Need advice of lights.
- Thread starter Nyeehsien
- Start date
ookamii
New Member
When we were looking at lighting, one con to orbit's was from what we read the leds were less than 1watt per led. As well as for our tank which is 3x2x2 we would need 2 orbit pro's for the width of the tank. So we spent an extra 200$ and went with 2 hydra 26 and more options and still less than the radians.
There are a number of different options you can use. The one that is going to be best for you depends upon a number of factors, such as what you going to keep in the tank, what features you want in the lighting, what coverage you want in the lighting, and how much your willing to spend.
If I were doing the tank I'd likely do something similar to what @ookamil did and get two high end LED pendant lights, like the AI Hydras. However, a lot of people would not want to spend that much, or they might not be bothered by dim areas in the tank.
If I were doing the tank I'd likely do something similar to what @ookamil did and get two high end LED pendant lights, like the AI Hydras. However, a lot of people would not want to spend that much, or they might not be bothered by dim areas in the tank.
Thanks a lot ookamii and Davek, appreciate it. Looks like I will skip this orbit. Am still pretty new to this hobby. Is Zet light 6600/6800 better in your opinion compare to 2 hydra 26? 2 x hydra 26 will cover pretty much the lights I need for the tank? I only have some doughnut coral, open brains, clams atm. No SPS now. Want to do some SPS in the new tank.
"best" is a relative term in this hobby. What is bast for one person can very easily be a disaster to some one else. Here are some things to look for when you evaluate LED lighting.
LEDs like to direct their light straight down. The optics in the lighting system can help to spread this out so you avoid some of the hot spot effect directly under the light.
You also need to consider the area near the surface. With the light going more or less straight down it can be a cone pattern if it's a pendant or like a long wedge if it's a strip light. This can mean that areas at the surface can be dark even if the bottom is fairly even.
If you have the LEDs spaced fairly far apart you can get the "disco ball" effect where there are small patches of light in a specific color like red or green.
Some people are not at all bothered by these lighting imperfections. Others can't stand them.
Intangibles - besides the light itself, consider things like how many others are using it, how easy is it to get replacement parts, how good is the customer support if there is a problem.
Sometimes what seem to be small details are very important, other times it a hot of hype and not really important.
On the light your looking at, I have never tried it or seen it in action. I think it will work, but if might have problems with dark areas near the surface, and with the "disco ball" effect, but I can't be sure. If you can't see one in person, maybe someone posted a youtube video on it any you can take a look.
LEDs like to direct their light straight down. The optics in the lighting system can help to spread this out so you avoid some of the hot spot effect directly under the light.
You also need to consider the area near the surface. With the light going more or less straight down it can be a cone pattern if it's a pendant or like a long wedge if it's a strip light. This can mean that areas at the surface can be dark even if the bottom is fairly even.
If you have the LEDs spaced fairly far apart you can get the "disco ball" effect where there are small patches of light in a specific color like red or green.
Some people are not at all bothered by these lighting imperfections. Others can't stand them.
Intangibles - besides the light itself, consider things like how many others are using it, how easy is it to get replacement parts, how good is the customer support if there is a problem.
Sometimes what seem to be small details are very important, other times it a hot of hype and not really important.
On the light your looking at, I have never tried it or seen it in action. I think it will work, but if might have problems with dark areas near the surface, and with the "disco ball" effect, but I can't be sure. If you can't see one in person, maybe someone posted a youtube video on it any you can take a look.