Best LED lighting?

[LoveJC03]

Really looking into buying new lights next year, want to try LED's.. looking for the best ones with the best growth. The ones listed below are my top 4 choices, really like the Ecotechs and Maxpects. Just want some opinions!

Ecotech Radion Gen 2
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Aquaticlife Expert Series
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Maxspect Razor
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Kessils

Anyone have or tried any of these with success? Any input and advice is welcome. Thanks in advance :mrgreen:

 

[poksal]

I have one set of AquaticLife on my tank.. they are the 1w expandable 36" X 50 watt series.. as a basic along with my RapidLED's..and I love them... I've seen some mighty good corals setting under other AquaticLife LED's. I did some research (I tried to find it and couldn't for you) and determined that AquaticLife does extensive research before placing a LED set on the market.

 

[Northstar24]

Pretty much all of those are capable of growing coral. I don't think you're going to find 'the best' in the sense of which one grows corals 'faster' The other fixture you should add to that list are the offerings from AI

 

[LoveJC03]

I am sure they are all good, we will definitely be comparing and researching more before making the purchase, they're not that cheap. Just trying to get some opinions.
All of them have good color options and make corals and fish look really good?

Leaning toward the Top 3 I think

 

[Northstar24]

Coloration is where you are going to have the most issues. The largest complaint against the White/Blue/Royal blue LED fixtures is that some people have seen some issues with color rendition in both fish and corals. The idea behind the 'full spectrum' fixtures that added in other colors of LED's have tried to address this with green, red, orange, amber, cyan, violet, and Magenta or 'UV' colored LED's. I haven't personally noticed this on may tank after switching to LED's other than my sailfin tang appears to be a little more washed out than he was under the halids. My other fish and my corals appear fine to me

If i were shopping for an off the shelf fixture right now, personally I would look for one that would allow me to change the make up of LED's, so that if I felt the need, I could play with the colors of the fixture. Off the top of my head, the only two that I am aware of that allow that kind of cusomtization are the Vertex Illumina and the AI Vega

 

[LoveJC03]

Thanks for this info, we'll definitely be researching more.

 

[Homer]

Go for kessils 350 tuna blue... Quiet, super efficient, easy hanging/mounting, good par, good growth, best in the market and cheap :)

 

[Cheeser]

if money wasnt a big issue i'd go with the new radions. otherwise if ur on a budget, like me id go with the ecoray60dx or the kessil.

 

[FishyReef]

Here's a review of a few of the newer LEDs by Reefbuilders which nicely sums up the pros and cons of the AI Vegas and Radions. http://reefbuilders.com/2012/11/07/ghl-mitras-ecotech-radion-ai-vega/

As far as "best" lights, I'd consider bredth of spectrum as probably the most important factor in making that determination, particularly on the UV end of the spectrum, for coral coloration. For what its worth, I'm currently leaning towards the Kessil 350 for the new 40g hex I'm setting up because I think it offers the best spectrum in a fixture that is compact and will give me great coverage. But each tank has unique needs and you really need to do your homework to find out what is going to be best for you. Also, consider what type of corals you want to keep - a lot of people have experienced color shifts (particularly with acans) under LED lighting, so if you want a lot of acans in your tank you might be pretty disappointed with LED. Definitely browse the various forum sites to read up on reviews, etc.

 

[LoveJC03]

Seriously leaning towards Radions.. was almost decided on Maxpect, but they're aren't many reviews seeing how they are so new and no one has pictures of growth or anything.
Probably going to get some new ATI bulbs for our T5HO light to get some different color going on, then maybe waiting 6 months to see if anyone has used the Maxpects...who knows may just get the Radions after our new bulbs get old! LOL.. it's really James' decision on this one

 

[Cheeser]

Go with the radions, u can't lose