LED for 210gallon Mixed reef

I need help selecting an LED kit for my new 210 gallon mixed reef!


Dimensions: 72" Long by 24" wide and 30"tall (water depth)

Tank purpose:SPS dominated mixed reef. Sand bed.

Primary reasons for going with LEDs: I live in the South and don't need any extra help heating up my house! Also, I'm going for a clean/modern look, and don't want to get a lid/canopy for the tank.


Other Factors: Budget is non-issue.

Currently looking at: Aquaillumination Sol Blue 72"

I can't seem to find any other reputable (research driven) brands that build all in one units... I'm not much of a diy type.

 

If you want pre-built, you're already considering the best one you can buy; stick with the Aqua Sol.

 

Orphek LEDs sound promising, but if you want to pour money into the best system you can buy probably Pacific Sun. 72" AI sounds fine though, I'd stick with that.

 

The problem with all Cree-based fixtures is they are having to use a 4700k or 6500k 'white' emitter and drown out all of that (algae-growing) yellow with lots of royal blues. Color rendering suffers because of this, as does PUR:watt ratio.

 

As you start looking around you will notice that several of the small companies are selling the same fixtures repackaged with their own name and case...sometimes it's even the same case. I am making plans for a 120 build....So I am in the same boat as you. I am currently using Orphek on my 54 but in my search for quality at a price I am willing to go down any LED path.

IMHO I think that Orphek and a couple of others have pushed the envelope and brought LED further in the last 12 months.... I think I am going to go with their new T5 LED tubes. This will allow me to switch out bulbs to my liking and make future upgrades easier. The PR-156 is a really good fixture and if you want a sleek, high quality, SPS growing light.....well I don't think you can get better...

People are going to chime in about dimming and coverage on these fixtures....

Dimming- We play with it for a bit and then we leave it except in ramping systems. There isn't any evidence that it does anything for corals. It's more for us. I put a dimmer on my PR-25s and played with it for a couple of days....I took the dimmer off a few weeks ago because I haven't been using it. Corals start at the bottom and work up to their final location

Coverage- Moving the light up and down will give you pretty much what ever coverage you want. You will be suprised how high you can mount these and still get penetration to the sandbed.