What led lighting system to buy?

[Dino24]

Whats ups guys just setup my 75 gallon reef tank and im currently using a marinelad double led from my freshwater setup because im still cycling the tank....looking into 48in led reef lighting any suggestions...

I was looking into to 72w 48in aquaticlife led or reefbreeders phonton 48in although what i really want is the acan 600 series but its a bit pricey any input would be help!

[jda]

Do you know what are you looking to keep? It will matter. Not all are good for everything... and you might need more or less panels for certain things. You will get people who say "Panel A" or "Panel B" but without knowing what you might want to keep, this is meaningless IMO.

I know that you didn't ask this, but I might suggest that you get your feet wet with reef tanks with a 4 bulb T5 setup. LED are not as easy and not all coral responds the same under them. Not undoable or anything, but I do think that your first experience will be better if you don't have to figure out or fight the issues with some LEDs. ...and I am not talking about figuring out how to program the light, but knowing that certain corals won't like too much white, ramping it back for new additions, etc. It is not easy. Also, since your tank is new, you will have many new additions and sometimes you have to dial your light way back and re-acclimate every time that you add new stuff... which will be often.

[jcarman81]

jda makes a good point. I would look for a good used T5 fixture to use for a while until you gain more experience in the hobby. I just started in March and I immediately jumped into LEDs thinking they were the best choice.

What I have learned in my time, is that reefkeeping is about consistency and patience. You need to build as much consistency into your setup as possible. That will allow you to focus on a lot of the other issues that pop up. I've spent so much time fixing water chemistry, dialing in my lighting, feeding schedules, feeding amounts, lighting time, water changes, etc...Sometimes I wish I would have gone with a simpler lighting solution so that I could figure out the other tricks of the trade.

Adding the variability of LED lighting to your learning curve may end up frustrating you to the point of no return. LED systems are very nice, but they also make it super easy to either starve your corals of the lighting they need, or burn the corals due to lighting intensity. A good, constant light source will give you more time and fewer headaches in the long run.

T5's and Metal Halide fixtures have been around forever and a lot of the learning curve with setups, lighting schedule, intensities, etc. have already been figured out. With LED's I feel the hobby is in the middle of the learning curve. The learnings and technology with LEDs is changing as quickly as the cell phone market has been in the past few years.

That being said, there are several good companies out there that make great LED fixtures. ReefBreeders gets consistently good reviews in the reefing community. Apollo Reef LED fixtures and the RapidLED Onyx fixture also get pretty good reviews. There are several others.

[Dino24]

Im looking to do soft corals mostly beginner stuff for now but dont want to upgrade later...but really want a led system not a t5

[jda]

You will be upgrading even a LED system. They are far from figured out, still are changing quite rapidly and in 24-36 months won't likely want one that you might buy soon. I doubt that few today is using a panel from 2010.

If you don't want to every upgrade, then T5 of MH are absolutely the way to go - you could use either of these for 10+ years.

[jcarman81]

Any of the LED manufacturers I listed above are good.

Just a word of warning...I said the same thing, until I "figured out" softies. Then I had to have LPS until I "figured" them out and now I've got a few frags of SPS. In that short time my tank has done all kinds of weird stuff because I haven't been patient and really figured anything out.

There is a lot of trial and error in your first year or two of reef keeping. If you do go with LED's make sure you slowly acclimate your corals to the LED lights by both placing them at, or near the bottom of the tank and lowering the intensity of the lights.

[Dino24]

Thanks alot for all your replies!!!

[Kearnel]

Definitely listen to the experienced advice your getting on LED lights, wish I would have researched mine more. Saw a set I liked, though they'd do the job so I dropped a thousand bucks on em, now I sit here wondering WHAT WAS I THINKING. They work but not the way a quality set for less money would work and I know for a fact that had I asked about the ones I have I would have been advised not to buy them but instead buy something else. Listen to the advice given my friend, they're only trying to help you succeed.

[Kearnel]

To the OP, would you mind if I shot a question off about LED lights, as you can see I don't like mine and am working on replacing them with some Reef breeders but have some questions of my own. Figured I'd ask here instead of opening an entire thread for it.

[Stickboy97]

$.02, Rapid has their LED's on sale today. $259 for their dimmable Onyx fixture. Can't beat that. I just bought 3.

[das75]

$.02, Rapid has their LED's on sale today. $259 for their dimmable Onyx fixture. Can't beat that. I just bought 3.

just checked, $199 for non-dimmable.