Suggestions for new LED's

[silver97]

So I am at that point where I finally have some more money and have the ability to upgrade to some new LED lighting. Problem is I don't want to spend a fortune and while I have a general idea of what I want, I would appreciate others' thoughts on this since a lot of the users here have more experience than I do.
Right now I have an Orbit Marine LED (at least i think that's what its called) and it is very basic. Only blue and white led light, covers my whole tank (36" long structure of led on a 40 breeder). A problem that happened a few months ago is that the built in timer stopped working and I have had to install a regular old outlet timer to determine when the lights turn on and off.
Yes I looked at the warranty, but it expired literally a month before this happened. Just my luck. The timer also turns the white and blue light mix (daytime) to solid blue (night) randomly every so often. So I'll come in at 2 pm and the tank will look like it should at 7 pm.
This is a problem I'd like to fix relatively soon and I'm ready to buy them. Just need the suggestions is all.
I looked at the various Hydra LED's from Aqua Illumination and while they seem to be top notch and really just great overall, I can't really justify shelling out $600 for a Hydra 52, which would cover my tank pretty well.
I did a bit of digging into the Kessil Tuna line ( I think thats what the line is) and these seem to have a pretty good reputation and they aren't as expensive as Hydra's.
I haven't really looked into any DIY LED's because even though I could order them already assembled and they would probably be cheapest overall, I want to get a name brand light that will work for a long time.
I choose LED because while the overall cost is high, I wont have to continually change out light bulbs over the months like I would have to do with a T5 or metal halide fixture. In the long run it is cheaper, especially if I will have the tank for a few more years.
I know there are a million different brands out there, so I will kind of simplify what it is I'm looking for. I need a light that will spread evenly across a 40 breeder (36" long), can grow soft and LPS corals well, has a built in timer that is simple to use, and is relatively not all too expensive. I know I will be spending a large amount regardless, probably upwards of around $200, but I don't want to spend more than $400. Any and all suggestions would really be greatly appreciated.

 

[DaveK]

When you are dealing with LED pendant lighting, you need to consider that the light tends to point straight down. This almost always means that if you want to evenly illuminate a 36" long tank, your going to need 2 fixtures.

Since you want soft corals and LPS corals, and not SPS or clams, you can use smaller pendants.

The lighting I would consider would be a pair of one of the following fixtures -
Aqua Illumination Prime HD
Kessil A160WE

You would also need some sort of mounting system for them. I prefer hanging them over mount on tank or mount on stand mounting systems. That's going to add additional costs.

In both of those cases, your going to be somewhat more than the $400 you want to spend. I figure you'd be about $500 to $550 by the time you got done with the fixtures, mounting system, and shipping.

There are other fixtures you could use, but most of them would tend to cost you lots more. As I pointed out, a single pendant fixture is typically not going to cut it if you want even illumination across the tank.

The next obvious question is, why not get LED strip lighting? You have a similar problem because the light comes straight down. Viewed from the end of the tank the lighting pattern is sort of A shaped. This tends to give you a bright area in the middle with the areas along the front and back being dim, and the front and back near the surface being really dim. Also all those small LEDs don't have the same penetration power as a few powerful LEDs. So your right back to needing 2 or more fixtures.

VIP Note - Some "Marine Reef" strip light fixtures, especially the really inexpensive ones, use very weak LED and fer to few of them to be effective on a reef tank. Once you figure out what you like, run it by the group for opinions. You don't want to buy the wrong item.

On DIY LED lighting. This can save you money if you are very comfortable with working with electronic construction. It's quite a bit of work to build one. I'd say the big advantage is that you can configure the LEDs anyway you want.

 

[silver97]

Thanks for the info. The $400 limit I listed was just a hopeful guesstimate. I really could buy the aqua illuminations if I wanted to, and I might just go that route. What I might do now is just wait another month till I get a few more paychecks.
Now I know the Hydra 26's, if i got those, I would absolutely need 2 of them to cover my whole tank. What about getting one of the 52's? Technically that version is just 2 of the hydra 26's together in one unit. I know it might still not cover the ENTIRE tank, but the way the lighting is now it doesn't necessarily evenly illuminate the tank and I honestly don't notice more than half the time. I think it would also end up being cheaper than buying 2 of the 26's to cover the tank (excluding the cost of the mounting equipment). I don't think hanging them from the ceiling is a viable option right now... but the mounting system seems simple enough.
I think in the long run I will look to use these on a future tank if I do buy them. And if I do decide to go the SPS route eventually, these would be more than powerful enough for them. That is going to be how I will have to convince myself to spend all that money on them.
I will look into those Kessil units that you listed also. I really am just super bust the entire month and don't have as much time as I would like to research this stuff on my own, so all the suggestions i get are greatly appreciated.