24, 2019 Author Share October 24, 2019 20 hours ago, Reef eScape said: I would say that if you are picky about what your light looks like the red sea lights only let you change the white and blue channels. These lights are also brand new, so keep in mind they may turn out great but if you want a sure thing these lights haven't been around as long. They are a dense chip array light similar to the Kessil LEDs. If you want more control there are the AI brand lights which are coming out with a new generation now, and the Radion lights that are both more controllable and have been around longer. Also some people have been going with T5/LED combination which may appeal to you. Price is a big issue for me too, tho. If i KNEW it was absolutely going to work, I could save up for 2 reefLED 50 type prices...I’ve already wasted over $400 on fixtures that I hate, so it’s worth it for something Id know would work, but I dunno if I could afford the best stuff that lots of the amazing looking tanks are using:/ I don’t do any of that complicated color adjusting, other than turning up and down whites and blues, which it sounds like your saying is what you CAN do on the ReefLEDs. Im a total beginner when it comes to any specific wavelengths/ tweaking other color levels of a fixture...other than the simple adjusting of the blue/white levels, I mean. The simpler, and less stuff to mess with, the better, for me i have an 8tube T5 fixture, which was fantastic, so if I was going back to dealing with T5s again, I’d probably just go back to that, and forget all about the complicated LEDs. Do they even have LED/T5 fixtures, or would it have to be different ones for LEDs and T5s? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
epleeds October 24, 2019 Share October 24, 2019 What is in your reef?? LPS and softies it SPS. Also, what’s ur budget? That again will limit which lights I would recommend. Also your budget would determine what I would recommend Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reef eScape October 24, 2019 Share October 24, 2019 The LED T5 fixtures are ballasts for T5 and then some sort of support for some of the more major LEDs like Radion or AI. They wouldn't exactly be cheaper. You would probably do fine with the Red Sea ReefLED 50 for AI Prime lights. Both use an app but I feel like the AI app is easier to use. Red Sea light is just white and blue adjustment. AI are all the typical red, green, blue, uv, white light scales. The AI Prime is a little cheaper than the Red Sea and the previous generation is on sale now because the gen is out now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Still_human October 25, 2019 Author Share October 25, 2019 19 hours ago, epleeds said: What is in your reef?? LPS and softies it SPS. Also, what’s ur budget? That again will limit which lights I would recommend. Also your budget would determine what I would recommend Everything. not much in the way of softies, other than zoas and some shrooms, but If I can find the right ones, id happily add them. No clams yet, but there definitely will be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
epleeds October 25, 2019 Share October 25, 2019 Ok. What’s your budget? $400, $700, $1500? your going to need two LED’s but the question is which one can you afford. price point will determine the best bang for the buck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
epleeds October 25, 2019 Share October 25, 2019 If you have a $400 price point, this is what I would go with. I have 4 on them on different tanks and will grow anything and everything. Simple to set up and use. https://www.saltcritters.com/products/oceanrevive-arctic-t247-full-spectrum-dimmable-120w-led-aquarium-reef-light?variant=30182197755969¤cy=USD&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIw8-So_i35QIVJIVaBR0bpgwhEAQYASABEgI5JPD_BwE if your price point is higher, you can go with used Radion Gen 3 pro’s for about $600 for a pair. and if you have the money, two brand new Gen 4’s for about $1700. I haven’t used AI stuff. But people seem to like them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Still_human October 26, 2019 Author Share October 26, 2019 On 10/24/2019 at 7:02 PM, Reef eScape said: The LED T5 fixtures are ballasts for T5 and then some sort of support for some of the more major LEDs like Radion or AI. They wouldn't exactly be cheaper. You would probably do fine with the Red Sea ReefLED 50 for AI Prime lights. Both use an app but I feel like the AI app is easier to use. Red Sea light is just white and blue adjustment. AI are all the typical red, green, blue, uv, white light scales. The AI Prime is a little cheaper than the Red Sea and the previous generation is on sale now because the gen is out now. See, that’s too much for me lol. That’s why I sort of hate LEDs...you need a degree just to set them up and work with them! I don’t want to worry about adjusting the rainbow, just white and blue...aren’t all those colors included in the blue and white LEDs, anyway? I really don’t want to deal with, especially be forced to deal with adjusting additional stuff in order to have a light work well/look good. Want to just turn it on, and at most have to adjust the brightness and the blue/white levels. Anything more is just confusion to me, and ways I can screw it up! lol I really didn’t like even worrying about balancing all the different possible wavelengths in Is g. T5 bulbs. That’s why for the longest time I just used that very generic brand of bulbs with one kind of blue/purple called “actinic”, and one 50/50 called “50/50”! With the right ratio it looked absolutely beautiful, and was as good for corals as anything else I’ve dealt with, or seen first-hand. Not as beautiful as some tanks I’ve seen pictures of, but after halides, I’ve never expected to have the best looking, top of the line, lighting systems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImGoingCoastal October 26, 2019 Share October 26, 2019 Why not just get a/some "black box" leds? They do exactly what you are asking. One knob for the white channel, another knob for the "blue" channel. Turn to adjust. Not the greatest thing out there but they work. MarsAqua Dimmable 300W LED Aquarium Light 55 Gallon Coral Reef Light Full Spectrum for Fish Freshwater and Saltwater Coral Tank Blue and White LPS/SPS with Daisy Chain Multifunction https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017GX73YY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_nNkTDbB3X2HVY MarsAqua Dimmable 165W 300W LED Aquarium Light 30 Gallon 55 Gallon Coral Reef Light Full Spectrum for Fish Freshwater and Saltwater Coral Tank Blue and White 6500K LPS/SPS with Daisy Chain Multifuncti https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017GWDF7E/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_4QkTDbFMQVMKR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Still_human October 28, 2019 Author Share October 28, 2019 (edited) On 10/25/2019 at 1:30 PM, epleeds said: Ok. What’s your budget? $400, $700, $1500? your going to need two LED’s but the question is which one can you afford. price point will determine the best bang for the buck I’d have a hard time going much over 400. i guess I could work at going a little higher if absolutely necessary. Ive wasted $hundreds and $hundreds on 2 different fixtures I bought from people(*no offense if this is seen by them, they do WORK perfectly, I just don’t find their lighting capabilities attractive). One of them is a vertex illumina, and the other is a Solaris I-5(I believe the American version, not the messed up Chinese version) (pics 1&2 are the illumina, and 3&4 are the Solaris) Edited October 28, 2019 by Still_human Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Still_human October 28, 2019 Author Share October 28, 2019 On 10/25/2019 at 1:34 PM, epleeds said: If you have a $400 price point, this is what I would go with. I have 4 on them on different tanks and will grow anything and everything. Simple to set up and use. https://www.saltcritters.com/products/oceanrevive-arctic-t247-full-spectrum-dimmable-120w-led-aquarium-reef-light?variant=30182197755969¤cy=USD&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIw8-So_i35QIVJIVaBR0bpgwhEAQYASABEgI5JPD_BwE if your price point is higher, you can go with used Radion Gen 3 pro’s for about $600 for a pair. and if you have the money, two brand new Gen 4’s for about $1700. I haven’t used AI stuff. But people seem to like them. It’s funny you mention arctic T-247, cause that’s what I was about to buy from someone, but at the last minute, right when I was about to send them the money, they said they dropped and broke them while getting them out of a box, or moving them, or something, so then I had to keep looking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Still_human October 28, 2019 Author Share October 28, 2019 On 10/26/2019 at 4:22 PM, ImGoingCoastal said: Why not just get a/some "black box" leds? They do exactly what you are asking. One knob for the white channel, another knob for the "blue" channel. Turn to adjust. Not the greatest thing out there but they work. MarsAqua Dimmable 300W LED Aquarium Light 55 Gallon Coral Reef Light Full Spectrum for Fish Freshwater and Saltwater Coral Tank Blue and White LPS/SPS with Daisy Chain Multifunction https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017GX73YY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_nNkTDbB3X2HVY MarsAqua Dimmable 165W 300W LED Aquarium Light 30 Gallon 55 Gallon Coral Reef Light Full Spectrum for Fish Freshwater and Saltwater Coral Tank Blue and White 6500K LPS/SPS with Daisy Chain Multifuncti https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017GWDF7E/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_4QkTDbFMQVMKR I think I’ll steer clear of the black boxes. I wasn’t even familiar with that term until about 2days before your message mentioning them. From what I was told, they’re not what I would want to bother getting for my needs. I mentioned the 2 fixtures I have in the previous post, and if anyone is familiar with those, I THINK I don’t have any difficulty understanding, and using those, although there’s always a chance I just don’t understand them at ALL, and they somehow ARE better than I think lol. From pictures I see, I almost feel like I MUST be just unable to work them properly, but everything seems perfectly self explanatory, and nothing is confusing at all, so I don’t see how I could possibly be just misunderstanding them, or overlooking something, so I feel like the pics and videos must be misleading, or maybe both fixtures just happened to be damaged in the exact same way, so that the LEDS have just lost some of their potential, or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Still_human October 29, 2019 Author Share October 29, 2019 Actually, I should probably ask if anyone else has any experience with either of those 2 fixtures(Solaris i-5, and vertex illumina), and knows anything about them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Still_human November 2, 2019 Author Share November 2, 2019 Does anyone know anything about the fixtures I mentioned? If anyone has had first hand experience, are they actually good fixtures, or is my experience the norm. They both work the same way as far as what i don’t like about them, so I’d imagine that’s not just a crazy coincidental problem that both just happen to have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImGoingCoastal November 3, 2019 Share November 3, 2019 https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/vertex-illumina-official-thread.124720/This could help? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GOSKN5 November 3, 2019 Share November 3, 2019 I just got 3 Red sea reef LED for my 180 and I am pretty impressed so far... corals are responding well and colors look great to my eye... I like the ease of control as I dont care for adjusting too many colors etc.. Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Still_human November 5, 2019 Author Share November 5, 2019 On 11/3/2019 at 8:46 AM, GOSKN5 said: I just got 3 Red sea reef LED for my 180 and I am pretty impressed so far... corals are responding well and colors look great to my eye... I like the ease of control as I dont care for adjusting too many colors etc.. Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk Awesome, that’s what I like to hear:) I’m guessing you have the 90s, for your 180gallon right? I’m thinking the 90s would be too much for my 55, or 75 when I switch over, and that I should go with the 50s, if I do go with these reefLEDS, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GOSKN5 November 5, 2019 Share November 5, 2019 Awesome, that’s what I like to hear:) I’m guessing you have the 90s, for your 180gallon right? I’m thinking the 90s would be too much for my 55, or 75 when I switch over, and that I should go with the 50s, if I do go with these reefLEDS, right?I do have the 90s.. but they wont be too much especially for a 75... I am running them with T5..That said, of you wanted to save a few bucks, I think you could get away with the 50s especially on a 55 being only 12" wide... I debated between these and hydras and radions... radions were gong to be so much more money... hydras are very nice, but as I mentioned I really dont want the ability to control each color... I prefer the ease of blue and white.. I also was extremely impressed with the shimmer and crisp colors when I viewed them at a couple LFS... Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Still_human November 5, 2019 Author Share November 5, 2019 On 11/2/2019 at 8:47 PM, ImGoingCoastal said: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/vertex-illumina-official-thread.124720/ This could help? Thanks so much!!! I just joined there and posted on the thread Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImGoingCoastal November 5, 2019 Share November 5, 2019 Looks like there are some YouTube videos as well that might simplify the teaching process? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Still_human November 5, 2019 Author Share November 5, 2019 5 hours ago, ImGoingCoastal said: Looks like there are some YouTube videos as well that might simplify the teaching process? On illuminas? I started watching a couple videos back before I got it, but it didn’t take long for them to lose me lol. I’ll take a look again tho. It’ll take a miracle for me to stick with it, though. GOSKN5 is really getting me hyped up on those reefLEDs! Lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Still_human November 5, 2019 Author Share November 5, 2019 5 hours ago, GOSKN5 said: I do have the 90s.. but they wont be too much especially for a 75... I am running them with T5.. That said, of you wanted to save a few bucks, I think you could get away with the 50s especially on a 55 being only 12" wide... I debated between these and hydras and radions... radions were gong to be so much more money... hydras are very nice, but as I mentioned I really dont want the ability to control each color... I prefer the ease of blue and white.. I also was extremely impressed with the shimmer and crisp colors when I viewed them at a couple LFS... Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk You’re really selling me on these reefLEDS!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Still_human January 29, 2020 Author Share January 29, 2020 While doing a search for the Red Sea reef LEDs these came up, and to be honest, when it comes to LEDs, specs still mean almost nothing to me. Do these appear to be good/great? I don’t know if that’s enough info in the description, but I didn’t want to just copy the whole description page unless it’s needed. What do you all think of these? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sethsolomon January 29, 2020 Share January 29, 2020 The second picture no. that's about 500-600 1/2 watt LED's it won't have the penetration needed IMO. The first one may have enough light output but that is a lot of green light that is really a waste of power since corals really dont use much if any green light. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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