Quictent LED light?

[Cambria]

I recently bought a 120W LED light off of Ebay and was going to put it on my 42 gallon aquarium which has some sps corals in it. I was wondering how high to position the light to start off and how to work down from there. Or is this light going to even work. I was unsure about the brand, but said is was specifically for reef aquariums.

Right now the aquarium has T5 lights.

Here's all the specifications on it:
LEDs 55pcs 3Watt high power Epistar chips
Dimension 400x212x60mm
Light color 50% blue; 50% cold white
Light Spectrum Royal blue 460mn,deep blue 440mn, cold white 8000~10000K
Power Consumption 120 Watt
LED Power (All) 110W
Electric Current 550mA
Input Voltage 85-265V/AC
Lumens ≥5800 lm
Power Cords 2 (one for white light controlling, one for blue light controlling)
View Angle 60°/90°
Lighting Area 24*24 tank
Life Span 50000 hrs
Plug type USA, European ,Australian ,etc
G.W. 5kg
Certificate CE & ROHS

50% blue light and 50% white light mixed
440nm~460nm blue light to promote the photosynthesis

[Mark Bianco]

You will have to play with it a little, but most manufactures recommend about 6 to 8 inches above the water line.

Mark

[asid61]

If you are doing that, just go the Reefbreeders route. It's $180 shipped for the value fixture with the same number of leds, but reefbreeders is full-spectrum and has violets incororated into the fixture. You will be far happier.

[Ron Reefman]

Sorry, but it sounds like you may have just got the short end of the stick. IMHO you made 2 mistakes, 1) you bought a brand that you didn't know and 2) you bought a brand that you didn't know and you bought it off Ebay. And you didn't even tell us what brand it is? Now that you know we are here, next time you want to buy something that you are unsure about, ask questions first and then make the buying decision, not the other way around. We're here to help.

There are some good marine aquarium led fixtures sold on Ebay, but there's a lot of real junk as well. Your light may work for you depending on what you keep in your tank. But for very similar money you could have bought quality fixtures from Reef Breeders or OceanRevive.

50% blue and 50% white is OLD technology. Quality leds are now full spectrum with, UV, violet, several differnt blues, green, red and several different whites. And 50/50 is a bad mix. It should be more like 60/40 or even 70/30 with more blue than white.

And your full description of the light doesn't say anything about having dimmers or lenses? Led fixtures without dimmers are 2 generations behind the times and lenses make the entire fixture more effective as an aquarium light.

So start with the light hung at least 12-18" above the tank. The higher the better. Led fixtures, especially ones with lenses, are very strong and can damage animals that aren't properly acclimated to the light. So start high and lower it some every 2-5 days early on. Then lower it slower and lower it less each time. When you get down to 6-8" you are about as low as you can go. Watch your animals (corals, anemones, clams) VERY carefully for signs of stress or damage (primarily bleaching of any sps corals). If you see anything bad going on, raise the light back up 1 or 2 moves and give the tank more time to acclimate before you try moving the light again. It's somewhat unlikely, but not impossible, that your light is going to be too strong.

Good luck.

[Cambria]

Sorry, but it sounds like you may have just got the short end of the stick. IMHO you made 2 mistakes, 1) you bought a brand that you didn't know and 2) you bought a brand that you didn't know and you bought it off Ebay. And you didn't even tell us what brand it is? Now that you know we are here, next time you want to buy something that you are unsure about, ask questions first and then make the buying decision, not the other way around. We're here to help.

There are some good marine aquarium led fixtures sold on Ebay, but there's a lot of real junk as well. Your light may work for you depending on what you keep in your tank. But for very similar money you could have bought quality fixtures from Reef Breeders or OceanRevive.

50% blue and 50% white is OLD technology. Quality leds are now full spectrum with, UV, violet, several differnt blues, green, red and several different whites. And 50/50 is a bad mix. It should be more like 60/40 or even 70/30 with more blue than white.

And your full description of the light doesn't say anything about having dimmers or lenses? Led fixtures without dimmers are 2 generations behind the times and lenses make the entire fixture more effective as an aquarium light.

So start with the light hung at least 12-18" above the tank. The higher the better. Led fixtures, especially ones with lenses, are very strong and can damage animals that aren't properly acclimated to the light. So start high and lower it some every 2-5 days early on. Then lower it slower and lower it less each time. When you get down to 6-8" you are about as low as you can go. Watch your animals (corals, anemones, clams) VERY carefully for signs of stress or damage (primarily bleaching of any sps corals). If you see anything bad going on, raise the light back up 1 or 2 moves and give the tank more time to acclimate before you try moving the light again. It's somewhat unlikely, but not impossible, that your light is going to be too strong.

Good luck.

The brand is "Quictent". Sorry, I said it in the title but I didn't specify that is the brand. And it doesn't have dimmers or anything. Which is probably why I got it so cheap and no one bid on it.

So what are some really good brands out there for LEDs for a 42 gallon?
Right now I have a green birdnest and I'm planning to put in some more stony corals in. (I also have rose-bulb anemone and clownfish too.)

And thank you for that info on LEDs.

[asid61]

Reefbreeders is great for leds. The value fixture will do you fine. $180 shipped.
The Photon has programming capabilities.
Or a Maxspect Razor 27 inch. More pricey but better programming.

[Ron Reefman]

You don't have to give up on your light yet. Just because it isn't all that you could have got, that doesn't mean it won't work. I'd give it a try. You may not like the color of the light, I think it's going to be very, very white. And without dimmers, you have to do the raise and lower to change the intensity. But it could be OK for now, until you are really ready to buy a replacement. Don't go rushing off half cocked and buy again without doing some serious research. And if you get a new light, consider the old one for use over your sump. Maybe put some translucent blue acrylic on the face of the light to dim it down some and make it more blue. Or even red as macro algae like red for good growth.

As for recommendations, you can get the 'original' brand, EverGrow' since they make the Reef Breeders lights. EverGrow sells direct, but they are in China and it can be difficult to deal with them. They are currently being distributed by OceanRevive on the West Coast. They are a new company and I have already got one of their fixtures. The OR Arctic S026 which competes with the EverGrow D120 or the Reef Breeders 'value fixture'. They all range in the $180-$220. They are all full spectrum, they all have dimmers and they all have lenses. The S026 is a bit bigger footprint and the leds are spread out better to cover more sq ft in your tank. And it's thinner vertically and to my eye it looks better. I put it over my frag tank.

Good luck.