Explain to me Like I am 5 - What color LEDs I need

I am looking at reefbreeders now, what does NW mean? Neutral white? Also, I hate to sound dense, but I am not sure about the rest of your post.

 

neutral white, what do you mean by "not sure"?

 

He was just giving you some other options to look at. NW does equal Neutral whites. Probably the "hottest" fixture out at the moment is the maxspect razor. It is pretty close to full spectrum in that it contains TV (True Violet), royal blue, blue, and uses cool whites and warm whites (the warm whites help provide the red end of the spectrum).

I have 2 of the 20.5 inch 16k maxspect razors over my standard 90 gallon tank with a center brace and they look great. If you have a center brace, you would probably want 2 20 inch maxspect razors. You will lose a lot of PAR if you just use 1 27 inch razor and have a center brace... not to mention it will be "shaded" on the sides. I personally wouldn't even consider PAR38 (LED's that will screw in to a standard light socket) as your tank is too deep if you ever do decide to keep something other than softies (assuming it is 24 inches like a standard 90).
With all that said... the maxspect razors are pretty difficult to find in stock at the moment and 2 of the 20 inches will run you at $800.
If you are looking for a lower price, the reefbreeders value fixtures are a great value! You get a full spectrum light, but without the ability for sunrise/sunset.

 

Ah, ok. Brand names and options. I am not up on any of the LED technology yet to know the acronyms, brands and lingo. I am working on it. Thanks for the responses.

 

Do you have a pic of your tank with the razors? Also, just out of curiosity, why did you go the razor route as opposed to the reefbreeders fixtures?

And, just for clarification, the recommendation for the reefbreeders fixture was to order the neutral white option? I'm afraid I don't understand the other options the have (optics, etc). Gah, feeling very stupid at the moment.

 

I have a tao tronics 120w over my 20 gallon sps tank and it is only on 20 percent power. It only cost me 170 dollars

 

I didn't go with the reefbreeders because I wanted sunrise/sunset feature (the value fixture doesn't have this). The controllable reefbreeders fixture does include sunrise/sunset however, but at a price of $319 each or $640 for 2. I personally prefer warm/neutral whites and "close together" pucks as opposed to evenly distributed LED's. The reefbreeders fixtures also use bridgelux instead of cree leds which are not as efficient. With that said, bridgelux led's are perfectly capable of growing great corals. I was also able t to get 14% off the razors before maxspect came out and said you cannot use discounts on them which made the difference in price between 2 reefbreeders vs razors about $50.

Optics make the "angle" of light narrower. By default, for example, cree XTE's use 120-135 degree optics. If you put a lens on it, you can make the angle for 1 LED, 40, 60, 80, 90, etc. degrees instead. A more "focused" beam will give you higher PAR values at deeper levels of the tank. You can view pictures of the razor on youtube or googling. I don't have a picture atm of my tank with the razors.

 

Everything you said is 100% right

I dot think u can get any better answer than this...

 

This information has all been great! I feel like I am slowing learning, so thanks for your patience. I am ordering 2 Maxspect Razors today, 16k, 20.5 inches to cover my 48 inch tank with a center brace.
These are the right ones, correct?
Maxspect Razor R420R 120w LED Lighting System 20.5 Inch 16,000k

Also, the way I understand it, this lighting system will allow me to keep anything I want - correct? What about clams?

 

That's correct =). Yes, you should be able to even keep clams.