best led fixture

I agree completely, it just fits into the budget stated above. Once my financial aid check arrives I'm converting my 29g Bio Cube to RapidLED's Cree XP's

 

I will jump in and say that from what I've read, building your own LED fixture is MUCH cheaper than a prebuilt fixture, and if you're early-20s with a budget of 4-5 hundred, I don't think you need to, nor should you, drop that much money. RapidLED has already been mentioned as an alternative and is used in most of the DIY LED builds I've seen here so far (in my extensive, 2-month tenure ).

Here's a thread discussing a company in Hong Kong, AquaStyle [thread], where a few, myself included, are trying out a newer company that seems to be about 40%+ cheaper than even RapidLED. So far the only complaint I've had is that the communication was a little slow for a business IMO. Gillguy said he had good communication, and my order was shipped FedEx and was very quick, so I'm not regretting the cheaper alternative yet.

NOTE: These are Bridgelux LEDs and aren't as powerful as CREE LEDs (which are what RapidLED uses). The reason I went with the Bridgelux is because they were so much cheaper (I got my dimmable 72 LED kit with heatsinks, optics, cooling fans, shipping etc. for <$300), is because I've seen several 3reefers state how powerful their LEDs are and how they only use their lights at 50% power to avoid bleaching corals. You could also upgrade to the 90 LED kit they have to be on the safe side, and it's probably $50-75 more with the extra heat sink, but I would think 72 would be plenty at close to 100%. Definitely research this though as I am far from an expert.

Also, look into the aforementioned Par38 bulbs, that would be very easy if you're not a DIY person, and may even be cheaper. I know brands matter when you consider par value and kelvin ratings, but if a par38 bulb is a par38 bulb (doubtful), I see them on Amazon starting in the low $20s. I'm following Bloke's 210g build thread and he just chose the par38's, so you could read up on that and check out references found there for additional research on cost and if it's what you're looking for.

 

the nice thing about the par38s is you can buy a few now to hold you over and slowly add 1 or 2 when you have the money.

 

I have a follow up question on M OCEAN MANS comment below

"For "most bang for the buck" I along with other 3reefers stand behind BOOSTLED's products. I own three of their Par38 Lamps and I also own 6 MU135 fixtures (2 on my 120 and 4 on a 430 gallon tank at my office). All three tanks excel. There are softies, LPS, and SPS in the systems and all corals do well - just have to be careful not to burn lower light LPS and soft corals under the INTENSE MU135 fixture"


I have a tank that is largely softies (Zoanthids, etc). 120 gallon. Currently using 8 t-5's (TEK). Looking to change to boost LED fixture. Would I have to worry about my corals burning? Anyway to control the lights? Like dimming, etc?

 

Boost posts the PAR numbers for the MU. It is a good fixture, but really is fairly low PAR compared to 8 T-5s. From here, Mu Series 135 LED Version 2 by BoostLED The peak PAR is only 200-225 through 20" of air. You really don't need to worry about burring most corals until you start getting over 600 and for many light demanding SPS, you need to get over 1000 to really have issue. Unfortunately they don't post the PAR through water, but it drops off much faster through water. The minimum for most shallow collected SPS is around 100, but 300+ is usually considered more optimal. Softies actually can handle a lot of light, but can often get away with less. 100 is probably a good target, but they certainly won't be burned by a bit more.

Some LED fixtures can produce these PAR numbers. The AI SOLs for example easily get to those numbers, through air at least and others with focused optics can achieve these numbers as well.

For example, this modified MaxSpect, even through several inches of water was well above 600. LED with Optics PAR Measurement - Reef Central Online Community

The boost may work okay for deeper tanks, but is really more optomized for shallow tanks or moderate light demanding tanks.

 

ok im going to do the par38 bulbs how many would i need over the tank? would they burn soft and lps corals at the top of the tank?

 

For SPS, more is better. For a pure SPS tank, some people say you would need as many as 110+ 3W Cree leds. 72 is probably reasonable though. There are 5 in a 12W spotlight, so, you'd need around 14-15 spotlights. Really not every inch of your tank is going to have corals, so maybe could get away with a few less, but on the other hand, the Boost spotlights are under-driven and are only running at 2W per led. I think this is for heat reasons. So, that may mean you need a few more. So, it would probably be a wash. 12-15 would probably about right for good coverage. You could maybe get away with a few less. To you it wouldn't necessary look patchy, but remember, regardless of how it appears to your eyes, to your corals and a PAR meter, it would be... So, sort of a personal preference. You can always add more though, that's the great thing about spotlights.

Edit, BTW, I am assuming you meant PAR30, as I think Boost was the only spotlight mentioned in this threat. If you actually meant PAR38, then it's the same thing. Figure out how many 3W leds in that given brands spotlights and divide etc...