Jump to content
Cultivated Reef

Best light for Fluval 13.5, help me to choise


EvilFish

Recommended Posts

Hi, stock light if failed (something green in the corner and part of silicone just fell off).

 

I need to replace it.

 

Choises:

Aqua Illumination Prime HD LED - many bad reviews on amazon due to high failure rate.

Kessil A160WE Tuna Blue LED Pendant - 40 Watts - it will cover an entire tank? 18.5x11.5 inches.

Jecod (Jebao) AK-70 LED Light - a chinese copy of Kessil. How good it is?

NemoLight Saltwater LED Fixture With Controller - 21" - 36" - 36 Watts - no idea about this brand.

2x Fluval Sea Marine Nano (5" x 5") Bluetooth LED - 20 Watts - two of them is a good choice? Yes I know, Fluval (hagen) support and warranty is horrible.

2x Aquanight A029 27 Watt Nano LED Fixture - no idea about this brand.

2x Marpros LED Marine Aquarium Light - 30 watt - no idea about this brand.

 

Any recommendation or advice?

 

Thanks

Link to comment

The kessil will need a controller which will add some additional cost. You could probably get the AI prime with warranty from amazon if you are worried about early failure.

Link to comment
15 minutes ago, NanoKen said:

Nanobox, awesome light, great controller!

Any particular model?

 

Thanks

 

19 minutes ago, hotdrop said:

The kessil will need a controller

They doesn't have a manual controller?

Link to comment

Either the Mini or Duo would work great for that tank.  Dave can custom make the mounting arm so the light fits length-wise as well.  Put the Mini on my Evo 5 gallon and it's awesome.

 

Link to comment

What’s your stocking goals?

Personally opinion because I own both:

 

Kessil A80 - softies, lps and maybe some beginner sps

It does not need the controller, just a $5 mechanical timer

The spread may not cover the full tank but if you are not going to stock every inch of the tank you will be fine

Love the shimmer

 

AI Prime HD - will cover full tank, can keep and grow majority of corals, nice controllability

Higher price point than Kessil but you can usually find a used one fairly cheap.

Link to comment

Really does depend on what you intend to keep in your aquarium.  Check out Fluvals YouTube page for more info as well as their website for PAR and other LED info.  

Link to comment
26 minutes ago, NanoKen said:

Really does depend on what you intend to keep in your aquarium.  Check out Fluvals YouTube page for more info as well as their website for PAR and other LED info.  

Softies, lps. Maybe some sps. 

Link to comment
12 hours ago, Lugmos12 said:

I had the same tank and ran an AI Prime HD on it and it was amazing. Simple to set up and gives you a lot of control through the phone app (or computer).

The corner of the tank was dark?

 

 

Link to comment
1 hour ago, EvilFish said:

The corner of the tank was dark?

 

 

Nope. I had a nice spread all over the tank. The AI Prime HD covers 24"x24 "I believe which is enough spread to cover the EVO.

Link to comment
  • 3 weeks later...
12 hours ago, EvilFish said:

Received Hipargero Aquarium LED Lights 30W. Extremely happy with this light for the price!

 

I'll post some pictures later.

Looking forward to the pictures and the review of the light (short and long term). I briefly checked it out on their website and it actually sounds pretty good. It says you can ramp up and down both the blues and whites (singly or together). Might not have all the technical advances or mumbo jumbo of all the "name brands". (But) it's a lot cheaper option as well. You don't need all the "bling" to have a successful reef/aquarium (everything is subjected in this hobby).

 

There's a lot of eye candy in this hobby too, I even see myself get caught up in it at times (the latest and greatest products). Everybody has an opinion, and every company offers the "best". There all fighting for our $$$. There's been a debate on how much light (PAR) corals really need and at what intensity and color. 

 

Sounds like you did your research, that's half the battle in this hobby. The other half is putting it to the test. Keep us posted on your thoughts and experiences. Looking forward to the build.

Link to comment
On 2/8/2019 at 8:39 AM, hotdrop said:

The kessil will need a controller which will add some additional cost. You could probably get the AI prime with warranty from amazon if you are worried about early failure.

You don't need the controller in order to work/set the color and intensity. You will need it to set up all your functions automatically, and I believe they have some company presets as well. 

Link to comment

The only 2 on that list with enough power and have recognizable ratings would be the AI or the Kessil.

The AI seems to do more out of the box vs the Kessil needs the separate controller to be able to adjust color channels, and that may or may not even work on that particular model of Kessil.

 

It's too bad about the high failure rate of the prime or I would say go with that one.

Link to comment
Gourami Swami

I've been looking at this one for when I upgrade my tank

 

https://www.amazon.com/VIPARSPECTRA-Timer-165W-Aquarium-Dimmable/dp/B00UMXAR5S/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?keywords=viparspectra+reef&qid=1551359976&s=gateway&sr=8-2-spons&psc=1

 

Similar to the marsaqua but has a built in timer. dimmable separate channels. Looks cool, seems like a nice light, and I know lots of people here use this one and similar Chinese black boxes with success. And it's pretty cheap. Only downside would be you can't play with it on an app like you could with the prime etc.

Link to comment
5 hours ago, KISReef said:

Looking forward to the pictures and the review of the light (short and long term). I briefly checked it out on their website and it actually sounds pretty good. It says you can ramp up and down both the blues and whites (singly or together). Might not have all the technical advances or mumbo jumbo of all the "name brands". (But) it's a lot cheaper option as well. You don't need all the "bling" to have a successful reef/aquarium (everything is subjected in this hobby).

 

There's a lot of eye candy in this hobby too, I even see myself get caught up in it at times (the latest and greatest products). Everybody has an opinion, and every company offers the "best". There all fighting for our $$$. There's been a debate on how much light (PAR) corals really need and at what intensity and color. 

 

Sounds like you did your research, that's half the battle in this hobby. The other half is putting it to the test. Keep us posted on your thoughts and experiences. Looking forward to the build.

I was surprised who good is this light, for only 87$ CAD 🙂

 

I don't want to spend CAD$ 290+40+taxes for Prime HD, bc it's twice more expensive than the tank itself...

 

For my future bigger tank I'll create the light by myself, but for the nano, AquaKnight really good option.

 

For the nightlight, I'll just ordered 20cm waterproof blue led strip from ebay. Cost me 3$.

Link to comment
6 hours ago, EvilFish said:

Pictures. 

 

I like blue and white led on 100% (last picture). 

 

20190228_101525.jpg

20190228_101534.jpg

20190228_101530.jpg

20190228_101520.jpg

20190228_101506.jpg

Looking good. I will agree that the prime isn't the best light for "this" tanks footprint (IMO). There would be too much light bleeding from the aquarium. 

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
9 hours ago, EvilFish said:

I was surprised who good is this light, for only 87$ CAD 🙂

 

I don't want to spend CAD$ 290+40+taxes for Prime HD, bc it's twice more expensive than the tank itself...

 

For my future bigger tank I'll create the light by myself, but for the nano, AquaKnight really good option.

 

For the nightlight, I'll just ordered 20cm waterproof blue led strip from ebay. Cost me 3$.

I don't blame you one bit. Congrat's on selecting the right light for you and your aquarium. It looks good.

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recommended Discussions

×
×
  • Create New...