Last time I had reef tanks either you had T5HO's overwriting the with Ice Cap ballast or Metal Halides with a chiller. I am torn between lights now, I am planning 50/50 Spa to Lps in a 90 gallon. So radions are out of the question I just can't justify $1500 for 2 lights. So next is Ai Hydras at $700 for 2 lights drawing roughly 180w total. Kessil360w's also at $700 for 2 lights but will need controller and draws roughly the same watts. What route should I go and would either or be enough lights for what I am looking for? Tank is 48×18×24 I think it's standard R/R 90 thanks in advance.
Led's for 90
- Thread starter jeep9783
- Start date
I use Reefbreeder leds. I have one over my frag tank and one over my DT. I suppliment my leds with retrofit T5's using Coral plus and Purple plus bulbs.
I had the AI Hydra HD's on a 90g and a buddy had kessils. I found Kessils color settings to be limited. AI has a great phone app and are pretty powerful. They have retro fit t5/led hybrid lighting fixtures, like Aquatic life, and I see a lot of great tanks with the hybrid setup, since it hits spots the leds might miss. I recently bought the Ocean Revives (nicer chinese black box) $175 a piece. Not dimmable, but you can change the intensity, so no ramp up, just a built in timer on and off. Corals just want light, just have to hit the light spectrum and PAR level, in my opinion. The rest are bells and whistles, looks, controllability (apex/phone app), loudness, longevity, durability.
If the hydras fall into your budget, I reccomend them over Kessils, given what I've seen.
If the hydras fall into your budget, I reccomend them over Kessils, given what I've seen.
I think the ocean revive t247 is a great choice, it has been proven to grow coral and is fairly inexpensive. It doesn’t have a ton of adjustment, but coral don’t know the difference. From what I’ve seen these lights grow sps like any other name brand led, which is why I will use them in my basement when I get a real frag tank. For reference search “Rico’s reef tank” and “lazy’s frag house” on YouTube . With all the extra money you will have left over you can buy more coral or bigger skimmer.
