Help with LED Lighting for my Tank

[extremeshannon]

Hello everyone,
It is time for me to upgrade my tank and I need help with the best led lighting. The tank will be Fish only at first and the back to coral tank in the near future. I have a 210 Gallon tank and would like to know what company/model to buy. Last time I looked into it the Radion were the lights to have. I went ahead and built my own LED lights and I know they have come a long way. Any help would be great.

Shannon

[jda]

There is no best... just best for you. People are usually fans of what they purchased and usually defend them to the death either right or wrong, so look around on your own and find the features that you want in a unit.

Generally speaking, there are two basic types, the wide-panel and point-source. Wide panel have fewer shadows that people like, but don't like how they blend colors since the diodes are so far apart and do no shimmer. The point source units are horrible with shadows, but most people like how the blend light and shimmer. Either kind can be purchased bare bones or with all kinds of useful and non-useful features to be controlled with buttons/knobs on the unit or with your phone when you are on the commode. There are all kinds of price points.

It will really help to know what kind of coral that you want to keep if you want specific advice... they are all not great at everything, but most will do OK with the majority.

Lastly, larger tanks are harder to light with panels... if you are going to get hardcore into coral, then you might need a lot more than a manufacturer recommends.

FWIW - I would not waste any hours on new units for fish only... just keep the ones that you have.

[Ron Reefman]

jda, well said. +1

There is no 'best light'. End of discussion.

However, there are lots of options with lots of different features. So you need to decide which ones you want and are willing to pay for. Most don't do anything for the fish or the coral. They are almost all about how the light looks and works for your eyes and your environment.

You are going to start with fish only, so like jda said, use what you have (or buy new but buy cheap). Then do your homework over the next months and figure out what YOU want vs what we think is best. And like jda said, we almost all like the one we picked as the best for us and that has almost no bearing on what's best for you. Do you want 4 Radions at $800 each? Or four Mars Aqua at $100 each? Lots of people love them both. And they both work.

[extremeshannon]

Thanks for the help guys. I am planning on Fish only until I get my Tank fully up and running the way it should be. Then I will be introducing Corals. I will be starting out with LPS Corals and hope to one day get some SPS corals.

My lights are ok they are high voltage and ready for an upgrade. So I think I will go with some of the Aqua Mars 300 Watts to get me going while the tanks are out. These will get me going and I can start populating some coral at some point. When I decide to get serious about SPS corals I will look at the higher end lights. I will also be getting a par Meter since my tank is 29.5 deep. This way I can make sure when I have the lighting I need.

Thanks