best bang for a buck LEDs,?

I have 3 of the fixtures I linked too, I love them.

 

How far of a distance do you have the lights from the surface of the water?

 

Just measured, about 8 inches.

They are no where near full power on the dimmers though.

When they go over my 180 soon, I think I'll put them up a bit higher for some more spread.
I'm using 3 of them currently, and plan to keep those three when I transfer to my 180.

We put a PAR meter on these lights- Major PAR mosters when you turn the lights up. There are several colors in each.
Currently I'm using the bluer channel on about 70%, and the whiter on about 35%- and still getting amazing sps growth!

 

I keep the 2 that I have over my 90 at about a foot off the water and got the blue running 100% and white at about 75%. have good growth also. Just have some shading happening around some of my rock work. But that I'm planning on adding a couple t5 retrofit bulbs for that.

 

I completely forgot you had those Todd! Now I remember I think we briefly talked about them in a similar thread. Just how cheap the lights are and how well you guys are saying they perform makes them really tempting to get. I almost want to pull the trigger and get one and not worry about them not being controllable.

 

I am very glad I took Todds advice and went with one of the 120w fixtures for my 55g. I absolutely loved it and when I upgraded to my 75g I purchased another of the same fixture and I can say I'm very happy with how they are performing for me and for a minimal price as well. I recommend them to anyone looking to upgrade to leds on a budget.

 

It seems like multiple members of this forum have these lights and love them. Todd reports that the PAR values are spectacular and can even support SPS so that's a huge benefit. It's hard justifying spending the money on something like a Radion when you can buy 4 of these lights for that price. Yes the Radion does have more bells and whistles but you get 4 times the lighting for the price of one Radion. Kind of seems like a no brainer and best bang for your buck for sure.

 

This I like so I think im gonna go with those fixtures. Thanks guys. Hope I can get away from chopping my canopy.

 

What about these for a 75 gallon? I like the programmable feature and it's only 35 more than the non programmable one without moon lights?

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I wouldn't. That is the old design. Has three quite noisy fans, an aluminum sheet vs. a real heatsink, and only blue and white. Plus, you would need two for a 4' tank. Newer design has only two fans (much, much quieter), a real heat sink, and "full spectrum" (I would get one that has 2 reds at most, 2 greens/cyans at most, and a 2:1 ratio of blue vs. white). Basically the same layout as the Reef Breeders Value Fixture.

Just my opinion of course, so do your own research!